KFAN (AM)

KFAN (1130 AM) is a sports talk radio station in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota that also can be heard in North Dakota and Wisconsin through The FAN Sports Radio Network. KFAN's main studios are in St. Louis Park. The station has started using digital radio broadcasts on at least two transmitters (KFAN and KFXN) as of February 2005, according to iBiquity. Currently operated by Clear Channel Communications, the station is the oldest continuously operating station in the state, dating to December 23, 1923 when Doctor George W. Young signed on with the call letters KFMT.

[edit] Daily, Monday-Friday

The Power Trip Morning Show: 6am-9am. Hosted by "Superstar" Mike Morris. Consist of sports, some local and world news, and the world of entertainment. Morris is joined by producer Chris Hawkey (A NASCAR enthusiast and a local musician), and Corey "Sludge" Cove.

P.A. and Dubay: 9am-noon. Hosted by Paul Allen and Jeff Dubay. Consist of Minnesota Vikings news, University of Minnesota sports, some Minnesota Twins happenings, and news on the Minnesota Wild. Dubay is nicknamed "Puffy", which was given to him by his cohost P.A. Paul Allen is known as the voice of the Minnesota Vikings, since he does the play by play for KFAN's broadcast of Vikings games. P.A. is the track announcer at the local horse racing track Canterbury Park. The show has become infamous for its ability to jinx local athletes who are frequent guests, similar to the Madden jinx or the Sports Illustrated jinx. The only team that has been impervious to the curse is the Gopher Men's hockey team. Justin Gaard is the current producer for the P.A. and Dubay show. Current Detroit Pistons head coach Flip Saunders frequently calls into the show, with the moniker of "Phil from Minneapolis" A website dedicated to calling out Minnesota sports media members for their blatant favoritism (www.homersota.com) has a page dedicated to Allen and Dubay.

The Common Man Progrum (KFAN's spelling): Noon-2pm. Hosted by "The Common Man" Dan Cole. The show consists of ack-akka-dak, humor, tomfoolery and skullduggery - some politics on the local level, along with hardly ever talking about sports (except Golf) on this program which is on an all sports radio station, something that "Common" is very proud of. Cole is a long time radio personality of the Twin Cities for a couple 13-14 years. The Common Man Progrum is currently being produced on an interim basis by Brandon "Tenna-B" Mileski. On a weekly basis he reads the "Homer of the Week" from his self-professed favorite web site www.HOMERSOTA.com.

The Chad Hartman Show: 2pm-4:30pm. Hosted by Chad Hartman, son of legendary Twin Cities sportswriter Sid Hartman. The show mostly consists of news and the host's political views, occasionally straying to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Twins. The Chad Hartman show is produced by Darren "Doogie" Wolfson.

Bumper to Bumper: 4:30pm-7pm. Hosted by Dan Barreiro and sidekick "Mr. Phunn" Joe Anderson. Show consists of Barreiro's insight on mostly cultural issues and some sports. Barriero discusses the most important events of the day. On Wednesdays during the NFL season Barreiro co-hosted Mike Tice Live, a call in show where Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice took calls and talked about the performance of his squad in the game previously played. Barreiro will not do a call-in show with new coach Brad Childress.

Sludge and Lake: 7pm-9pm. hosted by Corey Cove and Henry Lake. Show consists of sports on all levels and entertainment, although rarely measures outside the lines of the sports realm. The show is usually broadcast from studio but sometimes from Joe Senser's bar and grill, but from week 1 to week 14 in the NFL season, they will broadcast from a location of Champs Sports Bar&Grill when Fantasy Football expert Paul Charchian for a mini fantasy football show. The show was broadcast almost every night from KFAN: The Restaurant until its closing in 2005.

[edit] Other programming

FAN Outdoors: Thursdays 7pm-9pm, hosted by Billy Hildebrand and Saturdays 6am-8am, hosted Rob Drieslein. The hosts share their hunting and fishing experiences and strategies, along with insights on outdoor issues.

FAN Motorsports: Saturdays noon-2pm. Hosted by Power Trip producer Chris Hawkey. He talks about big news in NASCAR and other racing.

Viking Rewind: Sundays 7am-8am during the Vikings season. Hosted by Doogie Wolfson. Simply rewinds of the past week's Minnesota Viking interviews from the other KFAN shows.

Packer Preview: Sundays 8am-9am during the Green Bay Packers season. Hosted by Dave Sinykin. Previews the day's Packer game. The only Packer show on KFAN and controversial among Viking fans.

