I too am a lover of the Current. My current stereo is my computer so I listen to it streaming. I was amazed to find Duluth so lacking in radio diversity. I wish KUMD would model after KVSC based of St cloud state. They are a college radio that belongs to the community, you don't have to be a student to be a part. They have more diverse programming. KUMD is agreat service but I see much room for potential....

For the record, KUMD is college radio that belongs to the community.  They had tables at the Park Point Art Fair and Reggae Festival.  you do not have to be a student to be a part of it - Starfire hosts a show on their weekly, I am part of the saturday afternoon blues contingent and none of us are students.  Students may fill in more often because they are close, but generally it is community volunteers on the air.  From KUMD's website - 

KUMD is YOUR radio station, powered by volunteers.

Interested in making radio? Attending community events and concerts? Do you love music? Are you a font of community information?
Learn about volunteering at KUMD, Duluth's public radio station.

Volunteer orientation is the first Monday of every month; next session is August 3rd at 6pm. Find contact information and directions to the station HERE or call the station at 726-7181.

Whatever happened to "What's wrong with a little hip-hop in the afternoon?"

My educated guess is that a combination of unique geography, the fact there is such saturation of public radio in this market, and (possibly) at bit of a parochial attitude toward Duluth as a "back water" are all elements that are slowing down MPR in getting an independent signal for "the current" here for now.  But those things are only slowing them down.  It is coming, I have no doubt about that.  

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I have been a community and public radio lover my entire life.  Mainly as an obsessive listener, but also on the other side of the tower.  When I went to college, the tour was over as soon as I learned I had a shot at being a "college radio DJ," and within weeks of my freshman year when I did get my own show, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Then I did my internship at Minnesota Public Radio in Collegeville.  After I graduated I volunteered at KVSC over 2 summers and I loved it.  After a little while I went up to KAXE, Northern Community Radio for about a year where they actually PAID me to do radio. Along the way I did some volunteering at WNCB which is a Christian broadcaster in Duluth that has morphed into an all professionally staffed, much slicker outfit, WJRF.   After all of that I did some work as a volunteer program host and long form producer for KUMD.  Soon after I did some underwriting with the station for one of my businesses, too.  But I quickly became disillusioned with KUMD at the same time, mainly because of what I saw as too much rigidity in their programming.  This is despite some great live music with John Z, and a lot of other hopeful glimmers, such as the women's show and a solidly local morning show. But still, I gave up on them.  And I am not the only one, notably, about that same time the station's news director left to go to ... Minnesota Public Radio.   

So my public radio credentials are fairly solid, I'd say.  (and a bit dusty, you might add, as I have been out of it completely now for nigh on 10 years). 

Anyway ... now fast forward, there have been major personnel changes at KUMD.  And since then they are doing a great deal more outreach to the community and the station is engaging students in more than just the late late late night radio ghetto and music-only programming.  Starfire's shows are a great and an important step in the right direction.  He's got me thinking about volunteering again, for example, and maybe others will too if we can do more than just "blues and things" or covering station breaks for the (3 Hour?) World Cafe.  

As for "the Current" as far as I know it is available now or will be soon on HD radio in this area, it is already in multiple markets and they are intending to blanket the state with it.  I think that if they get their own independent signal here like in the Twin Cities and Rochester then KUMD, and all local radio, even commercial stations are going to have a real problem holding on to listeners.  Well, a certian kind of attractive listeners anyway, young professionals, gen X'ers and other music loving, hipster type folks with kids on the way or kids at home and (most importantly) moderate to high education and income levels. 

The trick on radio and newspapers and all media actually is going to be covering LOCAL community and engaging people at a micro rather than macro level.  Media consolidation means that smaller outfits can't compete on certain economies of scale.  But they can't do the smaller, interpersonal stuff as well.  For example, MPR will never match someone like Starfire's knowledge of local live music and arts. The more of that type of programming that KUMD fosters, the more likely they are to survive this coming storm.  

And other posters are right, they could learn a lot from KVSC, but I'll add KAXE to the list too and even their own spawn, WTIP in Grand Marais a great community radio station.  

But I have already said to much, I'm sure. Apologies for length, once I get going it's really hard to stop me, especially on a subject as close to my heart as radio.

Mo:  I loved KGLT, too, when I lived out there.  Great station, so much variety!

KUMD is one of the two stations I know and listen to.  That said, Bad Cat captured pretty well my basic reaction to it over the years.  I'll listen to random old blues with interest sometimes, but good grief--it used to sound like they'd raided Alan Lomax's discard bin or something.  

I've noticed the programming getting better since the big shakeup, though I think they still have some ground to cover.  [Of course I don't want to listen to college radio any more--I want to listen to college radio  from about 20 years ago.]

Untrue Mevdev! I've been growing both red and black currants for the last 10 years!

dittos on the Current...what's a guy gotta do to get a little more variety (outside KUMD and KUWS, and the obligatory MPR/WPR...) in this town, really?

The three aforementioned are great! I've recently rediscovered UWS and UMD chiefly as a counterpoint to a gross overabundance of Metallica and 94X at work...but they definitely have their program limitations with regard to content.

Can we like, petition somebody...or something?

I can appreciate all the love for The Current, people, but you can listen on the Internet. And the average commute in Duluth (especially YOU, college students) is, on average, next to nothing.

i can't listen to the Current in the car, either...chiefly because doing so would surely violate any number of traffic laws pertaining to inattentive and/or reckless driving. lack of net access does have a lot to do with it, too.

had i an iphone (or another similar gadget), things might be a bit different.