in
Minneapolis and
Saint Paul, Minnesota . The sidewalk leading to the building lies precisely on the city line, as does the central leg of the tower.]]
AM 1500 is and is the
Flagship station of the
Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation , which also owns several other TV stations across the
United States and some other properties.
KSTP's
AM signal at 1500
KHz is the product of a
1928 merger between two other
Twin Cities stations. ("Where All
Minneapolis Dances") and '''KFOY''' had each started broadcasting a few years earlier.
Stanley E. Hubbard 's WAMD went on the air for the first time on
February 13 ,
1925 (some sources say
1923 ), originally broadcasting live dance music from a local
Ballroom . It is claimed that this was the first radio station to be completely supported by running paid
Advertisements . KFOY radio first took to the air on
March 12 ,
1924 in St. Paul.
Twin Cities stations were experimenting with
Frequency-modulated transmissions in the late
1930s . KSTP engineers had started running at 29.95 MHz by
1938 . This "
Ultra-short-wave " station continued regular broadcasts until at least
1944 . Other Twin Cities stations also experimented with FM, but not as extensively. WCCO operated a low-power station, but it apparently went off the air quickly.
WTCN 's FM transmission stayed around longer, but remained intermittent. KSTP's locally produced programs from this era include the ''5:45 News'', with newscaster Cal Karnstedt, in 1947.
KSTP was an affiliate for the
NBC radio network for much of its early existence. They programmed a
Full Service MOR radio format, in the shadow of the similar
WCCO (AM) . In
1974 , KSTP-AM broke away from their longtime format and became one of four area stations at the time to program a
Rock Music /
Top 40 format, competing with the AM stations
WDGY ,
KDWB and later,
WYOO . The competition would eventually shake itself out, with outrageous rocker WYOO dropping out after being sold in
1976 , the staid WDGY switching to country music the following year, and uptempo hits station KSTP evolving into its current
News/talk format by
1979 . Top 40 rock music, by this time, was starting to migrate to the FM band.
Notable hosts who have been on KSTP AM include
Jesse Ventura ,
Tom Barnard ,
Don Vogel ,
John MacDougal ,
Griff ,
Geoff Charles ,
Joe Soucheray ,
James Lileks ,
Leigh Kamman ,
Barbara Carlson ,
Peter Thiele ,
Tom Mischke ,
Jason Lewis , and Paul Brand. This wonderfully entertaining stable of on-air talent was supported by an equally skillful team of producers who included Bruce Huff, Rob Pendleton, Alison Brown, Jean Bjorgen, David Elvin (who Vogel dubbed the "Steven Spielberg of Talk Radio"), Mitch Berg and others.
The station has, for the most part, emphasized local hosts over the years, though it was one of
Rush Limbaugh 's first affiliates (
Clear Channel -owned
KTLK-FM would take over rights to Limbaugh's show in January 2006). Other syndicated hosts previously on KSTP include
Sean Hannity ,
Bruce Williams ,
Larry King &
Owen Spann .
The station's studios are located in St. Paul and its transmitter is located in
Maplewood, Minnesota .
On
August 1 ,
2006 , the station announced that they would be the new flagship for
Minnesota Twins Baseball , effective with the start of the
2007 season. The Twins had been on rival
WCCO since arriving in
Minnesota in
1961 .
The switch has caused inconveniences among some listeners, particularly in neighboring states and regions. While both WCCO and KSTP operate at 50,000 watts, KSTP is not a
Clear Channel station and must change transmission patterns at night, thereby delivering a reduced signal. In response, the Twins have expanded the number of affiliates.
{Link without Title}
- Sies, Luther F. ''Encyclopedia of American Radio 1920-1960.'' Jefferson, NC:McFarland, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0452-3
