KFXN-FM (100.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) is a commercial radio station licensed to

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, broadcasting a

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

. The station is owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

, and serves the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

market. KFXN-FM's transmitter is located in the suburb of

Shoreview Shoreview is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,921 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the ...

KMSP-TV KMSP-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside WFTC (channel 9.2 ...

's tower. Its

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

is 100,000 watts (including

beam tilt Beam tilt is used in radio to aim the main lobe of the vertical plane radiation pattern of an antenna below (or above) the horizontal plane. The simplest way is mechanical beam tilt, where the antenna is physically mounted in such a manner a ...

). The station's main studios are in St. Louis Park. KFXN-FM is the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

of the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

, and

Minnesota Golden Gophers football The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its incept ...

. At midnight on August 15, 2011, iHeartMedia (then known as Clear Channel Communications) swapped the formats of KFAN (1130 AM), and 100.3 FM's former conservative

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...

format KTLK-FM. The new KFXN-FM call sign, shared with former AM sister station KFXN, was adopted the same day.

History

WCTS-FM

The station started broadcasting in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

WCTS WCTS (1030 kHz, "The Bible Station") is a non-commercial AM radio station licensed to Maplewood, Minnesota, and serving the Twin Cities. It broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format and is owned by the Central Baptist Theological S ...

, with a non-commercial

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

format, consisting of mostly Bible teachings, by the Fourth Baptist Church in Minneapolis. WCTS took its call letters from its owner - the Central Theological Seminary. WCTS continues broadcasting on 1030 AM.

WBOB-FM

Startup company Colfax Communications purchased WCTS-FM for $10 million in early

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. Part of the deal was that they needed to find an AM station for the Seminary to purchase in order to continue the format, which they did when they struck a deal to buy WMIN. Around the same time, Colfax took advantage of recently relaxed

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) rules and became the Twin Cities market's first

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek , ; and , ) is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market, and most (if not all) of the competition within that market occurs directly between them. Duopoly is the most commonly ...

when they purchased

KQQL KQQL (107.9 FM broadcasting, FM, "KOOL 108") is a commercial radio, commercial radio station serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul media market, radio market and is city of license, licensed to suburban Anoka, Minnesota, Anoka. It plays classic hit ...

to partner with the new station. Once WCTS switched frequencies in January, Colfax took the FM station off the air for a few months, eventually signing back on in late April with a two-week long comedy format as a

stunt A stunt is an unusual, difficult, dramatic physical feat that may require a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually for a public audience, as on television or in theaters or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Befo ...

to create a buzz about the new station, with the permanent

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format debuting at 5 a.m. on May 13 as WBOB-FM ("Bob 100"). The slogan was "Turn your knob to Bob". WBOB faced stiff competition from the long established K102 and upstart KJJO-FM, which had switched to country only a few months prior. Despite this, WBOB was consistently the second highest-rated country station in the market behind K102, even finishing ahead of them in a few books. However, when KJJO left the format in 1995, it allowed K102 to aim their guns directly at Bob, a battle 100.3 soon lost swiftly.

WRQC

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, both WBOB and KQQL were sold to Chancellor Broadcasting, which also owned KEEY, KFAN,

KDWB KDWB-FM (101.3 MHz) is an commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, licensed to suburban Richfield. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and airs a contemporary hit radio format. KDWB has an effective radi ...

KTCZ KTCZ-FM (97.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul radio market and Western Wisconsin. KTCZ airs a hybrid modern adult contemporary radio format. The station is owned and ...

and KTCJ. A format change for WBOB was expected, and on April 15, 1997, at 1:03 p.m., after an hour of stunting, WBOB became WRQC, broadcasting an

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

format with

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...

in the morning. WRQC took to the air as ''Real Rock 100'', and then ''Rock 100.3''. Stern's show was a mild success in the market, but consistently finished second or third in the ratings, while only taking away a smaller than expected number of listeners from KQRS and

Tom Barnard Thomas 'Tom' Mark Paul Barnard (born November 7, 1951) is an American radio host and former voice-over talent. He was released by Cumulus from the host of '' The KQ92 Morning Show'' on 92.5 KQRS in Minneapolis at the end of 2022 after hosting mo ...

. In addition, like many other Stern affiliates, ratings for the station the rest of the day were poor, and not helped by KQRS' owners flipping its sister station, KEGE, to a similar hard rock format in 1997.

