WCCO (AM)

WCCO

Minneapolis, Minnesota
Broadcast area	Minneapolis-St. Paul
Frequency	830 kHz AM (HD Radio) simulcasted on KMNB-HD2 102.9-2 (HD Radio)
Branding	Newsradio 830 WCCO
Programming
Format	Commercial; News/Talk
Affiliations	CBS Radio Network
Ownership
Owner	CBS Radio
Sister stations	KMNB, KZJK, WCCO-TV
History
First air date	1922
Former call signs	WLAG (1922-24)
Call sign meaning	Washburn Crosby COmpany (previous owner)
Technical information
Facility ID	9642
Class	A (Clear channel)
Power	50,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates	45°10′40″N 93°20′55″W
Links
Webcast	Listen Live!
Website	cbsminnesota.com

WCCO (830 kHz) is a radio station located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The station broadcasts on a clear-channel frequency and is owned by CBS Radio. The station's studios are located in downtown Minneapolis, while its transmitter is located in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. With 50,000 watts of power, WCCO's signal reaches a wide area of North America at night.

From 1947 to 1996, WCCO radio and WCCO-TV (channel 4) won twelve George Foster Peabody Awards, more than any other Twin Cities broadcast outlet.

History

WLAG transmitter room in the Loring Park neighborhood's Oak Grove Hotel, 1920.

Early Years

WCCO began broadcasting in the region on Sept. 4, 1922 as WLAG, known as "the Call of the North", from a hotel near Loring Park in Minneapolis. However, the station soon landed in financial trouble and closed down in 1924. Washburn Crosby Company, forerunner of General Mills, took over the station and renamed it WCCO for the company's initials. Broadcasts resumed less than two months later on Oct. 2, 1924 from its current transmitter site in Coon Rapids.

In 1927, WCCO was one of the original 21 stations of the NBC Red Network.

In the early days of radio, WCCO was a powerful force in the development of better and more powerful transmitters. On Nov. 11, 1928, with the implementation of the Federal Radio Commission's General Order 40, WCCO changed its frequency to 810 kHz and was granted clear-channel status. It signed on with 50,000 watts for the first time in September 1932. In the 1930s, two additional 300-foot towers were added to increase the range of the station's signal. Later in 1932, CBS bought WCCO from General Mills, and it remains affiliated with the CBS Radio Network to this day. 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 television sister. CBS was forced to sell off its stake in the WCCO stations in 1954 due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership limits in effect at the time. CBS reacquired the WCCO stations outright in 1992 when Midwest Radio and Television merged with the network.

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 1941 North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement.

Signal

Due to the station's power, as well as Minnesota's mostly flat landscape, WCCO boasts one of the largest coverage areas in the country. During the day, it provides at least B grade coverage to almost all of Minnesota (as far north as Duluth and as far south as Rochester), plus large portions of Iowa and Wisconsin. Under the right conditions, it reaches into portions of North and South Dakota. At night, the station's signal typically reaches across 28 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. Certain conditions can make the signal stretch much farther. Legendary station personality Howard Viken says that he once picked up the station while he was stationed at Guadalcanal in 1943. In 2005, WCCO began broadcasting its signal with HD Radio.

Programming and Personalities

WCCO broadcasters were substantial celebrities across the Midwest. Perhaps the greatest of them all was Cedric Adams who first appeared 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 p.m. newscast. Howard Viken, Maynard Speece, Charlie Boone and Roger Erickson, Jergen Nash, Joyce Lamont, Randy Merriman and others were so well known and loved that when distinguished broadcaster Steve Cannon "the Iron Ranger" and his cast of characters, including Backlash LaRue, Morgan Mundane and Ma Linger arrived at WCCO from KSTP in 1971, he was still thought of by many as the "new guy" nearly until his retirement 26 years later.

WCCO Radio plays a news and talk-oriented format, with a strong news element, opinion and a number of shows throughout the day, with occasional short stories. The format also included a broad mix of music, which leaned toward traditional MOR and easy-listening fare until the 1980s, when the playlist shifted more toward adult contemporary. The music was gradually phased out by the early 1990s, when the format was changed to all news/talk.

Severe Weather Coverage

WCCO also had a longtime reputation of being the station to tune to 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, it was famous for its "klaxon" alert tone for tornado warnings.

