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WCCO Radio's Top Moments

WCCO Radio is celebrating the state of Minnesota's 150th Anniversary, the Minnesota Sesquicentennial, by airing its top 83 audio moments from the past 83 years! Minnesota History on Dipity.

Hear the Best Audio Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Over the Years!

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The birth of radio in the Twin Cities in the 1920's...former GM Larry Haeg Sr. interviews one of the earliest station GM's Earl Gammons in 1964 about the evolution of the radio station.

The Minnesota Centennial Baby Revisited! Dwayne Ostrem was the Minnesota Centennial Baby on May 11th, 1958. He was interviewed 10 years later on WCCO by Howard Viken. 40 years later, we catch up with Dwayne on his 50th birthday AND Howard Viken on WCCO Radio!

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Minnesota Viking Korey Stringer dies at Training Camp.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Minnesota State Fair.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Minnesota Wild's Playoff run in 2003.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Gopher hockey team goes "back-to-back" in 2002-2003.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The 1998 Vikings and superstar rookie, Randy Moss.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio One of the great plays in Viking history, the Ahmad Rashad "Hail Mary" in 1980.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Gopher Basketball team makes it to their first ever Final Four in 1997 before scandal wipes it from the record books.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The "Voice of the Golden Gophers" Ray Christensen, hangs it up after 50 years.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The longest running program in radio history, the CBS World News Roundup.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Former Minnesota Governor Orville Freeman named to John F. Kennedy's Cabinet in 1961.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The "Murder of the Century" in 1963.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Governor Wendell Anderson nominates himself for Senator in 1976.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The first ever woman to pitch in professional baseball.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The 1997 Red River Valley Flood.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio NHL Hockey returns to Minnesota.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Dennis Green fired as the Minnesota Vikings coach.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The 2005 Minnesota budget deficit and government shutdown.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The outbreak of the War in Iraq.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Titanic whistle sounds once again.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Mikhail Gorbachev visits the Twin Cities in 1990.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Kirby Puckett's passing in 2006.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Jessie Ventura "shocks the world" in 1999.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Bloomington, Minnesota native Tom Burnett Jr. helps lead a fight against the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11th.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio In August of 2003, a massive power outage in the Northeast leads to chaos in the heat of summer.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio While on a hunting trip in northern Wisconsin, Chai Vang shot eight people, who were also hunting in the area, on November 21, 2004.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The largest natural disaster in U.S. history strikes New Orleans and the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Katrina strikes the south in 2005.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio A man calls in to the WCCO Radio newsroom and confesses to a murder on the air in 2005.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The 2005 Red Lake Reservation School Shooting.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio In 2006, the Minnesota Legislature approved new stadiums for both the Twins and Gopher Football teams.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Vikings lose to Kansas City in Super Bowl IV...the first of four losses in the big game.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Timberwolves star Malik Sealy killed by a drunk driver.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Gopher Football team knocks off the #1 team in the country in 1977, beating the Michigan Wolverines 16-0.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The story of "Floyd of Rosedale" and the Minnesota-Iowa football rivalry is born.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Gopher Football Team wins the Rose Bowl in 1962 over UCLA, the last trip to Pasadena for the U.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The 1982 Big Ten Champion Gopher basketball team.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio St. Paul goes Hollywood with the premiere of "A Prairie Home Companion" in 2006.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Minnesota Twins bring home World Championships in 1987 and 1991.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in April of 1968.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The capture of Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein in 2004.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a homemade boat by Minnesota Gerry Spiess in 1979.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Golfer Payne Stewart killed in a plane crash in Western South Dakota in 1999.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Protesters storm through police barricades during a Genetics Conference in the Twin Cities in 2000.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio College Student Dru Sjodin is kidnapped from a mall parking lot in 2003.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Light Rail returns to the Twin Cities in 2004.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The O.J. Simpson Bronco chase in 1994.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Edina and Har Mar Tornadoes of 1981.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio One of the state's worst blizzards in January of 1967.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The last Cannon Mess runs on WCCO Radio.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The 35W Bridge Collapse in 2007.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The birth of the "singing radio jingle" by the Wheaties Quartet in 1926.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone dies in a plane crash in 2002.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam conflict in 1975.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio President Franklin D. Roosevelt passes away on April 12th, 1945.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The nation is as war...WWII coverage on WCCO during the 1940's.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The attack on Pearl Harbor and declaration of war by the U.S. in December of 1941.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Minnesota state record for lowest temperature set in 1996.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The outbreak of Polio in the 1940's and 1950's.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The celebration of the millennium and Y2K.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Minnesota celebrates the state's Centennial in 1958.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The biggest show in town in 1951....the Minneapolis Aquatennial welcomes Bob Hope!

