65 years ago, the January 1950 issue of Radio Craft magazine carried a complete roster of U.S. television stations on the air as of November 15, 1949, and included a copy of the identification slides used by each station. By that time, Minnesota had two stations on the air. The test pattern for KSTP-TV, channel 5, which came on the air in 1948, is shown here. Also shown is the station identification slide for WTCN-TV, as channel 4 was then known.

Channel 4 came on the air on July 1, 1949, originally as WTCN-TV. Its main affiliation was with ABC, but it also carried CBS and DuMont programs.

By the end of 1949, there were 60,000 television sets in service in the Twin Cities able to tune in to the two stations. In 1949, weatherman Bud Kraehling joined the station where he stayed until his retirement in 1996. 1950 saw newscaster Dave Moore join the station’s staff. In 1950, the coaxial cable arrived in the Twin Cities, allowing the stations to broadcast live network programming. Minnesota’s connection to the national networks was actually through a coaxial cable to Des Moines, Iowa, which was in turn linked by radio relays to Chicago.

Those of us who grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s recognize the WTCN call letters as belonging further up the dial on channel 11. In 1952, the owners of channel 4 and WTCN radio sold the radio station and merged with WCCO Radio, and the station became WCCO-TV. The same year, an application was filed with the FCC for a construction permit for channel 11. This became WMIN-TV, and in 1953, WTCN-TV showed up again, also on channel 11. The two stations cooperatively shared airtime and transmission facilities. WTCN-TV studios were at the Calhoun Beach Hotel (the location, of course, of Grandma Lumpit’s Boardinghouse), where they remained until the 1970’s. WMIN-TV sold out in 1954, at which point channel 11 became WTCN-TV full time.

The WTCN call letters date back originally to 1934, when the predecessor of WWTC radio (currently at 1280 on the AM dial) was purchased by the Minneapolis and St. Paul newspapers. The WTCN call sign stood for Twin City Newspapers. Channel 11 had no connection with the earlier radio station other than the use of the historic call letters, which remained in use until 1985, when they became WUSA, and then KARE in 1986.

References

Pavek Museum, Twin Cities Television Milestones

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