KWTL (1370 AM) is a

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

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in North Dakota, third-most populous ...

which airs

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

talk radio 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, Interview (jo ...

programming. It is the flagship station for

Real Presence Radio Real Presence Radio is a lay apostolate Catholic talk radio, talk Christian radio, radio network in the United States, with stations and broadcast translator, translators (low power re-broadcasters) in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisc ...

, and also airs Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) National radio programming and features local shows like "Real Presence Live" plus interviews and guests from across the Red River Valley and the Area Dioceses. KWTL also broadcasts on

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

K223DF (92.5 FM) in Grand Forks. KWTL's signal covers parts of three states and two

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

s. It is the second oldest radio station in North Dakota, after WDAY in Fargo.

History

KWTL's first license, with the sequentially assigned call letters KFJM, was granted on August 13, 1923 to the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

, making it one of the first

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

stations. Its initial assignment was to 1310 kHz, however its frequency was changed multiple times throughout the years, including 900, 550, 1370, 1410, and 1440 kHz. It changed back to 1370 kHz in 1957. In 1930, a station filing stated that KFJM had been established "to provide laboratory facilities for the students studying radio engineering and to further the educational programs of the university". At this time it was broadcasting about eight hours per day. In 1976 the University of North Dakota established an FM station, KFJM-FM. In 1995, KFJY signed on as the university's second FM station, simulcasting KFJM (AM) with an AAA format and jazz overnight. During April 1997, both stations went off the air as the floodwaters went through the transmitter site. On August 15, 1997 all three University of North Dakota stations changed call signs. KFJM became KUND and KFJM-FM on 89.3 MHz became KUND-FM, while KFJY on 90.7 MHz inherited the historic KFJM call letters. KUND later became known as ''Northern Lights Public Radio'', as some of its funding came from the listening audience. On July 31, 2002, KUND (AM) and KFJM (FM) went off the air due to shortages from public funding, although KUND-FM (89.3) continued to be operated by Prairie Public Radio. The stations signed back on in August 2002 with an

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

format along with programming from North Dakota Public Radio and

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. In 2004 KUND (AM) was sold to Real Presence Radio, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

organization. The call sign changed to KWTL on November 4, and it began airing programming from EWTN's radio service."Real Presence Radio Presents Itself to the Red River Valley: KWTL On Air Weekend Before Last"
''Catholic Radio Update'', November 12, 2004 (crtn.org) On December 25, 2007, KWTL began operating with 12,000 watts during daylight hours.

References

External links

FCC History Cards for KWTL
(covering 1927-1980 as KFJM)
EWTNKWTLKFJM Records, 1923-2002 Collection Overview
{{Grand Forks AM radio WTL Radio stations established in 1923 WTL Catholic radio stations