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KFAN
KFAN logo
Broadcast areaMinneapolis-St. Paul
Frequency1130 AM (kHz) (HD Radio)
Branding1130 KFAN
Programming
FormatCommercial; Sports
AffiliationsMinnesota Vikings (flagship)
Minnesota Timberwolves (flagship)
ESPN Radio
Ownership
OwnerClear Channel
KDWB, KEEY, KFXN, KQQL, KTCZ, KTLK
History
First air date
December 23, 1923
Former call signs
WDGY (1925-1991)
WGWY (1924-1925)
WHAT (1924)
KFMT (1923-1924)
Call sign meaning
FAN
Technical information
ClassB
Power50,000 watts (day)
25,000 watts (night)
Links
Websitehttp://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 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.

KFAN is the flagship station of the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

History

Dr. Young first operated the station from his house in north Minneapolis at 2219 Bryant Ave. N., cycling 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 WDGY calls until 1991. WDGY operated on seven frequencies, by the time it settled on 1180 AM. It made its final move to 1130 AM in 1941 as required by the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) under which most American, Canadian and Mexican AM radio stations changed frequencies. During the station's earliest years until 1931 it shared time with other local stations, including WRHM for part of 1927. Subsequent to his home as the station's base, Young located studios at his storefront at 909 West Broadway in Minneapolis, the West Hotel on Hennepin at 5th Street, and the Builders Exchange at 609 S. 2nd Avenue. Transmitter sites are known to have been at his house, at the Broadway address and from 1927 to 1949 at Superior Boulevard and Falvey Cross Road in St. Louis Park on the grounds of a fox farm; the site is known now as I-394 at Louisiana Ave. Following Dr. Young's death on April 27, 1945, studio locations included Bloomington (two locations), 611 Frontenac Place in St. Paul and the current site at Clear Channel's consolidated offices in St. Louis Park at 1600 Utica Avenue. The transmitter site moved in 1949 to Bloomington at a site that would within a decade overlook I-35W, using a vast 9-tower array.

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 adopted by KDWB for the 630 kHz frequency.

More recently, KFAN experienced severe storm damage in April 2004 at its transmission site, when four out of nine antennas at its directional array in Credit River Township (near Prior Lake, Minnesota) were blown down.

Programming

According to Minneapolis' Star-Tribune, KFAN "...has morphed from a sports-talk station to a talk station that often discusses sports." [1]

Daily, Monday-Friday

The Power Trip Morning Show (6 AM-9 AM): 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. Also frequently on the show is WCCO-TV sports anchor Mark Rosen.

PA & The Producer(9 AM-12 PM) : Hosted by Paul Allen, produced by Justin Gaard. Formerly was the P.A. and Dubay show.

The Common Man Progrum (12 PM-2 PM) (KFAN's spelling): Hosted by the "Common Man" Dan Cole. The show features a mix of sports and political discussions both on local and national levels. Despite being on a sports-talk station, Cole at times rarely talks about any sport other than golf - a fact he is proud of. Another common theme on the show is extended periods of dead air, sometimes lasting up to 10 seconds. Cole is a longtime Twin Cities radio personality and has won the "Best AM Radio Personality" award from City Pages magazine several times. The Common Man 'Progrum' is currently produced on an interim basis by Brandon "Tenna-B" Mileski.

The Chad Hartman Show (2 PM-4 PM): 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 Darren "Doogie" Wolfson.

Bumper to Bumper (4 PM-7 PM): 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. "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.

Sludge and Lake (7 PM-9 PM): 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.

Other programming

Video Games Weekly: Wednesdays, hosted by Paul Charchian who discusses new video games for many different platforms.

FAN Outdoors: Thursdays, 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, hosted by Power Trip producer Chris Hawkey. He talks about big news in NASCAR and other racing.

Viking Rewind: Sundays 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 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.

In the Zone: Saturdays, hosted by Dave Sinykin and former NBA player Trent Tucker. All sports are covered in the show, but much of it revolves around the NBA.

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 Corey Cove. 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 Corey Cove take fan postgame reaction and provide their insight on what the fans think.

Vikings Uncensored: Mondays during Vikings season. Hosted by Paul Allen and "Sludge" Cory 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: 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: Sundays. Hosted by Darren Wolfson. Wraps up the week in sports.

Twins Weekly: Sundays. Hosted by Chad Hartman. A look at the Minnesota Twins' prior week.

Poker Lounge: Monday Hosted by "Sludge" Cory Cove, Brandon Mileski, and Phil Mackey. They talk poker and help you improve your skills.

Tee to Green : Saturdays. Golf related show hosted by Dan Cole during the summer months, talks all things golf related with co-host and master teaching professional Craig Waryn.

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.

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.

Sunday Sermons: Hosted by Dan Barreiro. Short version of Bumper to Bumper, with Justin Gaard as producer. Last aired in early April 2008.

P.A. and Dubay: 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. Former Detroit Pistons head coach Flip Saunders frequently calls into the show, with the moniker of "Phil from Minneapolis"

Past personalities

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, then changed owners again in 2008 to the Roseville location of Grumpy's Bar & Grill.

KFXN

See also: KFXN

KFXN, also known as "Score 690", is KFAN's sister station. It airs a complementary 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. The station has 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.

The FAN Radio Network

Location Call sign Frequency (kHz) Owner
Bemidji, Minnesota KBUN 1450 AM Paul Bunyan Broadcasting
Brainerd, Minnesota KLIZ 1380 AM BL Broadcasting
Duluth-Superior (MN-WI) KQDS 1490 AM Red Rock Radio
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 KWSN 1230 AM Backyard Broadcasting
St. Cloud, Minnesota KXSS 1390 AM Regent Communications

External links

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