KTTC (channel 10) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
licensed to
Rochester, Minnesota
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic.
Acco ...
, United States, serving
Southeast Minnesota
Southeast Minnesota comprises the corner of the U.S. state of Minnesota south of the Twin Cities metropolitan area extending east, and part of the multi-state area known as the Driftless Area. Rochester is the largest city in the area; other majo ...
and Northern
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
as an affiliate of
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
and
The CW Plus
The CW Plus is a secondary national programming service feed of The CW that is fully controlled and 75% owned by Nexstar Media Group, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery each owning a 12.5% stake in the network. It is intended primar ...
. It is owned by
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
, which provides certain services to
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate
KXLT-TV
KXLT-TV (channel 47) is a television station licensed to Rochester, Minnesota, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for Southeast Minnesota and Northern Iowa. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting alongside Telemundo affiliate KXSH-L ...
(channel 47) and
Telemundo
Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...
affiliate
KXSH-LD (channel 35) under a
shared services agreement (SSA) with
SagamoreHill Broadcasting
SagamoreHill Broadcasting LLC is a privately held American holding company that owns 13 television stations based in the Great Lakes and southern United States regions. The company is a joint venture of the investment firm Duff Ackerman & Goodric ...
. The stations share studios in Rochester on Bandel Road Northwest along
US 52
U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...
, and also maintain an advertising sales office on Lakeview Drive in
Clear Lake, Iowa
Clear Lake is a city in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,687 at the 2020 census. The city is named for the large lake on which it is located. It is the home of a number of marinas, state parks and tourism-related ...
, that serves
Mason City. KTTC's transmitter is located south of
Ostrander, Minnesota, near the
Fillmore–
Mower
A mower is a person or machine that cuts (mows) grass or other plants that grow on the ground. Usually mowing is distinguished from reaping, which uses similar implements, but is the traditional term for harvesting grain crops, e.g. with reape ...
county line.
History
The station launched on July 14, 1953, under the
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
KROC-TV, making it the first station in Southern Minnesota and third in the state after
KSTP-TV
KSTP-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area as an affiliate of ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Hubbard Broadcasting, which has owned the ...
and
WTCN-TV in the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
. It was owned by the Gentling family and their Southern Minnesota Broadcasting Company, and was a sister to KROC radio (
AM 1340 and
FM 106.9). The station's original studios and transmitter were located on Hennessey Hill, west of Rochester. The station carried programming from all four commercial networks of the 1950s:
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
,
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
, and
DuMont but was a primary NBC affiliate. The station was launched by G. David Gentling, son of family patriarch Gregory P. Gentling. In November 1966, the station moved to a new building on First Avenue Southwest in Downtown Rochester.
In 1976, due to
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) restrictions on ownership of multiple stations in a single
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, an ...
, the station was purchased by Quincy Newspapers from Southern Minnesota Broadcasting. The Gentlings would hold onto the radio stations until 2003. In accordance with an FCC regulation in place then that prohibited TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different ownership groups from sharing the same callsign, channel 10's callsign became KTTC on July 1. KTTC-DT began broadcasting on
UHF channel 36 in September 2000. The station has been digital-only since February 17, 2009. The station's pre-transition digital facility on channel 36 became the final post-transition facility for ABC affiliate
KAAL.
In 2001, Quincy bought
Shockley Communications (then owner of KXLT). However, Quincy could not buy KXLT due to FCC rules governing duopolies. The FCC does not allow two of the four highest-rated stations to be owned by one company. Additionally, Rochester–
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
–
Mason City has only six full-power stations, not enough to legally permit a duopoly in any case. Nevertheless, Quincy took over KXLT's operations under a shared services agreement. In 2002, KTTC relocated from its longtime studios on First Avenue Southwest in Downtown Rochester to its current location on Bandel Road in North Rochester, the then-current offices for KXLT. Shockley would later sell the Fox station to SagamoreHill Broadcasting in 2005 which continued the operational agreement with Quincy.
In November 2011, the former KTTC studio on First Avenue SW was demolished to clear the way for the University of Minnesota Rochester's future campus. The City of Rochester sold that property and the Fourth Street Boxing Gym and a small halal market were included in the deal. They were also demolished.
On February 1, 2021,
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
announced it had purchased Quincy Media for $925 million. The deal is expected to be completed later in 2021. If the deal is approved by the FCC, KTTC will gain additional
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
s in nearby markets, including CBS/Fox affiliate
KEYC-TV
KEYC-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Mankato, Minnesota, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power, dual NBC/ CW+ affiliate KMNF-LD (channel 7). Both stations share studi ...
in Mankato, ABC affiliate
KCRG-TV
KCRG-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, serving Eastern Iowa as an affiliate of ABC, MyNetworkTV, and The CW. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on Second Avenue Southeast in do ...
in Cedar Rapids and fellow NBC affiliates
KWQC-TV
KWQC-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, United States, serving the Quad Cities area as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Brady Street in downtown Davenport, and its ...
in Davenport and
WEAU
WEAU (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States, serving the La Crosse, Wisconsin, La Crosse–Eau Claire media market, market as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Gray Tele ...
in Eau Claire, while separating itself from KWWL, WXOW and WQOW which will all have to be divested to complete the purchase.
The acquisition was completed on August 2, 2021.
''
KTTC-DT2
KTTC-DT2 is the
CW+-affiliated second
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
of KTTC, broadcasting in
720p
720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...
high definition on channel 10.2.
History
What is now KTTC-DT2 began on
September 21, 1998 after KTTC entered into a partnership with
The WB 100+
The WB 100+ Station Group (originally called The WeB from its developmental stages until March 1999) was a national programming service of The WB—owned by the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner, the Tribune Company, and group f ...
