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KARE (TV)

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This article is about a television station. For the former Apple Computer employee and graphic designer, see Susan Kare.

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KARE at the Minnesota State Fair, 2006

KARE, channel 11, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area (commonly known as the Twin Cities) of Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin. It also operates NBC WeatherPlus on its second digital subchannel (11.2). KARE is owned by the Gannett Company, with studios located in Golden Valley, Minnesota.

History

KARE was first known as WTCN-TV (the “TCN” stood for “Twin Cities Newspapers”), though it was not the first TV station in the Twin Cities to carry that name. Channel 4 originally carried the WTCN name, but it was changed to WCCO-TV following the station's merger with the WCCO radio stations in 1952. At that time, WTCN-AM (1280 AM, now WWTC) was sold to the Minnesota Television Service Corporation headed by St. Paul businessman Robert Butler, a former ambassador to Cuba and Australia.

Soon afterward, Butler's group applied for the channel 11 license. At the same time, WMIN (1400 AM, now KMNV) had also applied for channel 11. Since the FCC had a backlog of contested licenses, the two stations worked out an agreement for a joint application. The FCC approved this deal, and WTCN-TV/WMIN-TV went on the air on September 1, 1953 as an ABC affiliate. The station also carried a secondary affiliation with DuMont.

Under the agreement, each station would use a transmitter mounted atop the Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis for two hours, then allow the other channel to take over for the next two. WTCN-TV broadcast from the Calhoun Beach Hotel in Minneapolis, while WMIN-TV broadcast from the Hamm Building in St. Paul. On April 3 1955, with FCC approval, WMIN sold its share of channel 11, and WTCN-TV took over the frequency full-time. On the same day, the WTCN stations were sold to the Bitner Group. Just two years later, the Bitner group merged with Time-Life.

In 1961, KMSP-TV took the ABC affiliation, and WTCN became an independent station, with its 10 p.m. newscast moving to 9 p.m. As a traditional general entertainment channel, WTCN offered cartoons, sitcoms, old movies, Minnesota Twins baseball, locally produced shows, news, and dramas. It was also home to the Twin Cities' first primetime newscast.

Chris-Craft Industries bought the WTCN stations in 1964, but sold off WTCN-AM. Under Chris-Craft, WTCN modernized its newscasts. Up to that time, they were still shot on film.

Metromedia bought WTCN-TV in 1971 and in 1972, the station began using a new tower at the Telefarm site in Shoreview, Minnesota. The new transmitter greatly increased the station's reception area, boosting its secondary coverage to 72 miles. In 1973, after 20 years at the Calhoun Beach Hotel, WTCN moved to its current studio in Golden Valley.

In the late 70s, ABC began looking for stronger affiliates across the country--including Minneapolis-St. Paul. The network had talks with WTCN, WCCO-TV (CBS), and KSTP-TV (NBC). KSTP surprised the industry in August 1978 by announcing its split with NBC, ending a five-decade relationship in radio and TV. Channel 5 would become an ABC affiliate on March 5, 1979 -- the network's biggest coup at that time. NBC then chose to affiliate with WTCN. Metromedia sold about half of its cartoons and syndicated programming to former ABC affiliate KMSP-TV, which eventually became the Twin Cities' largest independent station.

In 1983, Metromedia sold WTCN to Gannett. The media company made a significant investment into the station's news department. The anchor team of Paul Magers and Diana Pierce were hired in September of that year. The pair would lead the station's 10:00 p.m. newscasts for 20 years, a record for Twin Cities news anchors. [citation needed] KARE-11's outdoor "Backyard" weather studio was also launched in 1983, coinciding with the arrival of meteorologist Paul Douglas in May.

In 1985, Gannett rechristened Channel 11 as WUSA. But, after the company purchased WDVM-TV in Washington, D.C., it used the call letters for its station in the nation's capitol. In the meantime, the WTCN identification had been adopted by a TV station in Florida. Consequently, KARE became the new name for Channel 11.

In recent years, ratings have fallen at KARE. Since May 2006, the station has placed second overall in households at 5, 6, and 10 p.m. [1] In February 2008, KARE moved to third overall in late-night household ratings, including the 9:00 news on KMSP. [2] In November 2007, for the first time in more than two decades, KARE lost the top position in the demographic group representing women ages 25-54. [3] But, as of February 2008, KARE continues in first place overall in the 25-54 category. [4]

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has given KARE its "Station of the Year" (large markets) award in 1985, 1995, 2000, 2006, 2007, and 2008. [5]

On April 27, 2006, KARE became the first station in the Twin Cities (and among the first in the US) to broadcast news in High Definition Television. As part of this transition, the station completely replaced its news set, originally built in 1986 and updated in the 1990s, with a new state-of-the-art backdrop. At the current time, the station is still broadcasting in analog (with the news shot in a way that is still usable on the smaller 4:3 format of analog sets).[1]

Past logos

Programming

A locally-produced children's program, Lunch with Casey, is remembered as being one of the unique contributions of the station. The show, featuring Roger Awsumb as Casey Jones, ran from 1954 until the end of 1972, with a brief reappearance in 1974. Sidekicks on the show included Joe the Cook, played by Chris Wedes, and Roundhouse Rodney, played by Lynn Dwyer. Wedes went on to play the clown J.P. Patches in Seattle, Washington, credited as partial inspiration (along with Portland, Oregon's Rusty Nails) for Krusty the Clown on The Simpsons.

