Broadcasters in the high VHF range can move to low VHF channels. What this means is WCCO is casting an audience net that reaches only 18 percent of listeners, almost all of them over 50. 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. Revenue matters, and their revenue has held up as the ratings have slid.. (Digital revenues, recalls Adam, account for 1020 percent of station revenues. 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. A decade ago, the world was WCCOs oyster, competitively. Local hosts are heard most hours of the day and evening, including Chad Hartman, Vineeta Sawkar, Paul Douglas, Jordana Green and Adam Carter, Jason DeRusha, and Henry Lake. Minnesota Weather: Air Quality Alert Extended Due To - CBS News That summer its engineering staff went on strike, and its unionized talent honored the picket lines. The fine particles in the smoke could cause health problems for people in. Due to the station's power, as well as Minnesota's mostly flat landscape (with near-perfect ground conductivity), WCCO boasts one of the largest coverage areas in the country. WCCO is also a PEP station for the Emergency Alert System. Hes an extrovert. The statements and views expressed in this posting are my own and do not reflect those of Gray Television. Lee, 67, is arguably the last in a line of legacy talent that connects the station with its heyday of the 1960s and 70s. Personally, I'm glad to see her off the air. Douglas has served the Twin . Hes in a lot of different settings. The divisive Trump presidency, COVID-19, and now the year of the trials connected to the death of George Floyd have provided an extraordinary opportunity for news-driven stations to reintroduce themselves to the market. Box 18438 | Minneapolis, MN 55418 | 612.455.6950. Broadcasters have never had to do this. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. WCCO-TV, a television station (channel 32, virtual channel 4) licensed to serve Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lee is a native of Hatton, North Dakota, the son of a rural mailman. "However, on Saturday northerly winds behind a cold front will bring more smoke from wildfires located north of the Canadian border in Ontario and Manitoba into Minnesota. It is neither urban nor urbane. World Conference for Cancer Organisations. Tax credits of up to $1,500 for e-bikes added to Minnesota Senate transportation budget, Minnesota Gov. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The consensus in the industry is she needs an equally capable programming executive to manage the burden of talent development and strategy. A savvy contrarian would make several points in WCCOs defense. First, digital streaming and smart speakers may quickly render the AM band struggle moot. Bandwidth auctions, 84 of them in the past 20 years, have been to wireless Internet and phone carriers. 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. He turned down a job in the stations sports department, but eventually my wife said, If you dont give it a shot youll regret it. Lee arrived at CCO in 1989. "We have a strong team because you put us there," co-host Heather Brown said Tuesday morning on the air. We had the Twins, the Vikings, music, news, he says. 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. See our full republication guidelines for more information. But KCCO will end at the end of this year, according to a letter that CBS Senior Vice President John Bagwell sent to the Federal Communications Commission in October. WCCO needs to get on FM. He became a regional celeb at KFGO, where his stock in trade was comedy bits trading on the dialects and folkways of North Dakotans, not dissimilar to the schtick of Charlie Boone and Roger Erickson. Always live on the free Audacy app. WCCO Radio - Home - Facebook Twin Cities Radio Airchecks Sign in or register to get started. 3.) His social network is expansive. r/Minnesota is what YOU make it! The answer is that the airwaves belong to the public and as such are subject to this kind of regulation. [9], On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio agreed to merge with Entercom. Much of Minnesota remains under drought conditions. WCCO (830 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and owned by Audacy, Inc.[1] Its studios and offices are located on Second Avenue South in Downtown Minneapolis. ICYMI: An air quality alert is in effect through Tuesday, with conditions being called unprecedented. They have no bench, and they dont know how to nurture talent.. 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. Under the right conditions, it reaches into portions of South Dakota. The weed watchdog: What Minnesota can expect if it legalizes recreational marijuana this year. Its their reputation and the trust in the community that we hope conveys to us, Fetters says. In the 1950s, as network programming was shifting from radio to television, WCCO switched to a full-service middle-of-the-road format, including popular music, news, sports, and talk. Windy Cold Crushes Optimizers. But from a scale standpoint, its reach is limited. Stream, read and download from any device on Audacy. Northern Lights Broadcasting, the radio arm of the Pohlad family enterprises, which had paid $28 million to acquire GO 96.3 FM in 2007, put the station and its low-power sibling at 95.3 FM up for sale. They need to hire someone with a track record of success, with a vision, and get out of the way.. Scan this QR code to download the app now. This article first appeared on MinnPost and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.. 