WFTC (channel 9.2), branded as Fox 9+, is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area. It is programmed primarily as an independent station, but maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV. WFTC is owned by Fox Television Stations alongside KMSP-TV (channel 9) and the two stations share studios on Viking Drive in Eden Prairie; WFTC's transmitter is located at the KMSP Tower in Shoreview, Minnesota. KFTC (channel 26) in Bemidji, Minnesota, rebroadcasts the main subchannels of WFTC and KMSP-TV, alongside a network of translators across Minnesota.
This station began broadcasting on October 6, 1982, as WFBT-TV on channel 29. Owned by Channel 29 Television and the Faith Broadcasting Network, it intended to be a family-friendly independent station with Christian ministry programming and classic TV shows. Ratings were low, and in 1984 the Beverly Hills Hotel Corporation acquired the station. It relaunched in May 1984 as a more conventionally programmed independent under the KITN-TV call sign. KITN became a major sports station under the ownership of Beverly Hills and Nationwide Communications, at various times in its history holding rights to telecast games of the Minnesota North Stars, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Minnesota Twins. In 1988, it became the Fox affiliate for the Twin Cities after KMSP-TV dropped the network over its underperforming Saturday night lineup.
Clear Channel Television acquired the station in 1993 and changed its call sign to WFTC ("Fox Twin Cities") in September 1994. WFTC was Clear Channel's largest-market TV station and, by 2001, its highest-billing. The station began airing a 9 p.m. local newscast in April 2001, but this was overshadowed by Fox parent News Corporation's acquisition of Chris-Craft Television, the owner of KMSP-TV. Speculation circulated for more than a year that KMSP-TV, with its existing news department and higher profile, would become the new Fox affiliate for the Twin Cities. This proved correct: on September 8, 2002, KMSP-TV became a Fox affiliate and WFTC a UPN affiliate. WFTC's news department was partially absorbed into KMSP's operation, with the 9 p.m. news moved to 10 p.m., but ratings fell even as they rose for KMSP's newscasts, leading to the cancellation of WFTC's news on June 30, 2006.
When UPN and The WB merged into The CW in September 2006, Fox's UPN stations were not invited, with competing stations in many markets (though not the Twin Cities) announced as affiliates. Fox started MyNetworkTV to serve stations not chosen for The CW, including WFTC. The station rebranded as Fox 9+ in 2017 and began airing a 7 p.m. local newscast.
History WFBT-TV: The Faith Broadcasting years On November 30, 1976, Faith Broadcasting Network applied with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to build a TV station on channel 29 in Minneapolis. It was the second application for the channel that year, after one by Buford Television of Tyler, Texas. Buford was interested in programming a subscription television (STV) station, while Faith was interested in a family-friendly independent station with Christian programming. Buford was the second group interested in STV in the Twin Cities. The first was Viking Television, the permitholder for KTMA (channel 23), which had been authorized in 1969 but was delayed by tower siting issues. In 1980, Faith Broadcasting Network opened a studio in Edina to produce programming for cable television.
In 1980, Buford Television dropped its bid for channel 29 and bought 80 percent of Viking Television, the channel 23 permittee. However, tower siting woes continued to snarl channel 29'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 was supposed to accommodate channel 23 and channel 29. However, when KSTP-TV obtained permission for a 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. Faith sold 90 percent ownership in the station, forming Channel 29 Television, to strengthen its financial qualifications and obtained a lease on the KMSP tower. The station was given a construction permit in July 1981. An attempt to locate the station's studios in a historic barn in Brooklyn Center fell through; channel 29 set up in a building in Brooklyn Park.
WFBT-TV ("We're Family Broadcasting for the Twin Cities") began broadcasting on October 6, 1982. Half of its programs were religious, with local Christian ministries and national producers from the Christian Broadcasting Network and PTL Satellite Network, while the other half consisted of shows deemed to be family-friendly. It was one of three television stations to debut in 1982 alongside KTMA and KXLI-TV in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
WFBT-TV made comparatively little impact on the Twin Cities television market. The combination format of Christian programming and classic TV series confused viewers and reduced potential advertising revenue. Some Christian viewers were displeased by programming such as The Merv Griffin Show, and the station's October 1983 telethon fell $80,000 short of its goal. Its highest ratings came from telecasts of Minnesota Golden Gophers men's hockey games.
"The KITN that Roars": Becoming a general independent station In December 1983, the Beverly Hills Hotel Corporation (owned by New York City financier Ivan Boesky), agreed to purchase WFBT-TV from Channel 29 Television for $12 million. The company had entered the television industry earlier that year by buying Oklahoma City independent station KGMC-TV. The acquisition by Beverly Hills Hotel Corporation heralded a new direction for channel 29 as a more conventionally programmed independent station with a limited inventory of religious programs. The new ownership named Robert Fransen general manager; Fransen had been the manager of WTCN-TV from 1964 to 1980, mostly during its period as an independent.
