WCCO-TV

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Coordinates: 45°3′45″N 93°8′22″W / 45.06250°N 93.13944°W / 45.06250; -93.13944
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the station in Minneapolis–St. Paul that originally used the callsign WTCN-TV. For the local station that subsequently used this callsign, see KARE (TV). For the station in West Palm Beach that currently uses this callsign, see WTCN-CD.

WCCO-TV
FCC
Facility ID9629
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT455.9 m (1,495.7 ft)
Transmitter coordinates45°3′45″N 93°8′22″W / 45.06250°N 93.13944°W / 45.06250; -93.13944
Translator(s)see § Translators
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.cbsnews.com/minnesota/

WCCO-TV (channel 4), branded CBS Minnesota, is a

Telefarm complex in Shoreview, Minnesota
.

WCCO-TV's programming is also seen on full-power

satellite station KCCW-TV (channel 12) in Walker (with transmitter near Hackensack). Nielsen Media Research treats WCCO-TV and KCCW-TV as one station in local ratings books, using the identifier name WCCO+. From 1987 until 2017, WCCO-TV operated a second satellite, KCCO-TV (virtual and VHF digital channel 7) in Alexandria (with transmitter near Westport
).

WCCO is one of three owned-and-operated network affiliates in the Twin Cities market, the others being Fox O&O KMSP-TV (channel 9) and MyNetworkTV O&O WFTC (channel 9.2).

History

The WCCO building in downtown Minneapolis.

WCCO-TV's roots originate with a radio station, but not

KARE-TV) picked up the ABC affiliation, retaining it from its 1953 sign on until 1961 when it became an independent station
; it has been affiliated with NBC since 1979.

Twin Cities Newspapers sold off its broadcast holdings in 1952, with channel 4 going to the Murphy and McNally families, who had recently bought the Twin Cities' dominant radio station, WCCO, from CBS. The stations merged under a new company,

Midwest Radio and Television, with CBS as a minority partner. The call letters of channel 4 were changed to WCCO-TV to match its new radio sibling on August 17 (the WTCN-TV call sign appeared again in the market the following year on the new channel 11).[4] CBS was forced to sell its minority ownership stake in the WCCO stations in 1954 to comply with Federal Communications Commission
ownership limits of the time.

In 1959, WCCO became the first station in the midwest to have a videotape machine; it came at a cost of $50,000 and one part-time employee was hired to operate the machine.[5]

On July 23, 1962, WCCO-TV was involved in the world's first live international broadcast via the Telstar satellite; the station's mobile units provided the feed for all three networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, for a program originating from native land in the Black Hills showing Mount Rushmore to the world.

The "Circle 4" logo used by WCCO-TV from 1977 to 2000.

The station began telecasting

CBS Television Stations
when Viacom split into two companies.

During the 1980s, a cable-exclusive sibling station was created to supplement WCCO, with its own slate of local and national entertainment programming. This was known as

Fox Sports North
. It had been an FSN affiliate since 1997.

On February 2, 2017, CBS agreed to sell CBS Radio to Entercom, currently the fourth-largest radio broadcasting company in the United States. The sale was completed on November 17, 2017,[7] and was conducted using a Reverse Morris Trust so that it was tax-free. While CBS shareholders retain a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom, now Audacy, is the surviving entity, with WCCO radio and its sibling stations separated from WCCO-TV.[8][9]

On August 13, 2019, National Amusements announced that Viacom and CBS Corporation would recombine their assets, forming the entity ViacomCBS. The sale was completed on December 4, 2019, resulting in CBS Television Stations, including WCCO-TV, becoming subsidiaries of ViacomCBS. On February 16, 2022, ViacomCBS changed its name to Paramount Global.

On August 14, 2023, Wendy McMahon, a former creative services director at WCCO-TV, was named CBS News and Stations president.

Programming

Sports programming

In 1961, with the establishment of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League, the station, via CBS, which held the rights to broadcast NFL games, became the 'unofficial' home station of the team. This partnership continued through the 1993 season, at which time most games were moved to WFTC. Today, most Vikings games are on KMSP-TV; since 1998, WCCO airs at least two Vikings games each season when the Vikings host an AFC team, or, since 2014, with the institution of the new 'cross-flex' rules, any games that are moved from KMSP-TV. In 1992, WCCO provided coverage of Super Bowl XXVI, which was hosted at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

Since 2023, WCCO has aired select Minnesota Golden Gophers football games as a part of a new deal between CBS and the Big Ten Conference.

News operation

WCCO presently[when?] broadcasts 38+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6+1⁄2 hours each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays).[citation needed] WCCO leads the Twin Cities market in nearly all time slots, from its morning show to the 10 p.m. news. WCCO leads by large margins in overall households, though compared to the 25–54 demographic, the numbers are much more competitive with NBC affiliate KARE.

WCCO began broadcasting local newscasts in high-definition on May 28, 2009, becoming the third major network station in the Twin Cities (behind KARE and KMSP) to do so.

WCCO-TV launched a streaming news service, CBSN Minnesota (now CBS News Minnesota) on December 12, 2019, as part of a rollout of similar services (each a localized version of the national

CBSN service across the CBS-owned stations).[10]

On September 5, 2022, WCCO premiered an hour-long 4 pm newscast called The 4.[11][12]

Notable former on-air staff

Technical information

Subchannels

The stations' signals are

multiplexed
:

Subchannels of WCCO-TV[14] and KCCW-TV[15]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
WCCO-TV KCCW-TV WCCO-TV KCCW-TV
4.1 12.1 1080i
16:9
 WCCO-DT KCCW-DT CBS
4.2 12.2 480i WCCODT2 KCCWDT2 Start TV
4.3 12.3 WCCODT3 KCCWDT3 Dabl
4.4 12.4 WCCODT4 KCCWDT4 Fave TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WCCO-TV shut down its analog signal, over

UHF channel 32,[16] using virtual channel
4.

