View source for KTCZ-FM

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{{Infobox radio station
| name             = KTCZ-FM
| logo             = [[File:Cities971.png|200px]]
| city             = [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]]
| area             = [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul]]
| branding         = ''Cities 97.1''
| language         = [[American English|English]]
| frequency        = {{Frequency|97.1|[[Hertz#SI multiples|MHz]]}} {{HD Radio}}
| translators      = {{ubl|{{Radio Relay|92.1|K221ES|[[Albertville, Minnesota|Albertville]]|HD2}}|{{Radio Relay|97.7|K249ED|Albertville|HD2}}|{{Radio Relay|99.9|K260BA|[[Coon Rapids, Minnesota|Coon Rapids]]|HD2}}|{{Radio Relay|105.5|K288GR|[[Bayport, Minnesota|Bayport]]|HD2}}|{{Radio Relay|102.5|[[K273BH]]|Minneapolis|HD3}}}}
| airdate          = January [[1947 in radio|1947]] (as WTCN-FM)
| format           = [[Modern adult contemporary|Modern AC]]
| subchannels      = {{ubl|HD2: [[K-Love]] ([[Contemporary Christian music|Contemporary Christian]])|HD3: [[K273BH|Hot 102.5]] ([[Mainstream urban]])}}
| erp              = 100,000 [[watt]]s
| haat             = {{convert|315|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| class            = C
| facility_id      = 10142
| callsign_meaning = Twin Cities
| former_callsigns = WTCN-FM (1947–1954)<br />KWFM (1954–1969)<br />KTCR-FM (1969–1984)
| affiliations     = 
| owner            = [[iHeartMedia, Inc.]]
| licensee         = iHM Licenses, LLC
| sister_stations  = {{hlist|[[K244FE]]|[[K273BH]]|[[KDWB-FM]]|[[KEEY-FM]]|[[KFXN-FM]]|[[KQQL]]|[[KTLK (AM)|KTLK]]|[[W227BF]]|}}
| webcast          = Analog/HD1: [https://www.iheart.com/live/cities-971-1221/ Listen Live]<br />HD3: [https://www.iheart.com/live/hot-1025-6913/ Hot 102.5 Listen Live]
| website          = Analog/HD1: [https://cities971.iheart.com/ cities971.iheart.com]<br />HD3: [https://hot1025.iheart.com/ hot1025.iheart.com]
| licensing_authority= [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
}}

'''KTCZ-FM''' (97.1 [[Hertz|MHz]]) is a [[commercial radio|commercial]] [[radio station]] [[city of license|licensed]] to [[Minneapolis|Minneapolis, Minnesota]] and serving the [[Minneapolis-St. Paul]] [[media market|radio market]] and Western [[Wisconsin]].  KTCZ airs a hybrid [[modern adult contemporary]] [[radio format]].<ref name="yourmidwestmedia.net">{{cite web |url=http://www.yourmidwestmedia.net/mainsite/markets/msp.html |title=Your Midwest Media - Minneapolis-St. Paul Dial Guide |website=www.yourmidwestmedia.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130805234023/http://www.yourmidwestmedia.net/mainsite/markets/msp.html |archive-date=2013-08-05}}</ref>  The station is owned and operated by [[iHeartMedia]] and has [[radio studio|studio]]s and offices on Utica Avenue South in [[St. Louis Park, Minnesota|St. Louis Park]].

KTCZ's [[transmitter]] is located on the [[KMSP Tower]] located off Ramby Avenue near [[Interstate 694]] in [[Shoreview, Minnesota|Shoreview]].<ref>[https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=ktcz&fileno=&state=&city=&freq=0.0&fre2=107.9&serv=&status=&facid=&asrn=&class=&list=0&ThisTab=Results+to+This+Page%2FTab&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9 FCC.gov/KTCZ]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=Ktcz&nav=|title=KTCZ-FM 97.1 MHz - Minneapolis, MN|website=radio-locator.com}}</ref>  KTCZ broadcasts in the [[HD Radio]] hybrid format.  The HD2 subchannel carries [[contemporary Christian music]] from the [[K-Love]] network, and feeds four [[FM translator]] stations, while the HD3 subchannel carries 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 [[watt]]s located at the [[IDS Center]] in [[Downtown Minneapolis]].

==History==
===WTCN-FM===
The 97.1 frequency was home to one of the first FM stations in the Twin Cities, [[sign-on|signing on]] the air in 1947 as '''WTCN-FM'''.<ref name="collections.mnhs.org">{{Cite web |url=http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=151085 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-06-28 |archive-date=2012-03-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320114656/http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=151085 |url-status=live }}</ref>  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, [[WCCO-TV|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.<ref name="collections.mnhs.org"/>  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 (AM)|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 [[KMNV|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 [[KARE (TV)|WUSA]].

