Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Minnesota Twins in at Ktwin (KTWN 96.3)?

The Pohlad family, owners of the Minnesota Twins, appear ready to make the move which many have seen coming since they purchased the radio station at 96.3 on the FM dial in the Twin Cities. An official announcement tomorrow at Target Field - home of the Minnesota Twins - will likely lead to the Minnesot Twins parting ways with KTSP-AM 1500 - their home for the past six seasons - to move to the FM dial at 96.3 KTWN.

With the music format of the station in total disarray since about two weeks after the format's New Year's Day debut a change was inevitable but will the $1,000,000 the family would have made from having KSTP-AM pay for the team's broadcast rights make sense to the Pohlads? A million dollars is a million dollars no matter how you slice it and without K-twin ponying up a million dollars, that leaves the Twins' owners short that much more. KTWN-FM 96.3 is by no means a cash cow in its current state but by the end of the year the station's books will be a bit lighter after the recent firing of Tony Fly and I wouldn't expect to see Eric Perkins return to the D.O.A. K-twin morning show now that he's head honcho of the sports department at KARE-TV.

So, what happens to K-twin? Do they hold on to the mish-mashed music format and wrap it around Twins games? Do they relaunch with another try at a music format that isn't just a seemingly random collection of burned to a crisp songs thrown at the wall? Do they team up with CBS and their soon-to-be-launched national sports network (its full schedule debuts January 1, 2013) and bring a third (for the time being) sports talk radio station to the Twin Cities? Or does some other owner buy up 96.3. Both Hubbard (owners of KSTP-AM 1500) and CBS (owners of WCCO 830, 104.1 & 102.9) have the funding to make it happen.

I'm guessing, though, that K-twin won't be sold and that the Pohlads - kings of poor decisions - will combine Twins broadcasts and the current lackluster music format into one of the worst FM radio stations heard in the Twin Cities (at least inside the 494/694 loop -- because their signal is rather weak) in the past 30 years.

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