Listener-supported radio station The Current is turning 15-years-old and throwing itself a big birthday bash this weekend in Minneapolis.
There’s no doubt 89.3 has seen years of changes. The Current host Jade Tittle has had a front row seat. After graduating in 2007 from the University of Kansas, she returned to the Twin Cities and saw the radio station was hiring.
“Luckily they were hiring for an overnight DJ, and yes, I got the job and started in 2008,” Tittle said.
That was a couple of years after the station hit the Minnesota airwaves on January 24, 2005.
“It was people who really cared about the music, who really cared about the artist and helping the artist careers and it just felt like everyone was genuinely themselves,” Tittle said.
Over the years, the station has found a place for itself in the community. Tittle said The Current has been able to send staff all around the world, bringing back new sounds for it’s listeners. She said they’ve also been able to draw thousands to events in the Twin Cities to hear old tunes from local bands like The Valdons, or new sounds from bands that would launch the career of so many artists, including one that the world would later come to know as as Lizzo.
Tittle said the biggest change has required knowing what's being talked about online.
“What’s the first thing I do in the morning? I check Twitter and see what’s happening in the world and try to put that into the music and make the music reflect what’s happening in the day,” Tittle said.
Yet, there are moments where change is hard to find at The Current. And that's just fine with Jade.
“There are so few occasions when people can have that same moment of experiencing something and I think that's really magical and I think radio is one of the last places we can do that,” Tittle said.
The Current said there are more than 300,000 people who listen each week across Minnesota. But the reach these days is also across digital platforms. That means people can listen from all over the world. Tittle said she gets emails from people as far away as the Faroe Islands.
The Current's Anniversary party is January 18 at First Avenue. The lineup includes Black Pumas, The Bad Man, Seratones, 26 BATS!, and MaLLy. It’s sold out. But you can stream it live.
