​Radio Free Fargo: Flying Free on Fargo’s Airwaves for 20 Years

By John Showalter

john.d.showalter@gmail.com

Like any metropolitan area, Fargo-Moorhead has a plethora of radio stations representing a variety of musical genres and other content. And like any other playing field in the world of media, there are going to be both the bigger fish (the corporate stations) and the hidden gems. One of those gems in the case of Fargo-Moorhead is Radio Free Fargo KRFF 95.9, which has been providing an outlet for independent radio in some incarnation or another since 2004.

“I did a lot of pirate radio in high school and college,” said Mark Borchert, former president and co-founder of the station. “I had a blast firing up a pirate station that could cover the FM metro whenever the desire or occasion arose. We didn’t do it continuously or on a schedule, as to avoid FCC attention.”

Other than that experience, Borchert was a broadcast engineer for several corporate radio stations in Fargo. And to this day he still does consulting engineering for smaller stations in the region.

“I felt there was a real need to play music that never made it onto the commercial airwaves, mostly songs and bands that we loved and hoped to share with others,” said Borchert. “Once I got into radio full time, I stopped doing pirate radio, but there was always a desire to continue.”

Starting up a radio station is easier said than done, however. Securing a low power FM Broadcast Radio Station (LPFM) was one of many steps.

“When the LPFM window opened in May of 2000, I saw it as an opportunity to bring Fargo-Moorhead a real music alternative,” said Borchert. “My nephew, Casey Borchert and I teamed up with Fargo Theatre using their nonprofit status. The original goal was to use the theater as a transmitter site. Technically that wasn’t the final location, but it was enough for the filing. As it turned out there were three applicants for 105.9: NDSU Alliance for the Arts and Humanities, us under the Fargo Theater, and a Christian organization under Martin Wishnatsky. From the initial FCC filing to getting on the air it took about four years.”

“As the FCC used a point system, we teamed our points up with the Alliance for Arts and Humanities,” Borchert explained. “We made an agreement with Martin, and he bowed out, allowing us to expedite the process. My good friend Cloy Tobola was faculty advisor for NDSU at the time, and we made a timeshare agreement of who could broadcast and when. NDSU provided studio space and a tower site location on Ladd Hall on campus. We provided the engineering skills to install the equipment and talent to build out the studios.”

The first incarnation of Radio Free Fargo, KNDS-LP on 105.9, started on October 11, 2004. Borchert said that one of the minor hurdles was getting nonprofit standing for being a charitable organization and another was acquiring underwriting revenue for local businesses. Since Radio Free Fargo is a nonprofit, they are not allowed to air commercial ads and had to use funding from local businesses doing underwritten messages like public TV or radio stations.

“Our biggest hurdle was divesting from KNDS and NDSU,” Borchert said. “The Dive 95.9, another religious LPFM, was wanting to get out of being a broadcaster and we were able to take over their signal. We bought their assets and were able to sign on from the basement of the High Plains Reader as KRFF 95.9 in August of 2014.”

Borchert said several individuals contributed to the success of Radio Free Fargo. He mentioned Prairie Rose Seminole for helping come up with bylaws and a charter, Matt Oland from Orange Records for helping create the music library, Josh Anderson and DJ Joyride for helping create the Friday Night Freqs which programmed Friday nights and did several live shows with touring DJs at various venues, and Randal Black, who was instrumental in coming up with on-air programming.

“I’ve been a volunteer with Radio Free Fargo since September of 2006 and was the vice-president of the group from 2008 to 2016,” said Black, who now hosts a talk and rock show called Radio Red-E on Mondays. “Music and playing music for people has always been one of my passions in life. I grew up in a house where there was music playing all the time; it was mostly a heavy rotation of '50s and '60s rock. In the late '80s, I got into dance and hip hop, and by the time I was a junior in high school, my best friend and I bought a bunch of equipment and started DJing dances at high schools and community centers. But that love of playing music for people kind of got pushed aside for almost a decade, until I discovered KNDS in 2005. Not only was it filled with truly original programming, but they were playing music that you wouldn’t hear outside of the Twin Cities. Looking back now, I feel like it’s safe to say that KNDS acted as a catalyst for the changing music scene in mid-2000s Fargo-Moorhead.”

This was Black’s first radio experience. He worked up from doing guest spots on the High Plains Reader’s weekly show to winning over management and becoming a full-time volunteer and host of his own show.

“That’s one of the charming aspects of our station: it’s unpolished,” said Black. “It may not sound like a commercial radio station, but that's one of the things we volunteers love about the organization. We're not aiming for that stereotypical ‘radio’ sound. Sure there are definitely elements of it, but Radio Free Fargo has so much more personality and spontaneity that you won't find on any commercial radio station.”

When Borchert formally resigned from Radio Free Fargo, he passed the reins on to Lindsey Cox-McQueen.

“I would not describe myself as president,” said Cox-McQueen. “Our previous director of specialty programming moved on. I asked Mark about becoming the new one. I currently do a variety of things. Therefore, to make it less confusing when I talk with those in my daily life I simply call myself ‘the acting general manager’ rather than give them a list.”

Cox-McQueen had been cutting her teeth in radio for a while before she joined the ranks of Radio Free Fargo.

“My first experience on radio was back in St. Louis, Missouri for an interview concerning the Jefferson County Home show at that time,” Cox-McQueen said. “I was over entertainment. It was a live remote for an AM station. I was frightened to death. That microphone was a snake that was going to bite me. I was painfully shy in the past. I got over it. I was at KCFV 89.5 FM ‘The Wave of the Future’ for approximately six and a half years. I started as a regular DJ, became involved with the music selection group. I tried reading rip and read, AP news. It was not my forte, especially sports figures' names. I got to do a specialty show, 'Electronic Realms'. I split that show into two shows, Electronic Realms and Dream Sequence. Electronic Realms is true to its original form. I met Matt at Orange Records in Fargo probably eight and a half, nine years ago at his shop. He said that I seemed to know a lot about music and should become a DJ at the station and to come to our next meeting (at the original Red Raven). I've been there nonstop.”

With the 20th anniversary of Radio Free Fargo coming up, Black brought up a massive pledge drive for the station from September 23-30.

“This will be the first stationwide pledge drive we've done in a while. It's tough to do pledge drives in this current economic climate, but now, more than ever, we need to secure the future of Radio Free Fargo, and we're hoping the community will help us do just that.”

“Listeners and future listeners can support the station directly at our website, www.radiofreefargo.org,” added Cox-McQueen. “Scroll down a little and click on the donate button. We want to thank all of those who have given and those who will.”