The Current's 7 years of good luck: Dessa, Mary Lucia & more weigh in

Categories: Radio
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The Current, located at 89.3 on the FM dial, is far from just another a radio station. Over the past seven years, it has transformed into somewhat of a Twin Cities institution, offering an alternative to the redundancy of commercial radio while also acting as a musical rite of passage for up-and-coming local outfits of all stripes. It's a central, cultural power within a city constantly brimming with talent, and its audience and influence extends beyond the confines of our bustling metropolis. More >>

Magic 1530AM trying to bring urban radio back to the Twin Cities

Categories: Radio, Rap/Hip Hop
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​Click. Record. Click. Stop. Wait. Repeat. That was the custom of most kids my age back in the late eighties to the mid-nineties, sitting on the floor of your bedroom with the boom box resting on your knees and waiting, sometimes hours, for them to play your jam just so you can record it on a blank cassette and listen to it over and over.

That was our version of iTunes back then. Most of my friends had it tuned to 89.9 KMOJ or 99.5 WLOL, the only two stations who were really playing urban music in the Twin Cities during that era, waiting for that new Master Ace track or Janet Jackson Flyte Tyme radio mix.

On weeknights and weekends, we had a nice stack of blank Memorex tapes ready to tape and record. We made our own mix tapes back then, showing them off the next week in school. Click. Record. Stop. Long gone are those days, and long are the days of kids or adults getting excited about radio.

Satellite radio and the Internet have pretty much brought the dial and frequency to its knees. And especially with news yesterday that 96.3 is changing its format yet again, it seems the magic is gone.
 

Or is it?

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96.3 NOW shifts to adult top 40 station K-TWIN

Categories: Radio
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Are you keeping up with all this? 

Just a short year and a half after switching from B96 to the less rap-heavy top 40 pop station 96.3 NOW, the station's owners made another shift this weekend and launched K-TWIN, which abandons "rhythmic" pop all together in favor of a format called Adult CHR. 

In other words, instead of Miley Cyrus and Beyonce, expect to hear '90s rock radio staples like Soul Asylum (whose song "Misery" was the first track to be played on the new station), Foo Fighters, and U2 mixed in with more contemporary artists like Adele and Mumford & Sons.

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Tags:

B96, K-TWIN, Radio

WLTE switching to pop country station BUZ'N 102.9

Categories: Radio
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If the fact that Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney's show at Target Field sold out in a mere four hours isn't enough to convince you that top-40 country is winning the populist vote here in the Twin Cities, this should do it: The snoozy longtime lite rock staple WLTE (102.9 Lite FM) will switch to an HD streaming station to make way for BUZ'N, which promises new releases and hits from artists like Taylor Swift, Chesney, Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, the Band Perry, and Lady Antebellum.

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Tags:

BUZN, Radio, WLTE

Yoko Ono talks to the Current on the anniversary of John Lennon's death

Categories: Radio
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Photos by Erik Hess
Yoko Ono at SXSW 2011
Today marks the 31st anniversary of the day the music world was devastated by the loss of John Lennon, and its a moment in history that has been honored very powerfully here in the Twin Cities thanks to Curtiss A's annual Lennon tribute night at First Avenue. In recent years, the Minnesota Beatle Project has also timed its release to coincide with the anniversary of Lennon's death, and today the Current is paying its own tribute to Lennon by broadcasting an interview with Yoko Ono about his artwork and legacy.

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RIP Tom Keith, a.k.a. The Morning Show's Jim Ed Poole

Categories: Obituary, Radio
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Publicity photo via MPR
Tom Keith, a.k.a. Jim Ed Poole (right) with Morning Show co-host Dale Connelly
Tom Keith, who radio listeners will recognize as Jim Ed Poole, co-host of MPR's long-running roots-heavy Morning Show, passed away unexpectedly last night of unknown causes. He was 64 years old.

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With the Current's ratings reportedly 'soaring,' what does that mean for Minnesota music?

Categories: Gimme News, Radio
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Photo by Jayme Halbritter for City Pages
The Current's program manager Jim McGuinn
Though this won't come as a surprise to anyone who's seen a Current-sponsored show sell out in a heartflutter or watched them dominate the "indie" music scene in the Twin Cities, a recent report has shown that the station is continuing to tighten its grip on the radio market. It can be hard to get a big-picture look at a trend like this, but David Brauer over at MinnPost did just that today when he compiled a list of reasons for the Current's "soaring" ratings, which found them passing their more adult-contemporary-heavy commercial competitors Cities 97.

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The Current bringing Jake Rudh to the airwaves

Categories: Radio
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Photo by Stacy Schwartz
Exciting news for fans of new wave and Britpop-heavy dance night Transmission: DJ Jake Rudh, who has been spotted lately gigging everywhere from Kings to the First Avenue Mainroom to his weekly spot at Clubhouse Jager (not to mention gracing the cover of the City Pages Best of the Twin Cities issue) will be starting up a new weekly spot on 89.3 the Current. Each Thursday night at 10 p.m., the station will hand over the reins to Rudh to spin an hour of '80s club music as part of a new series of weeknight programs.

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Local Current now available on HD radio

Categories: Radio
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Less than a month after the Current launched its 24-hour stream Local Current, the station has announced that they will be broadcasting the new station on HD radio, making it more widely accessible than the initial web-only stream.

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Radio K founder Jim Musil reflects on the station's beginnings

Categories: Media, Radio
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It's that time again. Radio K, the student run station from the University of Minnesota very humbly has launched another pledge drive and is asking for your help.
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Radio K
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