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KDWB-FM (101.3 MHz) is an commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, licensed to suburban Richfield. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and airs a contemporary hit radio format.
KDWB has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts. KDWB's transmitter broadcasts from the KMSP Tower in Shoreview.
KDWB has an auxiliary transmitter with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 32,540 watts located at the IDS Center in Downtown Minneapolis. Studios are located in St. Louis Park.
WCOW was not successful, so the station transitioned to a female-oriented format, with the call letters changing to WISK in May 1956, and switched its frequency to 630 kHz the next year. Once more, the format proved unpopular, and the station was sold the following year to the Crowell-Collier Broadcasting Company, owners of KFWB in Los Angeles and KEWB in San Francisco. The top 40 format of those stations, with strong California/West Coast style influence, was brought to Minnesota, and the call letters changed to KDWB in September 1959. "Channel 63, KDWB" then began its long uninterrupted run as a pop music station, and quickly became a major competitor to the established WDGY, which had been playing a pop music format for three years by that point. KDWB and WDGY were fierce rivals throughout the 1960s and 1970s; during that time, both stations gained more competition, as "Request Radio" AM 950 and FM 104.1 KZJK (1968), KSTP (1972), and WYOO (1974) picked up the format.
As KDWB, the station became the first radio station to be fined by the Federal Communications Commission. In March 1961, six months after a review of the Communications Act of 1934 granted it such power, the agency assessed a $10,000 penalty to the station for repeated willful violations of nighttime broadcast power restrictions on the AM band.
Other notable On Air Staff included:
Syndicated and/or non-local originating broadcasts included American Top 40 with Casey Kasem, which aired Sunday evenings, and for over ten years, it was the highest-rated program in the Twin Cities market. Additional syndicated programming included "Jim Ladd's Innerview."
Program directors included Chuck Blore and Bob Shannon.
On April 18, 1994, after 36 years, the 630 kHz frequency went dark. The owner, Midcontinent Media, sold the studio and tower site, which by then had been at Radio Drive and Interstate 94 for many years, for development. The regional headquarters of State Farm Insurance was built in its place.
The Stewarts sold WPBC-AM-FM in 1972, citing increased competition from larger companies, to Fairchild Industries for $1.5 million. Fairchild subsequently dismissed the staff and overhauled both stations. On November 3, 1972, WPBC became WYOO, airing an oldies format, while WPBC-FM went off the air for technical adjustments, to emerge as album-oriented rock station WRAH on January 23, 1973.
After making its debut to middling ratings that continually declined, WYOO pivoted in April 1974, spearheaded by new general manager Mike Sigelman, the former sales manager of KDWB. A shift to adult contemporary was met with even lower ratings; with management seeing a gap for an FM Top 40 station, both stations flipped on August 26, 1974, while broadcasting from the Minnesota State Fair. The market's fourth Top 40 at the time, originally intended to be "Y100" until WHYI-FM sent a cease and desist letter, quickly became a competitive station in the market.
U100 enjoyed a colorful but short life. The AM dial in the Twin Cities was packed with Top 40 stations, with U100, KDWB, WDGY and KSTP all fighting for the same audience. AM music stations also desired to transition to the increasingly popular FM dial. In early 1976, Fairchild Industries placed both stations on the market. Entercom, the owner of easy listening station KXXR, was interested in the AM station to simulcast WAYL's signal, but it could not buy a second FM station in the market under the rules of the time. This meant that Fairchild needed to find a buyer for the FM station; the company contacted owners of standalone AM stations in the area. Doubleday Broadcasting was not actively seeking an FM station at the time, but offered to buy WYOO-FM in February 1976 after it was presented with a generous deal that included the FM station and the building in Eagan that housed both stations for $850,000. KDWB's general manager at the time, Gary Stevens, said that it did not buy WYOO-FM to shut down a competitor, but rather to take advantage of what it saw as a good deal. The AM station was then sold to WAYL for $625,000.
"U100" ended at midnight on September 16 1976, and under KDWB PD John Sebastian, KDWB morning personality Dave Thomson launched the KDWB AM/FM simulcast the following morning at 6:00 with "Bad Blood" by Neil Sedaka as the first song played following a pre-recorded announcement introducing the change from U100. Full-time AM/FM simulcasts on stations licensed to large cities (cities with populations over 100,000) had not been allowed by the FCC since 1965. However, KDWB's simulcast was permitted via a conditional waiver and a technicality: while the AM was licensed to St. Paul (a community of over 100,000), the FM's city of license, Richfield, had a substantially smaller population. The FCC deemed the request to be in the public interest; however, KDWB was required by the FCC to broadcast eight hours of separate FM non-simulcast public affairs programming per week, with a portion focused on Richfield. The public affairs programs were broadcast from the former WYOO studio B news room and master control board in Eagan.
