Post by Jeremiah Kubiak on Jan 13, 2007 4:13:48 GMT -5
WWTC (1280 AM, "The Patriot") is a long-standing radio station serving the Twin Cities region. Despite its issues, the station spawned two of the area's major television stations and had some very innovative and unusual periods in its history. Today it is owned by Salem Communications and broadcasts a conservative talk radio format. In fact, the stations success led Salem to change the format of KYCR 1570 AM, known as "The Patriot II", which carries more material along the same lines.
Early history
The station began as WRHM in 1925, and was part of NBC's Blue Network. It was purchased in 1935 by Twin Cities Newspapers, a company representing the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Tribune, and changed its call letters to WTCN at that time. The station remained an NBC Blue station through the network's selloff, becoming an American Broadcasting Company (ABC) affiliate in the 1940s.
The station had an experimental frequency modulation transmitter by 1939. W9XTC at 26.05 MHz operated for several years, but by 1944 was only being activated intermittently. Area station KSTP-AM also experimented with the medium around this time, as did WCCO.
WTCN-TV began broadcasting on channel 4 on July 1, 1949, becoming the second modern station in the state after KSTP-TV took to the air a year earlier. However, WTCN's owners decided to sell the stations, and the TV station was sold to WCCO radio on August 17, 1952 and soon changed its call letters. This TV station switched to the CBS affiliaton of its parent company.
WTCN-AM's new owners quickly applied for a new license for channel 11, but had to negotiate with WMIN for the frequency. The two stations arranged to share the broadcast day, alternating every two hours. This became the area's third station, and kept the WTCN call sign until 1985 when it became known as WUSA. The TV station was merged and sold to the H.M. Bitner Group in 1955 and eventually was owned by Metromedia for many years. Gannett is the current owner. WTCN-TV had no network affiliation for many years, but picked up the NBC affiliation in 1979 during a marketwide affiliate switch. The station is now known as KARE. Prior to the station's current studio location in Golden Valley, its studios were in the Calhoun Beach Hotel on Lake Street.
Golden Rock
The AM station, which was twice located in the Wesley Temple office building in downtown Minneapolis on East Grant Street, immediately next to Wesley Church, and also on 2nd Avenue a few doors down from WCCO-AM, eventually changed its call sign to WWTC. It had a number of formats, including the distinction of being the Twin Cities' first all-news radio station, when it adopted the format in the mid-late '70s. In 1979, WWTC switched to an oldies format known as the "Golden Rock" and achieved its highest ratings in years. With a number of quirky DJs such as "Ugly Del" Roberts and Steve "Boogie" Bowman, the station managed to win an audience in spite of management screw-ups left and right. During its days as the "Golden Rock," WWTC might have been the only Twin Cities station with an attorney on staff moonlighting as a disk jockey. Paul Bergstrom, who practiced law by day in St. Paul, worked a late-night shift for a time in the late '80s under the name Max Adams (the name was derived from those of his two young children). Because of his extensive knowledge of the format's music, Bergstrom was originally brought in by a friend on staff to help build the station's music library.
Following a collapse after a few years, the station went through a long string of format changes (including one stint as a progressive music format the station called 'Metro Music' from 1984 to 1985; during this time, WWTC's format consisted of alt-rock, urban contemporary and an emphasis on locally-produced music). 1280 later flew the call sign KSNE briefly when the format switched to smooth jazz/new age music. The call letters stood for "Sunny," and were retained when the station changed to an ill-fated automated "all-weather" format in late 1985 or in 1986. The weather format didn't last long and after the bad weather passed, the station became known as "The Breeze," an early and more diverse form of what is now known as "Smooth Jazz."
Radio Aahs
In the early 1990s, the station reclaimed the WWTC call sign and became known as "Radio Aahs" and transitioned to an unusual format: made by children for children. This also provided a modicum of stability for a while, and the station became the flagship of Children's Broadcasting Corporation. Children's Broadcasting eventually came to own several radio outlets and had its content reach a network of 29 stations across the United States (Aahs World Radio) by about 1996. Disney was working with the station around this time as a marketing partner, and ABC co-opted the format, launching Radio Disney. KQRS's 1440 AM signal was renamed to KDIZ. WWTC could no longer compete, and the format was discontinued in 1998.
