WLTE

Infobox Radio station
name = WLTE


city = Minneapolis, Minnesota
area = Minneapolis-St. Paul
branding = "102.9 Lite FM"
slogan = "Your Station at Work"
airdate = 1969
frequency = 102.9 FM (MHz) HD Radio
102.9-2 FM WLTE2 WCCO-AM simulcast (HD Radio)
format = Commercial; Adult contemporary
erp = 100,000 watts
haat = 315 meters
class = C0
facility_id = 9641
callsign_meaning = Lite
former_callsigns = WCCO-FM (1969-1983)
owner = CBS Radio
webcast = [http://player.play.it/player/player.html?id=161&onestat=wlte Listen Live!]
sister_stations = KZJK, WCCO
website = http://www.wlte.com/
affiliations =

WLTE (102.9 FM, "Lite FM") is a radio station in Minneapolis-St. Paul that carries a "Lite rock" adult contemporary format and has done so for more than two decades. WLTE is owned by CBS Corporation, which also owns WCCO radio today. Its main transmitter is located on the KMSP Tower in Shoreview, Minnesota, with backup facilities on the nearby Telefarm installation.

The station is one of the most popular in the Twin Cities, since they, like many similar stations, aim heavily at workplace environments (WLTE calls itself, "Your Station at Work").

WLTE is also the flagship station of the nationally syndicated "Saturday Night at the 70s." The host, Cindy Barton, is also host of WLTE's morning show.

History

The station began as WCCO-FM in 1969, the FM broadcast of local powerhouse WCCO 830 AM, but was hampered by its limited signal and never carried 'CCO's signal very far. It also carried programming separate from the AM, with a mix of Beautiful Music and soft vocals, not unlike the pre-rock KQRS. The station later added two DJ shifts separate from the AM, hosted by Denny Long and Lou Lattson, playing a free-form rock music format, which included some underground rock tracks, along with full-service elements such as news and weather.

Until 1973, the station only operated for the minimum amount of time required to keep the license. However, when the transmitter was upgraded full-power full-time, a broad-based music format was launched. By 1975, the format evolved to Adult Contemporary, though they continued to play more deeper album tracks than most AC stations. This approach was essentially an early example of Adult Album Alternative (AAA). In that same year, WCCO-FM picked up Dr. Demento. Personalities included Paul Stagg, Carl Lensgraf, Terri Davis, Tom Ambrose, Curt Lundgren, Johnny Canton, Peter May and Pat O'Neill. Tim Russell, currently a cast member of "A Prairie Home Companion," hosted middays and created memorable characters like traffic reporter "Captain Buzz Studley.

WCCO-FM was a successful station until new IDS Center transmitters for competing stations were built in 1979, causing damaging interference to the station's broadcast signal. In 1983, Top 40 became a massively popular format across the country. WLOL, which picked up the format in 1981, was one of the most successful stations in the market, and KDWB was just returning to the FM band. WCCO-FM switched to Top 40 under Program Director John Long that year. Results were dismal, and both the format and Long lasted just a few months.

The "lite" format was introduced later that year, along with new call letters WLTE. In addition to the adult contemporary format, in recent years the station switches to all-Christmas music from mid-November to midnight on Christmas, billing itself in that period as "The Official Christmas Music Station". Rival KQQL, an oldies station, also programs nothing but Christmas music during this period.

Image Change

Until the early 2000s, the station has been known as "Lite Rock 103 FM", having rounded the frequency up to "103" since the WCCO-FM days. The frequency approximation worked in the days before digital tuners, and it eliminated confusion with KEEY, on 102.1. It became "102.9 Lite FM", following a trend of abandoning the practice of frequency rounding to make stations easier to find on digital tuners.

WLTE HD2

WLTE currently simulcasts the audio of sister station WCCO AM 830 on its HD-2 subchannel.

External links

* [http://www.wlte.com/ WLTE 102.9 Lite FM]
*FMQ|WLTE
*FML|WLTE
*FMARB|WLTE
* [http://www.radiotapes.com/ Radiotapes.com] Historic airchecks of Minneapolis/St. Paul radio stations dating back to 1924 including WCCO-FM (including an aircheck from May 1969 when the station first went on the air) and other Twin Cities stations.
* [http://www.TwinCitiesRadioAirchecks.com TwinCitiesRadioAirchecks.com] This site has some recent photos of Glen Olson, Beth Kidd and Johny Canton at the control board and on the air. The site also has many airchecks of Twin Cities radio from the 1970's, including WCCO-FM, WLTE's predecessor.