Is WCAL going to become the new "REV 105"?

Here's the press release:

http://access.minnesota.publicradio.org/press_releases/releases/20041216_wcallaunch.php

Minnesota Public Radio to Launch New Music Station in the Twin Cities

A new, diverse mix of music for listeners who have grown up in the digital generation

December 16, 2004


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(St. Paul, Minn.) Dec. 16, 2004 — Minnesota Public Radio announced today that it would launch a new radio station for music lovers in the Twin Cities after the first of the year.

The new station—89.3 FM—will present a diverse mix of music for listeners who have grown up in the digital generation. "Radio is both widely available and the perfect portable technology to support our lively music scene today," said Sarah Lutman, senior vice president for cultural programming and initiatives at Minnesota Public Radio. "Our staff will be hanging out in clubs, searching the Internet, reading the music magazines and streaming music from around the globe to find the best music for you. We're going to take the work out of finding music, and put the fun back in. Just turn on your radio."

"Welcome to the anti-format," said Steve Nelson, the new program director for 89.3 FM. "Music listeners don't categorize themselves into narrow niches and stay there. They listen to more kinds of music than ever before. And much of what they want is not currently available on radio in the Twin Cities."

Minnesota Public Radio's award-winning newsroom also plans some innovations for the new station. Lutman said, "News updates, appearances by local newsmakers, and features like film and book reviews will make the station the single best place to find out what is happening musically, and in the community at large."

The new sound will complement the programming heard on Minnesota Public Radio's existing Twin Cities stations—news and information station KNOW 91.1 FM and classical music station KSJN 99.5 FM. "We are excited that we can introduce new audiences to the breadth and depth of public radio," Nelson said. He said the station would underscore the cultural roots of the music it plays and spotlight the work of local and regional artists, both live and recorded. "This new service allows Minnesota Public Radio to continue its 37-year tradition of serving the public interest. Now we can bring this tradition of service to a new audience."

The opportunity to engage public radio listeners in a new way became available when St. Olaf College decided to sell WCAL 89.3 FM in Northfield, and its sister station KMSE 88.7 FM in Rochester, to Minnesota Public Radio. When owned by St. Olaf, the stations offered a classical music format.

WCAL and KMSE are now broadcasting MPR's Classical Music Service pending the debut of the new music station. MPR's classical music programming is undergoing changes, aided by several former WCAL staff members.

MPR's new Twin Cities station 89.3 will change its call letters to KCMP. Once it debuts, the audience can expect to hear musical artists ranging from local favorites such as Mason Jennings, The Replacements, Olympic Hopefuls and The Jayhawks to modern icons such as The Postal Service, Lucinda Williams, Alejandro Escovedo, Joni Mitchell, U2 and the Arcade Fire. Artists such as Chet Baker, Johnny Cash and Ella Fitzgerald will creep in periodically.

Until the new radio station launches in January, Nelson and his staff will be looking for comments and suggestions about this station on a new Web log (blog). The team will also offer updates on the blog as it builds the new programming.

Minnesota Public Radio's popular musical variety program The Morning Show with Dale Connelly and Jim Ed Poole—now heard on KSJN in the Twin Cities from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.—will be heard in the Twin Cities exclusively on 89.3 when the new station is launched. The Morning Show will continue to be heard beyond the metro area on MPR's regional Classical Music network.

The new station will begin operating with six or seven full-time staff members and some additional part-time staff, led by Nelson. (See his bio below.)

Rochester

The new sound of 89.3 will also be broadcast on KMSE 88.7 FM in Rochester, giving listeners there a choice of three Minnesota Public Radio stations. MPR station KZSE 90.7 FM carries news and information, and KLSE 91.7 FM offers classical music.

Program Director Steve Nelson

Steve Nelson, 32, currently production manager for Minnesota Public Radio, has been appointed program director of MPR's new radio service.

"After a national search and a very competitive application process, I am especially pleased that we have found what we're looking for in a program director right here on our own staff," Lutman said. "In his current role, he has improved the overall sound of our broadcast services and has brought a fresh spirit and energy to our work."

Nelson brings a variety of news and music radio experiences to his new position. He started his broadcasting career as morning show co-host at commercial Twin Cities music stations during the mid-1990s. He also worked as production director and sound engineer at various Twin Cities stations.

From 2000-2002, he was associate producer for public radio's national arts and culture show Studio 360 at public radio station WNYC in New York, where he helped to develop the sound and content of the show from its inception.

Nelson graduated from the University of Minnesota with a journalism degree. He helped create Radio K, the university's music station.

Minnesota Public Radio® operates a 37-station radio network serving virtually all of Minnesota and parts of surrounding states and produces programming for radio, Internet and face-to-face audiences. Programs produced by Minnesota Public Radio and its national production and distribution arm, American Public Media™, reach 13.6 million listeners nationwide each week. Of those, more than 690,000 listen regionally, in Minnesota and surrounding states. With nearly 83,000 members, Minnesota Public Radio has the highest percentage of listener membership of any community-supported public radio network in the United States. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services can be obtained at www.mpr.org and www.americanpublicmedia.us.

It should be noted that Nelson is a REV 105 vet, as is music director Thorn. Should be interesting. I hope they stream.

WCAL was a unique, locally-oriented station that provided loads of free publicity to the arts community. It carried a lot of great programs that MPR has no intention of continuing.

I wake up to Dale and Jim Ed, but after that, I would always switch over to WCAL, because they had a less warhorsey selection of classical music and a more personalized approach than KSJN.

