Local Media 2018: Comings and Goings

Mark Rosen is calling it quits after spending nearly half a century in the sports department of WCCO-TV, CBS' Minneapolis-St. Paul station.  He's covered nearly every major event that's come through the Twin Cities, interviewing the greats and putting his own spin on things.  Rosen's wife's health problems forced him to leave sooner than planned, but he'll still talk sports on KFAN (100.3).

It has now become a trend for TV people like Rosen to find a second career on radio.  Angela Davis, longtime weekend and substitute news anchor at KSTP-TV and WCCO, now hosts a daily morning program on Minnesota Public Radio's news network.  KARE-TV reporter and anchor Cory Hepola will soon become a morning talk show host at WCCO-AM (830) radio, taking over for John Hines as he recently concluded his long broadcasting career.  Hepola's wife Camille had left KARE earlier.

So who's replaced Patrick Reusse, Joe Soucheray and others on KSTP-AM (1500)?  A couple of shows from ESPN Radio (Dan LeBatard and Stephen A. Smith), followed by local holdovers Mackey and Judd during afternoon drive.  1500ESPN needs all the help they can get, being a distant second to KFAN in sports talk.  Something needs to change.

KQRS (92.5) recently celebrated its 50th year as a rock station.  Currently best known as the home of Tom Barnard and a playlist that hasn't changed much since 1975, it might surprise you to learn that KQ had an awkward transition in the late 1960s from playing middle of the road music to progressive rock.  If you want examples of this, please go to radiotapes.com or to recordings of DJ Don Duchene's 1960s-era airchecks on YouTube. (Duchene worked at KDWB, KSTP-AM and KQ during that decade)

KMNB (102.9), after much speculation that they would return to the soft adult contemporary sound they had for many years as WLTE, has decided to keep it country.  They dropped Buzn @ 102.9, then renamed it 102.9 The Wolf with a broader playlist.  Whether that will put a dent in country leader K102's (102.1) ratings any more than Buzn did remains to be seen.

Love 105 has returned after a few years as the new home for light rock, replacing classic hip hop as Vibe 105.  The three small signals that make up this station (WGVX/105.1, WLUP/105.3 and WWWM/105.7) have had problems in the past with choosing a format and finding anyone to listen to it.  Light rock (also known as soft adult contemporary) has been making a comeback nationwide, but it's hard to see doctors' offices and other waiting rooms giving up streaming services or satellite radio for this.

KLBB (1220) in Stillwater shut down at the end of March after broadcasting for well over 60 years.  They filled a void for anybody who still wanted to hear vocalists like Frank Sinatra or Andy Williams, musicians like Henry Mancini or Percy Faith, and hits from The Four Preps and The Carpenters.  The owner decided to sell the land where the station's AM towers were located, because it had become too valuable not to be turned into housing developments or condominiums--a situation facing too many radio stations these days.  There is talk that KLBB might return as either a downsized radio station or an FM translator, but who really knows?

Gene Okerlund was a popular pro wrestling interviewer who went from "All Star Wrestling" in the Twin Cities to nationwide fame when he joined what is now World Wrestling Entertainment.  Okerlund's interviews with the outrageous characters that made up pro wrestling were sometimes more entertaining than the matches themselves.  And he seemed to be in on the joke, even if the viewers didn't always catch on.  Okerlund died at 76 just as the new year began.