KQSP

KQSP (1530 AM) is a radio station licensed to Shakopee, Minnesota and serving the western suburbs of Minneapolis. It is owned by Broadcast One, Inc., and airs a tropical format. The station's studios are located in Golden Valley and the transmitter site is in Chanhassen.

History

Progress Valley Broadcasters, Inc. was granted the original AM license for Shakopee, MN, by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Bob Zellmer, minority stock holder in the new corporation was instrumental in the actual building of the radio station to include the tower and transmitter sight located across from Assumption Seminary, along US Highway 212 (between Chaska and the highway 212 and highway 169 junction known as the Y), and building of the main studio facilities located downtown Shakopee. A satellite studio was soon established in Waconia. The station went on the air October 6, 1963, complete with a huge, well attended, open house. The radio station used the call sign KISM. However, the call sign was changed to KSMM, November 15, 1964, to resolve a formal objection filed with the FCC, by existing radio station KYSM in Mankato, MN, which stated the KYSM and KISM call signs were too similar. Zellmer was the general manager, his wife Marjorie was traffic and billing manager, Ray Foslid news director, Dick Hullander sales manager. Fred Norman was morning DJ, Bernie Gerlach was afternoon DJ. Mike Boyd was a salesman and also on-air talent. Frank Blount worked out of the Waconia satellite studio, in sales and on air personality. Carl Peterson followed Blount in that capacity. In the summer of 1965 Zellmer and his wife sold their minority interest in KSMM. Zellmer went on to become a pioneer in cable television. He and business partner Oliver Riedel established Abel Cable TV franchises in Marshall,MN; Montevideo,MN; Brookings,SD; Wahpeton,ND and Breckinridge,MN.

Until 1987, the call letters were KSMM as a 500 watt daytime operation. From that point until 1998, they were KKCM (airing religious formats), before reverting to their previous calls. They upgraded their power to 8,600 watts after adopting the KKCM call sign.

The station has been limited for many years by a predominantly daytime-only signal (though its 10 watt nighttime signal covers a few far-western suburbs).

Over the years, there have been many owners and formats. Since 1999, there have been at least six different formats. From 2004 until 2005, the station was leased, along with WMIN, to a group that programmed local and syndicated progressive talk programming, primarily from Air America Radio. When the format's programmers purchased KTNF in October 2004 and transferred programming there, KSMM was up for sale once again, and played random music before returning to a Spanish-language format.

In June 1999, after an ill-fated try with a smooth jazz/talk format, the station started playing a variety of songs mixed with listener commentary, experimenting with the musical selection to find a mix that the southwest metro community liked. This evolved into a rather eclectic format that played a great deal of classic hits. Eventually, shows from the former REV105 appeared, and guest DJ shows from local bands were also featured. This free-wheeling approach was never intended to be permanent, but was in anticipation of a sale of the station, which occurred in 2000 when the new owner changed to a Mexican music format in August of that year.

Starboard Broadcasting agreed to purchase the station in September 2002, as they were rolling out their "Relevant Radio" format across the midwest. The station aired Spanish-language Catholic-based programming from EWTN. During that time period. Starboard also purchased a stronger station at 1330 AM and consolidated all of their programming there in 2004. The station was sold once again to Broadcast One, owned by Yong Kim, in June 2006.

On September 11, 2006, the station's call sign was changed to KQSP, and the format switched to tropical music.

On June 20, 2011 KQSP changed their format to urban oldies, branded as "Magic 1530".

The station went silent pending a format change in February 2013, and returned on the air a week later with a tropical format.^[1]

References

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for KQSP
• Radio-Locator Information on KQSP
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for KQSP

Coordinates: 44°48′26″N 93°33′25″W / 44.80722°N 93.55694°W / 44.80722; -93.55694