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WCCO (AM)

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WCCO
Broadcast areaMinneapolis–Saint Paul
Frequency830kHz
BrandingNews/Talk 8•3•0 WCCO (frequency pronounced on-air as "eight-three-oh" )
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatNews/talk
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
September 4, 1922;101 years ago(1922-09-04)
Former call signs
WLAG (1922–1924)
Call signmeaning
Washburn Crosby Company(former owner of station)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID9642
ClassA
Power50,000 watts unlimited
Transmitter coordinates
Repeater(s)102.9KMNB-HD2(Minneapolis)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live(viaAudacy)
Websitewww.audacy.com/wccoradio

WCCO(830kHz) is acommercialAM radiostation located inMinneapolis, Minnesota,and owned byAudacy, Inc.[2]Its studios and offices are located on Second Avenue South inDowntown Minneapolis.WCCO features anews/talkformat,with frequent newscasts and sports programming. Local hosts are heard most hours of the day and evening, includingChad Hartman,Vineeta Sawkar, Paul Douglas, Jordana Green and Adam Carter, Jason DeRusha, and Henry Lake.[3] Overnight, twosyndicatedshows are carried:Our American Stories withLee HabeebandAmerica in the Morningwith John Trout.World and national news is supplied byCBS News Radio.WCCO is theflagship radio stationfor theMinnesota Twinsbaseballteam.

WCCO is aClass Aclear-channel station.With 50,000 watts of power (the maximum permitted) and anondirectional signal,WCCO reaches much ofMinnesotaand parts ofWisconsinandIowaby day, along with a wide area of the Central United States and Central Canada at night.[4]Thetransmitteris located off Coon Rapids Boulevard at Lily Street NW inCoon Rapids.[5]It is also heard on the secondHD Radiochannel of co-ownedKMNB(102.9 FM).

History

[edit]
WLAG transmitter room in the Loring Park neighborhood's Oak Grove Hotel

Early years

[edit]

WCCO firstsigned onthe air on September 4, 1922, as WLAG, known as "the Call of the North". The studios were in the Oak Grove Hotel nearLoring Parkin Minneapolis. The station soon had financial trouble and closed in 1924.Washburn Crosby Company,forerunner ofGeneral Mills,took over the station and switched thecall signto WCCO for the company's initials.[6]Broadcasts resumed less than two months later on October 2, 1924, from its current transmitter site in Coon Rapids, and with studios in the then-newNicollet Hotel.[7]

In 1927, WCCO was one of the original 21 stations of theNBC Red Network.It carried NBC's slate of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows, andbig-bandbroadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio".CBSbought WCCO from General Mills in 1932, and switched itsnetwork affiliationto theCBS Radio Network.It remains a CBS affiliate.

1950s to the 1990s

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In 1952, CBS sold majority control of WCCO to the Murphy and McNally families, who formedMidwest Radio and Televisionas a holding company for WCCO radio and its new co-owned television station, Channel 4WCCO-TV.CBS was forced to sell off its stake in the WCCO stations in 1954 due toFederal Communications Commissionownership limits in effect at the time. CBS reacquired the WCCO stations outright in 1992 when Midwest Radio and Television merged with the network.

In the 1950s, as network programming was shifting from radio to television, WCCO switched to afull-servicemiddle-of-the-roadformat, including popular music, news, sports, and talk.Robert Ridderbecame president of WCCO in 1952.[8]

In the 1980s, theplaylistshifted from middle-of-the-road music towardadult contemporary.The music was gradually phased out by the early 1990s, when the format was changed to news, talk, and sports. From 1947 to 1996, WCCO and WCCO-TV won 12George Foster Peabody Awards,more than any other Twin Cities broadcast outlet.

Signal and transmitter

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In the early days of radio, WCCO was a powerful force in the development of better and more powerful transmitters. On November 11, 1928, with the implementation of theFederal Radio Commission'sGeneral Order 40,WCCO changed its frequency to 810 kHz and was granted clear-channel status. It began broadcasting with 50,000 watts for the first time in September 1932.[9]In the 1930s, two additional 300-foot towers were added to increase the range of the station's signal.

WCCO constructed a new 654-foot tower in Coon Rapids in 1939. This is the same tower used today, although the broadcast frequency was changed to 830 kHz as a result of the 1941North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement-.

Due to the station's power, as well as Minnesota's mostly flat landscape (with near-perfectground conductivity), WCCO boasts one of the largest coverage areas in the country, with a footprint equivalent to that of a full-power FM station. During the day, it provides at least secondary coverage to most of Minnesota's densely populated area (as far north asDuluthand as far south asRochester), plus portions of northernIowaand westernWisconsin.Under the right conditions, it reaches into portions ofSouth Dakota.

At night, the station's signal typically reaches across 28 U.S. states and threeCanadian provinces.Certain conditions can make the signal reach much farther. Legendary station personality Howard Viken said that he once picked up the station while he was in the military during World War II, stationed atGuadalcanalin 1943.