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. CCO remains a powerful force in Twin Cities broadcasting, earning millions in revenue for its owner, Philadelphia-based Entercom Communications, now the second-largest radio group in America, following its purchase of CBS Radio in 2017. The AM deficit is so significant that when Twins baseball returned to WCCO in 2018, the team required an out clause if WCCO could not get an FM simulcast by 2020. This left WCCO with a 4 to 6 share of the audience, which it has held for most of the last decade, though periods between 34 shares have not been uncommon. WCCO's Director of Meteorology Mike Augustyniak says those in the purple areas should stay indoors as much as possible. Obvious local radio competitors thatTCBspoke to are uninterested or hemmed in by noncompete clauses or contracts. St. Paul ABC affiliate KSTP is also included in Spectrums Rochester listings but is subject to blackouts. Will it return? WCCO Radio recently made significant changes to its on-air lineup. Quick heard him in 1984 and thought Lee had the chops to fit right in at CCO. You can tell he really cares., Federateds approach is refreshingly old-school in todays era of metrics and precise ROI. 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. WCCO features a talk radio format, with frequent newscasts and sports programming. Since then, the KCCO tower has been transmitting the WCCO programming from the Twin Cities. The WCCO-TV signal is back to full power again after being out for several hours on Sunday for people who watch over-the-air or through satellite companies that receive the signal from the transmitter. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Overnight, two syndicated shows are carried: Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb and America in the Morning with John Trout. Broadcasters have until Tuesday to indicate their interest in participating in the March 29 reverse auction. He has covered media businesses in the Twin Cities since 1985. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. CBS was forced to sell off its stake in the WCCO stations in 1954 due to Federal Communications Commission ownership limits in effect at the time. Lees show was sixth in the market in the January Nielsen ratings, middays placed ninth, afternoon drive tied for 11th, and evenings came in seventh. On the flip side, we also see a higher demand for wireless mobile, broadband and data applications.. 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. Thats hard to listen to.. 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. These doubters suggest WCCO is billing closer to $9 million to $10 million including digital. Finally in 1973, WCCO-FM station moved its antenna to 1,250 feet near the top of the Shoreview, Minnesota, Twin Cities antenna farm, with a power of 100,000 watts. The fine particles in the smoke can be harmful to people with lung or heart issues, and they can also affect the elderly and young children. So, why can the government do this? 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. Other factors had an impact as well. Knoepke expects station revenues to rebound to 2019 levels this year. Theyll take a look at it.. They would need only to rescan for stations that have new channel locations. Reports from the Oakland (Mich.) Press, Julio Ojeda Zapata and Dan Bauman were compiled for this story. Some notable sports broadcasters have included Baseball Hall of Fame member Herb Carneal, the longtime voice of the Minnesota Twins, Halsey Hall, Ray Scott and Ray Christensen, longtime voice of University of Minnesota's Gopher football and Gopher men's basketball. 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. Knoepke is regarded by competitors and staff as a capable executive but her background is entirely in sales. It resonated for enough of us, but if you didnt grow up on a farm or in a deeply Lutheran suburb, it could also be a barrier. Cory Hepola moved from KARE-11 two years ago and describes his midmorning niche as a work in progress. From 1947 to 1996, WCCO and WCCO-TV won 12 George Foster Peabody Awards, more than any other Twin Cities broadcast outlet. Why Is Jason Drusha Leaving WCCO - Where Is He Going - Mixedarticle Usually when these things happen it is one of the following: 1.) 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. More health-related information on air quality can be found here. The decline of AM radio has been happening for decades. She seemed like a big part of the team to just disappear like that. KCCO going away, but CBS signal may stay - Alexandria Echo Press Some observers and past employees believe it is very little; others say its near-absolute. With the transition from analog to digital over-the-air signals, those who use home antennas can receive pristine (and, in many cases, high-definition) television broadcasts. Before posting a new question, please check out our. CBS reacquired the WCCO stations outright in 1992 when Midwest Radio and Television merged with the network. 