KQRS

The original call letters were KEVE-FM and the station was co-owned with sister AM station KEVE-AM. KEVE-AM's history predates the FM by 14 years. It launched in May, 1948 and was owned by Family Broadcasting until mid-1956 and was known until at least then as KEYD, co-owned with KEYD-TV 9 (now KMSP-TV and launched by Family Broadcasting in January, 1955). The KEYD Radio studios were located in downtown Minneapolis on 9th Street off of Hennepin Avenue practically next to the Orpheum Theater (see 1953 photo link below). Calls were changed to KADM to complement its AM sister (as in "Adam and Eve") in October 1963.

On December 1, 1964, the call letters for both radio stations became KQRS and the two stations changed from country music to a classical music format. The KEVE-AM studios had, by 1957, moved to its transmitter site in Golden Valley at 917 Lilac Drive, set back from Minnesota State Highway 100. This location was the first studio and transmitter site for the station.

George Fisher at the turntable on May 15, 1970. [ LISTEN ] (10:32)

George does his version of undgerouund style radio as broadcast in 1970. This became very popular with college age listeners and in a few months the rock format began playing evenings too with DJ Alan Stone. A few months later, this became the primary format.

In the mid-1960s, KQRS programmed a Middle of the Road-format (MOR) with big band music and Brazilian Bossa Nova music evenings. In addition to this format, Joe Pyne's talk radio show was carried. In the summer of 1967, KQRS started experimenting with freeform rock in the late night hours with George Fisher.

John Fineberg does 12 Midnight to 6 AM September 25, 1972, and Ozone Hour. [ LISTEN ].

Fineberg worked part-time at KQ and then moved to KRSI-FM. Here is more of his last show on KQ before moving on to KRSI. You will hear Dan Pothier say a heartfelt goodbye to John when he takes over at 6 AM (Part 2 of the aircheck) [ LISTEN ]. Also here is a recording of the KQRS Ozone Hour. This may be a spaced out version of KQ's progressive format and was also recorded sometime in 1972. [ LISTEN ]

Goodman

The date is October 19. 1972, Alan Stone and Steve Goodman are in the studio. [ LISTEN ].

The date is June 9. 1973, featuring Brian McNee, includes Randi Kirshbaum providing a list of “what’s going on” events at the end of the recording. [ LISTEN ] (24:15)

Commercials include Dayton’s Super Sound Sale, Grain Belt Beer, Schell’s Beer, Schell’s Beer, Everynight Shampoo, Sons of Champlin - Welcome to the Dance (album), Northwestern Bell, Guthrie Theater, Delmonico’s House of Stereo, Grain Belt Beer, and Jethro Tull at the Met Sports Center.

Kirshbaum

Randi Kirshbaum on June 10, 1973. Includes commercials for Pepsi, The Flame Bar, and Led Zeppelin at the St. Paul Civic Center. (Pepsi com'l is sung by Ann Duquesnay). [ LISTEN ] (14:33)

Randi Kirshbaum KQRS (1970-75) and Susan Bradley, KRSI (1971-72), were the first female disk jockeys in the Twin Cities.

Alan Stone was the program director when Randi Kirshbaum went to his office saying she thought a progressive station should have a woman on. She talked about the cultural relevance of Captain Beefheart. When he didn’t call her, she called him every week. According to Randi, she just wore him down until he gave her a show. She was 16 at the time. First day on air, she read a story about Henry Kissinger being voted the sexiest man alive by Playboy bunnies. Randi said, “Oh, that makes me want to puke.”

By 1977, the freeform rock would give way to a tightly programmed rock approach, courtesy of radio consultants Burkhart/Abrams and their "Superstars" format, which was essentially just the hits from album rock.

NATIONAL LAMPOON RADIO HOUR
CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: 1974
[ Part 1 ] (13:19) | [ Part 2 ] (13:57)

Created, produced and written by staff from National Lampoon magazine, the show ran weekly, for a little over a year, from November 17, 1973 to December 28, 1974.

Performers on the show included John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, John DeBella, Gilda Radner, and Harold Ramis.

The show was broadcast nationally on 600 radio stations (including KQRS).

This approach continued into 1986, with respectable, if not spectacular ratings, when KQRS signed a new consultant, Jacobs Media, and evolved into its present-day classic rock format. That, coupled with its massively popular morning show, elevated KQRS to the top of the ratings.

The KQRS call sign stayed with the AM until 1982, when it switched to an oldies format as KGLD before returning to the simulcast and the KQRS calls less than two years later. In 1996, the AM was again split from the FM to become one of the first affiliates of Radio Disney, a format targeting children (see KDIZ). Both stations were owned by Disney at the time. In early 2001, KQRS and KDIZ (along with sister stations 93X and 105.1/105.3/105.7) moved to studios and offices at 2000 Elm Street SE in Minneapolis, near the University of Minnesota campus.

KQRS has the distinction of unseating legendary area broadcaster WCCO (830 AM) from being the most-listend-to station in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market (12+), an achievement which WCCO had held unchallenged for decades. The KQ92 Morning Show hosted by Tom Barnard was a major element in KQ's ascendance to the top spot, along with shifting market demographics.

TOP LEFT: DJ Alan Stone plays music on June 8, 1979. BOTTOM: Lorelei Shark, a model who posed for ads for KQRS, autographing posters for fans in 1980.

Barnard and the KQ Morning Show also were successful in holding the top rating spot when Howard Stern made his debut on the Twin Cities airwaves in 1997. Stern lasted only until mid-1999 in Minneapolis as his ratings brought him to the number two position in morning drive time, but the station that carried the show, WRQC, had poor ratings during the rest of the day, leading to the dropping of Stern and a format change.

At the studio at 917 Lilac Drive.

Rival KXXR, then known as "93X", was purchased by then-owners Capital Cities-ABC in the Spring of 1994, and the station's call sign was changed to KEGE with a new alternative rock format. It primarily competed with the growing "REV 105," though KQRS' parent company purchased the three REV signals in 1997. The stations went through several incarnations, including heavy metal, Urban Oldies and for much of the time, alternative rock as well as Soft AC/oldies, adult contemporary and sports talk, prior to flipping to its current classic hip hop format in August, 2015. [ LISTEN ]

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Twin Cities Radio Airchecks, Radio Tapes, Twin Cities Music Highlights, The Star Tribune.