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59-720: WUCW (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota , United States, serving the Twin Cities area as an affiliate of The CW . Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group , the station maintains studios in the Pence Building on 8th Street and Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis , and its transmitter is located at the Telefarm site in Shoreview . Channel 23 was established as KTMA in 1982, airing

118-615: A Minnesota Wild game. The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on the multiplexed signals of other Twin Cities television stations: On August 16, 2023, WUCW became the ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) host station for the Twin Cities. WUCW (like most Sinclair-owned television stations) ended regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 23, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in

177-583: A barter in some cases. Spectrum (TV channel) Spectrum was an American subscription television channel that was owned and operated by United Cable. Existing during the early 1980s, the service was available in the Chicago and Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan areas. It was also available in some areas of Alaska, such as Fairbanks . United Cable, which owned a majority stake in Spectrum through its Home Entertainment Network division, also owned

236-684: A melon drop at midnight from the station's rooftop; this special was revisited in 1987, 1988 and 1989. Despite a major $ 1.2 million marketing campaign at the relaunch, after the station was acquired, the station was only moderately successful at attracting viewers and revenue from commercial advertising. By February 1988, KTMA's ratings were still only half that of KITN-TV, which had become the Twin Cities area's other major UHF independent. The first signs of financial trouble also occurred that year: KTMA had to temporarily stop carrying some programs in August because it needed to refinance to pay its syndicators in

295-508: A decision that sounded the death knell for the service, already down to just 13,000 subscribers. The movie service ended September 29, 1985, while Spectrum Sports concluded with the final game of the Twins season on October 6. Jim (Mallon) got the job at KTMA. And it was all subterfuge. I mean, he brought me out there pretty much telling that the reason to have this job (is)... we have access to tools and we can do anything we want with them. That

354-506: A mix of commercial and subscription television programming; three years later, it became a full-time independent station . During this period, it became famous for originating the cult cable television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 , which began as a locally produced program. After going into bankruptcy in 1989, channel 23 was bought and repositioned as a family-oriented station, KLGT, which affiliated with The WB upon its 1995 launch. Sinclair purchased channel 23 in 1998 and changed

413-415: A much shorter wavelength, and thus requires a shorter antenna, but also higher power. North American stations can go up to 5000 kW ERP for video and 500 kW audio, or 1000 kW digital. Low channels travel further than high ones at the same power, but UHF does not suffer from as much electromagnetic interference and background "noise" as VHF, making it much more desirable for TV. Despite this, in

472-567: A new generation of STV interests emerged in the mid-1970s. Viking signed a contract with American Subscription Television ( SelecTV ) and filed for subscription television authorization in October 1975. Viking was still mired in tower site problems in 1976, when a second group filed to propose a subscription television station in the Twin Cities: Buford Television of Tyler, Texas , which applied for channel 29, only for

531-461: A profit since its inception. United Cable launched Spectrum in the Twin Cities on a new station, KTMA , on September 22, 1982, making it one of the later subscription television startups. It competed with TVQ, which operated a microwave distribution system of HBO to some 15,000 subscribers. The new service quickly secured valuable programming when it struck a deal to televise Minnesota Twins baseball and Minnesota North Stars hockey home games:

590-503: A second application from Faith Broadcasting Network to compete against it. Meanwhile, Viking filed in March 1978 to sell the construction permit to Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation; Metropolitan was in turn 20 percent owned by Universal Subscription Television, a subsidiary of Canadian media company CanWest Capital Corporation . This application was dismissed on June 22, 1979. Viking had objected to Buford's channel 29 application when it

649-657: A successful lunch meeting with Mallon to produce a new locally produced program for KTMA, Hodgson created Mystery Science Theater 3000 (also known under the abbreviated title MST3K ), which began in November 1988. The show quickly attracted the involvement of Kevin Murphy, who had been an associate of Mallon dating back to his horror film project Blood Hook , performing multiple tasks from camera operator to show writer to set builder. Hodgson recruited local comedians Josh Weinstein and Trace Beaulieu as his co-stars; owing to

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708-743: A third STV operation in the Cincinnati and Dayton market, which used the ON TV brand name under license; United had purchased a majority share in Home Entertainment Network from original owners Buford Television for a reported $ 20 million in 1982. Spectrum began operating in Chicago on September 29, 1981, on a new television station, WFBN channel 66, owned by Focus Broadcasting. By early 1983, Spectrum there had 60,000 subscribers—in comparison to ON TV's 125,000—and had not turned