For a series of public service, live, 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 a 'trifecta' of the George Foster Peabody, the DuPont, and the Sigma Delta Chi, awards, all in one year.

Longtime WCCO Radio logo

FM Sister: W9XHW to WCCO-FM to Lite FM to BUZ'N

WCCO engineers were experimenting with frequency modulation by 1939, operating W9XHW at 42.3 MHz, but at just 50 watts. The station continued to only consider the medium tepidly. In 1969, WCCO-FM was broadcasting at 2700 watt, atop the 450-foot Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis, and only for the minimum number of hours required to keep a license to the frequency. The FM station moved its antenna to 1250 feet near the top of the Shoreview, Minnesota, Twin Cities antenna farm, with a power of 100,000 watts, in 1973. 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 its own identity with a very popular adult-contemporary/soft rock format. In 1983 it became WLTE 102.9 FM, an identity it would keep until Christmas 2011, when WLTE switched to a country music format as "BUZ'N @ 102.9", with new call letters KMNB. Like its AM sister, KMNB broadcasts in HD Radio, and rebroadcasts WCCO programming on its HD-2 side channel.

WCCO Today

WCCO was the top-rated station in the Twin Cities for decades until shifting demographics and interests finally brought KQRS-FM to the top spot. 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 (though agriculture remains vital to the region).

For several years, WCCO has hosted a weekly radio show with the governor of Minnesota. Former governor Jesse Ventura had a show while in office, and successor Tim Pawlenty has followed suit.

More recent WCCO personalities have included longtime Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman, "Whole-Lotta Woman" Ruth Koscielak, Tim Russell, also a cast member on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. Some notable sports broadcasters have included Baseball Hall of Fame member Herb Carneal the longtime voice of the Minnesota Twins, Halsey Hall, Ray Scott (sportscaster) and Ray Christensen, longtime voice of University of Minnesota's Gopher Football and Gopher Men's Basketball. Some of WCCO's current programming includes the morning show with Dave Lee during the week days from 5 to 9, the afternoon drive with John Williams from 3 to 7, Mike Max from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm, and Jordana Green from 9:00-11:00 p.m.

WCCO became the radio home of Minnesota Timberwolves basketball starting with the 2011-2012 season, having recently acquired the broadcast rights from rival KFAN. WCCO has also recently signed a contract to broadcast University of St. Thomas football beginning in the 2011-2012 season. Games will be hosted on air by David Lee. WCCO was the former home of University of Minnesota Golden Gophers athletics, Minnesota Wild hockey and Minnesota Twins baseball. The Minnesota Twins had been on WCCO since arriving in Minnesota in 1961, but because of a dispute between WCCO parent CBS and XM Satellite Radio over compensation for its Major League Baseball broadcasts, CBS did not renew many of its MLB contracts. WCCO was the radio home of the Minnesota Vikings from 1961–69, 1976–84, 1988–90 and 1996-2000.

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 eight months. She returned to Minnesota in 2006 to co-host a weekday morning show on WCCO-AM with Susie Jones.

In August 2008, as a cosmetic change to make WCCO in the norm with CBS' other talk radio stations, the station changed from "News/Talk 830 WCCO" to "News Radio 830 WCCO".

On September 15, 2011, WCCO was awarded the Marconi Award for Large Market Station of the Year.

On-air staff (as of 8-20-2012)

The Morning News with Dave Lee (5-9 a.m.)

• Dave Lee – host
• Colin Smith – news updates
• Mike Lynch – weather updates
• Sid Hartman – sports
• Mike Max - sports
• Josie Smith and Jan Stephens– traffic reporter
• Jimmy Erickson- producer

John Hines (9 to Noon)

• John Hines – host
• Steve Murphy or Daphne Adato - news anchor
• Jerry Peterson – traffic reporter
• Mike Lynch - weather
• Susan Blanch - producer

The Chad Hartman Show Noon to 3

• Chad Hartman – host
• Adam Carter – news updates
• Jerry Peterson – traffic reporter

The John Williams Show ( 3 p.m.-7 p.m.

• John Williams – host
• Adam Carter or Jordana Green – news updates
• Chris Shaffer – WCCO weather updates
• Chris Addison and Deb Snyder – traffic reports

Sports To the Max with Mike Max (7 p.m.- 9 p.m).

