KSJN (99.5
FM, "YourClassical MPR") is the
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
station of
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 ...
's
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 ...
network, serving the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
region. KSJN's studios are located at the MPR Broadcast Center on Cedar Street in
downtown St. Paul
Downtown Saint Paul is the central business district of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River to the south, University Avenue to the north, US 52 to the east, and Kellogg Avenue to the west. It is bounded ...
, while its transmitter is located on the
KMSP Tower
The KMSP Tower is a high aerial guyed mast used for the transmission of FM radio and over-the-air television in Shoreview, Minnesota. The structure was apparently the tallest in Minnesota until the construction of the KPXM Tower in 1997.
The tow ...
in
Shoreview
Shoreview is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota. The population was 25,043 at the time of the 2010 census. In 2008, Shoreview ranked fourth in a ''Family Circle'' list of best family towns.
Geography
According to the United States Census Burea ...
.
The 99.5 frequency was established as commercial radio station WLOL-FM in 1957; the station achieved its most success as a top-rated
Top 40/CHR station during the 1980s. It was purchased by MPR in 1991.
Background
KSJN intellectual unit
Saint John's University St John's University may refer to:
*St. John's University (New York City)
** St. John's University School of Law
**St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus
* College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and C ...
in
Collegeville, near
St. Cloud, built and began operating the first station in the network,
KSJR-FM
KSJR-FM (90.1 FM) is a radio station licensed to Collegeville, Minnesota, and serving the St. Cloud area. The station is owned by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), and airs MPR's " Classical Music Network," originating from the Twin Cities. The sta ...
(90.1), in January
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
. By 1968, however, it was obvious that there weren't enough listeners in the immediate St. Cloud area for the station to be viable. KSJR nearly tripled its power in hopes of reaching the Twin Cities, but even then it only provided grade B coverage of Minneapolis and completely missed St. Paul. To solve this problem, Saint John's signed on KSJN at 91.1 MHz, originally licensed to the northern Twin Cities suburb of
New Brighton, as a full-time repeater of KSJR-FM. By 1969, Saint John's realized it was in over its head operating a full-service radio station, so it turned over KSJR and KSJN to a nonprofit corporation, Saint John's University Broadcasting. This organization later changed its name to Minnesota Educational Radio, and finally Minnesota Public Radio.
In
1969
This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon.
Events January
* January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco.
* January 5
**Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
and
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 ...
, MPR assisted in the formation of
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
and was a founding member of the organization. Four years later, in
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
, the network began live broadcasting of
Garrison Keillor
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...
's ''
A Prairie Home Companion
''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...
'', one of the best-known programs on American public radio.
MPR made plans to establish a dedicated
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
/
talk
Talk may refer to:
Communication
* Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people
* Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people
* Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct
...
service as NPR's programming became more popular. To that end, 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 – ...
, it purchased
WLOL (1330 AM) and changed its calls to KSJN. In 1989, the AM station changed its calls to
KNOW
Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...
, a call sign used by an AM station in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
for 50 years. It began airing an expanded schedule of NPR programming, while the FM station continued to air a mix of NPR programming and classical music.
99.5 FM history
On July 18, 1956, radio station
WLOL (1330 AM) was granted a construction permit for a new radio station to broadcast on 99.5 MHz.
The station, WLOL-FM, began broadcasting in February 1957, airing a
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 ...
format. The station maintained the programming for its first 16 years of operation until the money-losing outlet was converted to an automated
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
format in August 1973. The station donated its classical albums to KSJN and
KUOM
KUOM (770 AM) – branded ''Radio K'' – is a daytime-only non-commercial educational college/alternative rock radio station licensed to serve Minneapolis, Minnesota. KUOM covers the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, and extends its ...
(770 AM); it also lost many of its sponsors with the change.
