Early rising listeners of KYMN radio are in for a sound adjustment this fall when one of the two familiar voices heard weekday mornings will be silenced.
In September, longtime station owner and Morning Show host Jeff Johnson plans to retire from the airwaves and sell the station.
Johnson has owned the station since 2008, but has worked at KYMN for the better part of 37 years. According to a station news release, Johnson held many roles during his tenure including sports director, news director, and sales.
The station’s new owner will be another familiar voice to listeners: Rich Larson, the current KYMN news director and St. Olaf College alum.
Larson, who has worked at the radio station since October of 2020, said he intends to keep the same commitment to strong, Northfield-centric programming.
Johnson said as the station’s owner, he has always sought to make sure that KYMN was connected deeply to the Northfield Community, and to give the community a voice. He credited his radio mentor for instilling that philosophy in him.
“Working for Wayne Eddy for 15 years you learn — Wayne really instilled the idea that you serve the community. Anybody can play music if they want to, or say something dumb on social media, but being responsible, and being responsible toward the community is certainly something I learned from Wayne.”
Under Johnson’s ownership, Larson said the station began broadcasting on an FM signal and weathered the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Jeff saved this radio station twice,” said Larson. “When you look at how AM radio is being unfairly dismissed right now, if we didn’t have the FM signal right now, we’d be in trouble. And he also made a lot of good decisions during the pandemic, and not all of them easy, to keep the lights on around here, and to help the community. They worked with the advertisers, and they opened up the airwaves every morning for local businesses to talk about the things they were doing. Not everyone would have done that.”
While Johnson said he plans to stay at the station through the summer and help Larson work through the ownership transition, he’s headed for warmer weather soon thereafter.
“KYMN will always have a place in my heart, and I’ll never be too far from it. And I will be a listener from here on out. I’m going to be around here right through the summer, through the transition and maybe after Defeat of Jesse James days, start thinking about following the sun somewhere. I will not be a stranger.”
KYMN radio can be heard at 95.1 FM and 1080 AM in the Northfield area.
LOOK OUT FOR MORE Readers: Look for a more in-depth story this summer about the history of the station, its impact upon the community and a peek into some of KYMN’s other colorful on-air characters.
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