After a decade in the radio wilderness, the Minnesota Twins are returning to WCCO-AM (830) as its flagship station for the 2018 season and beyond. Those folks who have warm and fuzzy memories of hearing Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall and John Gordon call the games during the team's original 1961-2006 run on the station are saying it's about time.
Entercom, having just purchased the former CBS Radio empire that includes WCCO, wanted to make a big splash locally on the first day they took ownership. With the merger, the media company now holds radio rights to 45 pro sports teams, 14 of them belonging to Major League Baseball.
The Twins' period in exile began when WCCO was outbid for the rights by KSTP-AM (1500) in 2007, which had just switched to a sports talk format. Both stations had 50,000-watt signals, but KSTP only had a directional antenna that limited its coverage area. Thus the complaints from fans who couldn't pick up the games, even in the daytime.
The Pohlad family, which owns the Twins, then moved the team's broadcasts to the FM station they owned at 96.3, now known as KQGO. There were signal problems here too, not to mention confusion over where to find the station. Also, 96.3 seemed to change musical formats that were incompatible with a baseball audience every so often. Currently, it's alternative rock. They must have been thinking that, if you like baseball, you'll love Imagine Dragons.
Instead of Carneal, Hall and Gordon, you'll be getting Cory Provus and Dan Gladden when the Twins return to WCCO. For those occasions when the station's other properties (Timberwolves basketball and severe weather coverage) take precedence, Entercom's other Minnesota stations--country KMNB (102.9 FM) and KZJK a.k.a. Jack FM (104.1)--would pick up the slack. No word yet on what happens when there's a conflict with University of St. Thomas football games.
Both the Twins and WCCO had seen better days. Is it any coincidence that during the separation, the baseball team's fortunes took a nosedive and the radio station's audience was either dwindling, dying off, or both? But last season the Twins improbably made the playoffs as a wild card and Paul Molitor was named American League Manager of the Year, while WCCO got new owners. Could this be a sign that both are about to become relevant again?
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