767-505: A timely fashion. That same year, attempts were made at creating locally produced shows: to fill a hole in the Saturday night line-up, the station created Saturday Night at Ringside , a multi-hour block of professional wrestling programming hosted by Mick Karch, and a late-night talk show, Sports Week with Stretch and Z , also was created. Late 1988 brought two debuts, one ambitious and one low-key. On December 14, 1988, O'Connor announced

826-425: A variety of ways to generate revenue from television commercials . They may be an independent station or part of a broadcasting network , or some other structure. They can produce some or all of their programs or buy some broadcast syndication programming for or all of it from other stations or independent production companies. Many stations have some sort of television studio , which on major-network stations

885-496: Is non-commercial educational (NCE) and considered public broadcasting . To avoid concentration of media ownership of television stations, government regulations in most countries generally limit the ownership of television stations by television networks or other media operators, but these regulations vary considerably. Some countries have set up nationwide television networks, in which individual television stations act as mere repeaters of nationwide programs . In those countries,

944-470: Is broadcast via terrestrial radio waves. A group of television stations with common ownership or affiliation are known as a TV network and an individual station within the network is referred to as O&O or affiliate , respectively. Because television station signals use the electromagnetic spectrum, which in the past has been a common, scarce resource, governments often claim authority to regulate them. Broadcast television systems standards vary around

1003-792: Is often used for newscasts or other local programming . There is usually a news department , where journalists gather information. There is also a section where electronic news-gathering (ENG) operations are based, receiving remote broadcasts via remote pickup unit or satellite TV . Outside broadcasting vans, production trucks , or SUVs with electronic field production (EFP) equipment are sent out with reporters , who may also bring back news stories on video tape rather than sending them back live . To keep pace with technology United States television stations have been replacing operators with broadcast automation systems to increase profits in recent years. Some stations (known as repeaters or translators ) only simulcast another, usually

1062-541: The NBA 's Minnesota Timberwolves . The sports expansion was the first in a series of moves that boosted channel 23's visibility. On January 11, 1995, KLGT became a launch affiliate of The WB ; it simultaneously debuted a unique news experiment, News of Your Choice , in partnership with WCCO-TV. (A trial run had taken place the previous August.) That station produced a second 10 p.m. newscast featuring an alternate mix of stories for channel 23 and encouraged viewers to switch between

1121-546: The National Association of Broadcasters . The broadcast signal of WUCW is also extended by way of six digital translators , owned by local translator associations, in central and southern Minnesota: Television station The Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow ( TV Station Paul Nipkow ) in Berlin , Germany , was the first regular television service in the world. It was on the air from 22 March 1935, until it

1180-405: The broadcast range , or geographic area, that the station is limited to, allocates the broadcast frequency of the radio spectrum for that station's transmissions, sets limits on what types of television programs can be programmed for broadcast and requires a station to broadcast a minimum amount of certain programs types, such as public affairs messages . Another form of television station

1239-534: The electricity bill and emergency backup generators . In North America , full-power stations on band I (channels 2 to 6) are generally limited to 100 kW analog video ( VSB ) and 10 kW analog audio ( FM ), or 45 kW digital ( 8VSB ) ERP. Stations on band III (channels 7 to 13) can go up by 5 dB to 316 kW video, 31.6 kW audio, or 160 kW digital. Low-VHF stations are often subject to long-distance reception just as with FM. There are no stations on Channel 1 . UHF , by comparison, has

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1298-564: The line separating west "K" and east "W" calls , the station was able to switch to a "W"-prefixed call. In January 2018, WUCW moved out of its longtime Como Avenue studios, which had been built for Twin Cities Public Television in 1960, and moved to the 7th floor of the Pence Building at 800 Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. The studios were then sold to the Minnesota State Fair . WUCW served as

1357-629: The Calvary Temple Evangelistic Association in late 1968; the church pulled out of the proceedings, and the Viking application was granted on November 24, 1969. Little progress was made toward the construction of the station, which took the call letters KTMA-TV. In 1972, Viking presented a proposal for a studio and transmitter complex in Shoreview. However, residents feared the erection of a fourth mast in town after

1416-574: The Minnesota Independent Network collapsed. At the start of July 1989, O'Connor told a St. Cloud radio station that KTMA and the owner of KXLI and KXLT (which had gone silent awaiting the network's launch) had "bigger fish to fry" and blamed the complexity of the arrangement for scuttling the plan. The nature of his remarks was explained at the end of the month, when the station filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with O'Connor noting that KTMA had been undercapitalized from