Beat Radio and beyond
For a short period, the network became known as "Beat Radio," hosted by area programmer and DJ Alan Freed. Freed, in addition to having worked at WWTC during its "Golden Rock" era and during the station's "MetroRadio" period in the mid '80s, had previously set up a pirate radio station in downtown Minneapolis broadcasting dance music from his apartment on 97.7 FM. Beat Radio garnered a positive response from the public but was shut down by the FCC after operating at 20 watts for a few months. Freed played electronic dance music across ten of Children's Broadcasting's stations between the shutdown of Radio Aahs in February and the final approval of a buyout of WWTC in October by a company planning to run a syndicated service called "Catholic Family Radio". In 2004, he joined XM Satellite Radio to program three of its dance channels.
The Patriot
The 2000s decade brought the station's newest — and current — incarnation, "The Patriot."
The "Patriot" branding was a product of the station's current owner, Salem Communications of Camarillo, California. The station became a satellite talk outlet, broadcasting Salem's stable of syndicated talk talent via satellite. The weekday lineup is based around nationally-syndicated hosts Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Savage, and Jerry Doyle. The station currently broadcasts a pair of local political talk shows on the weekend; "Taxpayers League Live", hosted by Taxpayers League of Minnesota leader David Strom, and the Northern Alliance Radio Network, a group of local bloggers.
Salem also runs "The Patriot II" on sister station KYCR in Golden Valley. KYCR's program schedule was initially almost the same as WWTC (with the addition of Bill O'Reilly's midday show and mostly aired repeats of shows already on WWTC. However, in 2005 the KYCR was forced by FCC simulcasting rules to expand its programming to other syndicated shows.
Books
Area author Jeff Lonto wrote a book about the station in 1998, Fiasco At 1280 (ISBN 0-9660213-4-7), which covered many of the screwups during the 1980s. Somewhat unfortunately, it was published just before the financial crisis of that year, so it doesn't include that part of the station's story. In 2002, the former Children's Broadcasting owners (who now operate Intelefilm) won a court case against Disney, and were awarded $9.5 million. Payments totaling $12.4 million, including $2.6 million in interest, were finally made in 2004.
Early history
The station began as WRHM in 1925, and was part of NBC's Blue Network. It was purchased in 1935 by Twin Cities Newspapers, a company representing the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Tribune, and changed its call letters to WTCN at that time. The station remained an NBC Blue station through the network's selloff, becoming an American Broadcasting Company (ABC) affiliate in the 1940s.
The station had an experimental frequency modulation transmitter by 1939. W9XTC at 26.05 MHz operated for several years, but by 1944 was only being activated intermittently. Area station KSTP-AM also experimented with the medium around this time, as did WCCO.
WTCN-TV began broadcasting on channel 4 on July 1, 1949, becoming the second modern station in the state after KSTP-TV took to the air a year earlier. However, WTCN's owners decided to sell the stations, and the TV station was sold to WCCO radio on August 17, 1952 and soon changed its call letters. This TV station switched to the CBS affiliaton of its parent company.
WTCN-AM's new owners quickly applied for a new license for channel 11, but had to negotiate with WMIN for the frequency. The two stations arranged to share the broadcast day, alternating every two hours. This became the area's third station, and kept the WTCN call sign until 1985 when it became known as WUSA. The TV station was merged and sold to the H.M. Bitner Group in 1955 and eventually was owned by Metromedia for many years. Gannett is the current owner. WTCN-TV had no network affiliation for many years, but picked up the NBC affiliation in 1979 during a marketwide affiliate switch. The station is now known as KARE. Prior to the station's current studio location in Golden Valley, its studios were in the Calhoun Beach Hotel on Lake Street.