===KWFM and KTCR-FM===

WTCN-FM became '''KWFM''' in 1954.  Al Tedesco purchased KWFM in [[1968 in radio|1968]], mating it with [[daytimer]] [[KFXN (AM)|KTCR]]. As a result of the sale, the FM station became '''KTCR-FM'''.<ref name="al1">{{cite news |url=http://www.kansas.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/4683054.htm |title=Radio station founder Al Tedesco dies. |agency=Associated Press |date=2002-12-06 |access-date=2005-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050525172951/http://www.kansas.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/4683054.htm |archive-date=2005-05-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Tedesco and his two brothers were inducted into the [http://www.pavekmuseum.org/tedesco.htm Pavek Museum of Radio Hall of Fame] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621090235/http://www.pavekmuseum.org/tedesco.htm |date=June 21, 2009 }} 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]].

===KTCZ===
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 (radio format)|freeform]] days of [[KQRS-FM]].<ref>Nick Coleman, "WCCO, KSTP go for the advertising gold at the Winter Olympics," ''The Star Tribune'', February 7, 1984.</ref>

In the 1980s, the term "[[adult album alternative]]" or AAA did not exist. It was a relatively eclectic format, different from any other rock station in the Twin Cities, designed for female as well as male listeners.  Over time, the jazz and new-age was dropped, and the station went through a few different phases, at various points leaning more toward [[classic rock]] or [[alternative rock]].

Parker Communications sold the station in 1994 to Chancellor Broadcasting.<ref>[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1996/B-Radio_All-BC-YB-1996.pdf Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook page B-224]</ref>  In 2000, Chancellor was merged into [[Clear Channel Communications]].  In 2014, Clear Channel was renamed as [[iHeartMedia, Inc.]]

The station's original studios and transmitter were located at 38th Street and Minnehaha Avenue in south Minneapolis from at least the mid-1950s until 1985. The tower was short for a full-power FM station, at a [[height above average terrain]] (HAAT) of approximately 150 feet. In 1985, the transmitter was moved to the site of co-owned [[KFXN|KTCJ (AM)]] in [[New Hope, Minnesota|New Hope]], where it was positioned on one of the three AM towers. Later, KTCZ's transmitter was moved to the [[KMSP-TV]] tower in [[Shoreview, Minnesota|Shoreview]], from where most of the other Twin Cities FM stations transmit. [[KMWA]] now uses the New Hope tower.

In 2012, the station dropped its longtime "Quality Music from Then and Now" positioner in favor of "Discover New Music", as the format evolved into [[modern adult contemporary]].

On August 20, 2018, at 12 p.m., after promoting a "major announcement" through the prior weekend, the station rebranded slightly to "Cities 97.1", re-adjusting its format to play more songs from its longtime [[adult album alternative]] format, adding music from artists like [[Leon Bridges]] and [[Amy Shark]], and reducing the number of hot AC recurrents. With the changes, KTCZ introduced a new slogan, "Uniquely Twin Cities". The first song under the adjusted format was "[[Beautiful Day]]" by [[U2]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/170049/cities-97-minneapolis-returns-to-aaa-roots/|title=Cities 97 Minneapolis Returns To AAA Roots - RadioInsight|first=Maytableinc|last=Says|date=August 20, 2018|access-date=August 20, 2018|archive-date=August 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821031953/https://radioinsight.com/headlines/170049/cities-97-minneapolis-returns-to-aaa-roots/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/blogs/170068/first-listen-cities-97-1-minneapolis/|title=First Listen: Cities 97.1 Minneapolis - RadioInsight|date=August 23, 2018|access-date=July 3, 2023|archive-date=July 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703210615/https://radioinsight.com/blogs/170068/first-listen-cities-97-1-minneapolis/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On February 4, 2019, KTCZ-FM announced its new morning show featuring Hunter Quinn and Mollie Kendrick.  Quinn was formerly with [[Seattle]] country station [[KPNW-FM|KNUC]], while Kendrick was promoted from her evening air shift at KTCZ. At the same time, interim morning host Paul Fletcher would return to afternoons.  The morning show had been without a permanent host since Keri Noble's exit in November 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/174234/hunter-quinn-mollie-kendrick-take-mornings-at-cities-97-1/|title=Hunter Quinn & Mollie Kendrick Take Mornings At Cities 97.1|date=2019-02-04|website=RadioInsight|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-04|archive-date=2019-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207015025/https://radioinsight.com/headlines/174234/hunter-quinn-mollie-kendrick-take-mornings-at-cities-97-1/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==HD Radio==
{{See also|K273BH}}