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The brand new "Memorial Stadium" opens on campus in 1924.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Minnesota becomes a "Major League" player in 1960 as the Twins and Vikings come to town.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The end of the Korean conflict ends and Minnesota troops return home.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Presidential race between Kennedy and Nixon in 1960.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio 1981 Iranian Hostage Crisis.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey is nominated for Vice President of the United States in 1964....live on WCCO Radio!

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Hubert H. Humphrey passes away in 1978.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Outbreak of the First Gulf War in 1991.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Great Depression and Labor Strife in the Twin Cities during the 1930's.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Birth of Network Broadcasting...NBC does first ever nationwide broadcast in 1926.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Twin Cities first media superstar....Cedric Adams.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Calvin Coolidge gives the first ever Oath of Office live on the radio.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The WCCO Radio News Department established during WWII.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The floods of Southeastern Minnesota in 2007.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio Race Riots in the City of Minneapolis.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio 1965 Fridley Tornadoes.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Anoka tornado of 1939.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The 1937 St. Paul Winter Carnival.

The Top Moments as Heard on WCCO Radio The Terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.

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Minnesota State Facts

Name Etomology: from Dakota word Mini Sota Makoce ("Land of Cloudy Waters")

Total Area: 84,068 square miles (217,736 square kilometers - the 12th largest state)

Motto: L'Etoile du Nord (The North Star)

Length (longest distance, north to south): 411 miles

Width (longest distance, east to west): 357 miles

Designation as a Territory: March 3, 1849

Entrance into Union: May 11, 1858 (the 32d state to enter the Union)

State Song: "Hail! Minnesota."

Abbreviation: MN

Population: 4,375,099 (1990 census) - 20th largest state - 70.6% urban, 29.4% rural, 94.4% White, 2.2% African American, 1.8% Asian or Pacific Islander, 1.2% Hispanic, 1.1% American Indian, Aleutian, or Eskimo, 0.5% other.

Population Density: 54.3 persons per square mile

Capitol: St. Paul

Largest City: Minneapolis (368,383 people)

Average Elevation: 1,200 feet

Highest Point: Eagle Mountain, 2,301 feet

Lowest Point: surface of Lake Superior, 602 feet

Total Area of Inland Water: 4,779 square miles

Number of Lakes Over 10 Acres: 15,291

Largest Lake: Red Lake, 451 square miles

Average Annual Precipitation: 28.32 inches

Average Annual Snowfall: 49.6 inches

Average temperature in January: 11.2° F

Average Temperature in July: 73.1° F
State Tree: Norway Pine (Pinus resinosa) State Flower: Pink and White (Showy) Lady's Slipper (Cypripedum reginae)

State Bird: Common Loon (Gavia immer)

State Fish: Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum)

State Gemstone: Lake Superior Agate

State Grain: Wild Rice (Zizania aquatica)

State Drink: Milk

State Mushroom: Morel mushroom

State Muffin: Blueberry

Minnesota Facts and Trivia

Minnesotan baseball commentator Halsey Hall was the first to say 'Holy Cow' during a baseball broadcast.
 

