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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Minnesota Twins fans lately hearing just dead air on WELY

Keith Vandervort
Posted 7/11/19

ELY – With the Minnesota Twins well out front in the American League Central Division, and currently among the hottest teams in all of baseball, local fans have been increasingly frustrated by …

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Minnesota Twins fans lately hearing just dead air on WELY

Posted

ELY – With the Minnesota Twins well out front in the American League Central Division, and currently among the hottest teams in all of baseball, local fans have been increasingly frustrated by inconsistent reception from the only area radio station providing broadcast game coverage.

As often as not, fans who had reliable reception for years, are tuning into WELY radio at either 94.5 FM or 1450 AM, only to hear static or dead air.

According to WELY station manager Brett Ross, the station began experiencing intermittent transmitter issues that have impacted their broadcast signal, beginning last month. “We are aware of the problem and we have been working on it,” Ross said. “We are waiting for parts to be delivered so we can install new equipment and get our signal back up and running on a consistent basis.”

The station is owned and operated by the Bois Forte Band and is the only commercial radio station in Ely.

According to radio-locator.com, WELY’s FM signal is an analog-only station transmitting at 6,000 watts. Local coverage extends about 25 miles from Ely and fringe coverage extends to as far away as Cook and Virginia.

The AM signal transmits at 770 watts with daytime fringe coverage extending to as far away as Hibbing and Silver Bay.

“Coverage of our signal depends on weather and other factors,” Ross said. “We hope that our listeners have patience as we work through this. We hope to have this completed within a week.”

Following the MLB All-Star break, the Twins are back in action on Friday, July 12 at Cleveland. The Twins are currently 56-33 on the season and lead second-place Cleveland by five and a half games.