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. MinnPost | P.O. The Selective TV signal covers about a 40-mile radius from its tower near Garfield. I even went to the KIMT station studio in rochester to see if they had requested CCO to be removed from the cable line up and their place was locked up like Ft Knox and they wouldn't answer their telecom at the door either. The Pohlads found it difficult to make money in radio, and recouping their investment proved no easier. You do something else. Even Lee calls it an opportunity to recreate the format.. The agency encourages people who are affected by unhealthy air quality, such as the elderly or those with respiratory or heart conditions, to limit their physical activity and take the proper precautions. St. Paul wants more missing middle housing. There was no warning of any kind, via TV, spectrum app, spectrum bill. "This is a message to everyone who sends me and WCCO emails about [Amelia and Frank] sitting too close together," he tweeted. Having six stations in town is key to maximizing revenue, explains Anselmo. Though WCCOs ratings do not include listeners outside the metro counties, its programming often seems equally geared to Greater Minnesota. The FCC has granted a petition for special relief from the Rochester market's CBS affiliate and issued an order that will result in WCCO-TV's CBS programming being dropped from cable in the Med City. The music was gradually phased out by the early 1990s, when the format was changed to news, talk, and sports. And despite CCOs audience shrinkage, BIAs estimates of historical revenues at the station show a much smaller decline. News Talk Radio Minneapolis - WCCO-AM | 830 WCCO Why then is the biggest question around town not CCOs direction, but whether Entercom intends to sell its historic studio building in downtown Minneapolis to raise cash? In the analog era, WCCOs former VHF Low analog signal may have been easier to receive than the present-day UHF digital signal. Just found this after my wife asked me what happened to Molly. There is no band on the internet other than bandwidth, so WCCO is at no competitive disadvantage online, and is increasingly adept at promoting and marketing its digital content. Sources: Mike Max is out at WCCO - Bring Me The News This is a turning point, says former program director Jon Quick. 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. There are probably fewer than 10 stations in the country of CCOs scale and format. For WCCO to survive the next decade, the consensus is the station needs an FM signal. Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Television. Shame on WCCO. We had a 30 [percent audience] share much of the day and a 35 share in AM drive.. The home of. The stations will be dark from 1 to 5 a.m. Friday, 1 to 11 a.m. Saturday and 6 to 11 a.m. Sunday for over-the-air antenna users and DirecTV and DISH subscribers, Channel 13 said. Rate it: WCCO. Eleanor Mondale, the daughter of former Senator and Vice President Walter Mondale, started her career in radio at the station in 1989 as the entertainment reporter, but left after 8 months. One can debate the merits ofCCOs programming and its role in a 50-year ratings slide, but the real driving force was competitive pressure. Local television personality Boyd Huppert of Kare-11 called into WCCO Friday afternoon to reveal heartbreaking news that has kept him off the air for weeks: He was diagnosed with probable lung cancer. Douglas' role is strictly as a meteorologist. Being invited and paid to give up their broadcast spectrum is a first for television broadcasters, Meisch said. 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. 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. In 1927, WCCO was one of the original 21 stations of the NBC Red Network. Spectrum is working on a new contract to carry the station, but can not broadcast the network until they have a new have a new carriage agreement. 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.) First published on July 31, 2021 / 8:30 AM. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Keep it clean, keep it Minnesotan, please. Today, the station is boxed in. WCCO | CBS Minnesota - Breaking News, NEXT Weather, and Community 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. 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. Bagwell's letter does say that "CBS is working with another translator operator that might potentially begin simulcasting the WCCO-TV signal to some viewers within KCCO-TV's current service contour.". When broadcaster Steve Cannon "the Iron Ranger" (who referred to WCCO as 'The evil neighbor') and his cast of characters arrived at WCCO from AM 1500 KSTP in 1971, he was still thought of by many as the "new guy" nearly until his retirement 26 years later. Paul Douglas loses his job at WCCO - Star Tribune Knoepke proudly notes the stations online listenership was up 47 percent year over year. The WCCO-TV signal is back to - WCCO-TV | CBS Minnesota | Facebook ), One current WCCO employee who requested anonymity says that given its modest ratings and weak demographics, Entercom was shocked at WCCOs top-line [revenue] when they bought it.. Something in the next five years is going to change. Hubbard isnt going anywhere, and could be a buyer, but Anselmo says Entercom or Cumulus may choose to exit the market, to then grow in another. ), Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. For the first time in its history, WCCOs biggest programming niches are owned by competitors. The following year, WCCO experienced an enormous ratings drop. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Now all that information is available on a smartphone;CCO dropped farm reports two generations ago. iHeart is at its maximum of six local signals, while Cumulus, Entercom, and locally owned Hubbard Radio have three. