1982–1984 | 1984–1988 | 1988–1990 | 1990–1994 | 1994–1995 |
1995–2002 | 2002–2006 | 2006 | 2006–2017 | 2017–present |
WFBT (-TV)[]
1982–1984[]
Originally signed on the air as WFBT, an independent television station on UHF channel 29. The station was started by a group led by Danny Koker, a gospel musician and father of Danny Koker II, star of History's Counting Cars.
KITN-TV[]
1984–1994[]
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!"). In 1985, BHHC sold the station to Nationwide Communications, the broadcasting subsidiary of the Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.
1984–1988[]
1988–1990[]
KITN picked up the Fox affiliation in 1988 after United Television-owned KMSP-TV (VHF channel 9) dropped it due to its initial weak programming and ratings that were affecting its otherwise successful lineup.
1990–1994[]
As part of its liquidation of its broadcasting interests, Nationwide Communications sold the station to San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) in 1993 (it was the last remaining television station under Nationwide's ownership, the company having sold its other three stations, all of which were affiliated with ABC, to Young Broadcasting the year before).
WFTC[]
1994–1995[]
The station again changed its call sign to WFTC on October 1, 1994 (for "We're Fox Twin Cities"), with the additional change using the "W" first-letter identifier over the "K", allowed for by its transmitter location on the eastern side of the Mississippi River.
1995–2002[]
In 2001, Clear Channel traded the station to Fox Television Stations for NBC affiliate KMOL-TV (now WOAI-TV) in San Antonio and ABC affiliate KTVX in Salt Lake City. Both stations were acquired by Fox through its purchase of Chris-Craft Industries' broadcast properties, which included then-UPN affiliate KMSP-TV. WFTC became the third station in the area to be owned-and-operated by a major network, but since KMSP had higher ratings and a stronger signal than WFTC, Fox switched the affiliations of the two stations on September 8, 2002: Fox programming returned to KMSP, while WFTC affiliated with UPN.
2002–2006[]
2006[]
Following the announcement of the shutdown of UPN (whose programming would be merged with The WB to form The CW), all Fox-owned UPN stations, including WFTC, dropped the UPN name and logo from their on-air branding. WFTC changed its branding to "WFTC 29", and adopted an altered version of 2002-06 UPN era logo.
2006–2017[]
2017–present[]
In August 2017, Fox Television Stations re-branded WFTC as Fox 9+, matching the branding of sister station KMSP-TV.
External links[]