Cunningham Contributions to Twin Cities Radio Airchecks
Mike Cunningham, Former Manger, KTCR-FM 1973 to Late '70s
Email: MikeCunningham@RickBurnett.Net
Mike attended the University of Minnesota after high school and got his start in radio at the carrier current station broadcasting to the dorms, WMMR. He later worked in radio in Mankato, Waterloo, and at KUXL before arriving at KTCR-FM.
Mike came to KTCR-FM in the summer of 1973 and had to deal with the aftermath of a station walk off of staff that shut the station off the air in an attempt to get KTCR ownership to allow a union shop at its non-union operations. One of mike first hires was to fill a weekend slot with Jim, du Bois, who later went on to work at WDGY and K102 and who is currently the President and CEO of the Minnesota Broadcasters Association. Mike hired others to replace the transitional staff that came on after the walk-out to help improve the sound of a small market sounding station at the time.
KTCR-FM was the only 24 hour station in 1973. Mike decided to play the hits, both current and past (but not too far "past") with an eye to a modern country sound. Many of the DJ were not familiar with current country music , much less the oldies. Using Joel Wittburn's TOP 40 Country Hits book, the record collection was cataloged and chart positions of the past hits were noted. A card file was created to rote the oldies. With the emphasis on current hits and chart topping past hits, KTCR-FM showed improvements in the ratings.
Unfortunately, rating were not good enough for management, they wanted complete control over the music and Bob Rock, General Manager of both KTCR-AM and FM delegate the selection of music to the receptionist. She created specific lists that had to be followed exactly under severe threat of punishment (loss of Job). When she (receptionist) could not listen, her sister would be monitoring the station. If either one of them heard you not play a song, there was an immediate phone call to you. the excuse usually was "i couldn't find the record."
KTCR-FM was later sold around 1984, changing formats to AAA, becoming a ratings success. The station has since sold several times.
Mike left in the late 70's and took a position with a La Crosse Wisconsin station, WLCX-AM/WLXR-FM and worked there a few years before joining The Board Store as a co-owner. Mike still does come commercial work on local radio and TV for the store.
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| A drawing of Mike Cunningham in 1971 on the cover of a station survey, when he worked at KWWL in Waterloo Iowa. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE. |
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Ex-KTCR-FM Guys
December 2007 photo.
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| From the Left, Jim du Bois, CEO & President of the Minnesota Broadcasters Association, Rick Burnett (creator of this site), and Mike Cunningham, all formerly of KTCR-FM. December 2007. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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| Undated radio schedule from a 1948 Trubune. Scan provided by Mike Cunningham, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager in the 1970's. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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| 1948 Radio Schedule
It appears radio had a lot more importance with the Tribune in 1948, judging by the amount of space devoted to an hour by hour schedule. Not today.
Note Clellan Card (Axel) Had a short segment on Saturday morning at WCCO. More on Axel can be found at: The Pavek Museum of Broadcasting.
KSTP had the day wrapping up with Horner's Corner. I cannot remember his first name.
Mike Cunningham said this was torn out of the newspaper by his mother about the time he was born (1948).
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This PDF File May Be Easier To Read. |
TV-Radio Schedule - 1973
Mike sent this for posting in July 2009. You can download the image to your and use a magnifier to help read the text better.
A great look at the people on the radio at this time. Watergate was getting coverage.
Posted 7-12-09. Submitted by Mike Cunningham, former Operations Manager of KTCR-FM in Minneapolis in the 1970's
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| Radio-TV Schedule from August 1973 |
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KTCR-FM's Mike Cunningham Does Pole Sitting Duty June 23, 1975
At least the weather was too bad for his remote broadcast at Wicks Furniture. I did visit Mike on this day and went to the top of the pole. The view was great. I left long before Mike.
Rick B.
Contributed by Mike Cunningham, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager in the 1970's.
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| Pole sitting DJ - Mike Cunningham in June 23th, 1975 Mpls Tribune article. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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Rare WLOL-AM Jingles from the Early 1960's - Classics
You may not remember these old LOL jingles. I was i grade school when they were playing. Let me know if you have any info on the exact years they were on the air. rick1031@hotmail.com
Contributed by Mike Cunningham of Lacrosse Wisconsin, former Operations Manager of KTCR-FM. See more of his contributions on Mike's page
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WLOL-AM Jingles From Early 1960 |
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Joe Pyne 1966 on KQRS Radio
Joe interviews a 23 year old Nazi and tears him a new one.