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Not [be] sappy and placating, but challenge people to think for themselves.. In 1952, CBS sold majority control of WCCO to the Murphy and McNally families, who formed Midwest Radio and Television as a holding company for WCCO radio and its new co-owned television station, Channel 4 WCCO-TV. It was always a challenge to talk around the age thing, says Ethan Adam, a longtime formerCCO sales exec. This site has some photos and recordings. Even the stations detractors acknowledge this is not an easy proposition. A major risk needs to be taken to capture new audience, says Sunday host Roshini Rajkumar, within our tradition of voices of authenticity. She said if there is a long-term vision for the station, she is unaware of it. WCCO broadcasters were known across the Midwest. But the CBS network signal has been coming through KCCO off a tower near Westport in Pope County. And Hubbards all-sports format at 1500 AM never got enough traction to be relevant. Link is dead at least for the moment. Knoepke has no choice but to replace Lee, but given the lack of an obvious in-house successor, the question is, where to turn? If you feel you have received this message in error, please contact the customer support team at 1-833-248-7801. Western Wisconsin is also under an air quality alert. Cable systems are allowed to carry out-of-market stations if they are on the list for their county or city. The final factor limiting WCCOs reach is that, like most radio stations in America, it is owned by an overleveraged media company that reported miserable 2020 results. A full day's programming of music and a large news operation could be heard clearly for 150 miles in all directions. WCCO-TV's Jason DeRusha talks about his decision to leave: 'It's been WCCO (830 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and owned by Audacy, Inc. [1] Its studios and offices are located on Second Avenue South in Downtown Minneapolis. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Normally that process would be driven by a programming executive, but right now WCCO is without a brand manager, as Entercom labels the role. 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. She returned to Minnesota in 2006 to co-host a weekday morning show on WCCO with Susie Jones. More recent WCCO personalities have included longtime Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman, "Whole-Lotta Woman" Ruth Koscielak and Tim Russell, who had been a cast member on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, heard on NPR for many years. Management manned the mics for five weeks. News and talk listeners are in higher demand, he says. We never really recovered, says former WCCO program director Jon Quick. Knoepke declined to say anything specific about WCCOs audience makeup or future goals. Big changes could be coming for traditional broadcast television stations both commercial and noncommercial. One outsized aspect of the advertising effort at CCO is personal endorsements by program hosts in place of recorded ads. Does anyone know what happened to WCCO meteorologist Molly Rosenblatt? In 2005, WCCO began broadcasting its signal in the HD Radio format. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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). Certain conditions can make the signal reach much farther. Jun 1, 2022 Current Conditions FC - - Feels. He builds trust while he gathers facts.. People have been writing WCCO off for years.. 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. iHeart went bankrupt in 2018, the same year Cumulus emerged from Chapter 11. Why is WCCO missing? Welcome to the Spectrum Community Theyre looking for someone to change it without changing anything, Bloom says. The petition from Allen Media's KIMT/3 (Mason City, IA) was first reported here last year. Minnesotas agricultural sector long relied on CCO for commodity and crop prices. Listeners would call in during severe weather events and describe what they were seeing at their locations, supplementing information from the National Weather Service. The Frank and Amelia show: Inside the marriage of WCCO's power couple I have no concerns, she notes. Its office is in Alexandria. He said succession planning is key in a transition like Lees. Longtime WCCO-TV anchor Jason DeRusha switched to radio and now hosts the afternoon drive program, replacing Paul Douglas and Jordana Green. WCCO. WCCO is missing from my lineup - why? The essential question to contextualize WCCOs future is whether these dire audience metrics are really meaningful. It was surreal, it was the place. Those are the words of Jon Quick, WCCOs marketing director, then program director, from 1980 to 1992. Because that would require, at least temporarily, sacrificing the several million dollars The Wolf bills. 75% of the state is experiencing severe drought. learn about all our free newsletter options, Forced sale in Hennepin County prompts Supreme Court to decide constitutionality of Minnesotas forfeiture law. Just wondering if you guys have any insight! Langmyer was the vice president of CBS Radios news/talk group in the 2000s (including WCCO) and ran KMOX in St. Louis and WGN in Chicago, two of a handful of similar heritage AM stations left in the country. 4.) Advertisers generally are looking for listeners 25-54 or 18-34 years old. What message if anything do you get when you tune to it? Relatively affluent cord cutters using over-the-air signals by choice could find viewing alternatives with relative ease, but the poor who use free over-the-air TV because they cant afford to pay for TV might see their viewing choices dwindle. The station soon had financial trouble and closed in 1924. On September 15, 2011, WCCO was awarded the NAB Marconi Radio Award for Large Market Station of the Year. [4] It is also heard on a digital subchannel on co-owned FM 102.9 KMNB-HD2. He is without question the most talented weve had here at WCCO, says CCO evening host Mike Max. WCCO - News Talk 830 is the perfect destination for anyone who wants to stay informed about the latest news and events.
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