credit . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wftc kftc wftc minneapolis saint paul minnesota kftc bemidji minnesota united states branding my29 wftc slogan my shows are on my29 channels digital wftc 29 uhf virtual 9 psip kftc 26 uhf virtual 26 psip 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 ; 34 years ago 1982 10 kftc june 20 1999 ; 17 years ago 1999 06 20 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 45.058194 ; 93.124500 kftc 47 28 7.4 n 94 49 24.6 w 47.468722 n 94.823500 w 47.468722 ; 94.823500 kftc 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 . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 as a fox affiliate then becoming a upn station 1.3 switch to mynetworktv 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 5 translator stations 6 references 7 external links history edit early history edit 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 . as a fox affiliate then becoming a upn station edit in 1988 kmsp tv ended its affiliation with fox disappointed with the network s weak programming offerings that were bogging down the station s otherwise successful general entertainment lineup . fox then shifted its affiliation to kitn which adopted the moniker fox 29 . 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 . the station later relocated its operations to a new studio located on broadway street northeast in minneapolis . until 1998 it served as the de facto fox affiliate for almost all of minnesota ; the state s other two markets duluth and rochester did not have fox affiliates of their own until kxlt tv signed on in rochester in 1998 and kqds tv debuted in duluth one year later . most areas in western minnesota received fox programming from fargo north dakota s kvrr or sioux falls south dakota s kttw . as part of its liquidation of its broadcasting interests nationwide communications sold the station to clear channel communications 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 . in 2001 clear channel traded the station to fox television stations for kmol tv now woai tv in san antonio and 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 . 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 . switch to mynetworktv edit on january 24 2006 cbs corporation and time warner announced that upn and the wb would shut down and be replaced by a new network that would carry programs from both networks the cw . 1 2 despite affiliating with most of cbs corporation s upn stations and tribune broadcasting s wb stations fox s upn affiliates were not included in the new network . although the cw did not sign its twin cities affiliate until may 2006 when kmwb tv which changed its calls to wucw by the network s launch was announced as the network s local affiliate through an affiliation deal by its parent sinclair broadcast group wftc joined other fox owned upn stations in scrubbing all upn branding the following day becoming branded as simply wftc 29 . it also stopped promoting upn programming outside of network hours . on february 22 less than a month after the announcement of the cw fox announced that it would in conjunction with its syndication division twentieth television launch a new network called mynetworktv with wftc and the other fox owned upn stations plus included in this deal is a fox owned independent station in dallas fort worth as the nuclei . 3 on june 2 2006 wftc officially changed its branding to my 29 following its impending switch to the newly launched fox owned network . although mynetworktv announced its launch date to be september 5 upn continued to broadcast on stations across the country until september 15 2006 . while some upn affiliates that switched to mynetworktv aired the final two weeks of upn s programming outside its regular primetime slot the fox owned stations including wftc dropped the network entirely on august 31 2006 . on september 9 2006 wftc began carrying the 4kids tv lineup for the first time since 2002 when the station was a fox affiliate airing what was then fox kids . the station will continue to air weekend marketplace on saturday mornings while sister station kmsp will air xploration station starting in the fall of 2014 . digital television edit digital channels edit the digital signal of kmsp contains two subchannels while that of wftc contains three . through the use of virtual channels wftc s subchannels are associated with channel 9 . channel station video aspect psip short name programming 4 5 9.1 wftc 720p 16 9 kmsp hd simulcast of kmsp tv 9.2 wftc hd main wftc programming mynetworktv 9.3 480i movies movies 9.4 kmsp tv 4 3 buzzr buzzr 9.9 720p 16 9 kmsp hd main kmsp tv programming fox in november 2009 a standard definition simulcast of kmsp was added to wftc s second subchannel and given a virtual channel number of 9.2 . in turn a standard definition simulcast of wftc was placed on kmsp s second subchannel and given a virtual channel number of 29.2 . this ensures reception of both stations even in cases where the atsc channel on which kmsp or wftc operates is not actually receivable . on august 27 2012 wftc began carrying programming from bounce tv on a new digital subchannel on 29.3 as part of an affiliation deal between the network and fox television stations mynetworktv o & os . 6 on june 19 2014 kmsp tv announced plans that effective june 24 2014 they will broadcast their 9.1 virtual channel via rf channel 29 mapping to psip 9.9 to take advantage of its broader coverage area and allow viewers with uhf only antennas to receive the station in high definition . 7 kmsp and wftc unified all of their over the air channels as virtual subchannels of kmsp . as a result the psips of wftc changed to channel 9 . analog to digital conversion edit on february 5 2009 wftc s bemidji based satellite station kftc began broadcasting its signal in digital only . wftc shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 29 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 21 to former uhf analog channel 29 for post transition operations 8 while kftc which did not receive a companion digital channel prior to the digital transition flash cut to digital on its former analog channel assignment of uhf channel 26 . programming edit syndicated programs seen on wftc include the simpsons the wendy williams show judge judy and the real among others . the former also air first run episodes on sundays in addition to reruns on the weekdays . the station also broadcasts fox s saturday morning infomercial block weekend marketplace in lieu of kmsp . the station has a locally produced show that airs weeknights at 11 00pm called on the fly hosted by former kdwb dj tony fly and fox 9 morning traffic anchor kelsey soby news operation edit clear channel started a news department for the station shortly before selling the station to fox . as a fox affiliate wftc launched an hour long primetime newscast at 9 00 p.m. in 2001 where it faced competition from kmsp s established hour long news program . after fox assumed control of the station the station s news department was integrated with that of kmsp and its late newscast was moved to 10 00 p.m. and shortened to 30 minutes . though this move protected new sister station kmsp wftc now faced stiff competition from late evening newscasts on kare kstp tv and wcco tv . channel 29 s 10 p.m. newscast was eventually cancelled due to low ratings airing its final edition on june 30 2006 the timeslot was then replaced by syndicated programming . the 10 00 news program was then moved to kmsp as part of an expanded late news block . some members of wftc s on air staff were retained by kmsp s news department . translator stations edit in addition to kftc channel 26 in bemidji wftc is rebroadcast on a network of eight translators in central and southern minnesota . all of them broadcast in digital . city of license callsign channel alexandria k30af d 30 k48dv d 48 frost k29if d 29 jackson k51kt d 51 olivia k49aj d 49 red lake k43my d 43 st. james k34jx d 34 willmar k50hz d 50 references edit gilmore girls meet smackdown ; cw network to combine wb upn in cbs warner venture beginning in september cnnmoney.com january 24 2006 . upn and wb to combine forming new tv network the