===HD2===
On April 25, [[2006 in radio|2006]], Clear Channel Communications announced that KTCZ's HD2 subchannel would broadcast "Studio HD," featuring original [[acoustic rock]] and [[Chill out music|chill music]]. On December 23, 2012, KTCZ-HD2 changed its format to [[sports radio]], branded as "The Score."  By Autumn of 2013, "The Score" was replaced by a simulcast of the 
"New Music" specialty channel found on the [[IHeartRadio]] online/mobile platform.<ref>[http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/audio/ktczhd2_11302013_1100.mp3 KTCZ-HD2 Legal Identification] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214010417/http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/audio/ktczhd2_11302013_1100.mp3 |date=2013-12-14 }} dated 11/2013 from Northpine.com</ref>

In June 2014, following the flip of co-owned [[KQQL]]'s HD2 channel, KTCZ-FM-HD2 adopted their 1980s music format, branded as "Kool 1-0-80s."  It later switched to the [[Educational Media Foundation]]'s "[[Air 1]]" [[Christian rock]] format.  At first, Air 1 was simulcast on [[FM translator]] W225AP at 92.9 FM in [[St. Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]].  It later added two other translators, K221ES (92.1 FM) and K249ED (97.7 FM), both in [[Albertville, Minnesota|Albertville]].

===HD3===
On June 5, 2015, '''KTCZ-FM-HD3''' launched a [[classic hip hop]] format, branded as "Hot 102.5."  The HD3 subchannel feeds translator [[K273BH]] at 102.5&nbsp;MHz.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/netgnomes/92893/a-hot-time-coming-in-minneapolis/|title=Classic Hip-Hop Hot 102.5 Minneapolis Debuts - RadioInsight|date=June 5, 2015|access-date=July 3, 2023|archive-date=July 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703210604/https://radioinsight.com/headlines/netgnomes/92893/a-hot-time-coming-in-minneapolis/|url-status=live}}</ref> The format shifted to [[urban contemporary]] on February 12, 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/134644/hot-102-5-minneapolis-flips-urban/|title=Hot 102.5 Minneapolis Flips To Urban - RadioInsight|date=February 18, 2018|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219090547/https://radioinsight.com/headlines/134644/hot-102-5-minneapolis-flips-urban/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=16 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918012507/http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=16 |date=2016-09-18 }} HD Radio Guide for Minneapolis-St. Paul</ref>

==Studio C==
{{See also|Cities 97 Sampler}}
Studio C is a room located at the radio station, with equipment used to record bands and singers, as well as chairs to accommodate a small audience.  Many acts who come to the Twin Cities are invited to Studio C to play a few songs and have some brief fan interactions.

From 1989 to 2018, KTCZ each holiday season would release an [[album]], [[cassette tape]] and/or [[compact disc|CD]], known as the ''[[Cities 97 Sampler]]''.  Proceeds would benefit Minnesota charities.  Most of the ''Cities 97 Sampler'' tracks were recorded in Studio C in front of a small audience, with the remaining tracks recorded live at local clubs in and around the Twin Cities.  Some recordings that did not make the cut for the Cities 97 Sampler can be found on the KTCZ webpage.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://cities971.iheart.com/ Cities 97.1 official website]
*{{FM station data|10142|KTCZ-FM}}
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|142406|W225AP}}
*{{FXL|W225AP}}
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|141753|K260BA}}
*{{FXL|K260BA}}
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|140150|K273BH}}
*{{FXL|K273BH}}
*{{FCC-LMS-Facility|145809|K288GR}}
*{{FXL|K288GR}}
*[http://radiotapes.com/ Radiotapes.com] - Airchecks of KTCR-FM / KTCZ-FM along with an aircheck of the format switch from country to Cities 97 (plus airchecks and videos of other Twin Cities radio stations)
*[http://radiotapes.com/WWTC/WTCN-FM_1947.pdf Program log from January/February 1947 at Radiotapes.com]
*[http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=113054 WTCN TV & Radio billboard, 1949] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107031659/http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=113054 |date=November 7, 2015 }} from the Minnesota Historical Society
*[http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=151085 WTCN TV & Radio billboard, 1950] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320114656/http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=151085 |date=2012-03-20 }} from the Minnesota Historical Society

{{Minneapolis-St. Paul Radio}}
{{IHeartMedia}}

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[[Category:Radio stations in Minneapolis–Saint Paul]]
[[Category:Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States]]
[[Category:HD Radio stations]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1947]]
[[Category:1947 establishments in Minnesota]]
[[Category:IHeartMedia radio stations]]
[[Category:Modern adult contemporary radio stations]]