Now they're gone. :grr:

stole it from 1st avenue one night long long ago.......

Hope they don't blow it.

I like Studio 360. I hope he carries some of that influence into the new station.

I remember hearing a lot of metal on Rev. I wonder if these guys will be that diverse.

I was sad about the sale. But this is about the best news to come out of it, IMNSHO. If it truly is like the old Rev (the new one SUCKS!), I will rejoice.

DPB

Ah, never mind.

Certainly isn't REV, but considering who owns it (Disney/ABC), it's a pretty good station, and it beats the pants off the rather stale Cities' 97. But ABC doesn't invest a heck of a lot in the station. Many of the jocks are voice-tracked (many talk breaks are pre-recorded). And the main intent of Drive is to be another brick in ABC's 'wall of rock'. And it attempts to put heat on Cities' 97 for invading KQRS' Clapton/Springsteen/Petty turf, and tries to ward off any station that decides to go all-alternative and put the heat on 93X. Drive 105 is merely a flanker. And not a bad sounding one at that.

...when they say "We are NOT owned or operated by Clear Channel."

Then I switch stations, because I sure as hell won't hear anything as good as that.

This is sort of full-circle for me. In 1968 I was an announcer at WCAL and it was a huge struggle to convince Milford Jensen (station founder and program manager) to let us run a Friday night Jazz program and a Saturday night Folk music program. He finally settled for one hour each, midnight to 1 am.

There was concern on his part that moving even an inch away from the all-classical format would drive away listeners. We enjoyed our independence (and felt far superior to the KSJN/MPR guys); if the choice at this point in time was for WCAL to go all-religious or to join with MPR, I prefer the second outcome.

Can't imagine why the St. Olaf trustees wanted to dump the station, though.

until MPR came along with the offer. I also heard that WCAL and MPR have a board member in common.

I am an avid online listener of KCRW, KEXP, and WUMB. It would be really nice to have a radio broadcast of "Morning Becomes Eclectic" mixed in with local fair.

MPR President Bill Kling needs to give the station format enough independence to take musical chances.

I am optomistic right now for this station. If they really want the format to succed more, they need to embrace the online crowd. KEMP or whatever it is needs to be streamed online 24/7 like the stations I mentioned above.

That way the world can get a feel for similar Minnesota music.

MPR does stream a lot of it's content, such as Prarie Home Companion (it's prohibited from streaming the NPR stuff). I do hope they decide to stream the whole station. I'd love to hear it here in Milwaukee.

Nearly every other public radio station in the country airs NPR programs on their web feeds, so why isn't MPR?

I was in a band ten years ago that was "up and coming": we had decent gigs, a small but loyal following, and a small buzz in some circles. Because of the REV 105, we actually got played on the radio once in a while-- even though we'd never headlined a Friday night at First Ave or the 400 Bar.

After the ABC/Borg moved into town, that opportunity vanished. You could only get played if you "knew somebody", or were willing to put up a couple thou to some program director or his "friend". It was back to the "bad old days".

I'm optimistic for the new station. I really hope they do mix it up a bit with the format. I hope they really do take some risks, because right now, with the exception of Radio K and KFAI, there's not a whole lot to choose from out there anymore.

I was in Ten Cent Fun back in '92-'93. We had about three months of quasi-fame locally, we got airplay on Radio K but I don't think 105 ever played us.

I mean, I'd love to have an FM equivalent of Radio K, but from the looks of things this won't be as good. This looks like it'll be an alternative-only station, despite the Johnny Cash and whatnot. I'd like to have a station that plays it's fair share of punk, industrial, metal, and indie rock along with alternative, much like Radio K.

I just can't see it on an MPR station. They'll leave that stuff to Radio K, KFAI, 93X, etc.

I think it will be something resembling WXPN in Philadelphia, but a few surprises thrown in (Johnny Cash, etc.). It will be pretty mellow, World Cafe-type stuff. Kinda like the old Cities 97 from the 80's, but more Wilco and less Steely Dan.

I do think it's a good move by MPR, though I'm sure many are sad about losing WCAL (which would have sold to a religious broadcaster had MPR not stepped up). This kind of format enables MPR to branch out a bit to the mainstream, to people who don't care for classical music. It's a popular format, and a nice alternative to the increasingly slick Cities 97 and the mostly automated Drive 105. The non-commercial 'Triple A' format is also coming to Milwaukee in the new year, though it is taking the place of a great (albeit automated) jazz station. It is a good move by MPR.

As for an FM version of Radio K, look for new FM translators soon that will carry Radio K 24/7 (unlike the split time on 106.7 in St. Louis Park).

You kinda put how I was thinking into better words than I did. Although, I can't say I'm not unhappy about it, I was starting to get sick of Drive 105.

I really hope Radio K does get better representation on the FM side of things because it's by far the best station in town and I hate it when I'm driving home from work at 10 at night and there's nothing at all to listen to.

...even though they played way too much Steely Dan. But it seemed that for every Steely Dan, they did play at least one Roxy Music song.

Cities 97 was originally founded as an adult/indie station back in the 80s, and were a welcome change from the headbanging and the top 40 of the day. It was one of the few stations that would play any "alternative" rock of the day (back when alternative was the quirky, arty and poppy post-punk bands and not the warmed-over grunge of today).

Oh well.....I've mostly given up on music radio these days. I can do a much better job making my own playlists and burning them to CDs anyway. But I still do miss having a station that showcases good new music.

radio K. i hate listening to AM ALL the time!