City Minneapolis-St. Paul Format Public; News/Talk | Broadcast area Minneapolis-St. Paul First air date 1967 | |
Frequency 91.1 FM (MHz)(also on HD Radio)91.1 HD-2 Radio Heartland (Folk)91.1 HD-3 BBC World Service | ||
KNOW-FM (91.1 FM) is the flagship radio station of Minnesota Public Radio's "news and information" network, primarily broadcasting a talk radio format to the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. The frequency was previously under the call sign KSJN, but the purchase of a commercial station at 99.5 MHz in 1991 allowed MPR to broadcast distinct talk radio and classical music services.
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KNOW-FM's studios are located in the MPR Broadcast Center on Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul, while its transmitter is located on the KMSP Tower in Shoreview.
History
WLOL (1330 AM) was purchased by MPR in 1980 and carried the KSJN call sign until 1989 when the KNOW letters became available. The AM signal was later spun off into a for-profit subsidiary to help fund the public broadcaster, and was eventually sold off. The station has since reverted to their original WLOL call sign.
In the 1970s, KSJN 91.1 FM and WLOL (99.5 FM) cooperated in an experimental use of quadraphonic stereo, with each station carrying two channels of audio. However, this "quadcast" had some undesirable "ping-pong" effects, much like early stereo broadcasts using the same method did. As KNOW now mainly broadcasts spoken word programming, the station broadcasts in analog in monaural audio in order to extend the station's coverage to its fullest extent possible.
HD Radio
KNOW-FM features Radio Heartland, a Web-and HD Radio- service, on its HD Radio subchannel. Its playlist consists primarily of acoustic, singer-songwriter, folk and Americana music. The service launched in December 2008.
Radio Heartland's schedule also includes the programs A Prairie Home Companion and American Routes from American Public Media, and the shows Thistle and Shamrock and Mountain Stage from NPR. These additional shows were added to Radio Heartland's schedule in November 2009.
Austin, Texas
The callsign KNOW was also used by a major AC radio station in Austin, Texas, located at 1490 kHz. The station signed off in 1989 after operating for 50 years. The Spanish station KLGO assumed the frequency in 1993.
Lufkin, Texas
The callsign KNOW was also used by an oldies station in Lufkin, Texas, located at 1420kHz, until it suffered a fire and shut down in 1987. It was owned by Pine Air, Inc.