KALY-LP (101.7 FM) is a low-power

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

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 ...

. The station broadcasts from a tower in the Phillips West neighborhood of Minneapolis, near I-35W, shared with KRSM-LP.

History

The station signed on September 24, 2015, with the primary audience intended to be Minnesota's

Somali-American Somali Americans are Americans of Somali ancestry. The first ethnic Somalis to arrive in the U.S. were sailors who came in the 1920s from British Somaliland. They were followed by students pursuing higher studies in the 1960s and 1970s, by the la ...

population. It was one of several

LPFM Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" (more commonl ...

stations to sign on in Minnesota in 2015. The others included WEQY-LP in

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

, and the early stages of WFNU-LP, also in St. Paul. KALY's mission was to bridge the gap between those who spoke English, and those who spoke Somali. The station worked with

KFAI KFAI (90.3 FM) is a noncommercial community radio station located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, broadcasting to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The station broadcasts programming for many of the diverse ethnic groups of the region, inc ...

to help train volunteers. The station also received assistance from the

Prometheus Radio Project The Prometheus Radio Project is a non-profit advocacy and community organizing group with a mission to resist corporate media consolidation and radio homogenization in the United States.Hill, Ricky. "Prometheus Radio Project (United States)." '' ...

, based in Philadelphia. It was among over a thousand LPFMs to sign on thanks to the FCC's new class of stations. The station was the first in the United States to broadcast programming of its type 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 3,000 people were surveyed before the station came to air, regarding their preferences for a radio station. KALY's to range affords it a potential listenership of 200,000 people. It is likely the station can be heard beyond that, due to the line of sight nature of

FM broadcasting FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

. Because the station streams, it has listeners around the world. KALY is not the only station in Minnesota that caters to the Somali-American population. KZYS-LP in St. Cloud also features programming directed toward the Somalian population there.

References

External links

* * African culture in Minnesota Radio stations in Minnesota Hennepin County, Minnesota Low-power FM radio stations in Minnesota Somali-American history Radio stations established in 2015 2015 establishments in Minnesota Somali-language radio stations {{Minnesota-radio-station-stub