Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame

Paul Hedberg
Inducted 2002

Paul Hedberg's long career in broadcasting got off to an early start. In 1956, at age 17, he and his father built KMRS Morris. While attending college, he worked as a disc jockey at Twin Cities stations WMIN, WTCN, WLOL, and KDWB. In 1963 he constructed KBEW AM/FM Blue Earth. Hedberg Broadcasting Group began in 1971 when KQAD AM/FM Luverne and the Blue Earth Cable System were built, purchasing KEEZ FM Mankato in 1976. In 1972, he founded Market Quoters, Inc., in Blue Earth, which pioneered the use of FM sub-carriers to send current Chicago Board of Trade grain markets to rural elevators, and in 1978 he became the first broadcaster in the country to transmit data via FM sub-carriers. By the 1980s, 1200 customers received agricultural data in three states. Hedberg Broadcasting expanded to Iowa in the 1980s and 1990s, with radio stations in Mason City, Spirit Lake, Storm Lake, Sioux Center, and Algona. In 1998 he was named Iowa Broadcaster of the Year. While president of the Minnesota Broadcasters Association, he co-founded the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting. He also served on the Radio Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters, and was the first broadcast member of the Minnesota News Council.