WLOL

WRQC and Stern left the Twin Cities airwaves at 10:30 a.m. on August 3, 1999, as the station began stunting by simulcasting co-owned KFAN (a harbinger of its future format), followed by simulcasts of cross-country sister stations

KKSF KKSF (910 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Oakland, California and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and has an all-news radio format, with programming from the co-owned Black Informati ...

in San Francisco, WTJM in New York City, and

WUBT WUBT (101.1 FM, "101.1 The Beat") is an American mainstream urban radio station broadcasting in the Nashville, Tennessee market, under ownership of iHeartMedia. Though the station is licensed to Russellville, Kentucky, its studios are located ...

in Chicago. When the new format debuted at 3 p.m. on August 5, the format was 1970s-era classic hits, which eventually went to full-blown classic hits, as ''Classic Hits 100.3 WLOL''. The first song after the relaunch was "

The Bitch is Back "The Bitch Is Back" is a rock song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, and performed by John. It was the second single released from John's 1974 album ''Caribou'', and reached number 1 in Canada (his sixth in th ...

" by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

. Although ratings were decent initially, the station's overall performance was disappointing. During its period as WLOL, the station owners, Chancellor Broadcasting, merged with Capstar Broadcasting to form AMFM Inc., which was absorbed into Clear Channel Communications (now its current owners,

) the next year.

KJZI

On June 19, 2003, at noon, following a goodbye show, 100.3 changed to

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

as ''Smooth Jazz 100.3'' with new matching call letters KJZI. The last song on WLOL was "

Tomorrow Never Knows "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released in August 1966 as the final track on their album ''Revolver'', although it was the firs ...

" by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, while the first song on KJZI was ''

Smooth Operator "Smooth Operator" is a song by English band Sade from their debut studio album, ''Diamond Life'' (1984), and was co-written by Sade Adu and Ray St. John. It was released as the album's third single in the United Kingdom as a 7-inch single w ...

'' by

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine; namesake of the word ''sadism'' * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * ...

. This was the first smooth jazz station in the Twin Cities since KMJZ switched to

modern AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. When

public broadcaster Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

KBEM-FM KBEM-FM (88.5 FM, "Jazz88") is a public radio station broadcasting a jazz format based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, the station serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The station is operated by the Minneapolis Public Schools system ...

, another

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

station, found itself in financial straits in early

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, Clear Channel donated $25,000 to help keep it operating. KJZI and its sister station

carried announcements requesting support for KBEM-FM. The generous move was lauded by many in the media.

KTLK-FM

While satisfied with smooth jazz, Clear Channel was even more interested in launching a

station in the Twin Cities, in order to air programming from company-owned

Premiere Radio Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American Mass media, media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original Radio broadcasting, radio content distribut ...

and

Fox News Radio Fox News Radio is an American radio network owned by Fox News. It is syndicated to over 500 AM and FM radio stations across the United States. It also supplies programming for three channels on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. History In 2003, ...

. Having no available AM stations in the market on which they could run a news/talk format — ( KFAN was already highly successful with their sports/talk format, and daytimer

KFXN KFXN-FM (100.3 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, broadcasting a sports talk format. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and serves the Twin Cities market. KFXN-FM's transmitter is located in the suburb ...

possessed too weak a signal), Clear Channel decided to put a talk format on one of their FM signals. The company had success with the introduction of news/talk on one of their

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

FM stations,

WPGB WPGB (104.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a country music format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. Its studios and offices are located on Abele Rd. in Bridgeville next to I-79, along wi ...

, and was launching FM News/Talk in other markets. Since their other Twin Cities FM stations (

KDWB-FM KDWB-FM (101.3 MHz) is an commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces o ...

KEEY-FM KEEY-FM (102.1 MHz, "K102") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to St. Paul, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis-Saint Paul radio market. It broadcasts a country music radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The radio stu ...

KTCZ-FM KTCZ-FM (97.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States cen ...

, and

) were already entrenched, management decided KJZI was the most expendable. On January 2, 2006, KJZI switched to news/talk with new KTLK call letters, becoming the second FM talk station in the area after women-oriented WFMP. The station obtained the market rights to

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

and later

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...

