KBUN, "Sports Radio AM 1450 KBUN", is a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

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 ...

Bemidji, Minnesota Bemidji ( ) is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 15,279, making it ...

, broadcasting with 1,000 watts at 1450 AM. It is owned and operated by

Hubbard Broadcasting Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. is an American television and radio broadcasting corporation based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded by Stanley E. Hubbard. The corporation has broadcast outlets scattered across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, ...

, Inc. The Bemidji studios are located at 502 Beltrami Avenue, downtown Bemidji. The transmitter site is west of town on Jefferson Road. Statewide news comes from the Minnesota News Network. KBUN is part of the FAN Radio Network, whose in-house programs also can be heard throughout

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 ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The flagship station of the FAN Radio Network is

KFXN-FM KFXN-FM (100.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, broadcasting a sports talk format. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and serves the Twin Cities market. KFXN-FM's transmitter is located in the suburb ...

, a

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 ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

in the twin cities. Other programming comes from

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

. KBUN also airs some local sports programming, and is the area home to 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 ...

and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

broadcasts.

History

KBUN-AM first went on the air on October 30, 1946, as part of a wave of radio and TV stations that launched after electronics rationing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was initially owned and operated by Harry F. Pihl and R. W. Bradford as Bemidji Broadcasting Co. (aka, Paul Bunyan Broadcasting Co.) and broadcast with 250 watts at 1450 AM, from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Affiliated with the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

(MBS), it was purchased on February 24, 1948 by Butler Broadcasting Co. and operated by Edward and Gwenyth Butler from then until 1956. Its studios were located at 419 1/2 Beltrami Avenue, Bemidji. On November 1, 1956, the FCC announced its approval of KBUN's sale to the Ben H. Potter, Jr., family. In 1972 Ben Potter, Jr., sold Paul Bunyan Broadcasting Co., to his daughter, Anne P. Delong and her husband, Edward Delong III. In 1989, the Delongs sold KBUN to Louis H. Buron, Jr., who formed

Omni Broadcasting Omni Broadcasting was a small-market radio broadcasting company that operated for 25 years from headquarters in Bemidji, Minnesota. Organized in 1988, the company was owned and operated by Louis H. Buron, Jr., and Mary Campbell. They relocated fro ...

as the umbrella company for his radio stations. Hubbard Broadcasting announced on November 13, 2014 that it would purchase the sixteen

stations, including KBUN. The sale was completed on February 27, 2015, at a purchase price of $8 million for the 16 stations and one translator. On December 10, 2010, Paul Bunyan Broadcasting Co., acquired FM Translator Station K235BP, 94.9 MHz, from Shine the Light, Inc., for $50,000. K235BP relays the KBUN signal. It was the first time the FAN Network was carried anywhere on an FM signal.

References

External links

KBUN website
* * * * Radio stations in Minnesota Sports radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1946 1946 establishments in Minnesota Hubbard Broadcasting {{Minnesota-radio-station-stub