KTLK-FM

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KTLK
Broadcast area	Minneapolis-St. Paul
Branding	100.3 KTLK
Slogan	FM News Talk 100.3
First air date	1965
Frequency	100.3 FM (MHz) 100.3-2 FM (KTLK2 The Wolf - Classic country (HD Radio)
Format	Commercial; News/Talk
ERP	98,000 watts
Class	C1
Callsign meaning	K-TALK
Owner	Clear Channel Communications
Website	www.ktlkfm.com

KTLK (100.3 FM) is a news/talk radio station located in the Twin Cities area. They are licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota. KTLK's transmitter is located in the suburb of Shoreview on KMSP-TV's tower. Its effective radiated power is 98,000 watts (including beam tilt). KTLK-FM should not be confused with KTLK-AM in Los Angeles, though both stations are owned by Clear Channel Communications.

Contents 1 History 2 KTLK HD2 3 Trivia 4 External links 5 References

[edit] History

The station started broadcasting in 1965 as WCTS, with a non-commercial very conservative fundamentalist Christian format, consisting of mostly Bible teachings, by the Fourth Baptist Church in Minneapolis. WCTS is owned by the Central Theological Seminary, hence the call letters. WCTS continues broadcasting to this day on 1030 AM.

A startup company called Colfax Communications purchased the station in early 1993, took it off the air for a few months signed on again as WBOB, picking up a country music format under the "Bob 100" moniker. The slogan was "Turn your knob to Bob". WBOB faced stiff competition from the long established K102 and upstart KJJO-FM, which had switched to country only a few months prior. Despite this, WBOB was consistently the second highest-rated country station in the market behind K102, until it passed K102 for the crown which 102 eventually won back. Colfax had purchased KQQL to partner with WBOB prior to Bob 100's debut.

The station was later sold to Chancellor Broadcasting, which owned other stations in the market, including Bob's rival, K102, purchased WBOB and KQQL in 1996. A format change for WBOB was expected, and finally, in 1997, WBOB became WRQC, broadcasting a hard rock format with Howard Stern in the morning and the slogan "Classic Rock That Really Rocks". WRQC was known on-air first as Real Rock 100, then Rock 100.3. The station gained controversy for its billboards touting Stern, with a scantily clad female model and the words "Turn On Howard".

Stern's show was a mild success in the market, but consistently finished second or third in the ratings. Plus, like many other Stern affiliates, ratings for the station the rest of the day were poor, as KQRS' owners flipped its sister station, KEGE to a similar hard rock format. Program Director Andy Bloom also took the station away from its intended musical target. Rock 100.3 and Stern left the Twin Cities airwaves on August 3, 1999, as the famed WLOL call sign was eventually resurrected for a new classic hits format. Although ratings were good initially, the station seemingly didn't live up to expectations based on the call letter history, and the small playlist lead to increased repetition. In July 2003, the KJZI call letters and a smooth jazz format were introduced.

When the local public broadcaster KBEM, another jazz station, found itself in financial straits in early 2005, Clear Channel donated $25,000 to help keep it operating. KJZI and another CCC-owned station, Cities 97 (KTCZ), carried announcements requesting support for KBEM. The generous move was lauded by many in the media.

The ratings for KJZI were far from massive, but the station did adequately. Still, rumors regarding yet another format change constantly surfaced. Clear Channel, however, seemed content with the smooth jazz format, but were even more interested in taking advantage of their Premiere Radio Networks syndication arm. The company had experienced success with the introduction of news/talk programming on one of their Pittsburgh FM stations, WPGB. Desperately wanting a traditional talk radio station in the Twin Cities market, but having no AM stations to do it with (of their two AM stations in the market, KFAN was not an option, given their massively successful sports/talk format, and KFXN, a lower-powered daytime-only station, served a complimentary role to KFAN), Clear Channel decided to put talk on an FM signal. On January 2, 2006, KJZI switched to a talk format, becoming the second commercial FM talk station in the area after female-oriented talk station WFMP. The new call letters were KTLK, and they obtained the local syndication rights to Rush Limbaugh's and Sean Hannity's radio programs from KSTP-AM when that station decided to go in a more locally-oriented direction. A mix of local and syndicated hosts fill out the rest of the schedule.

[edit] KTLK HD2

By February 2005, the station was one of a handful of stations in Minnesota to use iBiquity's HD Radio system for digital radio broadcasts. On April 25, 2006, Clear Channel announced that KTLK's HD2 subchannel will carry a format focusing on Classic Country hits.

[edit] Trivia

Despite sharing call letters and owner with KTLK-AM in Los Angeles, the two stations air opposing political views, as the Los Angeles station is an Air America affiliate.

[edit] External links

• KTLK website
• KTLK-HD2's "The Wolf"
• A Howard Stern fansite documenting the switch to WLOL
• Query the FCC's FM station database for KTLK

[edit] References

• Deborah Caulfield Rybak (August 30, 2005). Limbaugh, Hannity moving to FM band; smooth jazz fades out on 100.3. Star Tribune.