's radio programs from KSTP. A mix of local and syndicated hosts such as

Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...

and

Laura Ingraham Laura Anne Ingraham (; born June 19, 1963) is an American conservative television presenter. Gale Biography In Context. She has been the host of '' The Ingraham Angle'' on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of Li ...

filled out the rest of KTLK's schedule, including former KSTP host Jason Lewis and paranormal talk sho
Darkness Radio
The station had also resumed carrying Vikings football. Clear Channel also owned an AM news/talk station in Los Angeles, California, that used the

KTLK KTLK (1130 kHz) – branded ''News/Talk AM 1130 and FM 103.5'' – is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota. It broadcasts a conservative talk radio format to the Twin Cities radio market and is owned by iHeartMedia, ...

call sign. The LA station became

KEIB KEIB (1150 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station brands itself as ''The Patriot'', and broadcasts a Conservative talk radio, conservative t ...

on January 2, 2014, after which Clear Channel reassigned KTLK to what was known as KTCN. In the spring of 2008, former KTLK news director, Jeff Monosso, was honored with Congressional recognition for his reporting on the 35W Bridge collapse. He and host, Jason Lewis, were also honored by the Minnesota Associated Press for best spot news coverage.

KFXN-FM

On August 8, 2011, Clear Channel announced a two-way frequency swap that moved KTLK-FM's talk format to 1130 AM and a translator at 103.5 FM, while KFAN's Sports Talk format would move to 100.3 FM. The swap took effect on August 15, 2011. The low-power signal at 103.5 FM and the HD2 subchannel at 100.3 FM both underwent the same format swap as did 1130 AM. There were plans to simulcast the talk station's signal on FM translator 103.5 FM, but this had been delayed while seeking FCC approval. KTLK can currently be heard on translator K278BP (103.5 FM). On September 27, 2023, the

and

Lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

announced that KFXN-FM would become the broadcast radio home for both franchises. Every game would be aired on the iHeartRadio app, while select Timberwolves games and the majority of Lynx games would air on KFXN-FM. The Timberwolves had aired on the AM KFAN signal from 1991 to 2011, when they moved to WCCO.

Programming

According to the Minneapolis

Star-Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the seventh-largest in the United States by circula ...

, KFAN in 2006 "...has morphed from a sports-talk station to a talk station that sometimes discusses sports".

Daily, Monday–Friday

''The Power Trip Morning Show'' is hosted by Cory Cove, Chris Hawkey and Paul "Meatsauce" Lambert. Lambert also hosts a program called "Saturdays with Sauce". Frequent guests on the show include Former

WCCO-TV WCCO-TV (channel 4), branded CBS Minnesota, is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations divisi ...

sports anchor Mark Rosen, former Minnesota Vikings linebacker

Ben Leber Ben Leber (born December 7, 1978) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the third round of the 2002 NFL draft and later played ...

, former Minnesota Wild player

Mark Parrish Mark Daniel Parrish (born February 2, 1977) is an Americans, American former professional ice hockey winger (ice hockey), right winger. Parrish played 11 seasons and over 700 games in the NHL with the Florida Panthers, New York Islanders, Los Ang ...

, former Minnesota State Representative and wounded military veteran John Kriesel, Twins Geek John Bonnes, Bally Sports North reporter Marney Gellner, Zach Halverson, Max Fuller, and Carly Zucker. ''92Noon'' is hosted by

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the ...

. Allen is the voice of the

Radio Network and

Canterbury Park Canterbury Park (formerly Canterbury Downs), is a horse racing track in Shakopee, Minnesota, United States. Canterbury Park Holding Corporation ("Canterbury Park") hosts parimutuel wagering on live thoroughbred and quarter horse racing at its ...

. ''The Common Man Progrum'' is hosted by "The Common Man" Dan Cole and bridge producer Brandon Mileski. The show features a mix of sports and political discussions on the local and national level.

sports anchor Mark Rosen makes regular appearances on The Progrum Monday thru Thursday. ''Bumper to Bumper'' is hosted by

Dan Barreiro Dan Barreiro is a sports radio talk-show host on KFAN 100.3-FM in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Born in Gary, Indiana, Barreiro was a sports columnist at the '' Star Tribune'' for 17 years after previously working for the '' Dalla ...

and sidekick/producer fan Justin Gaard. The show consists of Barreiro's insights on both popular culture and sports. ''Bumper to Bumper'' also features satirical call-in segments with eccentric

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

fan Carl Gerbschmidt, who appears to be a fictional character.