• Mike Max – host
• Adam Carter or Edgar Linares - news updates
• Ron Schara – Monday night outdoors
• Chris Scaffer - weather updates

Jordana Green Show (9-11 p.m.)

• Jordana Green - Host
• Edgar Lineras - News Anchor

Al Malmberg (11 p.m.-2 a.m.)

• Al Malmberg Host
• Edgar Lineras - News Anchor

Overnight America w/ Jon Grayson (2 to 5 a.m.)

• Jon Grayson – host

Weekend hosts and news staff

• Denny Long – Saturday and Sunday mornings
• Chris Simon – Saturday morning news anchor
• Colin Smith - Sunday morning news anchor
• Steve Thomson – afternoons
• Eric Nelson – afternoons
• Esme Murphy – Saturday nights
• Dave Mona – Sunday Sports Huddle
• Sid Hartman – Sunday Sports Huddle
• Jearlyn Steele – Sunday evenings
• Roshini Rajkumar- News and Views - Sunday Afternoon
• Jordan Rich – weekend overnights
• WCCO Weather Matt Brickman Weekend morning weather updates
• WCCO Weather Lauren Casey Weekend evening weather updates

On-air staff

• Dave Lee - 5:00 am to 9:00 am
• John Hines - 9:00 am to Noon
• Chad Hartman - Noon to 3:00 pm
• John Williams - 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm
• Mike Max – 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
• Jordana Green - 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm
• Al Malmberg 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.
• Jon Grayson - syndicated - 2 to 5:00 am
• Mike Lynch – weather
• Steve Murphy – news editor/morning anchor
• Laura Oaks- weeknight reporter ALSO is a part time reporter at Fox 9
• Chris Simon - weekday reporter
• Adam Carter – afternoon news anchor
• Edgar Lineras - morning or afternoon reporter; evening anchor
• Daphne Adato - news director
• Jerry Peterson – traffic midday
• Josie Smith – traffic mornings
• Mark Napolean and Deb Snyder - secondary traffic reporters in Chicago
• Ann Cates – Market Watch
• Denny Long – weekend mornings host.
• Esme Murphy – weekend host, Saturday evenings
• Eric Nelson – weekend host/sports
• Steve Thomson – weekend host/sports
• Dave Mona – weekend host Sunday mornings
• Jearlyn Steele – Sunday evenings
• Ron Schara – WCCO outdoors
• John Rash – The Rash Report
• Sid Hartman – WCCO radio sports and co-host of The Sports Huddle
• Susie Jones - reporter weekdays and weekends
• Roshini Rajkumar- News and Views Sundays noon to 3pm

