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For the airport inSt. Johns, Arizonaassigned the ICAO code KSJN, seeSt. Johns Industrial Air Park.
KSJN
Broadcast areaMinneapolis–Saint Paul
Frequency99.5MHz(HD Radio)
BrandingYourClassical MPR
Programming
FormatPublic;Classical music
SubchannelsHD2:Classical 24
AffiliationsNational Public Radio
Ownership
OwnerMinnesota Public Radio
History
First air date
February 1957;67 years ago(1957-02)
Former call signs
WLOL-FM (1957–1991)
Call signmeaning
St. John's University (former owner of 91.1 FM)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID42911
ClassC
ERP100,000watts
HAAT315 m (1,033 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
45°03′29.90″N93°07′27.80″W/ 45.0583056°N 93.1243889°W/45.0583056; -93.1243889(KSJN)
Translator(s)91.9K220JP (Minneapolis)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.yourclassical.org/mpr

KSJN(99.5FM) is anon-commercial,listener-supported,publicradio stationlicensed toMinneapolis, Minnesota.It serves theTwin Citiesregion as theflagshipof "YourClassical MPR",Minnesota Public Radio'sclassical musicnetwork. The studios are in the MPR Broadcast Center on Cedar Street indowntown Saint Paul.

KSJN is aClass CFM station. It has aneffective radiated power(ERP) of 100,000watts,the maximum for most FM stations. Itstransmitteris on theKMSP TowerinShoreview.[2]Programming is also heard on several other stations andFM translatorsaround Minnesota. KSJN broadcasts usingHD Radiotechnology. Its HD2subchannelcarries "Classical 24,"an all-classical network fromAmerican Public Media.

History

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Classical and Easy Listening

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On July 18, 1956, radio stationWLOL (1330 AM)was granted a construction permit for a newFM radiostation to be heard on 99.5 MHz.[3]The station, WLOL-FM, began broadcasting in February 1957;67 years ago(1957-02).It aired aclassical musicformat.[4]The station maintained this programming for its first 16 years of operation until the money-losing outlet switched toautomatedbeautiful musicin August 1973.[5]The station donated its classical albums to KSJN 91.1 FM andKUOM770 AM.[6][7]

Theeasy listeningformat proved to be popular as more people acquired FM receivers and offices played WLOL-FM for their employees and visitors. The station aired quarter-hour sweeps of soft instrumental music as well asBroadwayandHollywoodshow tunes.

Adult Contemporary

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The competition in the easy listening format was evident in the Twin Cities. Other stations in the format included 102.1KEEY-FMand WAYL AM 980 and FM 93.7 (nowKKMSandKXXR).[8]Midcontinent Broadcastingdecided to sell WLOL-AM-FM to Bob Liggett ofLiggett Broadcastingfor $1.55 million in 1978.[9]On August 20, Liggett, with a staff of ninedisc jockeys,debuted a newsoft adult contemporarystation asEasy Rockin' FM 100 WLOL.

That brought WLOL-FM into competition with 94.5KSTP-FMand 102.9 WCCO-FM (nowKMNB).[10]Ratings rose, but the station remained far off its direct competition.[11]

Top 40/CHR era

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On December 12, 1981, WLOL-FM changed formats again, this time toTop 40/CHRas99½ WLOL.[12]The ratings effect was quick to take hold; in the spring 1982Arbitronsurvey, 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 byJohn Hinesand Bob Berglund.[13]

Even while WLOL was surging, a sale was in the works. In 1982, anIndianapolis-based consortium headed byJeff Smulyanacquired WLOL-FM for $6 million, a record price at the time for a Minnesota radio station.[14]It was the first station purchase forEmmis Communications,which then bought two more stations the next year.[15]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 competitorKDWB.[16]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 uniquejinglepackages, 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 asPrince& The Revolution,Morris Day&The Time,Information Society,Alexander O'NealandThe Jetsall 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,jumped ahead of a slumping WLOL and would, from that point on, be the dominant CHR station in the market.[16]Playing catch-up, WLOL started tweaking the programming and air staff, shook up its longtime morning show. Finally, on May 11, 1990, it switched to aRhythmic Contemporaryformat.[17]Labeling itself as "Today's Best Music",99.5 WLOLhired a new airstaff and rejuvenated itself in the minds of listeners, managing a ratings improvement.[18]

