KFAN (AM)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| KFAN | |
 |
|
| City of license | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Minneapolis-St. Paul |
| Branding | 1130 KFAN |
| Slogan | The Sports Leader |
| Frequency | 1130 AM (kHz) (Also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | December 23, 1923 |
| Format | Commercial; Sports |
| Power | 50,000 watts (day) 25,000 watts (night) |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | FAN |
| Former callsigns | WDGY (1925-1991) WGWY (1924-1925) WHAT (1924) KFMT (1923-1924) |
| Affiliations | ESPN Radio |
| Owner | Clear Channel |
| Sister stations | KDWB, KEEY, KFXN, KQQL, KTCZ, KTLK |
| Website | www.kfan.com |
KFAN (1130 AM) is a sports talk radio station in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota, whose in-house programs also can be heard in North Dakota, Wisconsin and other areas of Minnesota through The FAN Sports Radio Network. KFAN's main studios are in St. Louis Park. The station has started using digital radio broadcasts on at least two transmitters (KFAN and KFXN) as of February 2005, according to iBiquity. Currently operated by Clear Channel Communications, the station is the oldest continuously operating station in the state, dating to December 23, 1923 when Dr. George W. Young signed on with the call letters KFMT.
Contents |
[edit] History
Dr. Young cycled through the names WHAT, WGWY ("W-George W. Young"), and finally WDGY ("W-Dr. George Young") in the next two years until being chastised by the government for changing too frequently. The station kept the name WDGY until 1991. WDGY operated on a number of different frequencies before settling onto 1130 AM in 1941. More recently, KFAN experienced severe storm damage in April 2004 at their transmission site, with four out of nine antennas at their directional array in Credit River Township (near Prior Lake, Minnesota) getting blown down.
In 1933, Dr. Young was granted a license for W9XAT, an experimental mechanical television station. It is believed that the first transmission of the 120- or 125-line system—probably the first telecast in Minnesota—occurred on August 4 of that year, featuring a handshake between WDGY station personality Clellan Card and Minneapolis mayor William Kunze. The station pushed the technological limits of the day and provided a lot of interesting exercises for WDGY engineers, but Dr. Young never got into regular broadcasts. The license for that station expired in 1938, partly because mechanical television development was heavily discouraged by that point. After 64 years of dormancy, an amateur radio group in the area acquired the W9XAT call sign in 2002 with the intention of using it for mechanical and narrow-bandwidth TV experiments.
The station was one of the first stations in the country to program rock and roll music in a top 40 format in the mid 1950s. It was then owned by Todd Storz, one of the pioneers in programming to the baby boom generation with music that theretofor had been rarely heard on "white" radio stations. Storz's stations were heavy on promotion, headline-grabbing contests, and high profile dee-jays (usually using echo-chamber microphones). Other Twin Cities station owners resented the attention WDGY received, but soon they too jumped on the top-40 bandwagon. Later they would admit that the Todd Storz they often disparaged very well may have saved radio at a time when television was stealing its audience.
WDGY gained the (perhaps unfortunate) nickname Weegee after a time. By the 1960s, the station didn't use the name itself, but the name stuck among people in the radio industry for many years to come. From about 1955 to 1977, the station played popular music and was one of the most popular stations in the area, primarily competing for music listeners with KSTP 1500 and KDWB 630, though WCCO 830 was the major force of the day with a mixture of music, talk, and farm reports. WDGY station changed to a country music format in September 1977, around the time when most music stations began shifting onto the FM band. The country format continued until 1989, when it became "News Talk 1130, WDGY". This format gradually morphed into the sports talk format, and the calls were changed to KFAN in 1991. Following this change, the WDGY call letters were ironically adopted by KDWB for the 630 kHz frequency.
[edit] Programming
According to Minneapolis' Star-Tribune, KFAN "...has morphed from a sports-talk station to a talk station that often discusses sports." [1]
[edit] Daily, Monday-Friday
The Power Trip Morning Show: 6am-9am. Hosted by "Superstar" Mike Morris. Consist of sports, some local and world news, and the world of entertainment. Morris is joined by producer Chris Hawkey (A NASCAR enthusiast and a local rock cover-band musician), and Cory "Sludge" Cove (Who's hobbies include eating french fries and celibacy). Also frequently on the show is WCCO-TV sports anchor Mark Rosen.
P.A. and Dubay: 9am-noon. Hosted by Paul Allen and Jeff Dubay. Consists of Minnesota Vikings news, University of Minnesota sports, some Minnesota Twins happenings, and news on the Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Timberwolves. Dubay is nicknamed "Puffy", which was given to him by his cohost P.A. Paul Allen is known as the voice of the Minnesota Vikings, since he does the play by play for KFAN's broadcast of Vikings games. P.A. is the track announcer at the local horse racing track Canterbury Park. The duo are continuously on the wrong side of predictions on major sporting events. The show has become infamous for its ability to jinx local athletes who are frequent guests, similar to the Madden jinx or the Sports Illustrated jinx. The only team that has been impervious to the curse is the Gopher Men's hockey team. Justin Gaard is the current producer for the P.A. and Dubay show. Current Detroit Pistons head coach Flip Saunders frequently calls into the show, with the moniker of "Phil from Minneapolis" A website dedicated to calling out Minnesota sports media members for their blatant favoritism (www.homersota.com) has a page dedicated to Allen and Dubay.
