The Nation’s Largest State Association of Community Radio Stations Just Got Larger

The Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations (Ampers), the nation’s largest association of its kind, is expanding yet again with the addition of WGZS-FM 89.1 in Cloquet, Minnesota. At its annual meeting on June 13th in Grand Marais, the Ampers membership voted unanimously to accept WGZS’s application, bringing the station total to sixteen. WGZS is licensed to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and becomes the fourth Native American station in Ampers.

“Ampers exists to support the community stations in Minnesota that are committed to serving the underserved and underrepresented citizens of Minnesota,” Ampers Chief Executive Officer Joel Glaser said. “Adding WGZS is a win-win. Ampers will be able to help the station by providing revenue sources, programming and advocacy. WGZS helps Ampers in its mission to serve more underserved communities.”

WGZS will officially become a member of Ampers on July 1st. “Becoming a member of Ampers opens a lot of doors for us,” WGZS Station Manager Daniel Huculak said. “We’re especially excited about the opportunity to share programming with the other Native stations within Ampers. And, the additional revenue will allow us to provide even better programming to our listeners.”

This is the second time in two years that Ampers has added stations. Three Native American Stations joined Ampers in 2012. Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities, is an association of 16 independent community radio stations in Minnesota. Each station is locally managed and programmed by and for the local communities they serve. The stations are all licensed to a college, school, university, Native American tribe, or directly to the community.