WLOL (defunct)

WLOL-FM
City of license Minneapolis, Minnesota
Broadcast area Minneapolis-St. Paul
Branding Classic Hits 100 WLOL
99.5 WLOL
Hitradio WLOL 99 & A 1/2 FM
Musicradio WLOL 99 & A 1/2 FM
WLOL 99 & A 1/2 FM Almost Perfect Radio
Easy Rockin' FM 100 WLOL
Slogan "Get Me Up, WLOL!"
"Today's Best Music, Custom Mixed Every Hour, 99.5 WLOL"
"Classic Hits 100 The New WLOL, It Feels Good To Be Home!"
Frequency 99.5 FM (MHz) (1956-1991)
100.3 FM (MHz) (1999-2002)
First air date 1945 (FM)
Format AC (1973-1981) CHR (1981-1991) CR (1999-2002)
Callsign meaning Wonderful Land Of Lakes, We Love Our Listeners!
Former callsigns WMIN-FM (1945-56)
Owner 99.5: Emmis Communications (1983-1991)
100.3: Clear Channel Communications

WLOL-FM was the call sign used primarily for a station at 99.5 FM, serving the Twin Cities region. Throughout the 1980s, WLOL was most known as a top-rated CHR station.

The current inhabitant of the 99.5 FM frequency is KSJN, owned by Minnesota Public Radio, which purchased the station in 1991. Since then, the WLOL call letters have been used by several AM and FM stations in the area. The WLOL call letters currently reside at 1330 AM, the original station to hold them.

History

The 99.5 frequency dates to 1945 when AM station WMIN started broadcasting on the new FM band. WMIN-FM was sold in 1956 to the owners of WLOL, becoming WLOL-FM, which remained its call sign until being sold to MPR in 1991.

The history of the WLOL call letters is intertwined with many other area stations. WLOL was first used in 1940 when WLOL-AM signed on the air at 1300 AM and was a part of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The station moved to 1330 in March 1941 as required by the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) under which most American, Canadian and Mexican AM radio stations changed frequencies.

For many years, WLOL-FM had a variety of formats. The original classical music format gave way to easy listening in 1973,[1] then later soft rock as "Easy Rockin' FM 100 WLOL". The AM station was sold to MPR in 1980 and became KSJN-AM. The owner held on to WLOL-FM, and in 1981, the station dumped soft rock and became "The New Musicradio WLOL 99 & A 1/2 FM", the only Twin Cities FM station at the time playing Top 40 music. The new WLOL became a massive success, eventually achieving a 10-share in the Arbitron ratings.

Get Me Up, WLOL!

WLOL was noteworthy for its presentation. The station combined typical top-40 programming philosophies with a local touch and relied heavily on unique jingle packages, including the now iconic "Get Me Up!" jingle, which was written by Kyrl Henderson of the now defunct Reel Good Productions. Local artists such as Prince & The Revolution, Morris Day & The Time, Information Society, Alexander O'Neal and The Jets all received support from WLOL.

The station was purchased by Emmis Broadcasting in 1983. New competition arrived later that year when longtime AM top-40 station KDWB returned to its co-owned FM frequency after the FM's several years of playing album oriented rock. WCCO-FM briefly switched to top-40 in the fall of 1982, but with dismal results, it reinvented itself as Adult contemporary WLTE. WLOL and KDWB became bitter rivals throughout the 1980s, with WLOL and the (John) Hines & (Bob) Berglund Morning Show dominating the format for the next five years. In 1988, KDWB, which had been in a slump for years, hired a new program director and new airstaff, updated its on-air presentation and promotion, and created a new logo.

By the end of the 1980s, the tables were turned. Some listeners felt WLOL had grown stale and KDWB had become the hip new CHR station. From that point on, KDWB led WLOL in listenership, and became the dominant CHR station in the market, The Steve Cochran Show toppling Hines & Berglund. Playing catch-up, WLOL started tweaking the programming and airstaff, shook up its longtime morning show, and finally, in May 1990, teased a format change. On May 11, WLOL became a rhythmic top 40 station, dropping rock product from bands like Aerosmith and replacing it with Dance, Hip-Hop and R&B. It aired dance mixes of songs, sometimes creating in-house custom mixes. Labeling itself as "Today's Best Music!", the new WLOL hired a new airstaff and rejuvenated itself as "99.5 WLOL".

The end of WLOL, and relocation of KSJN

After the retooling, ratings started to improve and it almost caught up to KDWB (which WLOL personalities derided on-air as "K-DWeeB"). But Emmis' finances at this time grew tight due to its purchase of baseball's Seattle Mariners. The company started selling some of its most successful stations, including WFAN in New York and KXXX in San Francisco. In 1991, WLOL became the next Emmis sale; the shocking news was that the station was to be sold to Minnesota Public Radio, which had for years sought to acquire an additional FM station in the market to use as an FM signal for its news/talk station KNOW 1330 AM (coincidentally, the original WLOL license). MPR planned to move KSJN from 91.1 to 99.5 and get KNOW on FM at 91.1. Pop music fans in the Twin Cities were furious as WLOL slowly counted down to its last day, February 26, 1991. The staff spent WLOL's last day paying tribute to the station by playing music and jingles from the CHR station's ten-year history. Former air personalities dropped by or recorded farewell messages. And in a move seen by some as ghoulish, other stations such as KQRS-FM, K102 (where longtime WLOL morning host John Hines later landed) and even longtime rival KDWB bought advertising time on WLOL, soliciting listeners to tune to their stations. Finally, WLOL signed off just after 6PM, with the last song being "Miss You Much" by Janet Jackson, the end of which Janet says "That's the end?" with Program Director Gregg Swedberg's reply, "Yes." At 7 PM, WLOL started playing music without live DJs, after which it officially signed off with 1999 by Minneapolis native Prince. The next morning, 99.5 FM became the new home of KSJN, and KNOW-FM made its debut at 91.1.

Future locations of WLOL call letters

Shortly after WLOL's demise on 99.5, KXLV, a station located north of the Twin Cities in Cambridge at 105.3 FM, picked up the WLOL call letters for its Hot AC format. When the station was purchased and turned into WREV, its new sister station at 1470 AM became the new parking spot for the historic calls. This continued until 1999, when AMFM Broadcasting (soon to be absorbed into Clear Channel Communications purchased the WLOL calls for a new station to make its debut at 100.3 FM, in an attempt at bringing back the WLOL '80s-era excitement, albeit with a 1970s-oriented classic hits format. The new WLOL lasted until 2002, when it flipped to smooth jazz. Hubbard Broadcasting considered putting the call letters on one of its stations, even putting a ten-day hold on them with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but eventually declined. In 2005, when Starboard Media sought out new call letters following its purchase of 1330 AM, the unclaimed WLOL, call returned to its place of origin.

Technical aspects of 99.5

In 1971, WLOL-FM participated in "quadcast" (quadraphonic stereo) experiments with KSJN, when that station was located at 91.1 FM.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Forrest Powers (14 August 1974). "Station to go Classical" (PDF). The Minneapolis Star. Retrieved 17 November 2014.

Bibliography

External links

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