The New 96.3: Nowhere to Go But Up

The radio station recently known as KTWN (96.3 FM) has in the past few years gone from hip hop and rap to contemporary hits, then to a hybrid of classic hits and alternative rock.  Considering the static nature of music on Twin Cities FM radio, that's quite a progression.

Now the Pohlad family-owned station is changing its tune once again, this time as Go96.3 FM, an alternative rock station that plays the likes of Imagine Dragons, Arctic Monkeys, Tegan & Sara and other locally popular artists while ditching the classic rock of Sheryl Crow and the Doobie Brothers.  The new 96.3 will sound more like The Current (89.3) than Cities 97 (97.1), if that's possible.

This latest format change wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for the fact that 96.3 is also the radio home of Minnesota Twins baseball, which is also part of the Pohlad portfolio.  What a missed opportunity.  When the change was announced, it was thought that 96.3 would go to a more Twins-friendly format such as sports talk or country.  But then again, there already are three or four stations here with similar programming.

The Pohlads apparently believe that they could bring a younger audience to its baseball broadcasts by putting them on a rock station, even though most Major League Baseball teams' flagship stations have news, talk or sports formats and generally attract an older audience.

So how's that been working out?  Ratings for KTWN have not been good, and part of the reason is that the Twins have lost more than 90 games in each of the last four seasons.  You might say that the Pohlads know just as much about running a radio station as they do a baseball team.

It's fair to say that both the Twins and 96.3 are seeking to improve in 2015.  The Twins have a new manager, and have added some free agents to go along with the young talent they've been promising us for years.  Go96.3 is banking on a new music lineup that they think will be a hit with their listeners.  But the station is still plagued with the problem of programming to two different audiences:  those who like to rock and those who like to listen to baseball. 

In that respect, the Twins and Go96.3 have nowhere to go but up.