1475-586: The Twin Cities market, WFTC, was owned by Fox Television Stations ; none of its UPN affiliates were chosen for the network's launch, and it set up MyNetworkTV for them and other stations that would not join The CW. On May 2, 2006, Sinclair Broadcast Group signed an affiliation agreement with The CW for the company's eight WB affiliates, including KMWB, to join the network. In preparation for the affiliation switch, KMWB changed its call sign to WUCW, planning to market itself as "Your CW"; as Minneapolis and St. Paul are on

1534-573: The Twins. Further, a federal judge had ruled against the Twins and North Stars pooling their broadcast rights in the Spectrum deal after WCCO-TV sued on antitrust charges. (Sports telecasts continued while the case was being appealed; after Spectrum's demise, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit found in the teams' favor.) In August 1985, the Twins and North Stars opted not to renew their Spectrum rights deal,

1593-647: The U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking another large portion of this band (channels 52 to 69) away, in contrast to the rest of the world, which has been taking VHF instead. This means that some stations left on VHF are harder to receive after the analog shutdown . Since at least 1974, there are no stations on channel 37 in North America for radio astronomy purposes. Most television stations are commercial broadcasting enterprises which are structured in

1652-527: The United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 22. As part of the SAFER Act , WUCW kept its analog signal on the air for 30 days to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from

1711-446: The ball rolling for KTMA. More than 16 years after the permit was granted, channel 23 began broadcasting on September 22, 1982. In addition to advertiser-supported programs, KTMA carried Spectrum , the subscription service owned by Buford's Home Entertainment Network (HEN) division. The new service quickly secured valuable programming when it struck a deal to televise Minnesota Twins baseball and Minnesota North Stars hockey home games:

1770-473: The call letters to KMWB; it became WUCW upon the merger of The WB and UPN in 2006. On April 16, 1966, Viking Television, Inc., a company organized by South St. Paul attorney and judge Irving W. Beaudoin, filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new television station on channel 23 in Minneapolis. It was designated for hearing alongside a competing application from

1829-409: The case was being appealed; after Spectrum's demise, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit found in the teams' favor. ) In August 1985, the Twins and North Stars opted not to renew their Spectrum rights deal, a decision that sounded the death knell for the service—already down to just 13,000 subscribers; the movie service ended September 29, 1985, while Spectrum Sports concluded with

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1888-478: The collapse of a tower under construction killed seven workers the year before, and Ramsey County acquired the land for a park and nature center, creating a potential conflict of land uses. The loss of the site would further set back construction. The prospect of subscription television had been thought of as early as the 1969 grant, when Viking held the local franchise to use the Phonevision system. However,

1947-646: The company wrote down the Home Entertainment Network division and put the three STV systems on the market. In Chicago, Spectrum encountered technical issues with their broadcast signal. WFBN's broadcast from the eastern mast atop the John Hancock Center in the Chicago Loop was prone to multipath interference caused by the large number of high rise buildings in the area. The interference resulted in mediocre to poor quality pictures, and caused problems with Spectrum's set top descramblers. By 1983, in

2006-542: The entire North Stars home slate and 50 Twins home games, packaged as "Spectrum Sports"—available for $ 19.95 a month or $ 29.90 along with the Spectrum movie service. At its peak, in May 1983, the service attracted 27,000 Twin Cities subscribers, making it the most successful of United Cable's three STV operations. Even then, United Cable was laying off 55 staff, cutting costs, and considering outsourcing its movie programming to Oak Industries , owners of ON TV . Three months later,

2065-476: The entire North Stars home slate and 50 Twins home games, packaged as "Spectrum Sports"—available for $ 19.95 a month or $ 29.90 along with the Spectrum movie service. The same year Buford launched KTMA, it sold a majority stake in HEN to United Cable. At its peak, in May 1983, the service attracted 27,000 Twin Cities subscribers, making it the most successful of United Cable's three STV operations. Even then, United Cable

2124-562: The face of cable television entering the Chicago market and the economic recession , Spectrum announced its intent to go out of business. United Cable finally discontinued the service in February 1984 and sold its subscriber base to Oak Industries and ON TV; ON TV took over Spectrum programming on March 1, 1984, while subscribers were converted to Oak's equipment. At the time of the sale, there were 28,000 Spectrum subscribers, while ON TV had fallen to 84,000. WFBN then broadcast music videos for

