By Mani Souphom
Dec. 30, 2025
Well, listeners and readers, it’s been quite the year here at KQ92 and KRWB Radio! We covered community gatherings, local meetings and events, and sat down with your friends, family and neighbors, listening, writing, and reporting with care, so you could hear yourselves reflected in the stories we’ve told about the places you call home.
From local student heroes building Flag Disposal Boxes for veterans, to coverage of Roseau and Lake of the Woods County Fairs, and of course local city council meetings, our news and programming team really hit the ground running to collect and share your stories this year. We’re looking forward to continuing on that path and doing even better for you in 2026.
It’s been the honor of our year (and I can confidently speak for the entire news and programming team) to sit down and interview the likes of the now retired Honorable Judge Donna K. Dixon, the mayors of Warroad, Roseau, and Baudette, and even our very own Daniel DeMolee as he ended a broadcast career that spanned over five decades.
Fun fact: a little over six years ago, an editor from the New York Times (yes, that New York Times) quoted yours truly as saying, “…Warroad still has many stories to tell.” shortly after the Warroad Pioneer, and the Warroad Advocate, both ended production.
That editorial posited several questions about who would tell your stories, connect and inform the community, and provide updates to former students and residents that have since moved away but wanted to stay connected.
I had no idea back then, when I said that, that I would become part of a team that would answer so many of those questions. But when Jim Birkemeyer, President of R & J Broadcasting, Inc. put together our team, I think he recognized that belief, and how closely it aligned with his vision for KQ92 and KRWB as your local, homegrown radio station.
Our team wanted to shine a spotlight on the incredible people that make these communities a great place to live, ordinary community members organizing and coming together to help one another, and the stories that will shape future generations of these communities. Some of the biggest stories we covered were the referendums in Baudette, Warroad, Roseau, and Badger, changes in Baudette’s law enforcement contracts, aviation projects in Roseau and Warroad, potential quiet-crossing zones across the Highway 11 corridor, and many more.
We’ve invested a good chunk of time into developing digital infrastructure like our website, social media, and now our own apps, to better host, share, and connect you to the stories that matter most to you and your communities. While continually improving, we’ve been working out logistics, organization, and processes to provide consistent and important content to you, whether that be in our daily community conversation shows, getting student-athlete interviews on the air and online, putting together weekly Coaches Corner shows to keep you in the know on local sports, or providing the most current information on local construction projects to help you plan your week. Our team can really proudly say we put our best foot forward to serve all of you.
Thank you for trusting us with your time, information, stories, and voices. None of this is possible without our listeners, readers, followers, and fellow community members. Keep giving us your feedback, because we’re listening too. Keep sharing your events and stories: our news team’s contact information is publicly available on our website for this reason. This is YOUR local, homegrown radio station, and as your humble fellow community members, we thank you for allowing us to share your voices.