Jeff Johnson to become emperor of KYMN

jeff johnson

KYMN Program Director Jeff Johnson emailed me yesterday morning, saying “Hey Griff, Attached is a news story we ran this morning.  Call me if you have questions.”

Our lead story today involves us here at KYMN.

As we approach our 40th anniversary later this month, KYMN radio is being sold and local ownership will return to the station for the first time since 2002.

Jeff Johnson, KYMN’s current Program Director, has signed an agreement to purchase the station from Ingstad Brothers Broadcasting:

KYMN first went on the air on Sept. 27, 1968.  Wayne Eddy had had at least a share of ownership and was full owner until selling it to Jim Ingstad in 2002.  Most recently, the station has been owned by Ingstad Brothers Broadcasting, who aquired it in 2003.

As far as changes… Jeff says there will be some.

The sale still must be approved by the FCC to be final.  That process will take about 90 days.  Johnson will take over management of the station on October 1st with a Local Marketing Agreement until the deal is closed.

Today’s Nfld News has more: Program director will buy KYMN.

After he gets a handle on running the business end of a station, Johnson hopes to shift the focus of the programming more to local content and be less dependent on satellite and programming services. Though the type of music and selection of talk shows could change eventually, KYMN will continue to anchor itself in local news, weather and sports, Johnson explained.

I’m wondering:

  • Will KYMN finally have a web site with audio streaming, podcasting, and digital archives?
  • Will Locally Grown’s agent be able to negotiate a much fatter contract for the Triumvirate?

Find out more later this afternoon. We record this week’s Locally Grown segment/podcast at 4 pm. It’ll air at 5:30pm.

16 Comments

  1. Gabriel Rholl said:

    A web-streamed and archived KYMN would be the coolest thing ever. EVER. (Okay, maybe not ever, but still pretty good.) My vote is in for that.

    September 17, 2008
  2. Mary Rossing said:

    We need to realize how incredibly important local media is for a strong community! Who else is going to interview local government and school officials, promote community events, talk to local people about their projects, and report on the on-goings around towns? (For a good discussion about keeping media and money locaI suggest reading Bill McKibben’s Deep Economy–available at out LOCAL bookstores!) We are lucky in Northfield to have locallygrown and northfield.org to round out the paper and KYMN! Listen, read, blog and advertise. Thanks to Jeff for making a personal investment in the community.

    September 17, 2008
  3. Nathan E. Kuhlman said:

    I think this is great news. Congrats, Jeff!

    September 17, 2008
  4. Britt Ackerman said:

    Congratulations Jeff! I remember way back in the day when I used to have to pick up the rotary phone on the land line and call time and temp to hear your voice between radio shows….if you can stream KYMN like Gabriel suggests, imagine! It would be like Jeff Johnson, 24/7! And much more informative than just the time and temp!

    September 17, 2008
  5. I realize it could be difficult for them to have a really comprehensive website with each program neatly archived (like Minnesota Public Radio), but basic streaming would be a great step, especially for us youngins who have heard of this crazy “AM Radio” thing, but aren’t quite sure what website to download it from ;-).

    At at a bare minimum, they should have an informational site (which I think they actually did have several years back).

    September 17, 2008
  6. Welcome, Jeff. Call me if you ever need an experienced DJ who also spent time talking it up on PBS in Chicago. Radio forever!

    September 17, 2008
  7. Ray Cox said:

    The best to you Jeff….we have needed KYMN back in full local control for sometime. You will do a great job with the station.

    September 17, 2008
  8. Julie Bixby said:

    Congratulations Jeff! This is really fantastic!
    Julie

    September 18, 2008
  9. Bob Matheson said:

    Congratulations Jeff! You’ll do a great job for both the station and the community.

    September 18, 2008
  10. Stan Stydnicki said:

    Hello Kim Radio.

    Congratulations on the stations upcoming 40 years of broadcasting in Northfield, Mn. and congratulations to Wayne Eddy for his 40 years with the station. Have a good year.
    Stan Stydnicki, President and General Manager and owner of KYMN 1968 to 1983

    September 19, 2008
  11. KYMN will celebrate its 40th birthday on September 27. There is an interview with Wayne Eddy recounting some of the history of the station in my “Historic Happenings” column in the September Northfield Entertainment Guide, available around town or at http://www.northfieldguide.com. Congratulations to Wayne, the station and to new LOCAL owner Jeff Johnson! Jeff will do a great job and continue the 40 years of excellence in broadcasting.

    September 20, 2008
  12. jim gleason said:

    Thank you Jeff and good luck!!!!!

    September 22, 2008
  13. Jeff Johnson said:

    Everyone, thank you for the kind words.

    This is an exciting time for me and, hopefully, our KYMN listeners. We have a lot of work to do to make it the station I want it to be and I know our listeners would like it to be. Those changes will take some time, so for the short term, we just want to be a little better today than we were yesterday.

    Technology (that interweb thing!) is not in my area of expertise (this is my first ever blog post, I hope I’m doing it right), but I understand the importance of a good web site and streaming so hopefully that will happen in the not distant future. If anyone knows how to work this thing, I’m open for suggestions!

    Our 40th anniversary is this Saturday, as Susan pointed out. There won’t be much for a celebration now, as we’re between owners and management. But we will mark the occasion with some type of celebration next year.

    Keep it tuned to AM 1080!

    Jeff Johnson, KYMN

    September 22, 2008
  14. It’s Oct. 1, Jeff’s big take-over day at KYMN. Congratulations! And what a good idea to announce the name of the Wayne Eddy Studio in perpetuity this morning. A well-deserved honor for his 40 years at KYMN.

    October 1, 2008

Leave a Reply to Stan StydnickiCancel reply