KFAN (AM)

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There is also a station named KFAN-FM in Johnson City, Texas

KFAN

Broadcast area	Minneapolis-St. Paul
Branding	"Sports Radio AM 1130 KFAN", "The Fan"
First air date	December 23, 1923
Frequency	1130 AM kHz
Format	Sports radio
ERP	50,000 watts (day), 25,000 watts (night)
Class	B
Callsign meaning	"The FAN"
Former callsigns	WDGY (1925-1991) WGWY (1924-1925) WHAT (1924) KFMT (1923-1924)
Owner	Clear Channel Communications
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 1 History 2 Programming 2.1 Daily, Monday-Friday 2.2 Other programming 2.3 Former Programming 3 The "rube" base 4 KFAN: The Restaurant 5 KFXN 6 The FAN Sports Radio Network 7 External links

[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.

[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 musician), and Corey "Sludge" Cove.

P.A. and Dubay: 9am-noon. Hosted by Paul Allen and Jeff Dubay. Consist of Minnesota Vikings news, University of Minnesota sports, some Minnesota Twins happenings, and news on the Minnesota Wild. 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, humor, tomfoolery and skullduggery - some politics on the local level, along with hardly ever talking about sports (except Golf) on this program which is on an all sports radio station, something that "Common" is very proud of. Cole is a long time radio personality of the Twin Cities for a couple 13-14 years. Common's ability to not talk sports on a sports talk radio station is uncanny. 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 www.HOMERSOTA.com.

The Chad Hartman Show: 2pm-4:30pm. Hosted by Chad Hartman, son of legendary Twin Cities sportswriter Sid Hartman. The show features a good mix of sports and current issues. Frequent guests of the Hartman show include Minnesota Twins General Manager Terry Ryan and channel 4 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: 4:30pm-7pm. Hosted by Dan Barreiro and sidekick "Mr. Phunn" Joe Anderson. Show consists of Barreiro's insight on mostly cultural issues and some sports. Barriero discusses 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 do a call-in show with new coach Brad Childress. The show is also known to feature humorous call in segments with ecentric Green Bay Packers fan Carl Gerbschmidt. 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 and callers who want to contribute to the show should be prepared for rudeness from call screener Corey 'Roufsy' Roufs.

Sludge and Lake: 7pm-9pm. hosted by Corey Cove and Henry Lake. Show consists of sports on all levels and entertainment, although rarely measures outside the lines of the sports realm. The show is usually broadcast from studio but sometimes from Joe Senser's bar and grill. The show was broadcast almost every night from KFAN: The Restaurant until its closing in 2005.

[edit] Other programming

FAN Outdoors: Thursdays 7pm-9pm, hosted by Billy Hildebrand and Saturdays 6am-8am, hosted Rob Drieslein. 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. Hosted by Dave Sinykin. Previews the day's Packers game and gives hope to Packer fans. The only Packer show on KFAN and controversial among Viking fans.

Sunday Sermons: Sundays 9am-10am. Hosted by Dan Barriero and side kick (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 Viking Games start 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 tight end Joe Sensor. 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: 10-Noon Saturdays during the Football Season. Hosted by Paul Charchian, John Tuvey, and Bo Mitchell. Fantasy football questions are answered ad nauseum on this show. Callers are known to call a couple of hours before the show is on-air to be put on hold.

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.

[edit] The "rube" base

The KFAN listeners are referred to as rubes. The phrase "rube cred" is used on the air, especially on the P.A. and Dubay Show. KFAN has a world wide rube base because thanks to both the internet stream via KFAN.com that plays all the programming on the station besides Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Timberwolves games and ESPN radio and KFAN's Rube Chat.

In September of 2003, "Rubes" gained another medium to talk Vikings, Wolves, and other topics when KFAN.com unveiled "Rube Chat" -- An online message board community designed to let Rubes interact with each other and various on-air personalities on occasion. The brain-child of KFAN.com Webmaster Jeremy Sinon, the message board currently boasts nearly 11,000 members and is constantly growing.

Annually each March and April, Rubes are treated to the Rube brackets, an inspired take on the popularity contests of movie stars or inanimate objects created on several other websites. The rankings, which take into account levels of interest in the opinions and personal life of thousands of Rubes, are compiled by a small committee and all experienced Rubes are asked to vote on who they prefer. The 2005 winner was RC3, while MMG took the top honor in a close vote in 2006. Vincesixx lost in both finals.

[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 was successful. 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

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. 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.

See also KFXN.

[edit] The FAN Sports Radio Network

Location	Call sign	Frequency (kHz)	Owner
Bemidji, Minnesota	KBUN	1450 AM	Paul Bunyan Broadcasting Co.
Bismarck-Mandan (ND)	KXMR	710 AM	Clear Channel
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	1280 AM	Clear Channel
Grand Forks-East Grand Forks (ND-MN)	KKXL	1440 AM	Clear Channel
Mankato, Minnesota	KYSM	1230 AM	Clear Channel
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
• Query the FCC's AM station database for KFAN