The Common Man Progrum (KFAN's spelling): Noon-2pm. Hosted by the "Common Man" Dan Cole. The show consists of "ack-akka-dak, dak-dakka-ack", humor, tomfoolery and skullduggery, political discussion on the local and national levels, along with Cole's penchant for rarely talking about sports (except golf) on this program, which ironically is on an all sports radio station -- a fact that "Common" is very proud of. Cole's ability to not talk sports on a sports talk radio station is uncanny. He is also known for intermittent periods of dead air, usually lasting five to ten seconds. Cole is a long-time radio personality of the Twin Cities for a "couple 13-14 years", winning City Pages magazine's "Best AM Radio Personality" on a number of occasions. The Common Man "Progrum" is currently being produced on an interim basis by Brandon "Tenna-B" Mileski. Common says he predicted the Twins to win the division in 2006, even when they were playing horribly, but everyone knows he wrote them off before the season had started. On a weekly basis he reads the "Homer of the Week" from his self-professed favorite web site Homersota.com.
The Chad Hartman Show: 2pm-4:00pm. Hosted by Chad Hartman, son of legendary Twin Cities sportswriter Sid Hartman. The show features a mix of sports and current issues. Frequent guests of the Hartman Show include Minnesota Twins ex-General Manager Terry Ryan and WCCO-TV sports anchor Mark Rosen. Hartman is referred to by the Common Man as "the Barbara Walters of the Fan" for his impressive interviewing skills. The Chad Hartman show is produced by female impersonator Darren "Doogie" Wolfson.
Bumper to Bumper: 4:00pm-7pm. Hosted by Dan Barreiro and sidekick "Mr. Phunn" Joe Anderson. The show consists of Barreiro's insights on both popular culture issues and sports, discussing the most important events of the day. On Wednesdays during the 2005 NFL season Barreiro co-hosted Mike Tice Live, a call-in show where Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice took calls and talked about the performance of his squad in the game previously played. Barreiro will not host a call-in show with new coach Brad Childress. "Bumper to Bumper" is also known to feature humorous call in segments with eccentric Green Bay Packers fan Carl Gerbschmidt, who appears to be a fictional character.[2] Barreiro has several other popular segments including the "We're Done As a Society" segment at 6:05 every Friday, the "Defrocked Holy Man of the Day" segment and the "Ode to a Dead Guy" segment. He has become famous for his meltdowns.
Sludge and Lake: 7pm-9pm. Hosted by Cory "Sludge" Cove and Henry Lake. The show consists of sports talk on all levels of competition and entertainment, although leaning more towards the sports realm. The show is usually broadcast from the studio but sometimes originating remotely from Joe Senser's Grill. The show was broadcast almost every night from KFAN: The Restaurant until its closing in 2005.
[edit] Other programming
Video Games Weekly: Wednesdays 9pm-10pm, hosted by Paul Charchian who discusses new video games for many different platforms.
FAN Outdoors: Thursdays 7pm-9pm, hosted by Billy Hildebrand and Saturdays 6am-8am, hosted Rob Drieslein. Saturdays 5am-6am, Outdoors Live with Doug Leier. The hosts share their hunting and fishing experiences and strategies, along with insights on outdoor issues.
FAN Motorsports: Saturdays noon-2pm. Hosted by Power Trip producer Chris Hawkey. He talks about big news in NASCAR and other racing.
Viking Rewind: Sundays 7am-8am during the Vikings' season. Hosted by Doogie Wolfson. Simply rewinds of the past week's Minnesota Viking interviews from the other KFAN shows.
Packer Preview: Sundays 8am-9am during the Green Bay Packers season, is hosted by Dave Sinykin. The Preview examines the day's Packers game. Packer Preview is the only Packer show on KFAN and is controversial among Viking fans.
Sunday Sermons: Sundays 9am-10am. Hosted by Dan Barriero and sidekick (PA and Dubay producer and former Edina High School tennis star) Justin Gaard. Basically a shortened version of Bumper to Bumper minus Mr. Phunn.
Minnesota Viking Broadcast: Pregame coverage of Vikings games starts two hours before the day's Vikings game usually on Sunday but some times on Monday if the Vikings have a Monday Night Football game. Pregame hosted by "Mr. Phunn," Joe Anderson. KFAN's Vikings broadcast team consists of Paul Allen on play-by-play, and color commentary done by former Viking Linebacker and Assistant Coach Pete Bercich. Sideline insight is brought to the game by former Viking Punter Greg Coleman. The halftime report is hosted by Joe Anderson with insight from Mike Morris and Jeff Dubay. The postgame report is also hosted by Joe Anderson and includes interviews from multiple Vikings players and coaching staff which are conducted by Greg Coleman.