, a national programming service operated by
The WB
The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...
for television markets ranked greater than 100, and
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
systems in the Rochester area. Prior to 1998, The WB's programming was available in Rochester via WGN-TV's national feed or local WB affiliate KMWB (now
WUCW
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 ...
) in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. It was a cable-exclusive station, and as a result, used the
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
"KWBR" (standing for "The WB Rochester") in a fictional manner for identification purposes. KTTC provided local advertisement opportunities and performed promotional duties for the outlet.
On January 24, 2006,
CBS Corporation
The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, and t ...
(which
became separate from
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to:
* Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate
* Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom
* Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
after 2005) and
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...
(the company which owned The WB) announced they then would cease operating the
UPN
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
and WB networks and combine their resources to create a programming service entitled
The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
. The letters would represent the first initial of the new network's respective corporate parents.
On September 18 of that year, The CW officially launched nationwide at which point KTTC added a new second digital subchannel to simulcast "KWBR" and allowing non-cable subscribers access to the new network. With its over-their-air launch, "KWBR" began using KTTC-DT2 as its official calls and became part of The CW Plus, a successor to The WB 100+.
Programming
Syndicated programming
Syndicated programming on KTTC includes ''
Inside Edition
''Inside Edition'' is an American news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is no ...
'', ''
Judge Judy
''Judge Judy'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated courtr ...
'' and ''
The Drew Barrymore Show
''The Drew Barrymore Show'' (often shortened to ''Drew'') is a first-run syndicated American talk show hosted by actress Drew Barrymore. The show is distributed by CBS Media Ventures and debuted on September 14, 2020. In April 2022, the show w ...
'', among others.
News operation
In addition to its main studios, KTTC operates an Austin Bureau, within the
Riverland Community College
Riverland Community College is a public community college with three campuses in southeastern Minnesota: Albert Lea, Austin, and Owatonna. Founded in 1940, Riverland offers a variety of educational programs and courses to over 4,900 students an ...
campus, on 8th Avenue Northwest.
As of December 2021, KTTC presently broadcasts 27 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours each weekday, and an hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).
Through a news share agreement in place since 2001, KTTC produces a half-hour prime time newscast on KXLT seen Sunday through Thursday nights. Known as ''Fox 47 News at Nine'', the program originates from a secondary set at the Bandel Road Northwest studios. It features a unique graphics package and news music theme that is different from KTTC. KXLT uses most of this NBC outlet's on-air personnel but maintains separate news anchors who can report for KTTC. At some point in 2009, KIMT added the market's second prime time local news show at 9 to its
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
-affiliated second digital subchannel. This newscast could be seen for a half hour competing with KXLT's broadcast. Eventually, the effort would be reduced to a five-minute weather cut-in featuring an updated
forecast.
On June 12, 2009, KIMT became the market's first television station to upgrade local newscast production to
16:9 enhanced definition widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
(with some portions in full high definition). Although not truly HD, the
aspect ratio matched that of high definition television screens. Video reports from the field were still seen in pillarboxed
4:3 standard definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
. It would not be until March 20, 2011, when KTTC performed an upgrade to full high definition newscasts. With the launch to HD came a brand new set and high definition graphics.
On July 28, 2014, KXLT debuted a weekday morning show known as ''Fox in the Morning'' (that is produced by KTTC). Airing for thirty minutes at 8 a.m., the program is formatted like a magazine with lifestyle, cooking, and style segments although there are local weather updates featured in the show. Eventually, this broadcast may be extended into the 7 o'clock hour to offer a true local alternative to the national
morning programs seen on the
big three affiliates. Like the prime time news at 9, the morning program on KXLT maintains separate anchors from KTTC (except for weather segments) and its own graphics scheme.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is
multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:
KTTC offered Minnesota's first full-power digital signal in 2000.
Former translators
In the La Crosse area, KTTC's analog translator W67CH channel 67 ceased broadcasting on November 4, 2009. It was replaced with digital translator station W50DR-D which went on-the-air at 2:10 in the afternoon on October 14. W50DR-D was subsequently replaced with W34FC-D in August 2018. The translator carried subchannels 10.1 NBC and 10.3 Heroes & Icons, as the other subchannels were duplicated on then-sister station and La Crosse affiliate WXOW 19. Until the launch of the La Crosse Digital Replacement Translator (DRT) of WEAU Eau Claire in the summer of 2020, KTTC's La Crosse translator was the only way many area residents could receive NBC over-the-air (due to the area's topography). For nearly a year, W34FC-D and WEAU-DRT La Crosse operated simultaneously, offering area viewers two NBC affiliates. This came to an end on August 2, 2021, when W34FC-D was converted to a translator of WECX-LD, a subsidiary WEAU.
KTTC's other two analog translators, in
Winona (K62EV channel 62) and
Blue Earth (K70DR channel 70), both left the air on December 29, 2011, due to the end of broadcasting on channels above 51 (K70DR in particular was one of the few remaining stations still operating on channel 70, which was phased out starting in 1983).
References
KTTC History. Pavek Museum of Broadcasting
The Pavek Museum is a museum in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, that has one of the world's most significant collections of vintage radio and television equipment. It originated in the collection of Joe Pavek, who began collecting unique radios while ...
Hall of Fame.
External links
*
KTTC-DT2 "Rochester CW+"KXLT-TV "Fox 47"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kttc
Television channels and stations established in 1953
1953 establishments in Minnesota
TTC
NBC network affiliates
Gray Television
Heroes & Icons affiliates
Court TV affiliates
True Crime Network affiliates