The Current, which has been broadcasting its AAA format since 2004, debuted after MPR purchased WCAL-FM, the radio station of St. Olaf College in Northfield, in 2004.

[3] KCMP is modeled on noncommercial alternative stations established earlier, including KEXP (Seattle),[4] KCRW (Los Angeles), the pioneering WXPN (Philadelphia),[5] The station which would later become 89.3 FM began with physics experiments in 1918 when five students and a professor built a small radio transmitter at St. Olaf College, which used a wire antenna strung between the campus chapel and the college's "Old Main" (the tallest nearby building).

The college was issued a "Technical and Training School" license with the call sign 9YAJ for the experimental operations,[6] which was picked up as far away as New Zealand.

Twenty-four-hour broadcasts began in 1984, and a new 100-kilowatt transmitter went on-air in 1991, meaning that the station could be picked up across most of the Twin Cities region (Northfield is on the southern edge of the area).

The transmitter was placed on land owned by the University of Minnesota in exchange for WCAL turning over its time-share hours on 770 kHz, which had been shared with KUOM for many years.

The station ceased broadcasting from its Northfield studios at 10 p.m. two days later, and began simulcasting Minnesota Public Radio's classical music stream.

On February 1, 2005, the WCAL call sign was sold by MPR to the student-run college radio station of California University of Pennsylvania.

[1] [2] Continued activism from SaveWCAL, however, resulted in a state district court judge characterizing the transaction [3] as an illegal sale of a charitable trust by an irresponsible trustee [4].

SaveWCAL has since requested that the Minnesota Attorney General's office declare the sale void [5] and filed a Petition To Redress Breach of Trust [6] in Rice County District Court on September 24, 2008.

However, a March 2008 City Pages article criticized the Current for repetitious programming and losing touch with the format that endeared listeners during its first two years.

[14] On June 16, 2022, the Current debuted another streaming service, "Carbon Sound", focusing on black music including hip-hop, R&B, afrobeat, and related genres.

The Current's programming originates from St. Paul; the other stations break away during one-minute windows throughout the day for local underwriting and weather, along with legal IDs at the top of each hour.