St. John's University

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Saint John's UniversityinCollegeville,nearSt. Cloud,built and began operating the first station in the network,KSJR-FM(90.1), in January 1967. By 1968, 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 listeners in the Twin Cities, but even then it only provided grade B coverage of Minneapolis and minimal coverage of St. Paul. To solve this problem, the university signed on KSJN at 91.1 MHz, originally licensed to the northern Twin Cities suburb ofNew Brighton.It served as a full-time repeater of KSJR-FM.

By 1969, Saint John University's realized it was in over its head operating a two radio stations, 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.[19]

In 1969 and 1970, MPR assisted in the formation ofNational Public Radio(NPR) and was afounding memberof the organization. Four years later, in 1974, the network began live broadcasts ofGarrison Keillor'sA Prairie Home Companion.The show was among NPR's most popular offerings and it aired each Saturday from theFitzgerald Theaterin St. Paul.

MPR purchasedWLOL(1330 AM) in 1980 and relaunched it as a dedicated news and talk service centered around NPR programming. The call letters were switched to KSJN. This station was renamed KNOW in 1989. It has since returned to the WLOL call sign and it broadcastsCatholicreligious programming.

KSJN and KNOW relocation

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This hasn't been a fun time, but I am satisfied we did everything we could do to preserve WLOL in the Twin Cities. We just ran out of time.... With little in the way of resources [the staff] gave KDWB a real good run. "

Rick Cummings, vice president of programming, Emmis Communications, on the end of WLOL[20]

In 1989, Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan bought theSeattle Marinersbaseballteam. As early as September 1989, rumors were swirling that WLOL might be up for sale to raise funds for the acquisition.[21]It later emerged that Emmis had indeed placed the station up for sale.[18]

On December 26, 1990—-realizing an ambition held for over a decade—-Minnesota Public Radio announced the purchase of the WLOL facility. The price tag was $12 million. For Emmis, it was a discount on the original asking price of $20 million, which a slowing economy had put out of reach.[18]The purchase would give MPR two FM frequencies in the Twin Cities. MPR had been operating both AM and FM stations since it had bought 1330 kHz—-the former WLOL AM-—in 1981. It would sell the AM station, by that time known as KNOW, to raise some of the funds for the FM purchase.[18]

MPR announced that it would move its classical programming to the 99.5 frequency. That would give classical music fans an all-classical outlet, while those interested in news and information would have their own full time NPR station. The 91.1 frequency would become the new home of KNOW-FM, which no longer spent part of each day playing music.[18][20]

Emmis took some steps toward enabling another commercial radio owner to pick up WLOL, going as far as to provide such a blueprint to other FM stations in the Twin Cities market.[20]But MPR fans wanted a full power FM station for news and talk programs. AM 1330 had been challenged by a poor signal in the western suburbs that were home to many MPR members, as well as in office buildings.[22]

WLOL final broadcast

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Pop music fans in the Twin Cities were upset as WLOL slowly counted down to its last day, February 26, 1991. WLOL's final broadcast culminated with a day-long farewell, playing music and jingles from the station's nearly 10 year-long Top 40/CHR era. Current and former airstaff offered farewell messages, and advertisements fromKQRS-FM,KEEY-FM(where morning host John Hines later landed) and evenKDWBredirected listeners to their stations. At 6:30 p.m., WLOL left the air 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"byJanet Jackson.