Golden Rock
The AM station, which was twice located in the Wesley Temple office building in downtown Minneapolis on East Grant Street, immediately next to Wesley Church, and also on 2nd Avenue a few doors down from WCCO-AM, eventually changed its call sign to WWTC. It had a number of formats, including the distinction of being the Twin Cities' first all-news radio station, when it adopted the format in the mid-late '70s. In 1979, WWTC switched to an oldies format known as the "Golden Rock" and achieved its highest ratings in years. With a number of quirky DJs such as "Ugly Del" Roberts and Steve "Boogie" Bowman, the station managed to win an audience in spite of management screw-ups left and right. During its days as the "Golden Rock," WWTC might have been the only Twin Cities station with an attorney on staff moonlighting as a disk jockey. Paul Bergstrom, who practiced law by day in St. Paul, worked a late-night shift for a time in the late '80s under the name Max Adams (the name was derived from those of his two young children). Because of his extensive knowledge of the format's music, Bergstrom was originally brought in by a friend on staff to help build the station's music library.
Following a collapse after a few years, the station went through a long string of format changes (including one stint as a progressive music format the station called 'Metro Music' from 1984 to 1985; during this time, WWTC's format consisted of alt-rock, urban contemporary and an emphasis on locally-produced music). 1280 later flew the call sign KSNE briefly when the format switched to smooth jazz/new age music. The call letters stood for "Sunny," and were retained when the station changed to an ill-fated automated "all-weather" format in late 1985 or in 1986. The weather format didn't last long and after the bad weather passed, the station became known as "The Breeze," an early and more diverse form of what is now known as "Smooth Jazz."
Radio Aahs
In the early 1990s, the station reclaimed the WWTC call sign and became known as "Radio Aahs" and transitioned to an unusual format: made by children for children. This also provided a modicum of stability for a while, and the station became the flagship of Children's Broadcasting Corporation. Children's Broadcasting eventually came to own several radio outlets and had its content reach a network of 29 stations across the United States (Aahs World Radio) by about 1996. Disney was working with the station around this time as a marketing partner, and ABC co-opted the format, launching Radio Disney. KQRS's 1440 AM signal was renamed to KDIZ. WWTC could no longer compete, and the format was discontinued in 1998.
Beat Radio and beyond
For a short period, the network became known as "Beat Radio," hosted by area programmer and DJ Alan Freed. Freed, in addition to having worked at WWTC during its "Golden Rock" era and during the station's "MetroRadio" period in the mid '80s, had previously set up a pirate radio station in downtown Minneapolis broadcasting dance music from his apartment on 97.7 FM. Beat Radio garnered a positive response from the public but was shut down by the FCC after operating at 20 watts for a few months. Freed played electronic dance music across ten of Children's Broadcasting's stations between the shutdown of Radio Aahs in February and the final approval of a buyout of WWTC in October by a company planning to run a syndicated service called "Catholic Family Radio". In 2004, he joined XM Satellite Radio to program three of its dance channels.
The Patriot
The 2000s decade brought the station's newest — and current — incarnation, "The Patriot."
The "Patriot" branding was a product of the station's current owner, Salem Communications of Camarillo, California. The station became a satellite talk outlet, broadcasting Salem's stable of syndicated talk talent via satellite. The weekday lineup is based around nationally-syndicated hosts Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Savage, and Jerry Doyle. The station currently broadcasts a pair of local political talk shows on the weekend; "Taxpayers League Live", hosted by Taxpayers League of Minnesota leader David Strom, and the Northern Alliance Radio Network, a group of local bloggers.
Salem also runs "The Patriot II" on sister station KYCR in Golden Valley. KYCR's program schedule was initially almost the same as WWTC (with the addition of Bill O'Reilly's midday show and mostly aired repeats of shows already on WWTC. However, in 2005 the KYCR was forced by FCC simulcasting rules to expand its programming to other syndicated shows.
Books
Area author Jeff Lonto wrote a book about the station in 1998, Fiasco At 1280 (ISBN 0-9660213-4-7), which covered many of the screwups during the 1980s. Somewhat unfortunately, it was published just before the financial crisis of that year, so it doesn't include that part of the station's story. In 2002, the former Children's Broadcasting owners (who now operate Intelefilm) won a court case against Disney, and were awarded $9.5 million. Payments totaling $12.4 million, including $2.6 million in interest, were finally made in 2004.