Other programming

''FAN Outdoors'': Thursdays 6-8 PM, hosted by "The Captain" Billy Hildebrand and "Cold front" Mike Curry and Saturdays 6-8 AM by Hildebrand and

Pheasants Forever Pheasants Forever, Inc. (PF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization, is dedicated to conserving wildlife habitat suitable for pheasants. Formed in 1982 as a response to the continuing decline of upland wildlife and habitat throughout ...

member Bob St. Pierre. The hosts typically share their hunting and fishing experiences and strategies, along with insights on outdoor issues. One of the main weekly guests is local Minnesotan professional angler and fisher "Tackle" Terry Tuma, who gives weekly updates on where he is fishing and on how the waters are, fishing strategies including baiting and lures, and overall fishing banter. A sometimes weekly but mainly bi-weekly guest is naturalist, author, wildlife photographer and animal/bird professional Stan Tekiela. Tekiela provides deep and thorough analysis and information on current bird information such as feeding, nesting, breeding, behavior, migration and hatching of all the different bird species, as well as different animals around. Other guests usually include experts/professionals that relate to the current seasons (e.g. around/on spring fishing opener, they have fishing intensive guests). ''In the Zone'': Saturdays 8-10 AM, hosted by Dave Sinykin and former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player

Trent Tucker Kelvin Trent Tucker (born December 20, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played eleven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A shooting guard, Tucker attended the University of Minnesota from 1978 to ...

. ''Minnesota Viking Broadcast'': Pregame coverage of Vikings games starts two hours before the day's Vikings game. Pregame was usually hosted by "Mr. Phunn" Joe Anderson; however, Anderson was let go sometime before 2009 and K102

's Mike "Muss" Mussman took over the duties of pregame coverage. KFAN's Vikings broadcast team consists of Paul Allen on play-by-play, and color commentary done by former Viking Linebacker and Assistant Coach

Pete Bercich Peter James Bercich (born December 23, 1971) is a former professional American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Notre Dame. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in th ...

. Sideline insight is brought to the game by former Viking Linebacker

. The halftime report is hosted by Mike Mussman. The postgame report is also hosted by Mussman and includes interviews with multiple Vikings players and coaching staff. ''Viking Fan Line'': Starts right after the Vikings post-game report and lasts about two hours. Former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

Wide Receiver

Ron Johnson Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American businessman and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Rep ...

and morning show host Cory Cove take fan post-game reaction and provide their commentary on the game and the fans reactions. Prior to the 2016 season, former Vikings linebacker

hosted the program along with Cove, and former Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson would fill Ben Leber's seat when he was unavailable. Prior to Ben Leber, previous Vikings

long snapper In gridiron football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a Center (gridiron football), center on American football positions#Special teams, special teams whose duty is to Snap (gridiron football), snap the football over a longer distance, ty ...

Mike Morris was the usual co-host. Other former Vikings have guest co-hosted the show in the past. "Vikings Overtime" is the same format as Fan Line but hosted by 'Meatsauce' Paul Lambert from The PowerTrip Morning Show. Runs to provide content between fan line and the Sunday night football coverage on weeks where Vikings play the late game or the Sunday/Monday/Thursday night game the show is omitted. ''Packer Preview'': Sundays 8am-9am during the

season, hosted by Dave Sinykin. The Preview examines the day's Packers game. Packer Preview is the only Packers show on KFAN and is very, very controversial among Viking fans. The show remains on air, however. '' Fantasy Football Weekly'': Saturdays during the football season and syndicated to other

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

sports stations around the country. Hosted by Paul Charchian since 1994. Former co-hosts include John Tuvey, Christian Peterson, and Bo Mitchell. The current hosts are Mat Harrison, Brian Johnson and Scott Fish. Typical shows will offer advice and predictions for almost 200 players each week. Fantasy football questions are answered on this show, primarily during "Lightning Round" at the end of the show. Other recurring segments include "Take a Chance on Me" and "Five Tough Questions". Callers are known to call a couple of hours before the show is on-air to be put on hold. During the MN Golden Gophers football season, show is usually moved to the 6-8 AM Slot or the 8-10 AM Slot. ''Saturdays with Sauce'': Saturdays 12–2. Hosted by The Power Trip Morning Show's Paul "Meatsauce" Lambert along with Eric "Nordo" Nordquist from noon to two, (but special shows such as NFL draft coverage shows, Vikings training camp specials, etc. can go over the normal time slot) on Saturday afternoons. Saturdays with Sauce also airs on other days for aforementioned reasons (Vikings training camp, etc.). During MN Golden Gophers Football season, is usually usurped. However, they will sometimes host MN Gophers fan line (MN Gophers whine line) ''Tee to Green'': Saturdays. Golf related show hosted by Dan Cole during the summer months, talks all things golf related with co-host and master teaching professional Craig Waryn. Also regular co-host is "Ping Guy" Paul Peterson.