Contributed by Mike Cunningham of Lacrosse, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager. See his other contributions on the Cunningham page
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Joe Pyne On KQRS in 1966 |
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KTCR's Mike Cunningham Fills in at Mutual Broadcasting Network in 1977.
The photo at the right shows the Mutual Broadcasting Network's studio in 1977. The sound file has some of the ABC Radio Network news sounds/Logos followed by some from the Mutual Broadcasting Network 1960's
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| Mutual Broadcasting Network Studios 1977 - Mike Cunningham delivering a nationwide news broadcast.. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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Mutual News Sounds/Logos from Mid 1970's |
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| The Old Mutual Radio Network Studios/Office in Washington DC 1977
The Mutual Broadcasting system was heard on KTCR in the Twin Cities in 1977. These photos were taken by Mick Cunningham.
ON the first photo to the left, notice the prehistoric word processors (typewriters) in the news room at the desks. This is 1977 and the typewriters still look ancient.
Contributed by Mike Cunningham, LaCrosse Wisconsin, formerly KTCR-FM Operations Manager
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WCCO-FM Sven Telling His Stories - Undated
Mike Cunningham recorded his tape. I am not sure when it was recorded. the tape did not have a date. I am assuming it was some time in the mid-1970's. Sounds like Tim Russell doing the Sven voice. Sven started to cut up on this bit, but recovers well.
Contributed by Mike Cunningham of La Crosse, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager. (Posted 12-15-07)
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WCCO-FM Sven and his stories - Undated |
KTCR-FM Pat Devaney - Last Show - December 1974
Pat came to KTCR-FM a few week after I (Rick Burnett) was hired in July 1973. Be the end of 1974 Pat decided to take a job at a Cedar Rapids country Iowa station. This December 1974 tape of him on a Saturday morning was recorded by Mike Cunningham during Pat's last half hour on the air. There is also a short clip of Jim du Bois following Pat's goodbye speech. Jim says goodbye to Pat.
The tape has the music edited out with the commercials left in. There are two classic Schaak Electronics commercials with an unusual character named Uncle Allie talking to his nephew Timmy. Pat also does a live Walgreens commercial and plays the Walgreens tag jingle "Where in the world but Walgreens"
Contributed by Mike Cunningham of La Crosse, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager. (Posted 12-15-07)
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KTCR-FM Pat Devaney's Last Show - December 1974 Followed By Jim du Bois |
KSTP-AM Hines + Bush in the Morning - John Hines & Charlie Bush August 1975
This one starts with Hines and Bush discussing the weather. later Charlie Bush does his famous rhyming News leading off with the story about the "Pope Pickers' the day Pope Paul VI died. In a later newscast Charlie tell us about a guy who is selling plans to build coffins for the "do-it-yourself" people. Plans are sold for $2.75.
Contributed by Mike Cunningham of La Crosse, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager. (Posted 12-15-07)
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KSTP-AM Hines + Bush in the Morning August 1975 |
WCCO-AM Bill Diehl & The World of Jack Benny - January 2, 1975
Bill plays old Jack Benny radio show on this January 1975 Sunday. Bill previously worked at WDGY in the early to mid-1960's. Bill also reviewed movies for the St. Paul Dispatch & Pioneer Press newspaper. I thought I heard that Bill died in the late 1990's. Not true. Tom at RadioTapes.com tells me he just received a holiday card from Bill and his wife , who are enjoying a lot of traveling in retirement.
The Benny show portions are edited out. However a news clip of Benny's reaction to Fred Allen's death on 3-17-56 is left in this recording.
Recorded off the air and contributed by Mike Cunningham of La Crosse, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager. (posted 12-15-07)
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WCCO Bill Diehl and The World of Jack Benny 1-2-75 |
Mike Cunningham at U of M's WMMR in the 60's
This was Mike's first experience as a DJ. He later worked at KUXL in Golden Valley, KWWL in Waterloo, and at the operations manager at KTCR-FM (now KTCZ) in Minneapolis. Airchecks of Mike on KTCR-FM in the mid-70's can be found on the KTCR Page on this site
Mike also found this article from an unknown source that was posted on the internet:
Campus radio
Another station, WMMR (for "Women's and Men's Minnesota Radio"), was created on campus in 1948, with studios in Coffman Memorial Union. Focused on providing a service for the student body, it originally broadcast via carrier current on campus, using the frequency 730 AM (hence the oft-used tag-line "Radio 73"). Legend had it that the WMMR call sign was actually assigned to the station by the FCC, pre-dating the assignment of those same call letters to the well-known Philadelphia station WMMR. The legend continued that the FCC forgot that it had allowed carrier current stations to use a call sign, and gave away the sign to the Philly station. The Minnesota students stuck to their guns and never changed their call sign, and there were of course no legal repercussions given that carrier current stations do not actually go over the air. By the 1970's, this legend lived merely as a tale passed down from year to year in an oral tradition, and has never been documented enough to confirm.
