WLOL

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WLOL-AM
Broadcast area	Twin Cities
Branding	"Relevant Radio"
First air date	1939
Frequency	1330 kHz
Format	Christian radio
Power	9700 Watts
Callsign meaning	"W Land Of Lakes"
Affiliations	Relevant Radio
Owner	Starboard Broadcasting
Website	wlol.relevantradio.com

For the station at 99.5 FM in Minneapolis/St. Paul from 1981-1991, see KSJN

WLOL (1330 AM) is a radio station in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. It is part of the Relevant Radio Christian network.

Contents 1 History 2 See also 3 External links 4 References

[edit] History

WLOL, named for the "Land Of Lakes", is one of the area's most legendary set of call letters. WLOL's history is intertwined with many other local frequencies over the years. The first incarnation of WLOL signed on 1330 AM in 1939 and was a part of the Mutual Broadcasting System, a national radio network in the United States. An FM broadcast began at 101.3 MHz seven years later, lasting until about 1954. However, WLOL purchased WMIN-FM two years later, which had been broadcasting at 99.5 MHz since 1945, and shifted the call letters to the new frequency.

The AM station aired a variety of formats over the years, including Top 40 in the 1950s. country music, and a brief return to Top 40 in 1979 as WRRD, "13 Rock", which prided itself as an anti-disco station.

AM 1330 was purchased in January 1980 by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), while WLOL-FM transitioned to a pop music format before eventually being sold off to another company. The purchase of the AM station was a fallback for MPR, who had tried to buy KBEM 88.5 a year earlier to allow a split into two separate talk and classical music networks. The new station at 1330 became known as KSJN to correspond with the 91.1 FM signal the organization had at the time. On October 9, 1989, the call letters were changed to KNOW, and they became the flagship for MPR's new news and information network.

WLOL-FM kept its call sign as it was sold off, and found another owner when it was purchased by Emmis Broadcasting in 1983. The call letters enjoyed their biggest success airing a Top 40 format, from 1981 to 1991. The station remained popular until Emmis ran into financial problems in the early 1990s as a result of their purchase of baseball's Seattle Mariners. Many of Emmis' radio properties were sold off, and in 1991, 99.5 found a buyer in MPR, which turned it into the flagship of the organization's classical music network, drawing howls from pop music fans. The MPR call signs were shuffled, causing 91.1 FM to become KNOW-FM and 99.5 FM to become KSJN.

With two FM frequencies in the Twin Cities, MPR pondered other uses for 1330 AM. It eventually became the for-profit station WMNN in September 1995, and was the for-profit flagship for the Minnesota News Network. The profits of this station were fed back to MPR, to help stabilize funding by donations from the public. WMNN was sold off in 2004 to Starboard Broadcasting, who turned it into a Relevant Radio station and soon restored the original WLOL call sign.

Between 1991 and 2004, the WLOL name was used by several other stations, including 1470 (now KLBP), 100.3 (KTLK-FM), and 105.3 (WGVY). The call sign returned to the original 1330 AM frequency in 2004 (this time, however, it supposedly stands for "Lady of Lourdes", reflecting Relevant Radio's Catholic mission).

[edit] See also

• KDWB
• KSJN
• WGVY
• KZTG
• KTLK-FM

[edit] External links

• Relevant Radio 1330 AM
• 99 1/2 WLOL Minneapolis/St. Paul tribute page
• Radiotapes.com: featuring historic airchecks of WLOL-AM, WLOL-FM and other Twin Cities radio stations
• A late-1950s top hits list
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WLOL

[edit] References

• Retrieved from Glen Hauser's Shortwave/DX Report, January 29, 2004 on January 18, 2005
  • (January 23, 2004). Minnesota Public Radio selling some operations. Associated Press.
  • Nicole Garrison-Sprenger and Benno Groeneveld (January 19, 2004). MPR sells WMNN, Minnesota News Network for $10 million; Donor is disappointed. The Business Journal (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
  • (January 24, 2004). Starboard does big: Buys major Twin Cities AM station from Minnesota Public Radio for $7 million.