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KTNF AM 950 Sold to Heartland Signal

P

pattywells

From North Pine: Owner of Chicago Station Buys Twin Cities Progressive Talker

Some of my own observations with no insider knowledge...

$250,000 price tag. The land is certainly more valueable than that. Larson obviously cares about the station and probably wants it to go to someone who cares about the format.

KTNF currently airs many of the same national programs as WCPT, and they have a coalition of sorts for the locally produced shows.

While not much may change with the new owners, it is sad to see one more station sell to an out-of-state enterprise.

I wonder if Civic Media was approached in the deal.

KTNF certainly needs some TLC. Perhaps the new ownership will shore up the station.
 
KTNF is one of the few Progressive Talk stations left in the U.S. It's sad that, one-by-one, they've all flipped to something else, except for WCPT Chicago and KTNF Minneapolis.

With the ICE problems in Minneapolis, syndicated Thom Hartmann will ask the KTNF news reporter to come on the national show for updates. I hear Hartmann and Stephanie Miller on the Sirius XM Progress channel.
 
From what I've heard, the KTNF land, which also includes the studio building, is a bit of a swamp. And it's location near a lake, a park and some upscale suburban homes, keeps it from getting ridiculously overdeveloped like the rest of Eden Prairie on the other side of I-494.

The station has been located there for decades, mostly with their former 104.1 sister. After CBS (via WCCO, etc.) bought both stations in the late 90s and moved 104.1 (currently KZJK Jack FM) downtown, they eventually sold off AM 950, the old studio building and the land with the towers to the current owner. The progressive talk format, now over twenty years old, is by far the longest one ever on that signal, which was notorious for having many, many format changes over the years (along with 104.1).

The pending sale sounds like a good one. Eyechaner already runs a similar station that has obviously had some success, and also has deeper pockets. The purchase price for all that does seem pretty low, though, but it's probably due to the buyer wanting to continue to build on the current format.
 
It's true that most of the land is wetland. But the developed portion of the property (studio, parking lot) has to be worth more than $250,000, not to mention the value of the station assets. The price signals an inside-deal to me.

Overall, this is probably a good move for the station and its format. Should keep them on the air for a little while longer.
 


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