At 7 p.m., after about a half hour ofdead air,WLOL started playing music without live DJs for about an hour. Liners played in between songs with KDWB wishing WLOL "happy trails" and redirecting listeners to their station. WLOL officially signed off with1999by Minneapolis nativePrincefading out. WLOL ended 34 years of serving the Twin Cities.[23][24][25]

Debut of Classical KSJN-FM

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The next morning, 99.5 became the new home of KSJN. It told listeners it would play classical music 24 hours a day.[22]The KNOW call sign, along with all NPR news and talk programming, moved to 91.1. On March 11, the KSJN call letters officially moved to 99.5 FM. Meanwhile, the KNOW-FM call sign was instituted on 91.1 FM.

The historic WLOL call letters were soon claimed byKXLV,a station located north of the Twin Cities inCambridgeat 105.3 FM. When the station was purchased and turned intoWREV,the call sign was parked onKZTG(1470 AM). They were then used on100.3 MHzfrom 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 digitalHD Radiosystem.[26]KSJN currently features theClassical 24feed on its HD2 subchannel.

References

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  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for KSJN".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^Radio-Locator.com/KSJN
  3. ^FCC History Cards for KSJN
  4. ^"WLOL-FM, 99.5 on Your Dial".Minneapolis Sunday Tribune.February 10, 1957. p. 13.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  5. ^Letofsky, Irv (August 13, 1973)."WLOL-FM drops classical music".Minneapolis Tribune.p. 10B.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  6. ^Letofsky, Irv (December 5, 1973)."WLOL dials a change of fortunes".Minneapolis Tribune.p. 10B.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  7. ^Letofsky, Irv (August 7, 1973)."Sponsors quit WLOL-FM over format change".Minneapolis Tribune.p. 7B.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  8. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1977page C-112. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  9. ^"Changing Hands"(PDF).Broadcasting.May 29, 1978. p. 32.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  10. ^Gendler, Neal (August 23, 1978)."Liggett begins 'Rock-n Easy' radio assault with WLOL-FM".Minneapolis Tribune.p. 5B.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  11. ^Carman, John (July 18, 1979)."WCCO's score rises with Twins".Minneapolis Star.p. 1B.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  12. ^"WLOL-FM Sales Kit"(PDF).1983.RetrievedNovember 12,2020– via radiotapes.com.
  13. ^Carman, John (July 9, 1982)."WLOL whistling happy tune over Arbitron ratings".Minneapolis Star and Tribune.p. 14B.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  14. ^Shull, Richard K. (September 6, 1982)."Channel 6 Going Into Pay-TV".Indianapolis News.p. 13.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  15. ^Shull, Richard K. (September 13, 1983)."Date Set For Doomsday Show".Indianapolis News.p. 17.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  16. ^abDuncan Jr., James H. (2004)."Minneapolis"(PDF).Duncan's American Radio.RetrievedNovember 12,2020– via World Radio History.
  17. ^"Street Talk"(PDF).Radio & Records.May 18, 1990. p. 38.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  18. ^abcdeOberdorfer, Dan (December 27, 1990)."Minnesota Public Radio to buy WLOL-FM".Star Tribune.pp. 1A,[1].RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  19. ^"Founding Minnesota Public Radio — Saint John's of Collegeville".Archived fromthe originalon June 17, 2010.RetrievedSeptember 24,2007.
  20. ^abc"CHR To Classical: Emmis Deals WLOL To Minnesota Public Radio For $12 Million"(PDF).Radio & Records.January 11, 1991. pp. 5, 40.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  21. ^Johnson, Cheryl; Eskola, Eric (September 29, 1989)."Flying low over Al Checchi's new house on Harriet".Star Tribune.p. 2B.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  22. ^abHolston, Noel (February 27, 1991)."Long-haired to longhair".Star Tribune.pp. 1B,6B.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.
  23. ^"Crap from the Past - Bonus: The Last Day of WLOL/Minneapolis, February 26, 1991".February 26, 1991.
  24. ^WLOL Signs Off
  25. ^Final Hourradiotapes.com
  26. ^"MPR Plans Twin Cities Conversion".Radio World.May 17, 2005.RetrievedNovember 12,2020.

Further reading

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