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...

: The programming that is on when none of the programs above are on the air. Fox Sports Radio programming on KFAN includes ''

The Ben Maller Show Benjamin "Big Ben" Maller (born April 29, 1975) is an American sports radio host who hosts a The Ben Maller Show, weekday radio show on Fox Sports Radio, which airs 11pm-3am PT/2am-6am ET. Maller is considered one of the first influential sports ...

'' and multiple weekend shows. Fox Sports Radio is usually heard weeknights 9 P.M. to 5:30 A.M. and weekends when local programming or sports events are not happening.

Infinity Sports Network Infinity Sports Network is an American sports radio network. It debuted as CBS Sports Radio with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013. Infinity Sports Network is programmed by Audacy, In ...

: The programming that can also be heard during the weekends (weekends only) in addition to Fox Sports Radio. The rotation is usually a pre-determined schedule but can be subject to change at any given time. Infinity joined KFAN's lineup sometime around the end of 2018/beginning of 2019 (under its former name, CBS Sports Radio) when

NBC Sports Radio NBC Sports Radio was a sports radio network that debuted on September 4, 2012. The network content was produced by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and distributed by Westwood One, which is the corporate successor to the remains of ...

programming was removed and replaced by the former. At first there was more Infinity than Fox Sports Radio, but the rotation has since evened out, if not returned to more Fox Sports Radio. ''Vikings Live/Vikings Country'': Thursdays sually- almost always begins with Paul Allen (play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Vikings and host of the 9-noon weekday show) interviewing the Minnesota Vikings head coach (currently Kevin O'Conell) and other Vikings' coaching staff at Winter Park. Vikings Country live is usually right after; it usually takes place at Sky Deck Sports Grille & Lanes at the Mall of America. The second segment contains "The Scouting Report" where they discuss the previous football week/Vikings game as well as the upcoming week. ''Minnesota Wild Broadcast'': KFAN FM 100.3 is the official flagship home of the Minnesota Wild. Since the 2011-12 NHL season, KFAN has broadcast all Wild preseason, regular season and Stanley Cup Playoff games on the State of Hockey's top-rated sports talk station. Bob Kurtz (play-by-play), Tom Reid (analyst) and Kevin Falness (studio host) capture all of the action and suspense. Coverage begins with a 15-minute pre-game show. Conflicting games are moved to KOOL 108 FM. Additional Wild-related programming on KFAN features the “Wild Weekly” show and “Wild Fanline,” which airs after select Wild games. ''Beyond The Pond'': Hockey related show during the winter months. Hosted by former Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Gopher

Jordan Leopold Jordan Douglas Leopold (born August 3, 1980) is an Americans, American former professional ice hockey defenceman, defenseman. He was drafted in the second round, 44th overall, by the Anaheim Ducks, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1999 NHL Entry Draft, ...

and former Minnesota Gopher

Pat Micheletti Patrick John Micheletti (born December 11, 1963) is an American former ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), center who played 12 games in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars during the 1987–88 NHL season, 1987–88 season. The ...

, and Common Man Progrum bridge producer Brandon Mileski. Former Golden Gopher Nate Miller was a co-host until 2016, departing the show for other ventures. Kevin Falness is a typical fill-in when any of the hosts cannot be on-air. In the off-season, show is re-branded/re-titled "Beyond the Pod," correlating with the fact that it is only an all-podcast/podcast exclusive show. ''Sunday Sermons'': Hosted by Dan Barreiro. Short version of Bumper to Bumper, with KFAN former intern and weekend producer Ryan Donaldson. Show typically recaps past week and provides coverage of weekend events. During the Minnesota Vikings season, it is typically shortened to 1 hour (except in case of scheduled Sunday Night, Monday Night, Thursday Night games), generally providing in-depth and heavy analysis to the week's game ("pre-game to the pre-game")

Former programming

Rights to the Minnesota Timberwolves broadcasts were lost in 2006. KFAN had held these rights since the Wolves' inaugural season in 1989. The Wolves returned to KFAN beginning in the 2008–09 season, until the 2010–11 season, when the team moved to

WCCO (AM) WCCO (830 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios and offices are located on Second Avenue South in Downtown Minneapolis. WCCO features a news/talk format, with frequent ...