Former On-Air Staff

Former on-air staff

• Ed Abbott - deceased
• Cedric Adams - deceased
• Shari Akemann
• Darragh Aldrich - deceased
• Bob Allison - deceased
• Jeanne Arland - deceased
• Curt Beckmann
• Gary Bennyhoff
• Charlie Boone – retired 12/18/2010
• Kit Borgman
• Jim Bormann - news: deceased
• Roy Brant - deceased
• Kevyn Burger
• Carl Burkland - deceased
• Frank Butler
• Sandy Buttweiler - left for KFGO (AM)
• Hale Byers - deceased
• Myndall Cain - deceased
• Bob Campbell - deceased
• Steve Cannon - retired 10/3/1997 (deceased)
• Clellan Card - deceased
• Herb Carneal - Twins baseball broadcast - deceased
• Glenn Champlin - deceased
• Al Chance - deceased
• Dick Chapman-host
• Dark Star (George Chapple)[1] - contract buyout (deceased)
• Ray Christensen -Twins and Gopher football
• Mary Davies
• Bob DeHaven - deceased
• Bill Diehl- weekends on location
• Jack Douglas
• Gordon Eaton - deceased
• Steve Edstrom
• Bill Endersen
• Dick Enroth - deceased
• Roger Erickson - retired 1/10/1998
• Eric Eskola - contract buyout
• Bill Farmer
• Paul Flatley - Gopher Football
• Karen Filloon - weather: left meteorology
• Chris Forth
• Eddie Gallaher - deceased
• Hal Garven - deceased
• Paul Giel - deceased
• Dan Gladden - Twins baseball broadcast KSTP (AM)
• John Gordon - Twins baseball broadcast KSTP (AM) retired
• Allen Gray
• Tony Grice - deceased
• George Grim - deceased
• Al Harding - deceased
• Larry Haeg Jr.
• Larry Haeg Sr.
• Bruce Hagevik - news: retired
• Halsey Hall - deceased
• Phil Hendrie - left for nationally syndicated show
• Rolf Hertsgaard - deceased
• Dan Hertsgaard
• Jim Hill
• Franklin Hobbs - deceased, host of the overnight show "Hobbs House" from 1959 to 1981
• Rich Holter - news: deceased
• David Hopp
• Harlan Horton - deceased
• Jack Huston - deceased
• Joan Iden
• Paul Jay
• Kim Jeffries- morning host
• Arv Johnson - deceased
• Charlie Johnson - deceased
• Paul Johnson - deceased
• Jim Kelly
• Meg Kingbay - deceased
• Ruth Koscielak
• John Kundla
• Joyce Lamont- variety host
• Lou Latson
• Fred Laws - deceased
• Milt Lefebvre
• Florence Lehmann - deceased
• Chuck Lilligren
• Grayce Lindgren - deceased
• Fred Lundberg - deceased
• Curt Lundgren - news: retired
• Stew MacPherson
• Joe McFarlin - deceased
• Rita Maloney- news and weekend host- VP at Mpls Grain Exchange
• Ernie Martz
• Steve McFarland
• Frank McInerny - deceased
• Jeff McKinny - left station
• Randy Merriman - deceased
• Mike (Moose) Miller- does occasional "fill-in" work on WCCO
• Wes Minter - left for another station
• Eleanor Mondale - left due to tumor in her brain: deceased in 2011
• Bob Montgomery ("Big Bill Cash")
• Dean Montgomery - deceased
• Jergen Nash - deceased
• Glen Olson - deceased
• Patty Peterson - jazz singer
• Jack Rice - left on 1/30/2009 to move on and do other things
• Jim Rogers- night time host
• Mark Rosen-Now Sports Anchor WCCO-TV
• Charlie Ross - deceased
• Tim Russell - contract buyout
• Al Sheehan - deceased
• Don Shelby - retired from radio 2009, retired from WCCO-TV in December 2010
• Mildred Simons - deceased
• Al Smeby - deceased
• Rev. Roy L. Smith - deceased
• Dean Spratt- traffic (deceased)
• Paul Stagg - now with KWLM
• Hugh Strawn
• Dan Terhaar – sports; laid off
• Ken Titus - deceased
• Clarence Tolg
• Hakon Torgeson - deceased
• Ed Viehman - deceased
• Howard Viken
• Jean Waldon
• Brad Walton - laid off from WCCO, deceased 8/26/2011
• John Wanamaker - laid off; now at [MPR]
• Paul Wann - deceased
• Bob White - deceased
• Don Wick-farm broadcaster, now partner in farm network in ND
• Wendy Wilde- News Director/Anchor KTOE
• Mike Woodley
• Dr. E.W. Ziebarth
• Courtney King- Anchor/Reporter
• T.D. Mischke

Current sports teams on WCCO

• Minnesota Timberwolves
• University of St. Thomas Tommies

References

• (2001). Radio and Television. A History of Minneapolis. Minneapolis Public Library. Accessed September 25, 2004.
• Jeff Baenen (September 24, 2004). Good Neighbor WCCO Radio celebrates 80 years. Associated Press. Accessed September 25, 2004.
• History of WCCO Tower. City of Coon Rapids. Accessed September 25, 2004.

External links

• Official website
• Facility details for Facility ID WCCO ({{{2}}}) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• {{{2}}} in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• Radiotapes.com Many historic airchecks of WCCO-AM and other Twin Cities radio stations including an aircheck of WLAG from 1924.
• TwinCitiesRadioAirchecks.com A site for airchecks of many Twin Cities stations from the 1960sand 1970s.
• WCCO Live Outdoors with baseball great Jack Morris

Preceded by None

Radio Home of the Minnesota Twins 1961–2006

Succeeded by AM 1500 KSTP 2007–