Satellite stations and translators

WCCO-TV operates a satellite station northwest of the Twin Cities area:

Station City of license Channels
(VC / RF) 		First air date Former call letters ERP
HAAT
 Transmitter coordinates Facility ID Public license information
KCCW-TV Walker 12
12 (
VHF
) 		January 1, 1964 (60 years ago) (1964-01-01) KNMT
(1964–1987) 		59 kW 286.4 m (939.6 ft) 46°56′5″N 94°27′20″W / 46.93472°N 94.45556°W / 46.93472; -94.45556 (KCCW-TV) 9640 Public file
LMS

It formerly operated a second satellite station:

Station City of license Channels
(VC / RF) 		First air date Last air date Former call letters ERP HAAT Transmitter coordinates Facility ID
KCCO-TV Alexandria 7
7 (VHF) 		October 8, 1958 (1958-10-08) December 30, 2017 (2017-12-30)
(59 years, 83 days) 		KCMT
(1958–1987) 		29 kW 339.6 m (1,114.2 ft) 45°41′10″N 95°8′4″W / 45.68611°N 95.13444°W / 45.68611; -95.13444 (KCCO-TV) 9632

Both of these stations were founded by the Central Minnesota Television Company and maintained primary affiliations with NBC and secondary affiliations with ABC from their respective sign-ons until the summer of 1982, when both stations switched to CBS.[17][18] KCMT had originally broadcast from a studio in Alexandria, with KNMT operating as a satellite station of KCMT. Central Minnesota Television sold both stations to Midwest Radio and Television in 1987, at which point they adopted their present call letters and became semi-satellites of WCCO-TV.[19]

Until 2002, the two stations simulcast WCCO-TV's programming for most of the day, except for separate commercials and inserts placed into channel 4's newscasts. However, in 2002, WCCO-TV ended KCCO/KCCW's local operations and shut down the Alexandria studio, converting the two stations into full-time satellites. Since then, channel 4 has identified as "Minneapolis–St. Paul/Alexandria/Walker", with virtually no on-air evidence that KCCO and KCCW were separate stations.

CBS sold KCCO's spectrum in the FCC's

public service announcements related to the shutdown (as the station no longer had the capability to originate separate programming, such announcements would also need to air on WCCO-TV and KCCW-TV despite not being relevant outside of KCCO's viewing area; CBS inserted a crawl at the KCCO transmitter for broadcast every fifteen minutes), CBS disclosed that KCCO would shut down December 30, 2017. WCCO-TV remains available on cable and satellite providers in the Alexandria area; Selective TV, Inc., a local translator collective, announced on December 22, 2017, that it had struck a deal to add WCCO to its lineup.[21][22][23]

Translators

In addition, the broadcast signal of WCCO-TV is extended by way of eight translators:

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WCCO-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Bob Ridder". Pavek Museum of Broadcasting. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  3. ^ "Hennepin Avenue at Ninth Street, Minneapolis : Collections Online : mnhs.org". collections.mnhs.org.
  4. ^ "Retrieved 2011-7-22" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 8, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  5. ^ "Twin Cities Television". pavekmuseum.org.
  6. ^ Lahammer, Gene. "CBS Agrees to Buy Two TV Stations, Two Radio Stations and Cable Channel". AP NEWS.
  7. ^ "Entercom-CBS Radio Merger Is Complete". RadioInk.com. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  8. ^ "CBS Sets Radio Division Merger With Entercom". Variety. February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  9. ^ "CBS and Entercom Are Merging Their Radio Stations". Fortune. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  10. ^ Malone, Michael (December 12, 2019). "CBS Stations, CBS Interactive Launch CBSN Minnesota". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  11. ^ "WCCO launches new 4 p.m. Newscast with Erin Hassanzadeh, Jeff Wagner". CBS News. August 19, 2022.
  12. ^ "Ellen's Departure Means More Local News in Several Cities". August 19, 2022.
  13. ^ "Name Your Favorite Otter Athlete". May 16, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  14. ^ "RabbitEars.Info". rabbitears.info.
  15. ^ "RabbitEars.Info". rabbitears.info.
  16. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  17. Broadcasting
    , February 22, 1982, pg. 72.
  18. ^ "STL.News". STL.News.
  19. ^ Washington, D.C. Federal Communications Commission. FCC Record, Vol. 02, No. 22, pp. 6730-6732, Oct 23 – November 6, 1987. UNT Digital Library. FCC 87-331 Vol. 22. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
  20. ^ Washington, D.C.: Federal Communications Commission. FCC Record, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 2822, April 13, 2017. DA 17-314. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  21. ^ "Re: KCCO-TV, Alexandria, Minnesota, FCC Fac. ID No. 9632 Request for Waiver of Transition PSA Viewer Notification Requirements" (PDF). Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. October 27, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  22. ^ "KCCO going away, but CBS signal may stay | Echo Press". Archived from the original on November 20, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  23. ^ Beach, Jeff (December 22, 2017). "Selective TV picks up CBS signal". Echo Press. Archived from the original on December 31, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.

External links