. ''Video Games Weekly'': was on Tuesday evenings hosted by Paul Charchian, who discussed new video games for many different platforms. The show was co-hosted by staff members of ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'' Magazine, typically Managing Editor Andrew Reiner. ''Game Informer'', owned by

GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas). The brand is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operated 3,203 stor ...

Corporation, is a monthly magazine based out of Minneapolis. Cory Cove sometimes joined to talk about games. Charchian joined fellow radio cohorts on "Saturdays with Sauce" when they have their annual Video Game bracket/tournament. * ''P.A. and Dubay'': Hosted by Paul Allen and

Jeff Dubay Jeffrey Dubay (born January 19, 1968) is a former American radio personality. He was co-host of the ''PA and Dubay Show'' on KFAN, a sports talk radio station broadcasting to the Minneapolis-St. Paul markets, and co-hosted ''The Judd and Dubay' ...

. Consists of

news,

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

sports, some

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

happenings, and news on the

and

. ** Paul Allen is known as the voice of the

, since he does the play by play for KFAN's broadcast of Vikings games. P.A. is the track announcer at the local horse racing track

. Paul Allen continues a solo show at the station. * '' The Chad Hartman Show'' (2 pm-4 pm): Hosted by

Chad Hartman Chad Hartman is an American Talk radio, radio talk show host on WCCO-AM. Personal Hartman is the son of longtime Minnesota sportswriter Sid Hartman. Hartman graduated from Robbinsdale Armstrong High School. In 1988 he graduated from Arizona ...

, son of Twin Cities sportswriter

Sid Hartman Sidney Hartman (March 15, 1920October 18, 2020) was an American sports journalist for the Minneapolis ''Star Tribune'' and the WCCO 830 AM radio station. For 20 years, he was also a panelist on the weekly television program ''Sports Show with M ...

. The show features a mix of sports and current issues. On January 20, 2009 Hartman and Darren Wolfson were laid off from Clear Channel as part of company wide layoffs.http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/37887644.html from Minneapolis Star Tribune * ''Sludge and Lake Show'': Hosted by Cory "Sludge" Cove and Henry Lake. Consisted of the latest in sports, entertainment, etc. The show last aired May 15, 2009. *

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

: On when none of the programs above were on the air. ESPN Radio programming on KFAN included ''AllNight with Jason Smith'' and multiple weekend shows. The ESPN Radio affiliation moved to KSTP on April 12, 2010. *

: Former national sports programming heard on weekends until sometime around the end of 2018-the beginning of 2019, when NBC Sports radio ceased operations as a 24/7 national sports programming network. Shows that could be heard included ''The best of PFT Live'', which was a weekend show that would include bits and pieces from the previous week of ''PFT Live'', a show hosted by

Mike Florio Michael James Florio (born June 8, 1965) is an American sportswriter, author, radio host, and television commentator. He writes for '' Profootballtalk.com'' which he created and owns. He also hosts the daily NFL talk show ''PFT Live'' on Peacock ...

and based on his website, Profootballtalk.com. Florio can still be heard during his appearances on Paul Allen's show from 9 A.M. to 12 P.M. daily, usually once a week.

Former on-air staff

* Mike Morris, former co-host of The Power Trip Morning Show was let go amid budget cuts in late 2012. Formerly co-host of Radioactive Sports on Sportsradio 105 The Ticket (WGVX). When 105 The Ticket changed formats, Morris moved to 1500 ESPN. *

, after co-hosting the PA and Dubay show for ten years, Dubay was let go after a crack-cocaine charge in October 2008. *

, former play by play announcer of Minnesota Timberwolves and son of Twin Cities Sports icon Sid Hartman, now host on WCCO radio * Dave Huffman, former

guard and color commentator. *

Ryan Lefebvre Ryan James Lefebvre (; born February 12, 1971) is an American sportscaster, best known as a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals since 1999. In 2008, he became the primary announcer for Royals' television broad ...

, current radio play-by-play announcer of the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

. *

Michele Tafoya Michele Tafoya (born 1964/1965) is an American reporter and retired sports broadcaster for CBS and NBC. Most notably, from 2011 to 2022, she worked primarily as a sideline reporter for ''NBC Sunday Night Football''. Over the course of her career ...

