In the early days of radio, WCCO was a powerful force in the development of better and more powerful transmitters. The station hired Brad Lane as market manager for WCCO from WTMJ in Milwaukee. Selective TV has made a proposal to CBS to pick up transmission of the WCCO signal but a deal has not been finalized. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. And Lees prowess is known throughout town. Its legendary air talent over the last four decades made their mark with a schtick rich in Scandinavian dialects and jokes about herring. For WCCO to survive the next decade, the consensus is the station needs an FM signal. A 100 year-old AM station can dream, cant it? This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. First, digital streaming and smart speakers may quickly render the AM band struggle moot. 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. Keep it clean, keep it Minnesotan, please. Minnesota Weather: Air Quality Alert Extended Due To - CBS News Link is dead at least for the moment. MinnPost | P.O. The Minnesota Public Radio newsroom has a head count of nearly 70. 3.) Cory Hepola moved from KARE-11 two years ago and describes his midmorning niche as a work in progress. This is a turning point, says former program director Jon Quick. By then, theyll have to decide whether to accept money for going off the air or moving to a different and potentially inferior broadcast spectrum. A local watershed was KFANs move to FM in 2011. Historically, only Gray TV NBC affiliate KTTC/10 was located in Rochester, but both KIMT and Hubbard ABC affiliate KAAL/6 (Austin) have begun originating full newscasts from the city in recent years. CBS and Entercom both told us youll never make up the lost revenue with a simulcast, says former WCCO sales exec Ethan Adam. Broadcasters can relinquish their licenses and go off the air. 830 WCCO - News Talk - LISTEN LIVE | Audacy Is the station gone completely, or another channel in its place? With its diverse range of shows and topics covered, it has something to offer for everyone. But from a scale standpoint, its reach is limited. Minnesota's trusted station for news, traffic and weather. Without a deal, viewers that relied on the KCCO signal may not be able to pick up CBS. It began broadcasting with 50,000 watts for the first time in September 1932. Historically, solid radio signals sell for large multiples, so Entercom could never hope to pick up a competitors signal for a song, if you will. The Pohlads found it difficult to make money in radio, and recouping their investment proved no easier. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued an air quality alert that is set to last through Friday afternoon. FM was a niche technology; in the 1960s, most cars lacked FM radios. Reduce or eliminate splitters or connectors that are not needed. "They told me they wanted to go in a different direction," Johnson said Monday . Selective TV is a non-profit over-the-air television programming system supported by viewer contributions. WCCO has a longtime reputation of being the station to tune in for emergency information, especially severe weather and school closings in winter. A full day's programming of music and a large news operation could be heard clearly for 150 miles in all directions. The weekend forecast looks to be mild and dry, with temperatures in the low 80s. Same issue. Officials advise that people in sensitive groups limit time outside and avoid strenuous exercise or activity. PM drive cohost Jordana Green is a highly observant Jew, Cory Hepola is in a mixed-race marriage and is father to Black children, and late evening host Henry Lake is Black. Douglas has served the Twin . Jason DeRusha announces he's leaving WCCO morning show - Star Tribune Please enable javascript and refresh the page to continue reading local news. Because the data is proprietary and WCCO refuses to comment, there is no way to settle the question. KNOW has nearly twice CCOs audience share and more than twice the number of listeners per week. Adam Platt isTCBs executive editor. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. In 2005, WCCO began broadcasting its signal in the HD Radio format. The station is dedicated to providing accurate and unbiased news coverage, as well as expert analysis and commentary. . Before working the morning shift, DeRusha, 47, inherited the station's "Good Question" segment. Knoepke proudly notes the stations online listenership was up 47 percent year over year. Advertisers generally are looking for listeners 25-54 or 18-34 years old. Read more Caret down Live now Play Adam and Jordana Play Listen until 5pm Live See full schedule Earlier Today Play Thursday - Apr 27, 2023 Today People tune into talent. As of the latest U.S. Drought Monitor Report, 75% of the state is experiencing severe drought. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. WCCO first signed on the air on September 4, 1922, as WLAG, known as "the Call of the North". Fees asked for by the station may have been too high to renew a contract. Meanwhile, several local FM stations had already boosted their power to 100,000 watts and were airing new formats on FM, such as beautiful music and progressive rock. WCCO - Wikipedia They would need only to rescan for stations that have new channel locations. St. Paul ABC affiliate KSTP is also included in Spectrums Rochester listings but is subject to blackouts. Its not a coincidence that after 6:30 p.m., when KFAN ends local programming, WCCO pivots to sports. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. So, why can the government do this? And then he wasn't. "Back in October, actually late September, I went in for my annual physical," Huppert said . FCC Order Cuts Duplicate CBS Programming from Rochester Cable, Weekly Log: WCCO Dropped from Rochester Cable; NBC Stronger in Mankato NorthPine: Upper Midwest Broadcasting, Off Topic: Lessons Learned for Camping Roadtrip Packing, Weekly Log: 1 Rochester Arrival, 2 Des Moines Departures, 3 Radio Bosses, Public Radio Changes Take Effect May 1 in Quad Cities, FCC Monitor: Price of Neb. It looks like you're new here. Selective TV asks that people using its service make a $10 per month contribution to the organization. Channel 4 is completely gone from the lineup. Accordingly, we conclude that the Petitioner has met its burden and demonstrates that WCCO-TV fails to meet the requirements to maintain its status as significantly viewed in Rochester. If you have questions, emaileditors@minnpost.com. Its driven by a generation of budget cuts across the industry., Theres one other problem, and its a big one. Knoepke is clearly talking about revenues, because CCO does not win in any key daypart. Finally, WCCO remains a cash machine with a community of satisfied advertising partners. [10][11] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. 75% of the state is experiencing severe drought. Will it make the city a more affordable place to live? A moderator might be able to plug that into the channel database, and determine what is happening with the station at this time. The affected area is all of Minnesota, including the tribal nations of Grand Portage, Fond du Lac, Upper Sioux, Leech Lake, Red Lake, Mille Lacs, and Prairie Island. Retiring morning host Dave Lee will not be around to broadcast over it, but I think you do need an FM signal, he says. Because that would require, at least temporarily, sacrificing the several million dollars The Wolf bills. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Lee, 67, is arguably the last in a line of legacy talent that connects the station with its heyday of the 1960s and 70s. Here is WCCO's Twitter page for CBS-Minnesota. He added that his only regret is that he did not have a chance to say goodbye on the air. WCCO is a Class A clear-channel station. He can do play-by-play in the evening and get up at 4 a.m. and interview the governor without missing a beat. ICYMI: An air quality alert is in effect through Tuesday, with conditions being called unprecedented. In August 2008, as a cosmetic change to make WCCO in sync with other CBS talk radio stations, the station changed from "News/Talk 830 WCCO" to "News Radio 830 WCCO." With the move to Division I starting in the 2021 season, the football games would move to KSTP. Usually when these things happen it is one of the following: 1.) (2020 market revenues were down 28 percent locally, say insiders, due to the pandemic recession. Dont think we dont smell blood in the water., Lee says he will continue to do endorsements for the station as long as both sides find it mutually satisfying, which gives Knoepke a measure of confidence. As of Friday morning, air quality conditions were listed as unhealthy around the Twin Cities and in north-central Minnesota. Robert Ridder became president of WCCO in 1952.[7]. Congress passed a law a couple of years ago that essentially forces many TV stations across the country to give up their broadcast frequencies, so that wireless companies can use them to meet the. WCCO is the flagship radio station for the Minnesota Twins baseball team and the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team. WCCO - What does WCCO stand for? The Free Dictionary This has never been done anywhere in the world, Meisch said. Theyve had a huge run. Unfortunatelyfor WCCOs branding needs, thats under the umbrella of radio.com, Entercoms digital streaming brand. Minneapolis mayor and city staff oppose rent control. When Knoepke says she has no concerns about revenues rebounding, it must be taken with a grain of salt for a single reason: Dave Lee is retiring. Mark Rosen announces his departure from WCCO-TV after 50-year career Archived post. Today Friday, April 30 Dave Lee will wake up at his southeast suburban home, walk to his basement studio, and begin his three-hour air shift at WCCO Radio. Its closest competitor, KSTP Radio (1500 AM), had just under an eight share. Jason joined WCCO as a reporter in 2003 and was able to mark an impression on the public. WCCO discontinued broadcasting in AM stereo around the turn of the millennium.