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 off Ramby Avenue near Interstate 694 in Shoreview. 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 watts 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, signing on the air in 1947 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.
KWFM and KTCR-FM
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 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". The station's new format was unique, featuring 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 farther, to progressive FM rock stations from the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the freeform days of KQRS-FM.
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. In 2000, Chancellor was merged into Clear Channel Communications. In 2014, Clear Channel was renamed as iHeartMedia, Inc.
For a few years in the 2010s, the station carried the syndicated call-in show Loveline, which had received strong ratings on the former KEGE. Most other Loveline affiliates were alternative or active rock stations geared toward a younger demographic than KTCZ's. The talk programming also conflicted with Cities 97's "more music" mandate.
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 KTCJ (AM) in 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, from where most of the other Twin Cities FM stations transmit. KMWA now uses the New Hope tower.