2183-565: The formation of the Minnesota Independent Network, which would unite KTMA with KXLI channel 41 in St. Cloud and KXLT-TV channel 47 in Rochester ; low-power TV stations owned by Red River TV in Bemidji ( K26AC ), Brainerd , and Grand Rapids ; and several additional low-power stations to be leased or built at Alexandria , Donnelly / Herman , Park Rapids , and Austin . The St. Cloud station

2242-420: The highest point available in the transmission area, such as on a summit , the top of a high skyscraper , or on a tall radio tower . To get a signal from the master control room to the transmitter, a studio/transmitter link (STL) is used. The link can be either by radio or T1 / E1 . A transmitter/studio link (TSL) may also send telemetry back to the station, but this may be embedded in subcarriers of

2301-400: The local television station has no station identification and, from a consumer's point of view, there is no practical distinction between a network and a station, with only small regional changes in programming, such as local television news . To broadcast its programs, a television station requires operators to operate equipment, a transmitter or radio antenna , which is often located at

2360-419: The main broadcast. Stations which retransmit or simulcast another may simply pick-up that station over-the-air , or via STL or satellite. The license usually specifies which other station it is allowed to carry. VHF stations often have very tall antennas due to their long wavelength , but require much less effective radiated power (ERP), and therefore use much less transmitter power output , also saving on

2419-616: The moment he had purchased it. Presaging the fate of MST3K in the years to come, KTMA ended production of the show after the June 1, 1989, season finale; the second issue of the show's fan club newsletter included a direct appeal to KTMA to reconsider. Hodgson and Mallon purchased MST3K 's intellectual property under the production company Best Brains, Inc. , along with a new studio in Eden Prairie . The Comedy Channel —recently established as an extension of HBO by Time Inc. —picked up

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2478-482: The over-the-air home of Minnesota United FC in 2021 and 2022. In the first season, the station was scheduled to air 19 matches, all simulcasts from Bally Sports North. In order to accommodate scheduling conflicts on Bally Sports North, WUCW aired five Minnesota Timberwolves games in April and May 2021 under the branding "Bally Sports Extra on The CW Twin Cities". In April 2022, WUCW aired two Minnesota Twins games and

2537-607: The program as part of a $ 50 million launch campaign. MST3K ran on the network, later renamed Comedy Central , for seven years before moving to the Sci-Fi Channel for its final three seasons from 1997 to 1999. Despite the failure of MIN to emerge, KTMA showed up in St. Cloud and Rochester anyway when new owners of KXLI and KXLT opted to simulcast channel 23 after returning to the air in 1990. The station, however, remained in bankruptcy for more than two years. Even during bankruptcy,

2596-476: The programmes seen on its owner's flagship station, and have no television studio or production facilities of their own. This is common in developing countries . Low-power stations typically also fall into this category worldwide. Most stations which are not simulcast produce their own station identifications . TV stations may also advertise on or provide weather (or news) services to local radio stations , particularly co-owned sister stations . This may be

2655-434: The show's low budget, Weinstein and Beaulieu were only paid $ 25 per episode. A phone line Mallon established specifically for MST3K viewers netted such a favorable response that KTMA increased their show order from 13 episodes to 21. Unlike all future iterations of the show, the jokes provided by Hodgson and company during the course of a movie were ad libbed with a production cycle of less than 24 hours. As MST3K grew,

2714-523: The station moved from its original studios on Kennedy Street to a facility on Como Avenue as 1989 ended. It was not until the fall of 1991 that two groups emerged seeking to buy the station out of Chapter 11, at the same time that the court-appointed trustee fired O'Connor in a cost-cutting effort. The successful bidder, Lakeland Group Television, was headed by Linda Rios Brook, who had resigned from her position as general manager of KARE —reportedly over her conservative religious beliefs—and planned to reposition

2773-436: The station received a dozen complaints over the slogan "features that will scare you to death". The majority of complaints over the billboard came from Farmington , where their city council also lodged a complaint to KTMA. One programming tradition began on New Year's Eve 1986: TV23's 23rd Annual New Year's Eve Extravaganza , a live comedy special emceed by station stagehand Kevin Murphy as "Bob Bagadonuts" culminating with

2832-622: The station with Christian programs. After plans to use the KSON call letters fell through, the station relaunched as KLGT, a family- and Christian-oriented independent, in March 1992. After the new format achieved low ratings, Rios Brook changed tack in late 1993. The dove that had formed part of the logo was dropped, and the format was shifted. KLGT picked up a package of 14 Twins games previously aired by KITN in 1994; they had been jettisoned by channel 29 due to increasing commitments to Fox network programming. Later that year, channel 23 added games from