The station's volunteer engineers famously talked themselves into the campus steam-tunnel system from time to time when they needed to maintain the cables that connected the station's studios to the small transmitters located in each of the dormitory buildings. Tales were told of singed eyebrows from coming too close to the hot steam pipes used to heat the buildings. Eventually the station added an FM signal to the Minneapolis cable television system.
This was an entirely student-run operation, relying on volunteers. By the mid-60's through the end of its life, the station tried to emulate the management structure of a typical AM rocker of the day, with an appointed General Manager, Program Director, Music Director, and other management positions. From time to time, somebody actually sold an advertising slot, but the station more or less maintained itself using a small stipend from the Speech Communications department. Even then, the volunteers managed to put out programming for nearly 18 hours a day most days of the school year, and taught many a student the ins and outs of how to operate a studio. A news and sports operation broadcast daily reports, and the basketball, football and hockey programs were usually broadcast with live play-by-play. A number of live broadcasts from the Whole Music Club and the Great Hall at the union also took place, and the station served to promote other campus events such as the "Campus Carny" held annually in the old field house.
Garrison Keillor, the well-known host of Minnesota Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion, began his radio career broadcasting classical music on WMMR as a student in the early 1960s. He then worked at KUOM from 1963 to 1968.
Photo and article contributed by Mike Cunningham, La Crosse Wisconsin. (posted 11-24-07)
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| Mike Cunningham writes: "This was a shot over my shoulder of the control board at WMMR, the closed circuit station in Coffman Union at the University of Minnesota..Probably 1967 or so. Mark Durenberger ran and rebuilt the station while he worked the ovenight Hobbs show on WCCO as engineer. (Not my smokes)." CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE |
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Mark Durenberger 11/07 Email on WMMR
Mark sent an email with some information on this University of Minnesota carrier current station that was available in the dorms.
"Rick, there were a number of Engineers involved in the (repetitive) rebuild of WMMR. I was the Coffman "Staff" person assigned to the station in 1966 and early 1967. During that time we purchased an old used RCA 250-watt transmitter that originally saw the light of night in 1938, at KFAM in St Cloud. It was installed in the basement of Coffman and we ran coax through the tunnels, to couplers at many of the dorms. Not a very efficient system, but it seemed to work. I also remember we had a broadcast loop from KSTP and were able to air NBC Radio network newscasts.
There was some awesome talent at WMMR in those days, and before and after my brief tenure. One of my favorite 'characters' was Marshall Tanick, who went on to become a terrific lawyer and civil rights advocate.
Mark Durenberger, CPBE"
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| WMMR News Booth - Mike Cunningham is reading news into a classic RCA 44 microphone in 1970. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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More on the University of Minnesota's WMMR
A number of young U of M students pass through the WMMR studios and went on to career in commercial radio. Mike Cunningham share some more photos in this section. Mike writes:
"I left the U in 1970 so these pics are between fall of 1966 and spring of 1970 and was in Mankato (KYSM) in the Fall of 1970.
There is a picture of Altec control board newly installed at WMMR, ( We didn't need an orange knob!!!) Also came across a picture (dorky) of me with a classic RCA 44 microphone I used at WMMR doing some news looks like. Sorry, the pics are poor quality.
Great Stuff you've posted on the site, maybe we can shake some more out of some of the WMMR alumni if word of your website work gets spread around."
Photos contributed by Mike Cunningham, formerly of KTCR-FM and WLCX-AM/WLXR-FM (La Crosse). WMMR ID contributed by John Pratt.
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John Pratt found this WMMR ID with Mike Cunning's voice and sent it in. |
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| Altec control board newly installed at WMMR in 1970. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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| 1970 Vintage Photo of WMMR Studio Tape Deck Operation. Photo provided by Mike Cunningham. |
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U of M's WMMR Station ID by Mark Durenberger - 60's | University of Minnesota's WMMR Station ID from the 1960's
Recordings of WMMR, the U of M's carrier current station fed to the dorms, are difficult to find. Mike Cunningham did on air work at WMMR while attending the U of M. This station ID is the voice of Mark Durenberger, who later went on to work at WCCO as an engineer.