Sunday Sermon: Sundays 9am-10am. Hosted by Dan Barriero and side kick (PA and Dubay producer) Justin Gaurd. Basically a shortened version of Bumper to Bumper minus Mr. Phunn.

Minnesota Viking Broadcast: Pregame coverage of Viking Games start two hours before the day's Vikings game usually on Sunday but some times on Monday if the Vikings have a Monday Night Football game. Pregame hosted by "Mr. Phunn," Joe Anderson. KFAN's Vikings broadcast team consists of Paul Allen on play-by-play, and color commentary done by former Viking tight end Joe Sensor. Sideline insight is brought to the game by former Viking punter Greg Coleman. The halftime report is hosted by Joe Anderson with insight from Mike Morris and Jeff Dubay. The postgame report is also hosted by Joe Anderson and includes interviews from multiple Vikings players and coaching staff which are conducted by Greg Coleman.

Viking Fan Line: Starts right after the Vikings postgame report and lasts about two hours. Mike Morris and Jeff Dubay take fan postgame reaction and provide their insight on what the fans think.

Vikings Uncensored: 6:30pm-7:30pm Mondays during Vikings season. Hosted by Paul Allen and "Sludge" Corey Cove from Joe Sensor's bar and grill in Bloomington. They interview a star Viking player from the game on Sunday. They do not broadcast if the Vikings have a Monday Night Football game.

Fantasy Football Weekly: Noon-2pm Saturdays during the Football Season. Hosted by Paul Charchian, John Tuvey, and Bo Mitchell. Fantasy football questions are answered ad nauseum on this show. Callers are known to call a couple of hours before the show is on-air to be put on hold.

ESPN Radio: On when none of the programs above are on the air. ESPN Radio programming on KFAN includes All Night with Jason Smith and multiple weekend shows.

[edit] Former Programming

Rights to the Minnesota Timberwolves broadcasts were lost in 2006. KFAN had held these rights since the Wolves' inaugural season in 1989.

[edit] The "rube" base

The KFAN listeners are referred to as rubes. The phrase "rube cred" is used on the air, especially on the P.A. and Dubay Show. KFAN has a world wide rube base because thanks to both the internet stream via KFAN.com that plays all the programming on the station besides Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Timberwolves games and ESPN radio and KFAN's Rube Chat.

In September of 2003, "Rubes" gained another medium to talk Vikings, Wolves, and other topics when KFAN.com unveiled "Rube Chat" -- An online message board community designed to let Rubes interact with each other and various on-air personalities on occasion. The brain-child of KFAN.com Webmaster Jeremy Sinon, the message board currently boasts nearly 11,000 members and is constantly growing.

Annually each March and April, Rubes are treated to the Rube brackets, an inspired take on the popularity contests of movie stars or inanimate objects created on several other websites. The rankings, which take into account levels of interest in the opinions and personal life of thousands of Rubes, are compiled by a small committee and all experienced Rubes are asked to vote on who they prefer. The 2005 winner was RC3, while MMG took the top honor in a close vote in 2006. Vincesixx lost in both finals.

[edit] KFAN: The Restaurant

It opened in 2004 and closed in 2005. The food services were managed by Grand Management, which operates a chain of Sidney's restaurants in the Twin Cities. Clear Channel Communications considered it to be a pilot project and may have tried to create similar restaurants across the country if it was successful. In September 2005, the KFAN name was dropped and the restaurant became known as the Big City Tavern. The restaurant owners said the affiliation with Clear Channel was too limiting and implied that the establishment was only a sports bar. In July 2006, Big City Tavern closed.

[edit] KFXN

KFXN, also known as "Score 690", is KFAN's sister station. They air a complimentary sports talk format, which today consists mostly of syndicated shows from FOX Sports and ESPN. They have a long history as sister station to KTCZ, and aired a jazz format for much of the 1980s and into the 1990s before simulcasting with its FM sister. In 1998, 690 became a counterpart to KFAN, airing repeats of KFAN's local shows as well as various syndicated fare. KFXN is a daytime-only station, meaning they sign off the air at sunset and return to the air at sunrise.

See also KFXN.

[edit] The FAN Sports Radio Network

[edit] External links

• 1130 KFAN
• Score 690
• KFAN Transmitter Site Tour
• Transmitter Visit of KFAN
• W9XAT: The Twin City Experimental Amateur Television Society