Off the air since quitting the Current in 2023, Tittle teased her new role at KQ in social media posts Wednesday.
“It’s been a minute, but I’m gearing up to be back on your airwaves [Thursday] to kick off a new project,” she wrote. “Pretty excited to being hanging out with you again.”
After falling in ratings in recent years even before Barnard left the station, KQ let go of morning show co-host Brian Zepp and some other staffers a month ago. It then formally announced its relaunch last week, when all of its DJs were taken off the air, and “Under Construction” notices went up on its social media channels.
In the interim, the station made some surprising moves, including nonstop airings of Soul Asylum’s “Somebody to Shove” and R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” on April Fool’s Day.
Some of the other “new” artists played in the buildup to Thursday’s changeover included the White Stripes, Soundgarden, Beastie Boys, Sublime, Jesus Jones, Jonny Lang and Sugar (the latter two acts also with Minnesota ties). Some of these Gen X-branded artists are also played on 93X (93.7 FM), a more metallic sister station to KQ, also run by Cumulus.
Observers of the Twin Cities’ ever-competitive radio industry reacted to the KQ makeover with curiosity but not surprise.