Viking Fan Line: Starts right after the Vikings postgame report and lasts about two hours. Mike Morris and Jeff Dubay take fan postgame reaction and provide their insight on what the fans think.
Vikings Uncensored: 6:30pm-7:30pm Mondays during Vikings season. Hosted by Paul Allen and "Sludge" Corey Cove from Joe Sensor's bar and grill in Bloomington. They interview a star Viking player from the game on Sunday. They do not broadcast if the Vikings have a Monday Night Football game.
Fantasy Football Weekly: 10am-Noon Saturdays during the Football Season. Hosted by Paul Charchian, John Tuvey, and Bo Mitchell. Fantasy football questions are answered ad nauseam on this show. Callers are known to call a couple of hours before the show is on-air to be put on hold.
The Weekend Wrap: 5-5:30PM Sundays. Hosted by Doogie. Wraps up the week in sports.
Twins Weekly: 5:30 - 6:30PM Sundays. Hosted by Chad Hartman. A look at the Minnesota Twins' prior week.
Poker Lounge: 9:00 - 10:00PM Monday Hosted by "Sludge" Corey Cove, Tenna B, and PMac. They talk poker and help you improve your skills.
ESPN Radio: On when none of the programs above are on the air. ESPN Radio programming on KFAN includes All Night with Jason Smith and multiple weekend shows.
[edit] Former Programming
Rights to the Minnesota Timberwolves broadcasts were lost in 2006. KFAN had held these rights since the Wolves' inaugural season in 1989. The Wolves will return to KFAN beginning in the 2008-09 season.
[edit] Past Personalities
- Larry Fitzgerald Sr., former sports talk show host at KMOJ in Minneapolis. Father of Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
- Dave Huffman, former Minnesota Vikings guard and color commentor.
- Ryan Lefebvre, current radio play-by-play announcer of the Kansas City Royals.
- Michelle Tafoya, currently a sideline reporter for ESPN
- Eric Nelson, now with WCCO in Minneapolis.
- Mark Rosen, longtime WCCO sports anchor. Still makes regular guest appearances on current KFAN programming.
- Thor Tolo, longtime KDKA radio sports jock in Pittsburgh.
- Jesse Ventura, former wrestler and Governor of Minnesota,
- Bob Yates
[edit] KFAN: The Restaurant
It opened in 2004 and closed in 2005. The food services were managed by Grand Management, which operates a chain of Sidney's restaurants in the Twin Cities. Clear Channel Communications considered it to be a pilot project and may have tried to create similar restaurants across the country if it succeeded. In September 2005, the KFAN name was dropped and the restaurant became known as the Big City Tavern. The restaurant owners said the affiliation with Clear Channel was too limiting and implied that the establishment was only a sports bar. In July 2006, Big City Tavern closed. The restaurant was taken over by Major's Sports Cafe in September 2006.
[edit] KFXN
- See also: KFXN
KFXN, also known as "Score 690", is KFAN's sister station. They air a complimentary sports talk format, which today consists mostly of syndicated shows from Fox Sports and ESPN Radio, as well as being the Twin Cities home of the Jim Rome Show. They have a long history as sister station to KTCZ, and aired a jazz format for much of the 1980s and into the 1990s before simulcasting with its FM sister. In 1998, 690 became a counterpart to KFAN, airing repeats of KFAN's local shows as well as various syndicated fare.
[edit] The FAN Sports Radio Network
| Location | Call sign | Frequency (kHz) | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bemidji, Minnesota | KBUN | 1450 AM | Paul Bunyan Broadcasting Co. |
| Brainerd, Minnesota | KLIZ | 1380 AM | BL Broadcasting |
| Duluth-Superior (MN-WI) | WEBC | 560 AM | Clear Channel |
| Ely, Minnesota | WELY | 1450 AM | Boundary Waters Broadcasters |
| Fargo-Moorhead (ND-MN) | KVOX | 740 AM | James Ingstad |
| Grand Forks-East Grand Forks (ND-MN) | KKXL | 1440 AM | Clear Channel |
| Mankato, Minnesota | KYSM | 1230 AM | Linder Radio |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN-WI) | KFAN | 1130 AM | Clear Channel |
| KFXN | 690 AM | ||
| Rochester, Minnesota | KWEB | 1270 AM | Clear Channel |
| Sioux Falls, South Dakota | KSQB | 1520 AM | Feller Broadcasting |
| St. Cloud, Minnesota | KXSS | 1390 AM | Regent Communications |
[edit] External links
- 1130 KFAN
- Score 690
- KFAN Transmitter Site Tour
- Transmitter Visit of KFAN
- W9XAT: The Twin City Experimental Amateur Television Society
- KFAN Antenna Network
- Query the FCC's AM station database for KFAN
- Radio Locator Information on KFAN
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