Severe weather coverage

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WCCO has a longtime reputation of being the station to tune in for emergency information, especially severe weather and school closings in winter. Listeners would call in during severe weather events and describe what they were seeing at their locations, supplementing information from the National Weather Service. For many years, WCCO was famous for its "klaxon" alert tone for tornado warnings. WCCO is thePrimary Entry Pointstation for theEmergency Alert Systemin Minnesota.[10]

For a series of live public-service emergency broadcasts in 1965 – the St. Patrick's Day blizzard, the record April floods on the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, and the May 6 onslaught of 24 tornado touchdowns in the Twin Cities area – the station earned the George Foster Peabody, DuPont, and Sigma Delta Chi awards.

Longtime WCCO Radio logo

FM: W9XHW to WCCO-FM to Lite-FM to BUZ'N/The Wolf

[edit]
Main article:KMNB

WCCO engineers were experimenting withfrequency modulationby 1939, operating W9XHW at 42.3 MHz, but at just 50 watts. With only a handful of Minneapolis residents owning an FM radio, WCCO did not rush into FM broadcasting. As late as 1969, WCCO-FM was broadcasting at 2,700 watts atop the 450-footFoshay Towerin downtown Minneapolis, and only for the minimum number of hours required to keep its FCC license. Meanwhile, several local FM stations had already boosted their power to 100,000 watts and were airing new formats on FM, such asbeautiful musicandprogressive rock.

WCCO FM 103 billboard in 1982

Finally in 1973, WCCO-FM station moved its antenna to 1,250 feet near the top of theShoreview, Minnesota,Twin Cities antenna farm, with a power of 100,000 watts. A full day's programming of music and a large news operation could be heard clearly for 150 miles in all directions. By the late 1970s, WCCO-FM 103 had come into its own and established an identity separate from AM 830, with a popular adult contemporary/soft rocksound. In 1983, it became WLTE 102.9 Lite-FM, an identity it kept until Christmas 2011, when it switched to acountry musicformat as BUZ'N @ 102.9 with the new call lettersKMNB.

Logo as "News Radio 8•3•0 WCCO"

Changes in ratings

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WCCO was the top-rated station in the Twin Cities for decades until shiftingdemographicsand a decline in listening to AM radio caused a drop in theArbitronandNielsen ratings.Several FM stations, includingclassic rock92.5KQRS-FMandTop 40101.3KDWB-FMwere able to overtake it.[citation needed]One sign of the changing times: the well-known farm report was dropped in early 2004, reflecting the fact that many farmers began to rely more on the Internet for such information and that the number of farmers in Minnesota has drastically shrunk since the station first began broadcasting (although agriculture remains vital to the region).

In August 2008, as a cosmetic change to make WCCO in sync with other CBS talk radio stations, the station changed from "News/Talk 8•3•0 WCCO" to "News Radio 8•3•0 WCCO". On September 15, 2011, WCCO was awarded theNAB Marconi Radio Awardfor Large Market Station of the Year.

Sports

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WCCO became the radio home ofMinnesota Timberwolvesbasketballteam starting with the 2011–2012 season, acquiring the broadcast rights from rivalAM 1130KFAN.The Timberwolves would leave WCCO after the 2022–2023 season, moving their games to theiHeartRadioapp with select games onKFXN-FM.[11]WCCO started broadcastingUniversity of St. Thomasfootball beginning in the 2011–2012 season. The St. Thomas football broadcasts would be carried on WCCO until the 2019–2020 season with no season in 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.With the move to Division I starting in the 2021 season, the football games would move toKSTP.WCCO was the former home ofUniversity of MinnesotaGolden Gophersathletics andMinnesota Wildhockey.WCCO had been the radioflagshipof theMinnesota Vikingsfootball teamfrom 1961 to 1969, 1976 to 1984, 1988 to 1990, and 1996 to 2000.

WCCO broadcast theMinnesota Twinsbaseball from their arrival in the Twin Cities in 1961 until 2007. In 2007, the Twins began producing the games themselves while selling Twin Cities broadcast rights to KSTP beginning in the 2007 season.[12]On November 17, 2017, WCCO announced that Twins broadcasts would return to the station beginning in the 2018 season.[13]

Entercom ownership

[edit]

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio agreed to merge withEntercom.The sale was conducted using aReverse Morris Trustto shield the deal from taxes. While CBS shareholders retain a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom was the surviving entity, with WCCO Radio no longer being co-owned with WCCO-TV.[14][15]The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17.[16][17]

In 2018, WCCO returned to the moniker "News/Talk 8•3•0 WCCO" with its logo reflecting the change.[18]

Past personalities

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WCCO broadcasters were known across theMidwest.Perhaps the greatest of them all wasCedric Adams,who first was heard on WCCO in 1931, and broadcast on the station until his death in 1961. Pilots flying over the Upper Midwest reported watching the lights go out all over the region each night when Adams finished his 10 pm newscast. Howard Viken, Maynard Speece, Charlie Boone and Roger Erickson, Jergen Nash, Joyce Lamont, and Randy Merriman became household names. When broadcasterSteve Cannon"the Iron Ranger" (who referred to WCCO as 'The evil neighbor') and his cast of characters arrived at WCCO fromAM 1500KSTP in 1971, he was still thought of by many as the "new guy" nearly until his retirement 26 years later.

