The Twins on KTWN: Keeping It In The Family

Gulf Coast League Twins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To absolutely no one's surprise, KTWN-FM (96.3) will become the new radio home of the Minnesota Twins starting in 2013.  They join the Vikings, Gopher football and the Wild in moving from the AM dial to FM (on KFXN 100.3).  Which leaves the Timberwolves stuck on WCCO-AM.

The Pohlad family, which owns both the Twins and K-TWIN, have long wanted to get their games on static-free FM as well as to keep whatever revenues there are to themselves.  KSTP-AM (also known as 1500 ESPN), which has been running Twins games for six seasons, has long been ripped by critics and fans alike for its static and for its lack of signal strength, despite having 50,000 watts of power.

Yes, FM will do wonders for the sound quality of Twins games.  But K-TWIN's signal isn't as powerful as 100.3 The Fan, which has the maximum-allowed 100,000-watts.  Maybe the Twins need to add more stations to its radio network, just to cover the Twin Cites metro area.

What's surprising about the switch is that K-TWIN is keeping its low-rated (and critically-reviled) adult contemporary music format, instead of changing it to talk or sports.  Since the Pohlads' Northern Lights Broadcasting bought the station, they've gone from hip hop (as B96) to contemporary hits (as 96.3 Now) to today.  They're also looking for a new morning host, having let go of Tony Fly.  And there have also been questions as to whether the Pohlads really want to be in the radio business, surrounded by giant chains such as Clear Channel, Cumulus and CBS who own stations in this market.

There's a reason why most flagship stations of pro sports teams (AM or FM) tend to be either news/talk or sports.  Its typical audience is usually older, male and politically conservative.  Music stations generally have audiences that are more younger and female.  Do you really expect them to sit through a baseball game when they could be listening to Adele?  On the other hand, guys would rather listen to post-mortems of the game they just heard (or watched) instead of another rendition of "Call Me Maybe".

KSTP, which won't have games to carry next season, gets to keep such lovely parting gifts from the Twins as "The Ron Gardenhire Show" on Sunday mornings.  And they'll still have Gophers men's hockey and basketball, along with national coverage of the NBA Finals and the World Series.  But what is 1500 ESPN's future?  People there say the format is going to continue, but how?  Their ratings have taken a hit since The Fan moved to FM.  Why is Joe Soucheray still allowed to do a political talk show in afternoon drive?  Is it time to go back to news/talk, or should the Hubbards sell AM 1500 to some religious or Spanish outfit?

So the Pohlad family has two struggling properties under one roof:  KTWN, a radio station trying to get its act together, and the Minnesota Twins, a baseball team trying to stay out of last place.  Whatever happens next season, at least baseball will sound better.