 | |
 WCCO-TV's downtown Minneapolis headquarters as seen in 2006 | |
| |
|---|---|
| City | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Channels | |
| Branding | WCCO;WCCO News / CBS News Minnesota |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | July 1, 1949 (76 years ago) (1949-07-01) |
Former call signs | WTCN-TV (1949–1952) |
Former channel numbers | Analog: 4 (VHF, 1949–2009) |
| ABC (secondary, 1949–1953) | |
Call sign meaning | Derived fromWCCO radio |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 9629 |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 455.9 m (1,496 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 45°3′45″N93°8′22″W / 45.06250°N 93.13944°W /45.06250; -93.13944 |
| Translator(s) | see§ Translators |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WCCO-TV (channel 4), brandedCBS Minnesota, is atelevision station licensed toMinneapolis, Minnesota, United States, serving theTwin Cities area. It isowned and operated by theCBS television network through itsCBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on South 11th Street alongNicollet Mall indowntown Minneapolis; its transmitter is located at theTelefarm complex inShoreview, Minnesota.
WCCO-TV's programming is also seen on full-powersatellite stationKCCW-TV (channel 12) inWalker (with transmitter nearHackensack).Nielsen Media Research treats WCCO-TV and KCCW-TV as one station in local ratings books, using the identifier nameWCCO+. From 1987 until 2017, WCCO-TV operated a second satellite,KCCO-TV (virtual and VHF digital channel 7) inAlexandria (with transmitter nearWestport).
WCCO is one of three owned-and-operated network affiliates in the Twin Cities market, the others beingFox O&OKMSP-TV (channel 9) andMyNetworkTV O&OWFTC (channel 9.2).
WCCO-TV's roots originate with a radio station, but notWCCO (830 AM).WRHM, which signed on the air in 1925, is the radio station to which WCCO-TV traces its lineage. In 1934, two newspapers—theMinneapolis Tribune and theSaint Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch—formed a joint venture by the name of "Twin Cities Newspapers", which purchased the radio station and changed its call letters to WTCN. Twin Cities Newspapers later expanded into the fledgling FM band withWTCN-FM, and shortly thereafter to the then-new medium of television with the launch of WTCN-TV on July 1, 1949, becoming Minnesota's second television station, broadcasting from the Radio City Theater at 50 South 9th Street in downtown Minneapolis. The station's first president wasRobert Ridder.[2] Channel 4 has been a primary CBS affiliate since its sign on; it is the only major commercial station in the Minneapolis–St. Paul market not to have changed its primary affiliation. However, it had a secondary affiliation with ABC during its early years, from 1949 to 1953,[3] until a new station using the WTCN-TV calls (nowKARE-TV) picked up the ABC affiliation, retaining it from its 1953 sign on until 1961 when it became anindependent 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 newchannel 11).[4] CBS was forced to sell its minority ownership stake in the WCCO stations in 1954 to comply withFederal Communications Commission ownership limits of the time.
The station began telecastingcolor programs in 1955. 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 theTelstar 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 theBlack Hills showingMount Rushmore to the world.
During the fall of 1979, WCCO-TV and radio experienced a labor dispute when theInternational Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the union representing many of the stations' technical and production personnel, went onstrike. Despite the walkout, the stations maintained their daily broadcast schedules, utilizing non-striking employees, including management and news personnel, to cover the essential functions. For WCCO-TV, this meant that news director Ron Handberg and anchor Skip Loescher were notably involved in producing and presenting the news, as seen in broadcasts from the period.[6]
In September 1983, WCCO relocated its operations from its original studios on South 9th Street to the present location at South 11th Street and Nicollet Mall. The network gained full ownership of WCCO-TV in 1992, when it acquired what was by then known as Midwest Communications.[7] In 2000,Viacom bought CBS, and WCCO became part of the Viacom Television Stations Group. In 2006, Viacom Television Stations Group was renamedCBS 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 asWCCO II, but by 1989, it had evolved into theMidwest Sports Channel, focusing on regional sporting events. It continued under CBS ownership until 2000, when it was announced that MSC and sibling RSNHome Team Sports were to be sold. HTS went toComcast, while MSC was sold toFox Entertainment Group and becameFox Sports North, a part ofFox Sports Net. MSC had been an FSN affiliate since 1997.
On February 2, 2017, CBS agreed to sellCBS Radio to Entercom, currently the fourth-largest radio broadcasting company in the United States. The sale was completed on November 17, 2017,[8] and was conducted using aReverse Morris Trust so that it was tax-free. While CBS shareholders retained a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom, nowAudacy, is the surviving entity, with WCCO radio and its sibling stations separated from WCCO-TV.[9][10]
On August 13, 2019,National Amusements announced thatViacom 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 toParamount Global.
On August 14, 2023,Wendy McMahon, a former creative services director at WCCO-TV, was named CBS News and Stations president.
In 1961, with the establishment of theMinnesota Vikings of theNational Football League, the station, viaCBS, which held the rights to broadcast NFL games, became the 'unofficial' home station of the team. This partnership continued through the1993 season, at which time most games were moved toWFTC. Today, most Vikings games are onKMSP-TV; since 1998, WCCO airs at least two Vikings games each season when the Vikings host anAFC 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 ofSuper Bowl XXVI andthat year's Final Four, which were hosted at theHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.
Since2023, WCCO has aired selectMinnesota Golden Gophers football games as a part of a new deal betweenCBS and theBig Ten Conference.
WCCO presently[when?] broadcasts38+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with6+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 inhigh-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 nationalCBSN service across the CBS-owned stations).[11]
On September 5, 2022, WCCO premiered an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast calledThe 4.[12][13]
The stations' signals aremultiplexed:
| 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 | ||
| 4.5 | 12.5 | WCCODT5 | KCCWDT5 | Nosey | ||
WCCO-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overVHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transitionUHF channel 32, usingvirtual channel 4.[17]
As part of theSAFER Act, WCCO-TV kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop ofpublic service announcements from theNational Association of Broadcasters.[18]
WCCO-TV operates a satellite station northwest of the Twin Cities area:
| Station | City of license | First air date | Former call letters | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates | Facility ID | Public license information | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KCCW-TV | Walker | 12 (12) | January 1, 1964 | KNMT (1964–1987) | 59 kW | 286.4 m (940 ft) | 46°56′5″N94°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 |
| First air date | Last air date | Former call letters | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates | Facility ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KCCO-TV | Alexandria | 7 (7) | October 8, 1958 (1958-10-08) |
| KCMT (1958–1987) | 29 kW | 339.6 m (1,114 ft) | 45°41′10″N95°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 withNBC and secondary affiliations withABC from their respective sign-ons until the summer of 1982, when both stations switched to CBS.[19][20] 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.[21]
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'sspectrum incentive auction, but was expected to engage in a channel-sharing agreement.[22] In a request for a waiver of requirements that KCCO broadcastpublic 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.[23][24][25]
In addition, the broadcast signal of WCCO-TV is extended by way of eighttranslators:
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofMinnesota | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Minnesota | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS |
| |
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofWisconsin | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Wisconsin | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS |
| |
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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