2891-443: The summer before relaunching as a general-entertainment independent that fall. As a sports service, Spectrum in the Twin Cities never reached the intended subscriber figures, prompting profits to fall far short of expectations for the Twins. Further, a federal judge had ruled against the Twins and North Stars pooling their broadcast rights in the Spectrum deal after WCCO-TV sued on antitrust charges. (Sports telecasts continued while

2950-591: The two programs; the program was dropped at the end of the year in response to a collapse in ratings for WCCO's newscasts. In late 1997, Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into a deal to purchase KLGT for $ 52.5 million—a far cry from the $ 3.3 million spent to acquire it six years prior. The call letters were changed in November 1998 to KMWB, reflecting the state and network affiliation. The Timberwolves continued on channel 23 and KARE until they consolidated their over-the-air broadcasts with WFTC in 2001. In 2006, The WB and UPN merged to create The CW . The UPN affiliate in

3009-399: The world. Television stations broadcasting over an analog system were typically limited to one television channel , but digital television enables broadcasting via subchannels as well. Television stations usually require a broadcast license from a government agency which sets the requirements and limitations on the station. In the United States, for example, a television license defines

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3068-465: The worst movie library imaginable. Jim Mallon The other debut came with less bombast but cemented KTMA's place in popular culture. As production manager Jim Mallon sought to fill a gap in the Sunday night line-up, he talked to his contacts in the local comedy community and ended up meeting Joel Hodgson , who had a warehouse in the same building as office space Mallon was using at the time. After

3127-525: Was also slated under the proposal to move its tower northwest toward Sauk Centre and change to channel 19. The Minnesota Independent Network would give KTMA and KXLI the regional circulation necessary to compete with other Twin Cities-market stations for viewers and programming rights. Further, KTMA would become KMIN. The programming at KTMA was bottom-basin. Our prime-time headliner was Love, American Style paired with Hawaii Five-O , and we had

3186-564: Was filed, but in February 1980, Beaudoin sold 80 percent of the KTMA construction permit to Buford for $ 475,000 in construction costs, which in turn cleared the way for Faith Broadcasting Network to build channel 29 . However, tower siting woes continued to snarl channel 23's attempts to get on air. The FCC in the late 1960s had required that the VHF television stations give room to new UHF stations that wished to broadcast from Shoreview, and KMSP-TV's mast

3245-486: Was laying off 55 staff, cutting costs, and considering outsourcing its movie programming to Oak Industries (owners of ON TV ). That summer, United agreed to buy Buford's 80 percent ownership of KTMA for $ 7.5 million while also writing down the Home Entertainment Network division and putting the three STV systems on the market. As a sports service, Spectrum in the Twin Cities never reached the intended subscriber figures, prompting profits to fall far short of expectations for

3304-579: Was reported to have accepted a $ 12 million offer from an Atlanta-based group. In the end, KTMA-TV Acquisition Corporation, owned by general manager Donald H. O'Connor, bought the entirety of the station—including Beaudoin's stake—for $ 13.8 million. O'Connor purchased another $ 2.5 million in equipment and changed KTMA to a more traditional general entertainment station, acquiring a number of older syndicated programs such as The Andy Griffith Show and Laurel and Hardy . A late 1986 billboard campaign centered around Elvira's Movie Macabre ended prematurely after

3363-574: Was shut down in 1944. The station was named after Paul Gottlieb Nipkow , the inventor of the Nipkow disk . Most often the term "television station" refers to a station which broadcasts structured content to an audience or it refers to the organization that operates the station. A terrestrial television transmission can occur via analog television signals or, more recently, via digital television signals. Television stations are differentiated from cable television or other video providers as their content

3422-519: Was supposed to accommodate channel 23 and channel 29. However, when KSTP-TV obtained permission for a 274-foot (84 m) height extension to its tower (which also held WCCO-TV ), only the KMSP tower was left out because it could not be extended with the UHF stations on it. This prompted KMSP-TV to rescind the agreement, resulting in legal action. It was only the resolution of the tower site issue that got

3481-467: Was the appeal to me – we could make a TV show and we could actually get it on the air. Kevin Murphy , on joining KTMA in 1987 KTMA, still on the market when Spectrum closed, adopted a format of music videos programmed by local radio station KTWN . K-Twin Communications, owner of KTWN, made an $ 11 million offer to United Cable to purchase channel 23 outright. United rejected the bid and

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