WCCO (AM) - WCCO Today

WCCO Today

WCCO was the top-rated station in the Twin Cities for decades until shifting demographics and interests finally brought KQRS-FM to the top spot. One sign of the changing times: the well-known farm report was dropped in early 2004, reflecting the fact that many farmers began to rely more on the Internet for such information and that the number of farmers in Minnesota has drastically shrunk since the station first began broadcasting (though agriculture remains vital to the region).

For several years, WCCO has hosted a weekly radio show with the governor of Minnesota. Former governor Jesse Ventura had a show while in office, and successor Tim Pawlenty has followed suit.

More recent WCCO personalities have included longtime Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman, "Whole-Lotta Woman" Ruth Koscielak, Tim Russell, also a cast member on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. Some notable sports broadcasters have included Baseball Hall of Fame member Herb Carneal the longtime voice of the Minnesota Twins, Halsey Hall, Ray Scott (sportscaster) and Ray Christensen, longtime voice of University of Minnesota's Gopher Football and Gopher Men's Basketball. Some of WCCO's current programming includes the morning show with Dave Lee during the week days from 5 to 9, the afternoon drive with John Williams from 3 to 6, and Jordana Green from 8:00-10:00 p.m., followed by variety host T.D. Mischke until midnight when the station broadcasts syndicated programming.

WCCO became the radio home of Minnesota Timberwolves basketball starting with the 2011-2012 season, having recently acquired the broadcast rights from rival KFAN. WCCO has also recently signed a contract to broadcast University of St. Thomas football beginning in the 2011-2012 season. Games will be hosted on air by David Lee. WCCO was the former home of University of Minnesota Golden Gophers athletics, Minnesota Wild hockey and Minnesota Twins baseball. The Minnesota Twins had been on WCCO since arriving in Minnesota in 1961, but because of a dispute between WCCO parent CBS and XM Satellite Radio over compensation for its Major League Baseball broadcasts, CBS did not renew many of its MLB contracts. WCCO was the radio home of the Minnesota Vikings from 1961-69, 1976-84, 1988-90 and 1996-2000.

Eleanor Mondale, the daughter of former Senator and Vice President Walter Mondale, started her career in radio at the station in 1989 as the entertainment reporter, but left after eight months. She returned to Minnesota in 2006 to co-host a weekday morning show on WCCO-AM with Susie Jones.

In August 2008, as a cosmetic change to make WCCO in the norm with CBS' other talk radio stations, the station changed from "News/Talk 830 WCCO" to "News Radio 830 WCCO".

On September 15th, 2011, WCCO was awarded the Marconi Award for Large Market Station of the Year.