The new ownership took over on May 1, 1984, and the station changed its call sign to KITN-TV ("Independent Twenty-Nine"). On May 6, the station launched a new program lineup with syndicated programming and movies. Beverly Hills Hotel Corporation sold KITN-TV to Nationwide Communications, the broadcasting subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio–based Nationwide Insurance, in 1985 for $24 million. The station called itself "The KITN That Roars"; one station promotion featured Oscar, a growling pet cougar.
With its new orientation, KITN-TV became an aggressive competitor for sports rights. In 1984, channel 29 became the new home of Minnesota North Stars hockey telecasts that fall, airing a 25-game regular-season package and ending a six-year relationship between the team and KMSP. A bid to air Minnesota Twins baseball was unsuccessful, as the team renewed with KMSP. In 1985, it added Big Ten Conference football, followed the next year by a package of Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey and basketball events, outbidding KMSP-TV. The relationship with the University of Minnesota expanded in 1987, though channel 29 lost the North Stars to KXLI because the team was interested in reaching more fans in outstate Minnesota.
While channel 29 had become more aggressive, KITN-TV remained the second-rated independent in the Twin Cities. Hoping to spark a change, Nationwide dismissed Fransen in October 1987 and replaced him with Gail Brekke, who had been running WGBO-TV in the Chicago market.
Fox affiliation When the Fox network began in 1986, its Twin Cities affiliate was KMSP-TV. The network offered programming by the 1987–88 season on Saturday and Sunday nights, but the Saturday night lineup was comparatively anemic. In December 1987, KMSP-TV owner Chris-Craft moved to cancel the Fox Saturday night lineup for KMSP-TV and KPTV in Portland, Oregon. Though Chris-Craft postponed the decision so it could meet with network executives, KMSP-TV dropped the Fox Saturday night lineup in favor of movies it believed would attract better ratings. Ultimately, KMSP-TV refused to give in to Fox's insistence that it resume airing the Saturday lineup and, on July 21, 1988, cut ties with the network effective at the end of August. KMSP and KPTV were two of three stations to disaffiliate from Fox after the 1987–88 season: Fox president Jamie Kellner told Variety, "Fox feels it's strong enough to say goodbye to the two United [Television] stations. We just weren't willing to accept half a marriage."
After the announcement, Fox began negotiating an affiliation agreement with KITN-TV. KITN-TV replaced KMSP-TV as the Fox affiliate in September, carrying the full network schedule. In 1989, KITN added two professional sports teams to its lineup. Under a deal with WCCO-TV owner Midwest Communications, channel 29 began airing 30 Minnesota Twins baseball games a year; with KSTP-TV, it split the rights to the NBA's expansion Minnesota Timberwolves, airing 17 games a season. That same year, the station lost University of Minnesota athletic events to WCCO-TV.
Nationwide Communications, citing "an offer we couldn't refuse", sold KITN to Clear Channel Television for $36 million in 1993. Clear Channel owned seven other TV stations, of which six were Fox affiliates. At the time, Minneapolis was the largest market in which the company operated in radio or television. With Fox's increasing network offerings, the station dropped its local sports coverage. The Twins remained on KITN through the 1993 season, after which time station management dropped them due to the increasing preemptions of network programming that baseball games necessitated and the games moved to KLGT-TV. The Timberwolves followed suit, with KLGT replacing KITN for the 1994–95 NBA season. On September 16, 1994, the station changed its call sign to WFTC, for "Fox Twin Cities", as part of a push to "Fox-ify and localize" the station. The call sign change came even though Rupert Murdoch visited KSTP-TV in hopes of persuading it to switch from ABC to Fox.
Rip Riordan was named channel 29's general manager after Clear Channel took it over and remained in the post until being promoted to head of operations for the entire station group, based in Minneapolis, in 1995. Riordan remained associated with the station. In 1997, an educational children's program, Algo's FACTory, was produced at the WFTC studios, with Riordan as executive producer; it aired nationally on UPN but in the Twin Cities on channel 29. Riordan's connections with the Minnesota Vikings football team, which at the time was facing ownership turmoil, led him to put the owners in touch with Red McCombs, who eventually bought the team in 1998.
In 1999, Clear Channel acquired the construction permit for KAGR (channel 26) in Bemidji from Media Properties Inc. The station began broadcasting October 1, 1999, as KFTC, a satellite station of WFTC.
News department launch and affiliation uncertainty