Tom Barnard Sticks With KQRS. World Disaster Averted.

92 KQRS Morning Show (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Proof that the Mayan Apocalypse isn't happening:  Tom Barnard is remaining with KQRS (92.5 FM) as ringmaster of "The KQ Morning Show" until 2016.  Barnard had previously announced that he was leaving the Twin Cities-based station when his contract came up this coming December, which just happens to be when the Mayan calendar was ending.

Barnard has been at KQ for a quarter century, with much of it spent at the top of the local morning radio ratings--some would say by default, because of the lack of quality competition on other stations.  There have also been times when Barnard's mocking of certain minority groups made headlines, causing KQRS management to make apologies and promises to the aggrieved parties that it would never happen again.

Lately, Barnard has been ripping KQ's current owner Cumulus Media on the air for its allegedly poor treatment of its employees and the radio stations they run.  So it's surprising that Barnard and Cumulus have decided to stay together.  Either they needed each other, or Barnard figured he had nowhere else to go.

As part of the new deal, Barnard's show now runs nearly four and a half hours from 5:38 to 10 a.m., which means he's no longer throwing it to Wally Walker at 9:20 with another long set of classic rock.  What will he do with the extra time?

KQRS is no longer the powerhouse radio station it used to be in the Twin Cities market.  That honor now belongs to (depending on the ratings book) country K102, adult hits KS95, and contemporary KDWB.  KQ has had a classic album rock sound since the 1970s, and its listeners are growing old along with it.

So what's Cumulus gonna do about it?  They have already switched the Love 105 stations to an adult contemporary format.  They're starting all-news stations on FM in some cities.  And they've made a distribution deal with the new CBS Sports Radio network, which will replace the one they've had with ESPN.  They could change KQ or sister rock station 93X into a news or sports outlet if they really wanted to.

Or Cumulus could decide to keep things the way they are.  Given the way the radio business is going, it's possible that the only local voice left on KQRS by 2016 could be Tom Barnard--if he's there long enough.  Everything else will be programmed by computer from somewhere else.  It may not be the end of the world, in terms of radio.  It'll just seem like it.