KDWB-FM
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| KDWB | |
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| City of license | Richfield, Minnesota |
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| Broadcast area | Minneapolis-St. Paul |
| Branding | 101.3 KDWB |
| Slogan | #1 For Today's Hit Music |
| Frequency | 101.3 FM (MHz) (Also on HD Radio) 101.3-2 FM (KDWB2 Party Zone - Rhythmic/Dance (HD Radio) |
| First air date | August 1959 |
| Format | Commercial; Top 40 (CHR) |
| Power | 100,000 watts |
| Class | C |
| Callsign meaning | Derived from former sister station KFWB |
| Former callsigns | WPBC (1960s-1972), WRAH (1972-1973), WYOO (1973-1976) |
| Owner | Clear Channel |
| Sister stations | KEEY, KFAN, KFXN, KQQL, KTCZ, KTLK |
| Webcast | Listen Live! |
| Website | www.kdwb.com |
KDWB (101.3 FM) is a radio station in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, known for almost fifty years as a major Top 40 pop music outlet. Its transmitter is located in Shoreview, Minnesota. Today, the station is owned by Clear Channel Communications.
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[edit] History
Between their AM and FM frequencies, KDWB has been an uninterrupted top 40 outlet since 1959. Originally starting out at 630 kHz, the station's owners purchased the 101.3 MHz frequency in 1976, later transferring the entire format there.
[edit] 63 KDWB
- See also: WDGY
KDWB's origins on the AM dial date back to 1951, at 1590 kHz. The station began as a collaboration between three brothers who named it WCOW, and it played country and old-time music. Vic, Nick, and Al Tedesco, who had previously put together a station in Stillwater, Minnesota, attempted to get into television on channel 17 the next year, but financial backing fell through. The channel 17 allocation was taken by Twin Cities Public Television in 1965. In the early days, WCOW signed on with a cowbell.
WCOW was not very successful, so the station transitioned to being a female-oriented station with the call sign WISK in 1957, and switched their frequency to 630 kHz the next year. Again, the format was not popular, and the station was soon sold to Crowell-Collier Broadcasting Company, who owned KFWB and KEWB in California. The top 40 format of those stations was brought to Minnesota, and the station was dubbed KDWB in 1959. It quickly became a major competitor to the established WDGY, which had been playing a pop music format for a few years by that point. With the 630 kHz frequency, KDWB, calling itself "Channel 63," began its long uninterrupted run as a pop music station.
KDWB allegedly was the first station to have been fined by the Federal Communications Commission. They apparently had to pay $10,000 because of repeated willful violations of nighttime broadcast power restrictions on the AM band. A fire at the station knocked it off the air for a few days later that decade.
[edit] History of 101.3 FM
- See also: WYOO (U100)
After two years of wrangling and obtaining start-up funds, WPBC officially signed on the air on October 18, 1949. The station was owned by the People's Broadcasting Company, founded by former WCCO announcer Bill Stewart and his wife Becky Ann. In contrast to WCCO and KSTP, WPBC carried no network programming, and were live and local all day. The station in the early years played a variety of middle of the road pop music and standards, and was even considered an innovator in the concept of singing jingles.
As they were limited by their then-daytime only license at 980 AM, they started up WPBD at 101.3 MHz in August 1959, simulcasting the AM station.
The Stewarts sold the stations in 1972 to Fairchild Industries for $1.5 million. Fairchild subsequently dismissed the entire staff and overhauled both stations. On November 3, 1972, the AM station was relaunched as WYOO, picking up an oldies format (with rock and roll included). A few days later, WPBC-FM became WRAH and programmed an automated album oriented rock format. When the oldies format of WYOO started to slide in the ratings, more MOR music was added, but ratings slid even further. Fairchild contemplated selling the station. The general manager and program director, both hired from established Top 40 station KDWB, felt a major change needed to be made.
Station management decided to flip to a Top 40 format. The new station was christened "U100" and debuted on August 26, 1974 during a remote broadcast from the Minnesota State Fair. The new U100 quickly became the topic of conversation throughout the area with its rowdy, outrageous mix of Top 40 and hard rock. Though neither station's frequency had anything to do with the number 100, the placement on the dial at 980 AM and 101.3 FM, close enough to the big "100" on the dial, gave management enough of a reason to call the simulcast U100, since all radios at the time were analog and showed the number "100" on the dial near where both stations were located.
During the next two years, U100 quickly became one of the most talked-about radio station in town. Competition was fierce in rock 40 radio at the time, and compared to U100, WDGY, KDWB and KSTP-AM seemed a bit tame in their on-air presentation. As an added advantage, U100 was the first Twin Cities top 40 station to broadcast on the FM dial in stereo (in addition to 980 AM).
[edit] KDWB-FM
In early 1976, Fairchild Industries decided to put both stations on the market. The owner of easy listening FM station WAYL was interested in the AM operation, to simulcast WAYL's signal and expand coverage in parts of the metro area. Since one company could not own more than one AM or more than one FM station in the same market at the time, they needed to find a buyer for the FM station, and sought out the owners of various AM stations in the area. Doubleday Broadcasting, owner of KDWB, wasn't actively seeking an FM station at the time but offered to buy 101.3 FM in February 1976 after they were offered a rather generous deal for $750,000 that included WYOO-FM and the building in Eagan that housed both stations. KDWB's general manager at the time, Gary Stevens, claimed that they did not buy WYOO-FM to shut down a competitor, but rather to take advantage of what they saw as a good deal.[1]
U100 signed off for the last time at midnight on Wednesday September 15, 1976, and KDWB morning personality True Don Bleu launched the new KDWB-FM simulcast the following morning at 6 AM.