Ratings remained low as an easy listening station. When
Midcontinent Broadcasting, the original owner of the FM, sold the WLOL pair to Bob Liggett of
Liggett Broadcasting for $1.55 million in 1978, it sparked a format change. On August 20, Liggett, with a staff of nine new hires, led a flip to adult contemporary as ''Easy Rockin' FM 100 WLOL'', bringing the station into competition with
KSTP-FM
KSTP-FM (94.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in St. Paul, Minnesota, serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul radio market. It is the flagship FM station of Hubbard Broadcasting and airs a hot adult contemporary radio format. The station has l ...
and
WCCO-FM
KMNB (102.9 MHz, "The Wolf") is an American commercial FM radio station in Minneapolis-St. Paul that carries a country radio format. KMNB is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its main transmitter is located on the KMSP Tower in Shoreview, Minnesota, with ba ...
. Ratings rose, but the station remained far off its direct competition.
Top 40/CHR era
On December 12, 1981, WLOL-FM changed formats again, this time to
Top 40/CHR as ''99½ WLOL''. The ratings effect was quick to take hold; in the spring 1982
Arbitron
Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...
survey, WLOL-FM more than doubled its performance and vaulted into third place in the Twin Cities, led by the revamped "Hines and Berglund" morning show hosted by John Hines and Bob Berglund.
Even while WLOL was surging, a sale was in the works. In 1982, an
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
-based consortium headed by
Jeff Smulyan
Jeffrey Howard Smulyan (born April 6, 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is the founder and chief executive officer of Emmis Communications.
Early life and education
Smulyan is the son of Natalie and Sam Smulyan. He has one brother and one sister. H ...
acquired WLOL-FM for $6 million, a record price at the time for a Minnesota radio station. It was the first station purchase for
Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications is an American media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Emmis, based on the Hebrew word for Truth (Emet) was founded by Jeff Smulyan in 1980. Emmis has owned many radio stations, including KPWR and WQHT, which hav ...
, which then bought two more stations the next year. The station peaked in the ratings in 1984 with a 9.9 share, closely behind second-place KSTP-FM and well ahead of direct format competitor
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 ...
.
WLOL and KDWB would go on to have a bitter rivalry throughout the 1980s, with WLOL dominating the format in the Twin Cities for the next five years.
WLOL was noteworthy for its presentation, by combining typical Top 40 programming philosophies with a local touch. In addition, WLOL relied heavily on unique
jingle
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...
packages, including the now iconic "Get Me Up!" jingle, which was written by Kyrl Henderson of the now defunct Reel Good Productions, and was distributed to stations across the country. Local artists such as
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
& The Revolution,
Morris Day
Morris E. Day (born December 13, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer of The Time.
Music career
Morris Day is best known as the lead singer of The Time, a group associated with Prince. Day and Pri ...
&
The Time,
Information Society
An information society is a society where the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation and integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drivers are information and communication technologies, which have resulted in rapid inf ...
,
Alexander O'Neal
Alexander O'Neal (born November 15, 1953) is an American R&B singer, songwriter and arranger from Natchez, Mississippi.
O'Neal came to prominence in the mid-1980s as a solo artist, with eleven Top 40 singles on the US R&B chart, three of whic ...
and
The Jets all received support from WLOL.
By the late 1980s, the tables were turned. After KDWB updated its on-air presentation in 1988, some listeners felt WLOL had grown stale, while KDWB suddenly became the hip new CHR station. KDWB and its morning show host,
Steve Cochran
Steve Cochran (born Robert Alexander Cochran, May 25, 1917 – June 15, 1965) was an American film, television and stage actor. He attended the University of Wyoming. After a stint working as a cowboy, Cochran developed his acting skills in loca ...
, jumped ahead of a slumping WLOL and would, from that point on, be the dominant CHR station in the market. Playing catch-up, WLOL started tweaking the programming and air staff, shook up its longtime morning show, and finally, on May 11, 1990, moved to a
Rhythmic Top 40
The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine.
