Comments (0) BEST RADIO STATION - 2007

KFAI (90.3/106.7 FM)

You can argue that MP3 players and podcasts and on-demand streaming audio have supplanted the radio as an all-day/every-day form of entertainment. But it's kind of a moot point as far as Minnesota's most adventurous station is concerned. The best reason to tune in to KFAI isn't to catch something you've been waiting to hear (though there's plenty of that); it's to find something you didn't know you'd want to hear until that very moment. You might leave the dial at a specialty show you've made a habit of following—say, the irreverent Friday-night Top 40 tribute Crap from the Past—and when you wake up the next morning you'll find bluegrass or Afrobeat or spoken-word poetry running across their airwaves. It's the same unpredictable story at all hours of the day: Worldbeat turns into Americana, Latin music into blues, and, most impishly, Earl Root's metal show Root of All Evil into Ernestine Gates's Sunday morning gospel program. Throw in a significant number of special-interest news shows, and KFAI stands as the only station in town that actually has something for everyone.