KARP-FM (106.9 FM, "Hit 106") is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to serve

Dassel, Minnesota Dassel is a city in Meeker County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,469 at the 2010 census. History Dassel was platted in 1869, and named for Bernard Dassel, a railroad official. A post office has been in operation at Dassel si ...

, United States. The station, which began broadcasting in 1968, is currently owned by Iowa City Broadcasting Company.

Programming

KARP-FM broadcasts a full-service

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

format to the greater

Glencoe, Minnesota Glencoe is the county seat of McLeod County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,631 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water. U.S. Highway ...

, area. In addition to its usual music programming, the station airs local news, weather bulletins,

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

, and community affairs programming. KARP-FM airs

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

games as a member of the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

Radio Network.

History

KDUZ-FM

The station began licensed operation with 3,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s of

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

at 107.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

on June 6, 1968, as KDUZ-FM, a

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

to KDUZ (1260 AM). Because KDUZ was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-coun ...

, able to broadcast only from sunrise to sunset, KDUZ-FM operated as a

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

during the day then continued the mix of middle of the road and

on its own the rest of the night and overnight. KDUZ-FM was launched under the ownership of the North American Broadcasting Company, part of the Tedesco Group, under company president Albert S. Tedesco. Other key staffers included

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

and

news director A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, ph ...

Heinz R. Fruck,

chief engineer A chief engineer, commonly referred to as "ChEng" or "Chief", is the most senior engine officer of an engine department on a ship, typically a merchant ship, and holds overall leadership and the responsibility of that department..Chief engineer's ...

Darrell Gander, and program director. These positions would remain stable through the end of the 1970s, with the exception of the program director slot which saw at least four people hold the position in that decade.

KKJR

On February 7, 1986, the station had the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

change its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

to KKJR. After a successful petition for rule making in 1997, KKJR filed an application with the FCC in April 1998 seeking permission to change the height of its broadcast tower, the antenna's

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site is above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is ...

, the location of its transmitter, the station's class from A to C3, and its broadcast frequency from 107.1 to 106.9

. The station also sought to change its

community of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

from Hutchinson to

. The FCC granted the station a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

to make these changes on October 8, 1998. The station made the switch to the new facility and frequency, operating under program test authority, in March 1999. With the changes came a flip from

to a satellite-fed

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

music format branded as "The Flame". The station received its license to cover these changes on July 6, 1999.

KARP-FM

In February 2000, North American Broadcasting Company, Inc., reached an agreement to sell this station and

KDUZ (1260 AM) to Iowa City Broadcasting Company, Inc., for a reported sale price of $2 million. The deal was approved by the FCC on March 22, 2000, and the transaction was consummated on March 31, 2000. At the time of the sale, KKJR was playing a

format. The new owners had the call sign changed to KARP-FM on June 15, 2000.

References

External links

KARP-FM official website
{{Country Radio Stations in Minnesota Radio stations in Minnesota Country radio stations in the United States Meeker County, Minnesota Radio stations established in 1968