KKIN (930 AM) is an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as wel ...

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 198 ...

/ adult standards formatted

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

licensed to

Aitkin, Minnesota Aitkin ( ) is a city in Aitkin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,168 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Aitkin County. History Before the establishment of City of Aitkin, a transient community of Lexington was loc ...

, serving Aitkin and

Aitkin County, Minnesota Aitkin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,697. Its county seat is Aitkin. Part of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is in the county. The county was created in 1857 and organiz ...

. Established in 1961, KKIN is owned and operated by Jimmy D. Birkemeyer's R & J Broadcasting.

History

KKIN started out as a station that plays old time

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

from the 1940s to the 1970s with such artists as

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American Country music, country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later s ...

, and

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

. Now that is the music that is played on

KKIN-FM KKIN-FM (94.3 FM) is a Country music formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Aitkin, Minnesota, serving Aitkin and Aitkin County, Minnesota Aitkin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the popu ...

(94.3 FM). Around circa the mid-1990s, in spite of the increase of older people in the area, the station had switched to an adult standards format. The station was built around 1961 by Fred Moegle, who previously had his own children's show called The Fred Moegle Show that aired for a few years in the 1950s before moving his family to Aitkin, Minnesota and building KKIN. Fred ran the station for several years. KKIN was an affiliate of

America's Best Music America's Best Music is the on-air branding of a soft oldies and adult standards 24-hour radio network, formerly known as AM Only. The service is syndicated by Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. It was one of the original Transtar R ...

and

Music Of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and C ...

format. In recent years, circa 2010, the format has changed to feature less big bands and traditional standards, to a more or less oldies/soft adult contemporary format playing softer music that was popular from the 1960s to today that is targeted to the more mature listening audience, age 45 and older. Some 1940s and 1950s music is still played on KKIN but it is not as prominent as it was in the previous decades. The station is also one of the few in the country, along with

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

that are still broadcasting in AM Stereo. On August 4, 2014 KKIN changed their format to sports, with programming from NBC Sports Radio. On September 16, 2016,

Red Rock Radio Red River Broadcasting is a television broadcasting company based in Fargo, North Dakota. It operates Fox affiliates in the Fargo, North Dakota and Duluth, Minnesota–Superior, Wisconsin television markets. Curtis Squire, Inc., a holding compan ...

announced that it would sell KKIN to R & J Broadcasting as part of an eight station deal; the sale was completed on December 21, 2016. On August 1, 2017 KKIN changed their format from sports to adult standards. In late 2019, KKIN along with its FM translation 103.1 FM has rebranded itself once again as "The Gobbler", playing oldies and classic hits from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

History of call letters

The call letters KKIN were previously assigned to an AM station in Visalia, California. It broadcast on 1400 kHz.

References

External links

* * * Radio stations in Minnesota Oldies radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in Minnesota {{Minnesota-radio-station-stub