Contributed by Mike Cunningham of Lacrosse Wisconsin, form Operations Manager of KTCR-FM.
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Rare WLOL-AM Jingles from the Early 1960's - Classics
You may not remember these old LOL jingles. I was i grade school when they were playing. Let me know if you have any info on the exact years they were on the air. rick1031@hotmail.com
Contributed by Mike Cunningham of Lacrosse Wisconsin, former Operations Manager of KTCR-FM.
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WLOL-AM Jingles From Early 1960 |
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KUXL Studio A (well at least the door to Studio A)
Mike Cunningham work in 1973 at both KUXL and KTCR-FM. Mike Writes:
"As you asked, I'm sending along a picture taken at KUXL at a time when I worked there part time in the mornings and then over to KTCR-FM in the afternoon."
Photos contributed by Mike Cunningham, formerly of KTCR-FM and WLCX-AM/WLXR-FM (La Crosse).
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| Mike Cunningham standing at the doorway to KUXL's Studio A |
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| Twin Cities Soul Radio Station, KUXL. July 1st, 1972 Music Survey. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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| KUXL Golden Valley
1972 Music Survey
Contributed by Mike Cunningham, former KTCR-FM Operations Manager and former KUXL DJ-Talk Show Host. Se his other contribuiotns at the Cunningham Contributions Page on this site.
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Old KTCR-FM Photos
Mike Cunningham, the one time manager of KTCR-FM, sent me these photos of KTCR-FM with some of the old staff members. There are also airchecks of Mike and the others on the KTCR-FM Page on the this site. I worked with Mike as Rick Mason, at both KTCR-FM and he also later hired me to do weekends at WLCX in the late '70's.
Mike lives in the La Crosse area with his wife and son and owns The Board Store.
Click on the Photos Below to Enlarge
Photos contributed by Mike Cunningham, formerly of KTCR-FM and WLCX-AM/WLXR-FM (La Crosse). (Posted 11-11-07)
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| Mike Cunningham (Left), Manager and afternoon air personality & Chuck Ingle, Chief Engineer in the main control room at KTCR-FM Mid-1970's |
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| Close up shot of the KTCR-FM Control Board. |
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| Don Johnson working a live remote for KTCR-FM mid to late '70's |
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| Dan Thomas, MId-1970's morning air personality at KTCR-FM. Through the window in background, you can see the transmitter. |
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| Tommy Harper on the air at KTCR-FM in the Mid-1970's. In the late '80's he did weekends on KDWB. |
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| After Mike Cunningham left KTCR-FM, he went on to work at WLCX-AM & WLXR-FM in La Crosse WI. Mike is at the far right on this photo taken in the late-1970’s. Who is that on the far left? None other than Al Arenson, who worked at WLCX in sales at the time. Al also worked at KSTP-AM as Big Al Davis after operating a pirate station in Edina during his high school days in the early 70’s. |
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| Mid-70's photos of Mike Cunningham interviewing singer (and former Playboy Bunny) Barbie Benton. Mike says she refused to use the guest mic and chose the more personal approach. Photo shot through production room window. You can click on the photo to enlarge, just be careful where you click. |
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| Mid-70's KTCR stationary. Mike finds the tag at the bottom humorous "Serving 47 Counties." This may be a bit of an exaggeration. |
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| Prior to being KTCR-FM, the station was known as KWFM-FM. Mike found this in a storage area under the north stairwell of the Northwestern Electronics Institute Building. Date unknown. |
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| Barbie Benton -signed a photo for Mike Cunningham. 1975 |
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| Newspare TV-Radio Schedule Septermber 9th, 1973. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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| TV-Radio Schedule
September 9th, 1973
Contributed by Mike Cunningham, former KTRC-FM Operations Manager in the 1970's. See his other contributions on the Cunningham contributions Page on this site.
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Mike Cunningham Radio Days Photos
The first photo show Mike at the KTCR-FM control board in October 1973. This is when KTCR-FM 97.1(predecessor to KTCZ-FM 97.1) was located in the Northwestern Electronics Institute Building at 3800 Minnehaha Avenue in Minneapolis (Building now an apartment building).
The second photo shows Mike next to "The Crusher" during his days in La Crosse Wisconsin at WLCX
Fat Daddy at the KUXL control board. He was a freind of Mike's
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WLCX La Crosse Radio Days - Late 1970's
Mike Cunningham
Mike at the WLCX control board in photo number one at the right
Mike at the rear of the WLCX studio in the second photo
Mike at a car dealer remote broadcast for WLCX in the third photo.
All shots late 1970's
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