KDIZ (AM)
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| Broadcast area | Minneapolis-St. Paul |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1570kHz |
| Branding | Freedom 1570 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Conservative talk |
| Affiliations | Radio America Salem Radio Network Townhall News Westwood One Saint John's University Football |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| KKMS,KYCR,WWTC | |
| History | |
First air date | October 27, 1961(as KUXL) |
Former call signs | KUXL (1961–1988) KYCR (1988–2015) |
Call signmeaning | Taken from sister station and formerRadio Disneyowned-affiliateKYCR(KidsDIZney) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 10828 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 4,000wattsday 220 watts night |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | freedom1570.com |
KDIZ(1570kHz"Freedom 1570" ) is acommercialAMradio stationlicensedtoGolden Valley, Minnesota,and serving theTwin Citiesradio market.The station is owned by theSalem Media Groupand broadcasts aconservative talkradio format.KDIZ'sradio studiosare on Cliff Road nearMinnesota State Highway 77inEagan.
By day, KDIZ is powered at 4,000watts.But because1570 AMis a Mexicanclear channel frequency,KDIZ reduces power at night to 220 watts to avoid interference.[2]The signal isnon-directionalat all times. Thetransmitteris on Lilac Drive North in Golden Valley, nearMinnesota State Highway 100.
Programming
[edit]Salem Media owns two talk stations in the Twin Cities:WWTC1280 AMcarries mostly programs from the co-ownedSalem Radio Network.Meanwhile, KDIZ carriesnationally syndicatedhosts fromWestwood One(Ben Shapiro,Chris PlanteandMark Levin) andCBS Radio(Dana Loesch) as well as some Salem hosts (Charlie Kirk,Jay SekulowandEric Metaxas).
KDIZ also carriesSt. John's Universitycollege footballgames. Most hours begin withTownhall News,similar to WWTC.
History
[edit]KUXL
[edit]The stationsigned onthe air on October 27, 1961.[3]The originalcall signwasKUXLand it had a long history of being aChristian radiostation. In the 1960s and 1970s, KUXL playedurban gospelandR&Bmusic, among other programming, prior to becoming full-time religious.
For much of its history, the station was adaytimer,required to go off the air at night because it broadcast on a Mexicanclear channel frequency.Its studios and offices were originally located at 4820 Olson Highway in Golden Valley.[4]The operations later moved to Duluth Street. The transmitter and antenna were first co-located withKQRS (AM)on Highway 100 and later on the station's own tower a block away from the Duluth Street studios, next to Highway 100.
In the mid-1960s, the station was operated by Marvin Kosofsky. Kosofsky hired Bob Smith (a.k.a.Wolfman Jack), who relocated fromDel Rio, Texas,to run the station with a mostlyR&Bformat. Also at KUXL at this time were Art Hoehn (a.k.a. Fat Daddy Washington) and formerKDWBpersonality Ralph Hull (a.k.a. Preacher Paul Anthony and The Nazz). It was this trio of broadcasters who took control of "border blaster" stationXERB1090, inBaja California,in 1965. They operated the "Big X" fromMinneapolisinitially, then relocated to SouthernCaliforniain 1966.
KUXL sponsored numerous concerts by such artists asIke and Tina Turner,theFour Tops,B. B. King,Solomon Burke,the Temptations,Jimmy Reed,Jr. Walker,the ImpressionsandFats Domino.
KUXL was a ratings success in the early 1970s. Some of the on-the-air talent from that era included Maury Bernstein, a noted musicologist/folklorist who later hosted forNational Public Radio.Bernstein was the major authority on Scandinavian music in the U.S. Bob Allard was famed Twin Cities talk show host and television (KMSP) newscaster. Allard was one of the best-known voices in Twin Cities broadcasting history. Allard was known for portraying the character "Cactus Jim" on both radio and television in Iowa in the 1950s. Chris Robbins, also known as John Ryan, also worked forWTCN-TV.Brian Tolzmann was the youngest major market news director in the country at the time. He later hosted a nationally syndicated radio show, and worked with former KUXL managerWolfman Jackon several national concert shows. Steve Blitz and talk show hosts Joe Barbeau and Jim King were also part of the staff.
KYCR
[edit]The call letters changed toKYCRin May 1988.
KYCR was in 1994 purchased by Children's Broadcasting Corporation, parent of theRadio Aahschildren's format, becoming a sister to Aahs flagship stationWWTC(1280 AM). KYCR retained its religious format as studios were co-located with WWTC at Excelsior Boulevard and Highway 100 in St. Louis Park. In 1995, the transmitter was moved a few miles south of its longtime tower to WWTC's 4-tower transmission facility in St. Louis Park, west of Highway 100 and south of I-394.
KYCR was acquired by religious and conservative broadcast companySalem Communicationsin 1998. Two years later, they bought WWTC, and both stations moved to the facility of Salem'sKKMSin Eagan (transmission continued from the WWTC/KYCR site in St. Louis Park). From 2002 until 2007, KYCR was a time-shifted version of WWTC "The Patriot" as "The Patriot II". The format was then changed to a general talk format with its own identity, simply known as "AM 1570: The New Talk of the Twin Cities". In April 2007, KYCR lost syndicated talk-show hostDon Imusfrom the lineup after the network cancelled the show. After two months of a "Dr. Laura" replay in the slot, the show was replaced byThe War RoomwithQuinnand Rose fromWPGBin Pittsburgh, becoming the first affiliate for the show in the midwest. Until April 2009, other programming includedDennis Miller,The Radio Factor,Laura Schlessinger,Lars Larson,Janet Parshall,andMark Levin.
On August 13, 2008,North Dakota State Universityannounced that KYCR would become the home ofNDSU Bisonfootball broadcasts for the 2008 season. This makes the station the first affiliate in the Twin Cities area for NDSU sports.
The station attempted yet another format change on March 30, 2009, this time to an all-business format, carrying programming from theBloomberg Newsbusiness network. The station's slogan changed to "Business 1570 -- Twin Cities Business Radio."
KDIZ and Freedom 1570
[edit]On December 15, 2015, KYCR began stunting with a loop directing listeners toKDIZ(1440 AM), with KYCR's business news format moving to that station. On December 24, Salem changed the call letters of 1570 AM to KDIZ.[5]On January 11, 2016, the station relaunched as "Wellness Radio", a first-of-its-kind Health & Wellness talk format.[6]
On November 30, 2019, KDIZ beganstuntingwith a loop of morse code, unusual noises, radio crackle, and voice messages, and advising listeners to tune in on the morning of December 2 for an announcement. On the promised date, KDIZ flipped toconservative talkas "Freedom 1570".[7][8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Facility Technical Data for KDIZ".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
- ^Radio-Locator.com/KDIZ
- ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1964, page B-84
- ^Secret Stash Records, page 27
- ^"Call Sign History".
- ^Wellness Radio Debuting In Minneapolis–Radio Insight(published January 6, 2016)
- ^"KDIZ 1570 Minneapolis, MN".Salem Media Group.
- ^Salem Launches Twin Cities Conservative TalkerRadioinsight – December 2, 2019
External links
[edit]- Facility details for Facility ID 10828 (KDIZ)in theFCCLicensing and Management System
- KDIZinNielsen Audio's AM station database
- Radiotapes.comFeaturing historic airchecks and videos from Twin Cities radio stations including a video of KUXL from 1986.