KBEM-FM (88.5
FM, "Jazz88") is a
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
public radio
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
station broadcasting a
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
format. The station is operated by the Minneapolis
public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
system and has been partnering since 1989 with the
Minnesota Department of Transportation
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state' ...
(Mn/DOT), providing
traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...
reports for commuters in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
. KBEM also broadcasts live headliner performances from the
Twin Cities Jazz Festival
The Twin Cities Jazz Fest, formerly Twin Cities Hot Summer Jazz Festival, is a jazz festival in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Founded in 1999 by Steve Heckler, the festival is centered in the Lowertown neighborhood in downtown St. Paul. The main stage ...
each June. KBEM is a member of
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
's
AMPERS network.
KBEM's studios are located on James Avenue North in Minneapolis, while its transmitter is located in
Falcon Heights.
History
KBEM first took to the air in October
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
. Its broadcast studios were originally in Vocational High School in downtown Minneapolis (since converted to an office building) and has, since
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
, been located at
North Community High School
North Community High School, or simply Minneapolis North, is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The school has existed for over 120 years in several buildings all located on the city's n ...
. The current jazz format began in
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
. Students assist with the station's operations during the day, delivering news reports and other programming. Minneapolis School Board meetings and Minneapolis City Council meetings were carried live for over 20 years.
Graduates of KBEM's broadcast instructional program have gone on to work at
WCCO,
KQRS-FM
KQRS-FM (92.5 FM, KQ92 or 92 KQRS) is a Classic Rock radio station in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. The station is licensed to suburban Golden Valley, transmits from the KMSP-TV tower in Shoreview, and is owned by Cumulus Media, wit ...
,
KFAI
KFAI (90.3 FM Minneapolis) is a community radio station in Minnesota. The station broadcasts a wide variety of music, and also airs programming catering to many of the diverse ethnic groups of the region. KFAI has frequently been honored by lo ...
,
Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest.
MPR ha ...
,
KDWB
KDWB-FM (101.3 MHz) is an American commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, licensed to suburban Richfield. KDWB's radio format is Top 40/CHR. Its transmitter is located in Shoreview, while its studios ar ...
,
KTCZ
KTCZ-FM (97.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Minneapolis and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul radio market and Western Wisconsin. KTCZ airs a hybrid modern adult contemporary radio format. The station is owned and operated ...
,
KPCC in Los Angeles,
KQED in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings.
Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...
,
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its s ...
,
WHYI
WHYI-FM (100.7 MHz) is a heritage contemporary hit radio station. The station is licensed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and owned by iHeartMedia. Y100 broadcasts at an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts from its 1,007 foot transmitter, whi ...
in Miami,
WWZZ
WPRS-FM (104.1 FM) is an Urban Gospel formatted radio station in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The station is licensed to Waldorf, Maryland, and is co-owned with WKYS-FM, WMMJ, WOL and WYCB and has studios located in Silver Spring, M ...
in Washington, D.C.,
KHMX
KHMX (96.5 FM) – branded Mix 96.5 – is a commercial hot adult contemporary radio station licensed to Houston, Texas. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the Greater Houston metropolitan area. The KHMX studios are located in Houston' ...
in Houston and other media such as the ''
Star Tribune
The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...
'' and ''
City Pages
''City Pages'' was an alternative newspaper serving the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. It featured news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and music criticism, available free every Wednesday. It ceased publication in 2020 due to a ...
''.
Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest.
MPR ha ...
had attempted to purchase the station in 1979 as part of an attempt to split its growing network into
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
and
talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
components, but the deal fell through. Instead, the organization acquired
WLOL 1330
AM in
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
. A decade later, it purchased WLOL 99.5 FM (now
KSJN
KSJN (99.5 FM, "YourClassical MPR") is the flagship station of Minnesota Public Radio's classical music network, serving the Twin Cities region. KSJN's studios are located at the MPR Broadcast Center on Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul, while ...
).
In late
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
, it was announced that
Mn/DOT
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state ...
would be cutting its funding of the station as a cost-saving measure. This funding amounted to $418,000 annually at the time, although the contract extended until March 2005. The money accounted for roughly half of the station's budget, so KBEM launched an emergency
fundraising
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
drive. By January
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
, the drive had gathered $45,000 from the public toward a goal of $138,000 to cover the station until the end of its
fiscal year
A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...
(mid-2005). The school system hoped to roughly double membership from 4,000 to 8,000. In a surprise move,
Clear Channel Communications
iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
donated $25,000 to the station and ran fundraising announcements on the company's local stations, including
Cities 97 and its former
smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s.
History
Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...
outlet
KJZI (now KFXN-FM). Sufficient public opposition to the proposed end of the MnDOT partnership caused the agency to continue the relationship, but at a reduced rate.
KBEM is the only all-jazz radio station in the Twin Cities.
See also
*
List of jazz radio stations in the United States
This is a list of terrestrial, satellite and internet radio stations which identify themselves as playing jazz in any of its forms (mainstream, traditional, fusion, acid, and smooth, among others), or have substantial jazz programming, that can be ...
References
*
;Specific
External links
KBEM Jazz88 official website
{{Coord, 44.998, N, 93.189, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
Radio stations in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Independent Public Radio
Jazz radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1970
1970 establishments in Minnesota