The station experimented with a 40-minute newscast at 10 p.m., before 35-minute nightly newscasts—now the standard—became common (being in the Central Time Zone, Minnesota stations generally broadcast news at 5, 6, and 10 p.m.). The 10:00 p.m. newscast features a "KARE 11 News Extra", an extended news story. A special sports show is put together periodically, and the station also broadcasts a group of morning shows each weekday. On April 27, 2006, KARE began to produce evening news broadcasts in HDTV.

The station made weather history on July 18, 1986 when helicopter pilot Max Messmer was flying out to cover a news story and noticed a funnel cloud forming over the Springbrook Nature Center in Fridley. Photojournalist Tom Empey was on board the chopper and shot amazing and unprecedented video of the twister. The images were broadcast live. The funnel soon formed into a full-fledged tornado as it touched the ground, and KARE broadcasted images of the funnel for 30 minutes. In the years to come, this first aerial video of a tornado was heavily studied by meteorologists, and contributed significantly to what is known about tornado formation. It was moderate in intensity, with winds of 113-157 mph, and caused $650,000 damage.

The short-lived game show Let's Bowl (filmed in the Twin Cities) had some episodes air on the channel in the late '90s before it was remade for Comedy Central. In January 2005, a local cable access program began airing. Called The Show to Be Named Later..., it is described as "The first (and only) sports talk, comedy, and variety show", somewhat of a cross between Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Fox Sports Network's The Best Damn Sports Show Period. A weekly show for teenagers called The Whatever Show (or simply Whatever) and an outdoors program known as Minnesota Bound have both aired on the channel for about a decade. Former Minnesota Twin Kent Hrbek also has hosted his own outdoors show "Kent Hrbek Outdoors" on the channel since 2004.

For decades, both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune aired on rival station WCCO-TV. But, in 1999, Jeopardy! moved to KARE after WCCO aired the game show at 1:37am for several years.

Current anchors

Weather

Sports

  • Randy Shaver (Sports Director, 6pm & 10 pm)
  • Eric Perkins (Weekend Sports Anchor/reporter/Saturday AM co-host)
  • Dave Schwartz (sports reporter)

Reporters

Notable alumni

  • John Bachman (anchor/reporter)
  • Ken Barlow (Weekday Morning Meteorologist, 1989-1994; Chief Meteorologist, 1994-2005)
  • Roxane Battle (reporter/anchor/"Today" host)
  • Asha Blake (reporter/anchor)
  • Liz "Ibby" Carothers-Weekday Morning Meteorologist (1996-1997)
  • Steve Carroll (Sports Reporter, 1981-1989)
  • Mark Daly
  • Paul Douglas (Chief Meteorologist, 1982-1994)
  • Dennis Feltgen (Weekend Meteorologist, 1986-1989)
  • Charles Gonzalez (Sports Reporter 2004-2007)
  • Bernie Grace (crime reporter 1979-2006)
  • Mike Igoe ("Action 11" reporter from 1983-1989)
  • Rondah Kinchlow (education/general assignment reporter)
  • Kirsten Lindquist (Early Evening Anchor, 1983-1987)
  • Paul Magers (Main Anchor 1983-2003) Now with KCBS-TV In Los Angeles
  • Pat Miles (Early Evening Anchor, 1988-2001--hired in 1987, non-compete clause with WCCO)
  • Eric Olson (reporter/anchor 1985-1997)
  • Jeff Passolt (afternoon Sports, 1981-1991; Sports Director, 1991-1994)
  • Amy Powell (Sunrise anchor/reporter)
  • Tom Ryther (Sports Director, 1981-1991)
  • Dale Schornack (anchor/reporter in the '80s)
  • Ken Speake (Reporter, 1980-2007)
  • Joan Steffend (Weekend Anchor, 1982-1996; 1999-2000)
  • Kathy Vara (previous Sunrise and Today anchor)
  • Frank Vascellaro (Morning Anchor 1996-December 2003; Weeknight Anchor, 2003-2005)

Broadcasting facilities

In addition to the main transmitters in Shoreview, KARE uses a network of broadcast translators to carry its analog signal to outlying parts of the state:

KARE, (along with WCCO-TV) is also carried on most cable systems in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. The stations do not make any attempt to cater to this audience, other than their inclusion on regional weather maps.

References

  1. ^ Minneapolis Star Tribune (MN) Deborah Caulfield Rybak, "WCCO Ousts KARE in TV News Rating" - May 26, 2006
  2. ^ KMSP celebrates its highest rating
  3. ^ St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)LOCAL TV - December 22, 2007 - A9 Main
  4. ^ http://www.twincities.com//ci_8655017?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com
  5. ^ http://bop.nppa.org/2008//
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