MPR tosses their hat in the pop music ring

ever since St. Olaf College sold the 89.3 frequency and its classical format to Minnesota Public Radio last summer, critics have been crying foul and cited MPR as being yet another villain on the landscape of Twin Cities radio. well, here's hoping those jeers turn to cheers. after simulcasting KSJN 99.5 for a few months, then going completely off-air for 2 weeks, MPR has as of Monday relaunched St. Olaf's WCAL as adult album alternative oriented KCMP. as a direct shot to the de-localization of the Twin Cities music scene by Disney and Clear Channel [see this post], KCMP aims to directly compete with CC's Cities 97 and Diz's Drive 105 by including with the standard AAA format a more eclectic mix of intergenerational music and *gasp* local efforts that are aired outside of the midnight hour on Sunday. that, and the lack of commercials and a smarter morning show, should give the twin towns a station that's actually fun to listen to, something we've been missing since the demise of Rev105. yay!

Goliath helps David

and, speaking of Clear Channel, did you ever see this happening? after MnDOT unceremoniously yanked their $400k traffic reporting contract from KBEM Jazz88, the publicly funded station run out of a Minneapolis highschool studio was sent scurrying for loose change in an effort to keep the station and its 17 employees going. enter Clear Channel, who, perhaps sensing a PR opportunity, cut the Minneapolis public schools a $25,000 check to help close the gap on KBEM's operating budget and -- get this -- agreed to CROSS PROMOTE Jazz88 with some crazy frequency, on Cities 97 and their own jazz offering, Smooth Jazz 100. like I said, this could be a total PR move, but thus far I'm impressed.

Now playing on iPod: O·A·R; 'That Was a Crazy Game of Poker'