WCTS
WCTS (1030 AM; "97.9 FM / 1030 AM, The Bible Station") is a radio station licensed to Maplewood, Minnesota, and serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area with a non-commercial fundamentalist Christian format. WCTS is owned by the Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Minneapolis, hence the call letters. Studios are located in Plymouth, while its transmitter is located in Woodbury.
 | |
| City | Maplewood, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Minneapolis-St. Paul |
| Frequency | 1030 kHz |
| Branding | WCTS FM 97.9 / AM 1030 |
| Slogan | The Bible Station |
| Programming | |
| Format | fundamentalist Christian |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Central Baptist Theological Seminary |
| History | |
| First air date | November 30, 1963 or May 18, 1964 |
| Former call signs | WGHB, WRCR, WJSW, WMIN |
| Call sign meaning | Central Theological Seminary |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 12114 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 50,000 watts (day) 1,000 watts (night) |
| Translator(s) | 97.9 K250BY (Plymouth) |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | WCTSradio.com |
History
The history of WCTS (1030 AM) comprises two stations: One at 100.3FM and the other at the current 1030 AM.
1030 AM
The station that is now WCTS started with a 250 watt daytime-only signal at 1010 AM. The station's sign-on date as WGHB is unclear; the Broadcasting Yearbook of 1964 lists the date as November 30, 1963, while the publication's 1965 edition lists the date as May 18, 1964; "WRCR" is shown as the call sign by 1965. By 1968, the station carried the call letters WJSW, broadcasting polka music and other formats. When WMIN dropped its longtime call letters in 1972, WJSW grabbed them and became the new WMIN. By this time, it was airing a full service middle of the road format. The station's transmitter site was located for many years in Maplewood, the city of license, on South Century Avenue where the studios were co-located.
In the mid 1980s, the station moved to 1030 AM, along with a significant boost in daytime power. It continued its MOR format and briefly simulcast KARE-TV's evening news. WMIN played country music from 1986 to 1988 and then flipped to an oldies format, which evolved into adult standards a year later.
WCTS 100.3 FM
WCTS signed on in 1965 at 100.3 FM, with a format consisting mostly of conservative evangelists and Bible teachings by the Fourth Baptist Church in north Minneapolis.
Colfax Communications, a startup company based in Minneapolis, purchased the FM station in early 1993 and in turn bought 1030 AM to sell back to the seminary so the seminary would continue to have a broadcast voice. Colfax took the FM station off the air for a few months and signed on again as WBOB on May 13, launching a country music format under the "Bob 100" moniker. WMIN became WCTS on February 5, 1993, and seminary programming remains to this day. The WMIN calls were immediately picked up by a Hudson, Wisconsin-based station at 740 AM and used there until 2008, when the station changed its call letters to WDGY.
Translators
| Call sign | Frequency (MHz) | City of license | ERP (W) | Class | FCC info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K250BY | 97.9 | Plymouth, Minnesota | 250 | D | FCC |
References
External links
- WCTS in the FCC's AM station database
- WCTS on Radio-Locator
- WCTS in Nielsen Audio's AM station database