Northern Lights has sights set on all-sports station

The Pohlad family-owned company wants to acquire two more FM stations, with 24-hour sports a possibility for one.

By JUDD ZULGAD, Star Tribune

Last update: May 16, 2008 - 9:37 PM

While rumors swirl that Northern Lights Broadcasting might be in line to make a bid on Clear Channel-owned KTLK (100.3 FM), company president Steve Woodbury confirmed he would like to add two more FM stations and expressed interest in making one an all-sports station.

Northern Lights, whose majority investor is the family of Carl Pohlad, already owns hip-hop station B96 (KTTB 96.3 FM).

Woodbury, station manager at KFAN from 1993 to 2000, said Thursday he had discussions with officials from Clear Channel Communications, CBS and Citadel Broadcasting but said "at this point, nothing is for sale."

"We've talked to Clear Channel, but is there anything imminent? No. I think in the next six months [that could change]," Woodbury said. "I would love to do a sports station. But there are other formats being underserved."

Woodbury said he isn't looking at any AM stations -- he points out the cost of CBS-owned WCCO (830 AM) likely is far too steep -- but believes going all-sports on FM could be viable.

Considering the Pohlads own the Twins, any discussion of Northern Lights flipping a format to 24-hour sports will result in speculation about a possible move of the baseball team to that signal after the franchise's contract with Hubbard-owned KSTP (1500 AM) expires following the 2010 season.

Woodbury said he hasn't discussed that scenario with the Pohlads, adding, "They don't want to talk about that." But Woodbury made it clear his goal with any sports station would be to acquire play-by-play properties and build it with local shows. "You can't do just ESPN [Radio]," he said. "The big secret to KFAN was it was a boys' club."

Remember, Northern Lights recently purchased an FM station in St. Peter, Minn., with the call letters KRBI -- a potentially fitting name for a Twins radio home. Shifting those letters to another FM signal wouldn't be difficult.

The Twin Cities already has two sports-talk stations in KFAN and day-timer KFXN (690 AM). They are among seven stations owned locally by Clear Channel, which is in the process of being sold to private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital. The new owners are expected to eventually divest themselves of several radio properties, with KTLK and KQQL (107.9 FM) appearing the most likely to be sold locally. CBS and Citadel also own multiple stations in town. In addition to WCCO, CBS has WLTE (102.9 FM) and Jack-FM (104.1). Citadel owns KQRS (92.5 FM) and KXXR (93.7 FM) as well as the Love 105 signals (105.1, 105.3 and 105.7 FM).

"I sold the idea of buying three FM stations," Woodbury said when asked about the plan for Northern Lights. "We didn't get into this to buy one station. There are a number of possibilities but nobody is there yet."

Fine-tuning

• There have been no recent talks between the Timberwolves and Clear Channel officials about moving the team's games to KTLK since they met a day after the season ended. In addition to the pending sale of Clear Channel, another concern could be the fact that Wolves games on the East Coast would cut into the airtime for highly paid host Jason Lewis, who is on weekdays 4-7 p.m.

• The Wild finished with the third-highest average rating (2.9) among FSN regional networks that carried NHL teams this season, trailing Pittsburgh (5.9) and Detroit (4.8).

• Attorney Ron Rosenbaum, who had been a frequent contributor on KSTP Radio, has joined KTLK and will host a noon-2 p.m. show each Saturday following Dan Barreiro's program. Rosenbaum also will make appearances on Barreiro's weekday-drive show on KFAN.

• KFAN's Cory (Sludge) Cove will broadcast for 24 hours in a row starting at 2 p.m. Saturday. The marathon will benefit the Lupus Foundation.

Judd Zulgad • jzulgad@startribune.com

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