Helped by the stereo simulcast on 101.3 FM, KDWB quickly regained its position as the dominant Top 40 station in the Twin Cities. WDGY switched to a country music format in 1977. And KSTP hung around until 1979, as they slowly transformed into a talk format. By the end of the decade, KDWB was the only true Top 40 station in town.
[edit] Stereo 101
With the major competition gone, and the FCC mandating a breakup of AM/FM simulcasts, KDWB-FM split apart from the AM station's Top 40 simulcast in September 1979 and became a pop/rock hybrid as "K101." The station soon morphed into "Stereo 101," an album oriented rock station designed to go up against KQRS, which had recently dumped their free-form rock presentation and adopted a stricter playlist. "Stereo 101" would be mildly successful in its four year run, even topping KQRS in the ratings several times. KDWB's AM signal continues with the Top 40 format during this time.
[edit] Back to Top 40
In 1981, a serious new Top 40 competitor arrived in the Twin Cities. WLOL dropped their soft rock format and turned itself into a high-profile hit music station, immediately shooting to the top of the ratings. WCCO-FM also briefly switched to Top 40. Meanwhile, 63 KDWB faded quickly in the ratings, as AM music stations were slowly becoming a thing of the past. To protect its heritage, take a chunk of WLOL's stellar ratings and finally make the move of its legendary station to the FM dial, KDWB-FM dropped AOR in the Fall of 1983 and reverted back to Top 40, though the AM station was running their own programming at times. In a role reversal, the FM signal was now deemed the priority, as 630 AM attained secondary status. The AM station continued with Top 40 until 1985, when it flipped to a separate oldies format.
The new "101 KDWB" struggled for years against upstart market leader WLOL, which featured a fresher music selection, more popular DJs, and a highly-rated morning show. KDWB was viewed by many as stuffy, stale, boring and misguided, and they went through several unsuccessful morning shows. It was argued by many that their promotions, music selection and on-air presentation paled in comparison to WLOL.
Finally, in 1988, newly-hired program director Brian Phillips cleaned house, as he dismissed many of the air personalities, overhauled the music, and brought in Steve Cochran to host the station's new morning show. He also hired a new air staff, introduced 12-song commercial-free music sweeps, changed the overall on-air presentation, and created a new logo, which is still in use today. As the rechristened "101.3 KDWB," their fortunes changed. KDWB quickly became the top CHR station in the market, starting a dominance that continues to this day. Now WLOL was playing catch-up, as they tried various minor overhauls and tweaks before moving in a dance music-oriented direction in 1990. KDWB also gained national attention in 1989 for helping to break "The Look" by Roxette, the first of four US number-one songs for the Swedish duo. The next year, WLOL came to a sudden and premature end, as owner Emmis Broadcasting experienced financial problems and began to divest of many of their properties. Minnesota Public Radio purchased WLOL and turned it into the flagship for their classical music service. Throughout the rest of the 1990s, KDWB had virtually no CHR competition.
In 2000, KDWB got a new rival of sorts when upstart KTTB ("B96") went on the air with a rhythmic Top 40 format, heavy with hip hop and urban contemporary music. While B96 hasn't been a major ratings threat, partly due to its rimshot broadcast signal and smaller promotional presence, it has given KDWB the most formidable competition it's had in recent years. At the other end of the spectrum, KS95 also competes somewhat with its older-leaning Hot AC format.
[edit] "Muslim Jeopardy!" controversy
In late September 2006, KDWB-FM's Dave Ryan, Corey Foley and Steve-O performed a comedy skit based on radical Islamic ideas and behaviors that dominate the news. The skit, modeled on the popular TV game show Jeopardy!, included an announcer using a fake South Asian accent introducing contest categories such as "infamous infidels" and "potent portables." The skit also included a threat to behead a female host when she got an answer wrong. Some people found the skit funny and a fair depiction of Muslim ideas and actions. Many others, however, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, thought otherwise. After receiving complaints about the skit, it demanded an apology from KDWB.
On October 2, 2006, the station's website contained a short apology: "KDWB does not condone making light of Islam and Muslims. We regret that listeners found the 'Muslim Jeopardy!' comedy skit of one of our on-air hosts to be insensitive."
[edit] KDWB HD2
On April 25, 2006, Clear Channel announced that KDWB's HD2 subchannel will carry a format focusing on Dance Hits. The HD2 signed the following July as the "Party Zone." "Party Zone" is also the name of the Friday and Saturday night show on KDWB simulcasted from local clubs that in the past has been hosted by the likes of Tone E. Fly, Gerry Dixon, Jeremiah Kubiak and Michael Knight. After six months of running jockless, the subchannel began to add announcers (from KDWB) to its programming.
[edit] Dave Ryan in the Morning Show
A Morning Show from 5 am to 9 am. Hosted by Dave Ryan , Lena Sevenson , Steve ( Steve - O) LaTart and Crisco
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- KDWB
- Radiotapes.com Historic Minneapolis/St. Paul airchecks dating back to 1924 including KDWB AM & FM and other Twin Cities radio stations.
- Twin Cities Radio Airchecks' KDWB page
- KDWB-HD2's "Party Zone"
- Oldiesloon.com, featuring historical information of Twin Cities Top 40 stations
- Query the FCC's FM station database for KDWB
- Radio Locator information on KDWB
[edit] References
- (December 6, 2002). Radio station founder Al Tedesco dies. Associated Press.
- Station histories. Oldiesloon.
- Barry Mishkind (February 28, 2004). Broadcast History FAQ. The Broadcast Archive.
- radiotapes.com, featuring classic airchecks of KDWB, KDWB-FM, U100, and "Stereo 101".
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