The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...
format. Labeling itself as "Today's Best Music", the new ''99.5 WLOL'' hired a new airstaff and rejuvenated itself in the minds of listeners, managing a ratings improvement.
KSJN and KNOW relocation
In 1989, Smulyan bought the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...
baseball team. As early as September 1989, rumors were swirling that WLOL might be up for sale to raise funds for the acquisition; it later emerged that Emmis had indeed placed the station on the market at that time.
On December 26, 1990—realizing an ambition held for over a decade—Minnesota Public Radio announced the purchase of the WLOL facility for $12 million, to give it two FM frequencies. MPR had been operating two stations since it had bought 1330 kHz—the former WLOL AM—in 1981. It would sell that station, by that time known as KNOW, to raise some of the funds for the FM purchase.
For Emmis, it was a discount on the original asking price of $20 million, which a slowing economy had put out of reach.
MPR announced that it would move its classical programming to the 99.5 frequency, which had a stronger signal than its existing station at 91.1. That frequency would become the new home of KNOW, the MPR news station.
While Emmis made some steps toward enabling another station to pick up WLOL wholesale, going as far as to provide such a blueprint to other FM stations in the Twin Cities market, 1330 AM had been challenged by a poor signal in the western suburbs that were home to many MPR members, as well as in office buildings. Pop music fans in the Twin Cities were furious as WLOL slowly counted down to its last day, February 26, 1991. WLOL's final day culminated with a day-long farewell, playing music and jingles from the station's nearly 10 year-long Top 40/CHR era, as well as current and former airstaff offering farewell messages, and advertisements from
92 KQRS,
K102 (where morning host John Hines later landed) and even
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 ...
redirecting listeners to their stations. At 6:30 p.m., WLOL signed off with a half-hour montage of clips from songs played by the station during the Top 40/CHR era, followed by a sign-off announcement from Hines and "
Miss You Much
"Miss You Much" is a song by American singer Janet Jackson. Composed by songwriters and record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, it was recorded for the singer's fourth studio album, ''Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814'' (1989). As with all t ...
" by
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...
. At 7 p.m., after about a half hour of dead air, WLOL started playing music without live DJs for about an hour (with more liners in between from KDWB wishing WLOL "happy trails" and redirecting listeners to their station), after which it officially signed off with ''
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
'' by Minneapolis native
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
fading out as WLOL ended after 34 years of serving the Twin Cities. The next morning, 99.5 became the new home of KSJN, which began playing classical music 24 hours a day.
The KNOW call sign, along with all NPR news and talk programming, moved to 91.1. (The KSJN call letters officially moved to 99.5 (along with the KNOW-FM calls being instituted on 91.1) on March 11.)
The historic WLOL call letters were soon claimed by
KXLV, a station located north of the Twin Cities in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
at 105.3 FM. When the station was purchased and turned into
WREV, the call sign was parked on
KZTG (1470 AM). They were then used on
100.3 MHz from 1999 to 2003 and were restored to the 1330 AM frequency in 2005.
In 2005, KSJN was the first MPR station to broadcast regularly with the digital
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
system.
KSJN currently features the
Classical 24
Classical 24 is a syndicated, satellite-delivered public radio service providing classical music to its carrying stations. It generally airs overnights on many non-commercial and a handful of commercial classical music stations. However, the se ...
feed on its HD2 subchannel.
References
Further reading
* Mark Durenberger (1999).
Early quad-casts and other fun. The Broadcast Archive: War Stories.
* Julio Ojeda-Zapata (June 16, 2005)
''
Saint Paul Pioneer Press
The ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' is a newspaper based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It serves the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the east metro, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, a ...
''.
External links
*
99½ WLOL Minneapolis/St. Paul tribute page*
*
*
{{Coord, 45.058, N, 93.124, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title
Minnesota Public Radio
Classical music radio stations in the United States
Radio stations in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
NPR member stations
Radio stations established in 1957
1957 establishments in Minnesota