| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Duluth-Superior |
| Frequency | 610kHz |
| Branding | Nortland News Radio |
| Programming | |
| Format | News/talk |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | November 22, 1936; 89 years ago (1936-11-22) |
Call sign meaning | Dalton Alexander LeMasurier (founder) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 60230 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000 watts |
| Translator | 103.9 W280FB (Duluth) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | northlandnewsradio |
KDAL (610kHz) is acommercialAM radio station inDuluth, Minnesota, serving theDuluth-Superior area of Northeastern Minnesota and NorthwesternWisconsin. KDAL is owned and operated byMidwest Communications and broadcasts atalk radioformat. The studios and offices for KDAL,KDAL-FM,KDKE,WDSM,WDUL andKTCO are at 11 East Superior Street, Suite 380, in downtown Duluth.
By day, KDAL transmits with 5,000 wattsnon-directional. At night, to protect other stations on610 AM, KDAL uses adirectional antenna.[2] Programming is also heard on 250-wattFM translatorW280FB at 103.9MHz.
Weekdays begin with Dave Stranberg and the KDAL Morning Show, featuring news, sports, weather, school closings and local information. Bruce Ciskie hosts a late morning sports show and Bob Sansevere is heard in afternoons. The rest of the weekday schedule comes fromnationally syndicated talk shows includingThe Ramsey Show withDave Ramsey,Markley, VanCamp and Robbins,Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb,Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis,This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal andCoast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory.
Weekends feature shows on health, money, religion, technology, travel, cars and home repair, with apolka music show on Saturday mornings. Weekend syndicated shows includeLeo Laporte, The Tech Guy,Somewhere in Time with Art Bell andWorld Travel Connection with Rudy Maxa. KDAL broadcastsMinnesota Twins baseball andUniversity of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs college football and basketball. Most hours begin with world and national news fromCBS News Radio. Local news and weather is supplied byKBJR-TV.
KDALsigned on the air as a 100-watt station at 1500 kHz on November 22, 1936. The KDALcall sign came from the station's founder, Dalton A. LeMasurier, who was president and general manager of KDAL for many years. On September 5, 1937, power increased to 250 watts and the station joined theCBS Radio Network. KDAL broadcast CBS's dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows andbig band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio". With the enactment of theNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), the station moved to 1490 kHz in early 1941.[3]
KDAL switched frequencies to the current 610 kHz on October 24, 1941, increasing power to 1,000 watts. The switchover was dramatically made from a plane flying over the city. In 1947, a new transmitter and tower were constructed at 63rd Avenue West along the harborfront. The facilities remain to this day. KDAL got another power increase again to 5,000 watts on August 7, 1947.[4] A new transmitter and tower were constructed for the boost in wattage. This enabled KDAL to serve a wider area. The event was celebrated with a "Kilowatt Karnival" in theDuluth Armory.
In the 1948-1949 season, CBS raidedNBC and grabbed some of their biggest stars. Radio's highest rated program,The Jack Benny Program, moved to CBS and KDAL in January 1949.Amos 'n' Andy,George Burns and Gracie Allen,Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, andBing Crosby also made the switch. CBS was suddenly the number one network and KDAL finally made some headway against NBC affiliateWEBC.
KDAL made the jump to television as KDAL-TV (nowKDLH) in 1953. FM stationKDAL-FM went on the air in 1985.
Network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s. KDAL featured afull service,middle of the road (MOR) format of popular music, news and sports in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, the music was updated toadult contemporary. By the late 1990s, the music shows were eliminated and the station became a full time talk outlet.
In the beginning of the 2000s, Midwest acquired KDAL, KDAL-FM,KRBR-FM,WDSM,KTCO andKXTP in the Duluth/Superior market. KDAL would gain an additional sister station in the form ofKQDS-FM in 2016, acquired by Midwest fromRed Rock Radio.
In 2022, Midwest Communications merged the news-talk programming of sister station WDSM into KDAL.[5] Simultaneously,WDUL's sports-talk format was moved to WDSM. AM 710 is now branded asThe Game with most programming originating fromWRNW in Milwaukee. The 98.1 translator from WDSM moved to WDUL, which now airs acontemporary hit radio format asHot 98.1.[6]
On October 1, 2025, KDAL rebranded as "Nortland News Radio" and began simulcasting onKDAH inNashwauk.[7]
46°43′13.8″N92°10′36.7″W / 46.720500°N 92.176861°W /46.720500; -92.176861