WFTC: Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota KFTC: Bemidji, Minnesota United States |
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Branding | My29 WFTC |
Slogan | My Shows Are on My29! |
Channels |
Digital: WFTC: 29 (UHF) Virtual: 9 () KFTC: 26 (UHF) Virtual: 26 () |
Subchannels | 9.1 Fox (KMSP-TV) 9.2 MyNetworkTV (WFTC) 9.3 Movies! |
Translators | see article |
Affiliations | MyNetworkTV (2006-present) |
Owner | Fox Television Stations |
First air date |
WFTC: October 1982 KFTC: June 20, 1999 |
Call letters' meaning |
Fox Twin Cities (for the station's owner, previously for former Fox affiliation) |
Sister station(s) | KMSP-TV |
Former callsigns |
WFTC: WFBT (1982–1984) KITN-TV (1984–1994) |
Former channel number(s) |
Analog: WFTC: 29 (UHF, 1982–2009) KFTC: 26 (UHF, 1999–2009) Digital: WFTC: 21 (UHF, until 2009) |
Former affiliations |
Independent (1982–1988) Fox (1988–2002) UPN (2002–2006) |
Transmitter power |
WFTC: 1000 kW KFTC: 4.5 kW |
Height |
WFTC: 352 m KFTC: 156 m |
Facility ID |
WFTC: 11913 KFTC: 83714 |
Transmitter coordinates |
WFTC: 45°3′29.5″N 93°7′28.2″W / 45.058194°N 93.124500°W KFTC: 47°28′7.4″N 94°49′24.6″W / 47.468722°N 94.823500°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
/ KFTC Profile / KFTC CDBS |
Website | www.my29tv.com |
WFTC, channel 29, is a MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, which serves the Minneapolis–Saint Paul television market. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of the 21st Century Fox, and is the sister station to Fox station KMSP-TV (channel 9). The two stations share studio facilities located on Viking Drive in Eden Prairie, and a transmission tower in Shoreview. WFTC also rebroadcasts its signal on full-power satellite station KFTC in Bemidji and several low-power stations across Minnesota.
The station signed on air in October 1982 as WFBT (for "Family Bible Television"). Channel 29 originally maintained a schedule offering reruns of classic family-oriented series and Christian-based religious programming. It first operated from studio facilities located on Aspen Lane North in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. On May 6, 1984, the station was sold to the Beverly Hills Hotel Corporation, headed by prominent arbitrageur Ivan Boesky, who changed its call letters to KITN-TV (which although it actually stood for "Independent Twenty-Nine", colloquially meant "Kitten" as in, "The KITN That Roars!"). At that time, it transitioned into the market's second mainstream independent station, airing syndicated programs such as The Beverly Hillbillies, Batman and Star Trek: The Original Series. It also acquired broadcast rights to the NHL's Minnesota North Stars, as well as University of Minnesota college football games. In 1985, BHHC sold the station to Nationwide Communications, the broadcasting subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Insurance.