Wow BadCat! Just last week I was looking at the Current sticker in my car window and thinking "I wonder how we could get a translator station up in Duluth..." GO TEAM GO!

The Current is coming to Duluth, you will be able to listen to the current in Duluth on the HD1 channel.

Hey! Where are the misinformed complaints about bringing the Current to Duluth? "It's not going to create jobs! It's part of the economic oligarchy! It won't stop homelessness!" Come on, people- startchyrbitchin!

Wow, I guess the stay/buy/be local mantra of PDD is tossed out the window when it comes to radio stations.

oops, I should also mention that I host something that could be referred to as a radio show once a month on KUMD as well.

Wouldn't having the current in D. mean the end of KUMD?  Realistically?

It would be nice to have an option to 8 hrs of blues a day

Zak - I would encourage you to look at the playlist for KUMD's Northland Morning and Music through the Day programs if you haven't listened in a while. KUMD's playlists are online at www.kumd.org

That probably came out wrong.  I enjoy KUMD and have supported them for a long time.  They do play a lot of blues though, maybe people enjoy this, I am not one of them. At times I I wish there was an alternative to the alternative because most of what is on the main stream is garbage/weak sauce

No MPR Android app yet :(

Like Drifter, I am currently listening to the Current through my Radiotime App on the Palm Pre.  Works fine in the car, too, at least where Sprint 3G service exists.  Bad Cat, you should be able to stream it through the Android (never really liked that name or marketing - beside the point) if you can get to the Radiotime website.  Obviously you don't need a 3G phone to stream the Current, but for folks like me, it is a great option to have.  I also listen to KUMD and will continue to listen to KUMD a lot if the Current is broadcast over the air.  This would not be the death knell for KUMD.

I was using Stream Furious to stream The Current, but it cut in and out, resulting in frustration. Now that I know it's actually possible to get a fully functioning stream, I'll experiment with some others.

AGREED!

I feel the only actual purpose for commercial radio is to be piped into dentist offices. It some how makes the pain in your jaw not seem as bad as the music they play.

Just a head's up: The Tisdales will be taping an in-studio interview/performance on 89.3 The Current in a couple of weeks. Taping is taking place on April 16th, but I believe they don't play the show until at least the following Sunday. I suppose if you want to hear it you'll have to stream it online. I'll keep you posted on when this will air. 

It would be cool to hear more in-studio performances the local shows!

Why don't you get over it and move back to the Cities.

I streamed the station today while painting woodwork and had to turn it off after 20 minutes.  It seems to me as if there is nobody in charge of transitions...I felt jerked from genre to genre...eeeks.  My brain rebelled and I went back to smooth jazz from Monteray, CA. Granted, this was just my first foray, I will try it again. 

And yes, I have a long history of supporting public radio and being a volunteer DJ..  But things change, and radio is going the way of newspapers. It's up to the stations to accommodate the needs of the listener, not the other way around, at least here in the US. And we are an eclectic and discerning audience.

I pledged to KUMD last year. I only did it once. I plan on pledging again in the future.

How about petitioning KAXE to stretch their signal over the hill? I always seem to enjoy its programming more than KUMD's while driving through north central Minnesota. It comes in just till the edge of Proctor and Hermantown and, sadly, fades as one gets closer to the lake.

I think KUMD has wildly improved in the past year or two.  I think I'm going to survive without The Current.

FYI a lot of us support both KUMD and MPR with memberships but we don't get the full benefit of our membership with MRP because we don't get the Current. In effect we pay for the Current also with our membership dollars, but we can only listen to it on the Internet not in our cars. 

I think there will still be a place for KUMD and I support it as well. It's got some different variety in programs that I think beat anything MPR has to offer sometimes! (Jazz, blues, other international music, alternative news). I moved from Missouri to MN 10 years ago and we should be proud of the variety of public radio stations in MN. 

Frankly, I've struggled with the idea of the Current hurting KUMD. I also don't want KUMD to go under but I think in the end Duluth just needs to get over its fear of big city diversity. The Current could just bring bigger names to Duluth radio and more support to MPR (IMO not a bad thing), yet I think KUMD will still have better local music and more variety than MPR stations could ever have. Here's for variety and diversity and choice. I chose to support both with membership donations (a little money makes a difference if everyone does it). Maybe you should too?

I like KUMD. Sometimes. But 3 hours of David-freeking-ego-trip-Dye and his Whirled Cafay gets really old. 3 HOURS!!! and sometimes Hour 3 is just a repeat of Hour 1! Why oh why can't they just replace 2 of those hours with other low-cost programming, like DemocracyNow!, which should be on in Duluth but can currently only be had online or at the Zinema on Fridays??? Or--here's a zany idea--instead of a show produced in Pennsylvania, KUMD could just draw up a contract with MPR to pipe in a few hours of the best of what's on The Current each day. Okay, enough punctuation marks already!!!!!!!

Since Christine took over as music director, things have much improved. Less blues is always a good thing (but that's just my opinion, and the reason for the lack of my support in the past), and Ms. Dean's doing a bang up job at updating their music library, which seems to have long been neglected by past directors.

KUMD iphone app would be cool

Response from MPR:

"I'm sorry, but due to the lack of open FM bandwith in Duluth we can not offer The Current. We are going to offer The Current on HD radio in Duluth."

