Forum Communications is preparing to launch new online platform St. Cloud Live as Gannett’s St. Cloud Times withers. A signup website says St. Cloud Live will launch in early February. As has been tracked here, Fargo-based Forum has been expanding its regional presence, recently launching Sioux Falls Live, purchasing a Sioux Falls TV station, and asking for a waiver to buy a second TV station in Fargo along with one in Duluth.
Meanwhile, BringMeTheNews and Axios Twin Cities note that the St. Cloud Times is losing its last local reporter, Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa, to Forum at the end of the month. The Times had an award-winning local staff of dozens of journalists just a decade ago. It currently has one reporter job posted.
The Star Tribune has also added a presence in the Granite City in recent years and several radio stations have local news presences, which is an unfortunate rarity these days. St. Cloud is in the Minneapolis TV market and has a local cable newscast produced by St. Cloud State University students.
NEW: KARE 11 did an update on this story Friday.
Stations and companies
Flood Communications’ News Channel Nebraska is promoting the Feb. 1 launch of a new format on recently-acquired KIMB/104.3 (Dix-Kimball). The station says for now it’s looping Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” with a chance to win $1,000 when the format launches.
The HD2 signal of Cumulus Media’s KXXR/93.7 (Minneapolis) is now carrying a simulcast of “Love 105,” replacing a Contemporary Hits format that was known as “The Machine.”
Nexstar has started to remove live streams from many of its websites. KELO-TV/11 (Sioux Falls) had one of the region’s longest-running livestreams but began delaying the stream by two hours on Jan. 12, writing on its website that the move was “to fulfill our obligations to our cable, satellite, and telco partners.” Notably, Nexstar’s KTLA (Los Angeles) continues to livestream local programming 17 hours per day, at least as of now.
Gray TV’s WEAU-TV (Eau Claire) has launched Circle on channel 13.6.
KLQP/92.1 (Madison-Dawson) is celebrating its 40th anniversary on Jan. 31. The Lac qui Parle Broadcasting Company station is unique in that it is a standalone FM in an industry dominated by chains and groups. General Manager Maynard Meyer just turned 70 and says he has no retirement plans.
Bob Heyman of the Chicago office of Media Services Group announced a deal for Studstill Media and the Studstill family, owners of Mendota Broadcasting and Laco Radio, to sell eight stations west of Chicago to Shaw Local Radio for $1.8 million. There will be an additional $75,000 payment at closing upon certain conditions. The group includes six FM stations, one AM, and an FM translator in the Ottawa, Peru, and Streator area.
Iowa Public Radio’s broadcast outages page notes that nighttime reception of WOI/640 (Ames) is “significantly reduced” and that it may also have to operate at lower power during the day due to tower work. WOI normally uses 5kW non-directional during the day and 1kW directional at night.
Minnesota Public Radio‘s station alerts page says stations in Houghton, Brainerd, Collegeville, and Worthington may currently be at reduced power due to tower icing.
People
Midwest Communications has promoted Peter Tanz to president following the recent death of Duke Wright.
Investigative reporter Jenna Rae has joined Scripps NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV/4 (Milwaukee). She previously worked in St. Louis.
I’m so excited to announce I started a new job as a Consumer Investigative Reporter at @tmj4 in Milwaukee!
— Jenna Rae (@journalismjenna) January 24, 2023
I want to thank my friends, family and the TMJ4 team for believing in me and allowing me to fulfill my dream of becoming an investigative reporter 🕵🏼🫶🏼❤️ pic.twitter.com/vXdAEcSqtD
Lindsey Burrell has joined Nexstar NBC affiliate WHO-DT/13 (Des Moines). She previously worked in Rapid City.
Busy day anchoring my first shows!
— LindseyBurrell_News (@_LindseyBurrell) January 24, 2023
I’m excited to be a part of the amazing @WHO13news team as a weekday evening anchor and reporter 🎥 📺 This crew has been so welcoming and Des Moines is quickly feeling like home.💙
I’m thankful for the guidance of this experienced team. pic.twitter.com/n9dlPQ8F1i
Brandon Weatherz of Duluth ABC affiliate WDIO/10 did a nice job of educating the public about the nightly phenomenon of distant AM radio reception. Read more about it in my previous report, Living History: Long-Distance Signals from ‘Golden Age of Radio’ Still On Air.
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Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Media Group. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.