, sideline reporter for ''

NBC Sunday Night Football ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''SNF'') is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, w ...

'' () * Mark Rosen, longtime

sports anchor. Still makes regular guest appearances on current KFAN programming. *

Jesse Ventura Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, political commentator, actor, media personality, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), he ...

, former wrestler and

Governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory ...

. *

Wade Keller Wade Keller (born May 22, 1971) is an American professional wrestling journalist who runs the ''Pro Wrestling Torch'' newsletter. Keller has hosted ''The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast'' on PodcastOne since 2017. ''Pro Wrestling Torch'' Kel ...

former host, is the founder of the Pro Wrestling Torch. * Bob Yates * Mike Woodley * Joe Senser, Restaurateur and former Minnesota Viking color commentator. *

Greg Coleman Gregory Jerome Coleman (born September 9, 1954) is an American former professional football punter who played a 12-year career in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Browns, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Washington Redskins. ...

, Did the pregame preach as well as sideline analysis and postgame interviews until the 2021 season where he announced his retirement.

KFAN: The Restaurant

It opened in 2004 and closed in 2005. The food services were managed by Grand Management, which operates a chain of Sidney's restaurants in the Twin Cities. Clear Channel Communications considered it to be a pilot project and may have tried to create similar restaurants across the country if it succeeded. In September 2005, the KFAN name was dropped and the restaurant became known as the Big City Tavern. In July 2006, Big City Tavern closed. The restaurant was taken over by Major's Sports Cafe in September 2006, then changed owners again in 2008 to the Roseville location of Grumpy's Bar & Grill.

KFXN (690 AM)

, also known as "Score 690", was KFAN's sister station and aired a complementary sports talk format from 1998 until September 2011. Prior to being donated to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, the station aired mostly syndicated shows from

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

and

, in addition to the ''

Dan Patrick Show ''The Dan Patrick Show'' is a syndicated radio and television sports talk show, hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by Patrick and is syndicated to radio stations by Premiere Radio Networks, within and indep ...

'' and the ''

Jim Rome Show ''The Jim Rome Show'' is an American sports radio talk radio, talk show hosted by Jim Rome. It airs live for three hours each weekday from 12pm to 3pm Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Time. The show is produced in Los Angeles, radio syndication, synd ...

''. For a time, KFXN also aired repeats of KFAN's local shows. With the divestiture and format change of KFXN, Clear Channel moved the sports format of "The Score" to the HD2 subchannel of

, with plans to eventually air it on translator K278BP (103.5 FM).

The FAN Radio Network

HD Radio

By February 2005, the station was one of a handful of stations in Minnesota to use

iBiquity iBiquity Digital Corporation was a company formed by the merger of USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio. Based in Columbia, Maryland, with additional offices in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, Los Angeles, California, and Auburn Hills, Michigan, ...

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

system for

digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. This should not be confused with In ...

broadcasts. On April 25, 2006, Clear Channel announced that KTLK's HD2 subchannel will carry a format focusing on classic country hits from their Format Lab. In August 2009, the format was changed to

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

. On August 22, 2010, the HD2 channel began instead carrying the audio of KFAN (1130), mainly in order to allow KFAN's signal to be relayed to K279AZ, an analog

translator station A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

at 103.7 FM atop the

IDS Center The IDS Center is an office skyscraper located at 80 South 8th Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Completed in 1973, it is the tallest building in Minneapolis, and the tallest building in the state at a height of . It originally stood , thoug ...

. The station later moved to 103.5 as K278BP. KFXN-FM's HD3 sub channel carried EMF's

K-Love K-Love (stylized as K-LOVE) is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry, it primarily broadcasts contemporary Christian music. As of June 2019, the network's progr ...

contemporary Christian format, rebroadcasting on K260BA 99.9 FM. That format and translator moved to KTCZ-HD2 which resulted in the HD3 sub channel getting turned off.

References

External links

KFAN 100.3 FM

KFXN-HD2

* ttp://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/37887644.html KFAN fires Chad Hartman and Darren Wolfson
KFXN Score 690

KFAN Antenna Network
{{IHeartMedia Radio stations in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Sports radio stations in the United States Sports in Minneapolis–Saint Paul HD Radio stations Radio stations established in 1965 1965 establishments in Minnesota IHeartMedia radio stations