[2] For most businesses, losing 90 percent of market share would be catastrophic; so would bleeding 83 percent of its customer traffic (see sidebar By the Numbers, below). In the February 2021 Nielsen ratings, released as this issue ofTCBwent to press, Minnesota Public Radios all-news KNOW-FM was the #2-rated local station, while iHeart Medias mostly sports KFAN was #3, and CCO was tied for ninth (with sister station Jack FM; Hubbards KS95 was #1). Scandinavian Gift Shop to host Wake Up Alexandria on May 5, New robot server 'hired' at Grand Arbor's Pioneer Grill in Alexandria, State FFA band and chorus are the hidden gem of Minnesota State FFA convention, MN 100 Club donates $50,000 to family of Pope County fallen officer, Overpass in Glenwood to memorialize Deputy Josh Owen. The station is dedicated to providing accurate and unbiased news coverage, as well as expert analysis and commentary. Water City Chamber Orchestra. Though WCCOs ratings do not include listeners outside the metro counties, its programming often seems equally geared to Greater Minnesota. A full day's programming of music and a large news operation could be heard clearly for 150 miles in all directions. In the January 2021 ratings, that number had sunk to 181,000, a drop of 83 percent. Is the station gone completely, or another channel in its place? Lee is a native of Hatton, North Dakota, the son of a rural mailman. The Minnesota Twins had been heard on WCCO since arriving in the Twin Cities in 1961, but because of a dispute between WCCO parent company CBS and XM Satellite Radio over compensation for its Major League Baseball broadcasts,[citation needed] CBS did not renew many of its MLB contracts. Longtime WCCO-TV anchor Jason DeRusha switched to radio and now hosts the afternoon drive program, replacing Paul Douglas and Jordana Green. You have to have an opinion. KNOW had yet to become a major competitive presence. There was one FM station reporting miniscule ratings that fall, Entercom music station WAYL, known by the tagline The Beautiful Whale. (Prior to the CBS merger, Entercom was an owner of mostly music stations in midsized markets.) He said succession planning is key in a transition like Lees. 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. This is a turning point, says former program director Jon Quick. Had Entercom made an offer for GO, it could have acquired an FM signal for WCCO for less than the cost of a years revenue on The Wolf. That said, there are others in the industry who mistrust BIAs data, pointing to iffy revenue estimates BIA circulates for ratings leader KFAN, which most of the industry believes bills in excess of WCCO but who BIA says bills much less. Its a weekly conversation. In that vein, theres some talk that WCCO will go to more of a continuous newscast in AM drive and might not immediately designate a successor. The consensus in the industry is she needs an equally capable programming executive to manage the burden of talent development and strategy. 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. 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. Sources: Mike Max is out at WCCO - Bring Me The News Jun 1, 2022 Current Conditions FC - - Feels. But the name of the game is revenue, and WCCO remains a formidable force. CCO suggests it is ready. WCCO's Director of Meteorology Mike Augustyniak says those in the purple areas should stay indoors as much as possible. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The Selective TV signal covers about a 40-mile radius from its tower near Garfield. WCCO had been the radio flagship of the Minnesota Vikings football team from 1961 to 1969, 1976 to 1984, 1988 to 1990, and 1996 to 2000. (2020 market revenues were down 28 percent locally, say insiders, due to the pandemic recession. The advertising load in morning drive is particularly heavy. The following year, WCCO experienced an enormous ratings drop. The strike ended and talent returned, but a third of WCCOs audience did not. He is an absolute natural. Officials advise that people in sensitive groups limit time outside and avoid strenuous exercise or activity. Public radio started acting like real radio, promoting, employing formatics [programming techniques to hold listeners attention], says Bloom. MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued an air quality alert for nearly all of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities. Langmyer listened to WCCO over several days before agreeing to share his thoughts withTCB. [4] It is also heard on a digital subchannel on co-owned FM 102.9 KMNB-HD2. The station soon had financial trouble and closed in 1924. 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 . Knoepke was rather unforthcoming inTCBsinterviews, conducted by phone and email, with David Heim, Entercoms corporate communications vice president, monitoring; she declined to talk about ratings, audience data, revenue, nor, unsurprisingly, candidates to replace Lee. Hes in a lot of different settings. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 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. Can WCCO make it in its second century? | MinnPost