Boosted by the FM stereo simulcast and the removal of one of its competitors, KDWB quickly regained its position as the dominant Top 40 station in the Twin Cities. After a brief stint with a CHR/album rock hybrid as "Y-11", WDGY switched to a country music format on September 2 1977. KSTP began to lean Adult Top 40 during the late 1970s and evolved into a talk radio station by the early 1980s (as its music focus shifted to FM sister, KS95). By the end of the decade, KDWB was the only Top 40 station in the Twin Cities.
KDWB-FM struggled for years against upstart market leader WLOL, which featured a fresher music selection, more popular DJs, and a highly rated morning show. KDWB was viewed by many as stuffy, stale, boring and misguided, and it went through several unsuccessful morning shows. It was argued by many that its promotions, music selection and on-air presentation paled in comparison to WLOL.
In 1988, newly hired program director Brian Phillips cleaned house, as he dismissed many of the on-air personalities, overhauled the music and brought in Steve Cochran to host The KDWB Morning Zoo. He also hired a new air staff, introduced 12-song commercial-free music sweeps, changed the overall on-air presentation, and created a new logo, which is still in use today. As the rechristened "101.3 KDWB"
KDWB also gained national attention in 1989 for helping to break "The Look" by Roxette, the first of four U.S. number-one songs for the Swedish duo. In February 1991, WLOL came to a sudden and premature end, as owner Emmis Broadcasting experienced financial problems and began to divest of many of its properties. Minnesota Public Radio purchased WLOL and turned it into the flagship for their classical music service. Throughout the rest of the 1990s, KDWB had virtually no CHR competition.
In 2000, KDWB got a new rival of sorts when upstart KTTB ("B96") went on the air with a rhythmic Top 40 format, heavy with hip-hop and urban contemporary music. While B96 was not the threat of a major rating, partly due to its rimshot broadcast signal and smaller promotional presence, it did give KDWB the most formidable competition it had in recent years. Later, the competition for the rhythmic/urban audience came from KZGO, sister station to the former B96.
At the other end of the spectrum, KS95 also competes somewhat with its older-leaning Hot AC format (which has since transitioned to a younger-leaning direction), as does KDWB's own sister station KTCZ, with its own pop/rock-leaning Hot AC presentation. In 2010, KTTB rebranded as KHTC (now KMWA), leaning more towards KDWB's format, and relocated their transmitter to the heart of the metro area. The battle between KDWB and KHTC lasted until New Year's Day 2012, when KHTC flipped to Modern AC to fill the void left open by KMNB's flip to Country, thus leaving KDWB as the market's only mainstream Top 40 outlet again.
In 2010, the Party Zone format began broadcasting on K273BH, its FM translator at 102.5, which covers the area. They were one of two outlets in the Clear Channel roster that did not use the Club Phusion Dance format, as this one featured a live presentation over the air. The other one is KXJM Portland, Oregon, who launched "Too Wild HD2" in January 2012, customized for that market.
On April 29, 2013, the Party Zone format was dropped in favor of an Adult Contemporary format. In e-mails exchanged with the KDWB programming director, it was discovered that ultimately the station will air "songs recorded in Studio C from Cities 97", which began on July 15, 2013. K273BH was flipped to relay KTCZ-FM.
In 2017, KDWB-HD2 changed to iHeart's "Trancid" format.
In May 2018, the station activated an HD3 sub-channel, and began airing an adult hits format as "Minnesota State Fair Radio".
After KQQL/K244FE dropped the "Pride Radio" format and flipped to sports talk as "KFAN Plus" in August 2018, the "Pride Radio" format moved to KDWB-HD2.
On November 16, 2018, KDWB-HD3 briefly switched to KQQL's classic hits format (while KQQL made its annual flip to Christmas music that same day). However, on November 30, KDWB-HD3 switched to a country music format branded as "The Bull 101.3-HD3." Gregg Swedberg, program director and operations manager of sister KEEY, says that the "Bull" format "just plays country music, with no pop crossovers".
In May 2019, KDWB-HD3 reverted to its previous "Minnesota State Fair Radio" branding and Country/Adult Hits format.
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