So the answer to my question of "What do we need to do to get The Current in Duluth" is, get rid of some other station.

MSP is *covered* with radio stations! I remember listening to one radio station that was spread across three different channels which you had to tune just right depending on which tower you were closest to!

I find myself listening to David Dye to further my fantasies of silly slapping him.  As for Mark Wheat, the Aussie accent has become as trendy as guys in girl pants. Pretty soon there'll be respective speech and dressing therapy jobs training them both out of it.
I'd like to recommend the new show on IFC called Portlandiers?  I know it sounds off topic, but I think it relates heavily to the metrosexual M.O.D. on which the Current operates. Its appropriate sarcasms toward lousy trends, which seem to be the driving force of everything, are brilliant.

The Current thinks its being hip by throwing in a little Nat King Cole and Sinatra alongside whatever emo drivel is hot off the press. A Lemur could tell you it doesn't make sense. KUMD's and Current's motives are a marked improvement over other formulaic stations, but have a long way to go in finding real eclectic balance.   Why does blues have to be all Chicago all the time? People have been programmed to think blues is B.B. King. There's a world of other styles in every category that never gets touched.  I've asked Maia to do a show using the thousands of deep rock and country classics that never get airplay, Vinyl Cave has offered to back it up, but she still sounded timid. How about Salsa Caliente Baby?  WWOZ, an exemplary example, streams too, check it out.  American Roots baby!

Mark Wheat is English. And where did he come from previously? Radio K.

Sometimes its hard to tell the difference between Cockney and Aussie, same difference?  Radio K is still good.

"the Aussie accent has become as trendy..."
Aussie accents trendy? (or any accents for that matter) Wow, then everyone (sheep) should be walking around spewing fake accents to be cool. Laughable.


"Do they try too hard to be cool?"
I don't believe they 'try' to be cool. I believe The Current does their best to promote music from many genres, and especially MN/local music, educate their listeners about the music played during their various programs, and through the combined knowledge and experience of their DJs (as does KUMD and a few others already mentioned). Anyone can play or queue up music and 'try to be cool', but The Current shares information, facts, trivia and educates their listeners, as well as provides many opportunities for their listeners and fans of the artists, and for all the artists that come through their studios, sponsors artists to visit our state and throughout our state, and also promotes the importance and bonuses of MN public radio, and more -  going way beyond 'trying' to be cool.


"Sometimes its hard to tell the difference between Cockney and Aussie, same difference?"

Seriously? 
Hardly. 
Cockney is one of the many forms of English spoken in England, in the UK, and is geographically, linguistically, and also very culturally specific. Additionally, this goes for all over the UK and it's various countries, as people from Wales don't speak Cockney (but Welsh - which is entirely different), nor do those from other parts of England (including other parts of London), Scotland (extremely different in each area) or Northern Ireland.

This is similar to how English is spoken in the US, but differs between the East (think New Yorkers vs. Bostonians), Midwest (Minnesotans vs. Chicagoans as another example), the South (Texans vs. Louisianans vs. Floridians) etc., as do the accents, cultural influences, and the slang.

Further examples would be the difference between US English and Canadian English, and even the differences in Canadian English spoken throughout it's different provinces.

The same goes for Australian as well, and 'Aussie' English/accents sounds nothing like UK English, although they do both use the Queen's English vs. US English, and share some similar words and some slang (but also have some very different to each other) different to that of the US, their accents are totally different from those of the UK, vary from state to state, and within their states/regions. As do many countries and languages, really.

Secondly, members of both groups would be very offended to read that statement, as was I, and they would be quick to point out it just goes to show 'typical Yank ignorance' once again. Yes, a blanket statement just as they would say it (as I have heard/read countless times), and as it is not just Agnes who thinks this way, but many from the US in their (UK and AU peoples) and in my personal experiences.


The Current's Birthday online broadcast was really good, once the bandwidth issues were ironed out during the Trampled by Turtles show - too bad about half of their show was affected, otherwise they sounded great. The online broadcast affected the view some as well - appearing less focused/a bit blurry. BUT, the sound was excellent. It was great to hear and see so many great MN bands (or in the case of Free Energy having MN roots) all in one night, from the comfort of my home.

There are some great stills of the party on their site on the photos page - take a gander.

Cheers!

Seriously? You're going to hold centuries of history on someone's shoulders just because of how they pronounce a few letters? What accent isn't associated with horrors and atrocities committed by speakers of that language?

Let me guess, you speak that magical guilt-free language?

I couldn't help notice real issues on PDD, like FBI Infringements of Rights get Zero response, but when it comes to sex and entertainment topics, and saving the poor downtrodden English accents, people rise to fight the injustice.  So along with the above video, which I'm sure you'll find amusing and educational,  I'd like to offer this tidbit to help redirect the focus to things that matter. 

 I hate Lhasa Apsos as a dog breed altogether.  I hate their buggy little eyes, their curly little tails, and curly tongues. The thought of being licked by one terrifies me. And I believe  their very presence is an affront to mixed blood canine beings at large.  Now all the Lhasa Apso lovers can write an impassioned response castigating me for my hatred and cruel insensitivity toward this lovable breed.  

As for the Current, great...