Love 105 FM Radio Format Change? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: appointed, 2013, university)

[mn55110]

It appears as though Cumulus Media is making a switch at 105.1 WGVX-FM Lakeville , 105.7 WGVZ-FM Eden Prairie and 105.3 WRXP-FM Cambridge .

What does everyone think next format on Love 105-FM will be after the weekend? They have been stunting since 8:00AM Saturday; sounds like an iPod on shuffle with no imaging, liners, bumpers between any song or the commercial breaks etc. Love 105 logo has been taken off their website, and the on-air staff was let go Friday. Songs have ranged from Lawrence Welk type music to Ludacris.

This will be the 8th or 9th format switch since putting the 105.1, 105.3 and 105.7 triple-cast together in 1997. Remember: Rev 105; Café 105.7; X-105; Zone 105; V-105; Drive 105 then Love 105 the Oldies station from May 2007 until April 2012 then the Soft-Rock Adult Contemporary version of Love 105 from April 2012 until March 30th 2013.

Cumulus Media also owns 92.5 KQRS-FM Golden Valley 93.7 KXXR-FM Minneapolis and 1440 KDIZ-AM Golden Valley with more news this weekend about Tom Barnard, longtime KQ Morning show host entering outpatient treatment for substance abuse and anger management according to both the Star-Tribune and Pioneer Press, all while continuing to host his #1 rated morning show on the classic rock station.

[StilltheSame]

I really enjoyed the May2007-April 2012 format. Ive now gone back to CDs; my ipod or sometimes 107.9. In other words I am not a fan of the new format on 105.

[Thegonagle]

I thought they already laid off all the DJs last year. A friend of mine was let go from Love 105 in the 2012 format shift.

[mn55110]

Originally Posted by Thegonagle

I thought they already laid off all the DJs last year. A friend of mine was let go from Love 105 in the 2012 format shift.

Some Disc Jockey's were let go during the April, 2012 switch from Oldies - Classic Hits to Light Rock Adult Contemporary which is almost standard practice when a station switches musical genre's however in-turn Cumulus Media also downsized by not hiring anyone new. The number of on-air announcers, production engineers, advertising salespeople, promotions at any radio station is fraction of what it was just a few years ago. With the switch to light rock, some were speculating that Love 105 might hire some former WLTE 102.9 personalities whom had all been let go with their switch to Country Music.

Longtime KOOL 108 midday host Lois Mae remained doing mornings on Love 105 after the format change, however her morning co-host, 40- year Twin Cities radio veteran, Barry Siewert was also at 107.9 KQQL-FM Anoka with Lois had been laid-off a few months earlier. Barry went by the name Barry McKenna during the 1970's at Top-40 Contemporary Hits Radio giant 630 KDWB-AM St. Paul .

Under the Oldies/ Classic Hits format, Ben was the Afternoon Drive DJ from 3:00-8:00 PM then was moved to the Midday 10:00 AM-3:00PM time slot; in fact I heard Ben on the air Friday around the noon hour which ended-up being the final day of Love 105 FM. Ben has done a lot fill-in and substitute hosting just down the hallway from love 105 at sister Active Rock station 93X. Ben has been a regular on the 93X Morning show, hosting his own shifts during the overnight hours and on weekends in addition to being the voice over for many of the commercials heard on all the stations which Cumulus owns and operates from their studio's and offices on Elm Street straight north of the University of Minnesota campus.

The other full-time staff at Love 105 also had regular weekend shifts on KQRS and 93X in addition to substituting when on-air staff members from KQ or 93X were either ill or on vacation. Now that the full switch was made to CBS Sports Radio on Monday April 1, 2013 and the station rebranded to 105 FM The Ticket, I hope they'll be able to re hire some of the staff for work at KQRS or KXXR and maybe doing local 1-minute local sports news/ score updates on "105 FM The Ticket" because this new station will all be national talent broadcasting from CBS in New York.

If they're willing to relocate to one of Cumulus Media owned stations elsewhere in Minnesota or nationally since they're the 2nd largest radio broadcaster behind Clear Channel. There are now fewer and fewer opportunities in broadcasting and they keep dwindling.

[maui-intoxicated]

Looks like it's a new sports talk station.

New sports station joins Twin Cities market | StarTribune.com

[puppycakes]

hate the new format - loved the old! we lost 102.9 adult contemporary to country - nothing good on the radio now. better make sure I have CD's in the car!

[bobslesinger]

Love 105 .... they finally got it right. A great mix of listening music. Then they got it as far wrong as they had it right. We need another Sports talk radio show like I need more hemoroids. Bob.

[bobslesinger]

The New Love 105 recently became my new favorite radio station. They changed to the perfect mix of music and a great a.m. DJ. I was thrilled to have them and I even left it on for the commercials, which I NEVER do. I can't tell you how disappointed I was to hear a sports radio talk show when I turned it on Monday morning. (And I love sports.) BIG mistake to undo what was finally done right. I had been telling my friends and coworkers about it and they had started listening, too. - Bob's S.O.

P.S. It was too late to fix his misspelled word.

[BillWallace]

Not sure we need 3 sports stations in town but I'm not a huge fan of some of the local personalities on there. That said, by just playing syndicated national shows I think they will be missing a lot of people who want a local angle.

Drive 105 was what I miss (adult alternative) - never really have listened to 105 since.

[Thegonagle]

Wow. Yet another sports talk radio station. I'm so surprised... Not!

It's going to fail spectacularly, like most new sports talk stations around the country.

They're only doing this because after Rush Limbaugh's idiotic misogynistic rant against that graduate student, political talk just isn't selling. Businesses who advertise on radio (wisely) don't want to be associated with scandals like that, so they say "don't run me on political talk--at all."

So they need something else, and hey, sports talk is popular among males 18-54 years old (the demographic advertisers most want to reach), so sports talk it is.

Only problem is there are enough 18-54 year old male sports fans to go around.

I give The Racquet--excuse me--The Ticket 18 months tops. In the meantime, I hope they enjoy their 0.05 share.