[16]. According to data provided to stations by Nielsen, in 2020, 82.2 percent of the available radio audience did not tune to AM (see AM Blues sidebar, page 36). [3] The transmitter is located off Coon Rapids Boulevard at Lily Street NW in Coon Rapids. The stations farm director was feted across the states ag belt and held down important on-air segments each day. FM: W9XHW to WCCO-FM to Lite-FM to BUZ'N/The Wolf, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, "Can WCCO Make It in its Second Century? I have no concerns, she notes. Question About Spectrum Voice (Landline) Caller ID Information? The alert goes into effect Wednesday at 10. While light rain showers moved over southwestern Minnesota on Friday, no other significant rain is in store for the first few days of August. After working for almost 10 years as a weekend anchor and reporter for the WCCO Good Question program, he started working as a morning anchor. Knoepke declined to say anything specific about WCCOs audience makeup or future goals. [2] Morning drive will continue to be our strongest daypart, she says. You can contact them and see what they say: FCC Order Cuts Duplicate CBS Programming from Rochester Cable, Media Bureau grants the KIMT(TV) Petition. He builds trust while he gathers facts.. However, the auction could have a profound impact on consumers, notably those who use indoor or rooftop antennas to pull in free over-the-air signals. You get in a rental car and AM is still set to factory presets, says Twin Cities radio historian and former WCCO marketing exec Tom Gavaras. Knoepke focused on key themes like trust, reliability, and tradition, but did not articulate an interest in change. When he finishes, just before 9 a.m., it will not just mark the end of his workweek, but the end of a radio career that dates back to 1973, at KRAD in Grand Forks. The home of. Everyone is advised to take precautions when air quality is unhealthy, including taking it easy and listening to your body. Though Knoepke is well-liked and described as a leader by most of the staffTCBinterviewed, it is unclear how much decision-making authority Entercom cedes to local management. DeRusha, who announced last week that he's leaving his role as the lead anchor of WCCO This Morning, will anchor his final television broadcast on June 23. KIMT is the official CBS affiliate for Rochester and presents newscasts from a studio in the city, but has long competed for CBS viewership on cable due to the status of WCCO-TV/4 (Minneapolis) as a significantly-viewed station in Rochester. Canadian Wildfire Smoke Prompts Air Quality Alert For Most - CBS News [4] It is also heard on a digital subchannel on co-owned FM 102.9 KMNB-HD2. This is not a transition where you wing it, says Tom Langmyer, CEO of Great Lakes Media. And because Lee reads so many of those ads, and nurtures so many of the advertiser relationships, his departure breeds uncertainty. As noted here previously, the Rochester area makes up about half of the households in the Rochester-Austin-Mason City market. Knoepke dismissed John Hanson during the winter, the third programming exec she has replaced during her six-year tenure. "We have a strong team because you put us there," co-host Heather Brown said Tuesday morning on the air. There was no warning of any kind, via TV, spectrum app, spectrum bill. WCCO's Director of Meteorology Mike Augustyniak says those in the purple areas should stay indoors as much as possible. In that vein, theres some talk that WCCO will go to more of a continuous newscast in AM drive and might not immediately designate a successor. Tim Walz declares state of state strong (but says state of Florida, not so hot), Minnesota Democrats, except Dean Phillips, say they back Bidens reelection, The tough, lonely job of being a marijuana legalization opponent in Minnesota, A full repeal of Minnesotas Social Security tax now unlikely after Senate DFL concedes to a partial cut, These bikers don't want a bike trail on St. Paul's Summit Avenue, DFL still not united on red flag law, background checks after months of advocacy on guns, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license. The FCC has granted a petition for special relief from the Rochester markets CBS affiliate and issued an order that will result in WCCO-TVs CBS programming being dropped from cable in the Med City. Now all that information is available on a smartphone;CCO dropped farm reports two generations ago. According to data archived by local radio historian Jay Philpott, in 1968, WCCO attracted a 51 share, meaning more than half of the people listening to radio in the Twin Cities at any given time were listening to WCCO. Broadcasters have until Tuesday to indicate their interest in participating in the March 29 reverse auction. During the day, it provides at least B-grade coverage to most of Minnesota's densely populated area (as far north as Duluth and as far south as Rochester), plus portions of northern Iowa and western Wisconsin. I am having the same issue. The petition from Allen Medias KIMT/3 (Mason City, IA) was first reported here last year. MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has extended and upgraded the air quality alert in much of the state due to "unprecedented" conditions caused by wildfire smoke. If you feel you have received this message in error, please contact the customer support team at 1-833-248-7801. CBS affiliate WCCO is turning off its KCCO-TV signal for the Alexandria area at the end of the year, but Selective TV based in Douglas County is hopeful it will be able to relay WCCO programming. Overnight, two syndicated shows are carried: Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb and America in the Morning with John Trout. WCCO features a talk radio format, with frequent newscasts and sports programming. Morning drive is responsible for one-third to one-half of the billings at most radio stations says Anselmo, and WCCO is no exception. MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has extended and upgraded the air quality alert in much of the state due to "unprecedented" conditions caused by wildfire smoke. Community Music. Weve used WCCO for over 50 years, Fetters says. Id look at them as a model for how to modernize a format., KFANs dominance over CCO in sports is equally stark. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Usually when these things happen it is one of the following: 1.) (Games are now simulcast over Entercom country station The Wolf at 102.9 FM.). Theres no other person like him in the history of Twin Cities radio. I believe if we can win in the mornings, we will win all day.. Morning drive has pretty much transitioned to news, Lee says. CCOs power ratios [the revenue premium it derives above what ratings metrics would dictate] are what make it hard to change, says former programming boss Andy Bloom, whom Knoepke hired in 2018, but was replaced in less than a year. Downdetector only reports an incident when the number of problem reports is significantly higher than the typical volume for that time of day. Bandwidth auctions, 84 of them in the past 20 years, have been to wireless Internet and phone carriers. WCCO became the radio home of Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team starting with the 20112012 season, acquiring the broadcast rights from rival AM 1130 KFAN. If it can stave off additional audience erosion, it can tread water for a long time before sinking below the horizon. CBS reacquired the WCCO stations outright in 1992 when Midwest Radio and Television merged with the network. WCCO was the top-rated station in the Twin Cities for decades until shifting demographics and a decline in listening to AM radio caused a drop in the Arbitron and Nielsen ratings. As recently as 1979, WCCO had 1.4 million in cume. WCCO delivers the decision-makers the company is trying to reach. In the January 2021 ratings, that number had sunk to 181,000, a drop of 83 percent. Everything on WCCO Radio can be sponsored: time checks, weather forecasts, news updates, the studio itself. Former Governor Jesse Ventura had a show while in office, and successor Tim Pawlenty followed suit. The Twins would move to KSTP beginning in the 2007 season, and would then move to then-team owned KTWN-FM prior to the start of the 2013 season. For many years, WCCO was famous for its "klaxon" alert tone for tornado warnings. Twin Cities Radio Airchecks The essential question to contextualize WCCOs future is whether these dire audience metrics are really meaningful. Im nave enough to think sponsorships are real friendships, he says. As Lee moves from drive time to a photo on the stations wall of fame, WCCO faces the same question it has faced throughout the last quarter-century: What is the cure for its chronic audience atrophy, and is it worse than the disease? Also in 1979, Hubbard-owned KSTP-FM became KS95 and, under program director Chuck Knapp, emerged as the towns first FM station that did more than just play music. Langmyer listened to WCCO over several days before agreeing to share his thoughts withTCB. 11 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of TV Meteorologists Chicago-based broadcast industry columnist Robert Feder toldTCBthat Entercom-owned market leader WBBM-AM lost its morning drive cohost to retirement a year ago and was not replaced, an apparent cost-cutting move. But WCCO is in many ways a shell of its one-time self, attracting a fraction of the audience that it commanded in its heyday and no longer a ratings leader among the regions news and information stations. KMNB, a radio station (102.9 FM) licensed to serve Minneapolis, Minnesota, which used the call sign WCCO-FM from May 1969 to November 1983. A savvy contrarian would make several points in WCCOs defense. What message if anything do you get when you tune to it? Radio is most threatened by people in leadership roles who only account for it as a commodity and see stations as real estate assets, says Langmyer, speaking of the industry in general. Hes in a lot of different settings. First published on July 31, 2021 / 8:30 AM. The advertising load in morning drive is particularly heavy. She returned to Minnesota in 2006 to co-host a weekday morning show on WCCO with Susie Jones. "Smoke from Canadian wildfires lingers over most of Minnesota. This means that with the conversion to digital, a station like WCCO in the Twin Cities can retain its Channel 4 brand identity, while also offering additional over-the-air content on a Channel 4.2, which it does. Former managing editor Steve Murphy says the station has operated with seven to nine news staff (currently seven) throughout most of its recent history. Though WCCOs ratings do not include listeners outside the metro counties, its programming often seems equally geared to Greater Minnesota. WCCO-TV's Jason DeRusha talks about his decision to leave: 'It's been The Selective TV signal covers about a 40-mile radius from its tower near Garfield. Certain conditions can make the signal reach much farther.