KMWA (96.3 FM; "Air1") is a non-commercial FM radio station licensed to Edina, Minnesota, and serving the Twin Cities area. The station is owned by the Educational Media Foundation, and airs programming from EMF's nationally syndicated "Air 1" radio format featuring Christian Worship Music. KMWA's transmitter is located in New Hope. History Origins The frequency was originally licensed as KQXA by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on August 15, 1991. In August 1993, the station signed on as KARP, playing a wide mix of classic rock, oldies, country music and farm reports. The station's transmitter was initially located west of Le Sueur. To increase the value of the station, KARP's owners decided to seek FCC permission to increase power and move their transmitter closer to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. The transmitter was moved farther north and east to a location south of Hutchinson, and power was increased from 50,000 watts to 100,000 watts, giving the station a city-grade signal over much of the west metro area. The move also resulted in WJMC-FM (96.3) in Rice Lake, Wisconsin downgrading from 100 kW to 50 kW, changing its frequency to 96.1 FM, and moving its transmitter north. The actions were approved by the FCC in September 1999. B96 (2000–2010) In February 2000, KARP was purchased by a group consisting of local investors Kandu Communications and Cincinnati, Ohio-based Blue Chip Broadcasting, with the aim of bringing a full-power quasi-urban-formatted music FM station to Minnesota for the first time. The station moved its transmitter to a new site near Watertown later that month. The transfer in ownership to Blue Chip Broadcasting took place just after Noon on May 18, 2000. The station played all requests during the morning hours, with goodbyes from the DJs and other staff. Morning hosts John Carrigan and John Mons gave a final farewell, followed by "Happy Trails." They also announced that the KARP call sign and format would be moving to KKJR (106.9 FM) in Hutchinson, on June 1. Following KARP's departure from 96.3 FM, the station began stunting, repeating a short list of songs from Prince and Janet Jackson. The new "B96" (KTTB) debuted on May 31, 2000. In May 2001, Blue Chip sold the station to Radio One, a company that specializes in urban formats. However, Radio One allowed KTTB to maintain its rhythmic-formatted playlist (although the station leaned towards urban and played some urban exclusive