For several years, WCCO has hosted a weekly radio show with thegovernor of Minnesota.Former GovernorJesse Venturahad a show while in office, and successorTim Pawlentyfollowed suit. Eleanor Mondale,the daughter of former Senator and Vice PresidentWalter Mondale,started her career in radio at the station in 1989 as the entertainment reporter, but left after 8 months. She returned to Minnesota in 2006 to co-host a weekday morning show on WCCO with Susie Jones.

More recent WCCO personalities have included longtimeStar TribunecolumnistSid Hartman,"Whole-Lotta Woman" Ruth Koscielak andTim Russell,who had been a cast member onGarrison Keillor'sA Prairie Home Companion,heard onNPRfor many years. Some notable sports broadcasters have includedBaseball Hall of FamememberHerb Carneal,the longtime voice of the Minnesota Twins, Halsey Hall,Ray Scottand Ray Christensen, longtime voice of University of Minnesota's Gopher football and Gopher men's basketball.

AM stereo history

[edit]

After nearly a year of work to outfit the station and prepare programming in stereo, on October 2, 1985, WCCO began broadcasting inAM stereousing theMotorolaC-QUAMsystem.[19]The move by the large market dominating WCCO to adopt AM stereo received attention from local and national news outlets. WCCO discontinued broadcasting in AM stereo around the turn of the millennium.[20]

HD Radio

[edit]

In 2005, WCCO began broadcasting its signal in theHD Radioformat.[21]WCCO programming is alsosimulcaston 102.9 KMNB-HD2. In March 2018, WCCO shut down its HD Radio signal on AM 830.

References

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  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for WCCO".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^Platt, Adam (April 15, 2021)."Can WCCO Make It in its Second Century?".Twin Cities Business.RetrievedSeptember 15,2021.
  3. ^"Audacy Announces Updated Programming Lineup for 830 WCCO in Minneapolis".
  4. ^"Salt Lake City DX Report".ubstudios.com.RetrievedAugust 27,2019.
  5. ^"WCCO-AM 830 kHz - Minneapolis, Minnesota".radio-locator.com.RetrievedAugust 27,2019.
  6. ^"WCCO-TV Timeline"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on March 8, 2012.RetrievedJuly 11,2012.
  7. ^Broadcasting Yearbook 1935 page 38
  8. ^"Bob Ridder".Pavek Museum of Broadcasting.RetrievedOctober 8,2018.
  9. ^"WCCO Inaugural"(PDF).Broadcasting. September 15, 1932.RetrievedOctober 5,2014.
  10. ^"Minnesota Emergency Alert System Statewide Plan"(PDF).Minnesota Department of Public Safety.p. BP-10.RetrievedNovember 26,2023.
  11. ^"Timberwolves, Lynx and iHeartMedia Minneapolis Announce Multidimensional Streaming and Radio Partnership".National Basketball Association.RetrievedSeptember 27,2023.
  12. ^Zulgad, Judd (August 10, 2007)."Twins should like Arbitron numbers more than KSTP".Minneapolis Star Tribune.pp. C2.
  13. ^Minnesota Twins to Return to WCCO
  14. ^"CBS Sets Radio Division Merger With Entercom".Variety.February 2, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 2,2017.
  15. ^"CBS and Entercom Are Merging Their Radio Stations".Fortune.RetrievedFebruary 2,2017.
  16. ^"Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio".Entercom.November 9, 2017.RetrievedNovember 17,2017.
  17. ^Venta, Lance (November 17, 2017)."Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger".Radio Insight.RetrievedNovember 17,2017.
  18. ^"Minneapolis Breaking News, Today's News | WCCO Radio".
  19. ^Freeman, Kim (June 22, 1985)."WWCO-AM Readies Switch to Stereo*".Billboard.RetrievedSeptember 15,2019.*Typo in article title acknowledged in the June 29, 1985, edition of Billboard. Title should read WCCO rather than WWCO.
  20. ^Offenders of The Faith - The AM STEREO Page.Archived fromthe originalthat has since been removed.
  21. ^https://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=16ArchivedJanuary 11, 2017, at theWayback MachineHD Radio Guide for Minneapolis-St. Paul
[edit]
Preceded by
None 		Radio Home of the
Minnesota Twins
1961–2006 		Succeeded by
KSTP
2007–2012
Preceded by
KQGO
2017 		Radio Home of the
Minnesota Twins
2018–present 		Succeeded by
none
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