KTCZ-FM

KTCZ-FM (97.1 FM, "Cities 97") is a Modern adult contemporaryradio station broadcasting to the Twin Cities market of Minnesota and neighboring Wisconsin. The station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. and transmits from a tower located in Shoreview, Minnesota. Its studios are in St. Louis Park.

History

The 97.1 frequency in Minneapolis is one of the oldest FM stations in the Twin Cities, having been established in 1947. The original call letters were WTCN-FM, to match its AM sister station, now WWTC, which was 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 studios moved to the TV facility in September 1949 and the FM was there, too, by February 1950. All three stations were sold in 1952; channel 4 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 Radio and Television changed the call letters to match its newly acquired WCCO, while WTCN 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 for channel 11 (but had to negotiate for the frequency with the owner of WMIN 1400, 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 (which today bears the call letters KARE) on September 1, 1953 and the WTCN call sign remained with it until 1985. Meanwhile, WTCN-FM became KWFM in 1954.