Rev 105, "Revolution Radio," was a radio station in Minnesota that became a focal point for critics of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 when it was purchased by competitor Disney/Capitol Cities/ABC and changed formats on March 11th, 1997. Fans of the station banded together to protest the action, and the group Americans for Radio Diversity was formed.
The station was operated by Cargill Communications and broadcast on three relatively weak FM signals at frequencies of 105.1, 105.3, and 105.7 MHz (the call signs were KREV, WREV, and KCFE, respectively). Rev 105 played a fairly wide variety of music, generally based around modern rock, and put a lot of time into promoting music from local performers. Area highschoolers would contribute to some of the programming put on the air.
The papers to make the purchase official were signed at noon on March 11th, and the station changed formats very soon thereafter at 1:15 PM. It lasted for several months as the hard rock "X105," but the station has had a string of format changes since then.
Post-Rev 105 formats of the station include:
- X105 (KXXP/KXXU/KXXR) – Hard rock (1997)
- Zone 105 (KZNZ/KZNR/KZNT) – Adult alternative (1997-1999), Classic alternative (1999-2000), Alternative rock (2000-2001)
- V105 (WGVX/WGVY/WGVZ) – Rhythmic oldies (2001-2002)
- Drive 105 (WGVX/WGVY/WGVZ) – Adult alternative (2002- )
Ironically, 93.7 has a strange story of its own, as originally a hard rock format ("93X"), but the format changed to modern rock in 1994 when it was purchased by ABC. Just a week before X105 switched to an adult alternative format in late 1997, 93.7 changed back to a hard rock on September 18th and reclaimed the "93X" moniker. 93X took the KXXR callsign from the former X105 a few months later.
