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KTCZ-FM
KTCZ-FM (97.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul radio market and Western Wisconsin. KTCZ airs a hybrid modern adult contemporary radio format. The station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia and has studios and offices on Utica Avenue South in St. Louis Park.
KTCZ's transmitter is located on the KMSP Tower located at 550 Gramsie Road near Interstate 694 in Shoreview. KTCZ broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format. The HD2 subchannel carries iHeartRadio's "TikTok Radio" service, while the HD3 subchannel formerly carried an urban contemporary format known as "Hot 102.5", and feeds FM translator K273BH (102.5 FM).
KTCZ has an auxiliary transmitter with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 40,000 watts located at the IDS Center in Downtown Minneapolis.
The 97.1 frequency was home to one of the first FM stations in the Twin Cities, signing on the air in December 27, 1946 as WTCN-FM. It was co-owned with WTCN (now WWTC), one of the oldest radio stations in Minneapolis-St. Paul, having signed on the air in 1925.
In 1949, WTCN-TV was launched on channel 4 with studios at Radio City Theater at 9th Street and LaSalle Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. WTCN's radio studios moved to the TV facility in September 1949, with WTCN-FM joining them by February 1950. All three stations were sold in 1952. The TV station was spun off to a new company, Midwest Radio and Television, which also purchased a majority share of WCCO Radio from CBS that same year. Midwest changed the call letters to match its newly acquired WCCO, while WTCN-TV was sold to the Minnesota Television Service Corporation headed by St. Paul businessman Robert Butler, a former ambassador to Cuba and Australia. Butler's company quickly applied for a new TV license on channel 11, but had to negotiate for the frequency with the owner of WMIN, who also applied for the channel. The two stations, WTCN and WMIN, arranged to share the TV broadcast day, alternating every two hours. This became the area's third TV station on September 1, 1953. The WTCN call sign remained with it until 1985, when it became WUSA.
WTCN-FM became KWFM in 1954. Al Tedesco purchased KWFM in 1968, mating it with daytimer KTCR. As a result of the sale, the FM station became KTCR-FM. Tedesco and his two brothers were inducted into the Pavek Museum of Radio Hall of Fame Archived June 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine in 2005.
In the early 1980s, KTCR-FM was a struggling country music station, and was up against aggressive competition during this time, most notably from KEEY-FM.
On February 8, 1984, after Tedesco decided to sell his stations to John and Kathleen Parker, KTCR-FM dropped the country format and became KTCZ, "Cities 97" with a mix of progressive rock, alternative rock, jazz and new-age music, an approach similar to stations such as WXRT in Chicago and KBCO in Denver. KTCZ's other influences reach back even further, to progressive FM rock stations from the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the freeform days of KQRS-FM.
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KTCZ-FM
KTCZ-FM (97.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul radio market and Western Wisconsin. KTCZ airs a hybrid modern adult contemporary radio format. The station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia and has studios and offices on Utica Avenue South in St. Louis Park.
KTCZ's transmitter is located on the KMSP Tower located at 550 Gramsie Road near Interstate 694 in Shoreview. KTCZ broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format. The HD2 subchannel carries iHeartRadio's "TikTok Radio" service, while the HD3 subchannel formerly carried an urban contemporary format known as "Hot 102.5", and feeds FM translator K273BH (102.5 FM).
KTCZ has an auxiliary transmitter with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 40,000 watts located at the IDS Center in Downtown Minneapolis.
The 97.1 frequency was home to one of the first FM stations in the Twin Cities, signing on the air in December 27, 1946 as WTCN-FM. It was co-owned with WTCN (now WWTC), one of the oldest radio stations in Minneapolis-St. Paul, having signed on the air in 1925.
In 1949, WTCN-TV was launched on channel 4 with studios at Radio City Theater at 9th Street and LaSalle Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. WTCN's radio studios moved to the TV facility in September 1949, with WTCN-FM joining them by February 1950. All three stations were sold in 1952. The TV station was spun off to a new company, Midwest Radio and Television, which also purchased a majority share of WCCO Radio from CBS that same year. Midwest changed the call letters to match its newly acquired WCCO, while WTCN-TV was sold to the Minnesota Television Service Corporation headed by St. Paul businessman Robert Butler, a former ambassador to Cuba and Australia. Butler's company quickly applied for a new TV license on channel 11, but had to negotiate for the frequency with the owner of WMIN, who also applied for the channel. The two stations, WTCN and WMIN, arranged to share the TV broadcast day, alternating every two hours. This became the area's third TV station on September 1, 1953. The WTCN call sign remained with it until 1985, when it became WUSA.
WTCN-FM became KWFM in 1954. Al Tedesco purchased KWFM in 1968, mating it with daytimer KTCR. As a result of the sale, the FM station became KTCR-FM. Tedesco and his two brothers were inducted into the Pavek Museum of Radio Hall of Fame Archived June 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine in 2005.
In the early 1980s, KTCR-FM was a struggling country music station, and was up against aggressive competition during this time, most notably from KEEY-FM.
On February 8, 1984, after Tedesco decided to sell his stations to John and Kathleen Parker, KTCR-FM dropped the country format and became KTCZ, "Cities 97" with a mix of progressive rock, alternative rock, jazz and new-age music, an approach similar to stations such as WXRT in Chicago and KBCO in Denver. KTCZ's other influences reach back even further, to progressive FM rock stations from the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the freeform days of KQRS-FM.