The Mall of America in Bloomington is the size of 78 football fields --- 9.5 million square feet.
 

Minnesota Inventions: Masking and Scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products, and Green Giant vegetables
 

The St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959 allowing oceangoing ships to reach Duluth.
 

Minneapolis is home to the oldest continuously running theater (Old Log Theater) and the largest dinner theater (Chanhassan Dinner Theater) in the country.
 

The original name of the settlement that became St. Paul was Pig's Eye. Named for the French-Canadian whiskey trader, Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant, who had led squatters to the settlement.
 

The world's largest pelican stands at the base of the Mill Pond dam on the Pelican River, right in downtown Pelican Rapids. The 15 1/2 feet tall concrete statue was built in 1957.
 

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is the largest urban sculpture garden in the country.
 

The Guthrie Theater is the largest regional playhouse in the country.
 

Minneapolis’ famed skyway system connecting 52 blocks (nearly five miles) of downtown makes it possible to live, eat, work and shop without going outside.
 

Minneapolis has more golfers per capita than any other city in the country.
 

The climate-controlled Metrodome is the only facility in the country to host a Super Bowl, a World Series and a NCAA Final Four Basketball Championship.
 

Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined.
 

The nation’s first Better Business Bureau was founded in Minneapolis in 1912.
 

The first open heart surgery and the first bone marrow transplant in the United States were done at the University of Minnesota.
 

Bloomington and Minneapolis are the two farthest north latitude cities to ever host a World Series game.
 

Madison is the "Lutefisk capital of the United States".
 

Rochester is home of the world famous Mayo Clinic. The clinic is a major teaching and working facility. It is known world wide for its doctor's expertise and the newest methods of treatments.
 

The Bergquist cabin, built in 1870 by John Bergquist, a Swedish immigrant, is the oldest house in Moorhead still on its original site.
 

For many years, the world's largest twine ball has sat in Darwin. It weighs 17,400 pounds, is twelve feet in diameter, and was the creation of Francis A. Johnson.
 

The stapler was invented in Spring Valley.
 

In 1956, Southdale, in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, the first enclosed climate-controlled suburban shops opened in the 50 states.
 

Private Milburn Henke of Hutchinson was the first enlisted man to land with the first American Expeditionary Force in Europe in WWII on January 26, 1942.
 

The first practical water skis were invented in 1922 by Ralph W. Samuelson, who steam-bent 2 eight-foot-long pine boards into skies. He took his first ride behind a motorboat on a lake in Lake City.
 

In Olivia a single half-husked cob towers over a roadside gazebo. It is 25 feet tall, made of fiberglass, and has been up since 1973.
 

The first Children's department in a Library is said to be that of the Minneapolis Public Library, which separated children's books from the rest of the collection in Dec. 1889.
 

The first Automatic Pop-up toaster was marketed in June 1926 by McGraw Electric Co. in Minneapolis under the name Toastmaster. The retail price was $13.50.
 

On September 2, 1952, a 5 year old girl was the first patient to under go a heart operation in which the deep freezing technique was employed. Her body temperature, except for her head, was reduced to 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Dr. Floyd Lewis at the Medical School of the University of Minnesota performed the operation.
 

The first Aerial Ferry was put into Operation on April 9, 1905, over the ship canal between Duluth to Minnesota Point. It had room enough to accommodate 6 automobiles. Round trip took 10 min.
 

Rollerblades were the first commercially successful in-line Roller Skates. Minnesota students Scott and Brennan Olson invented them in 1980, when they were looking for a way to practice Hockey during the off-season. Their design was an ice hockey boot with 3 inline wheels instead of a blade.
 

The first Intercollegiate Basketball game was played in Minnesota on February 9,1895.
 

In 1919 a Minneapolis factory turned out the nations first armored cars.
 

Tonka Trucks were developed and are continued to be manufactured in Minnetonka.
 

Hormel Company of Austin marketed the first canned ham in 1926. Hormel introduced Spam in 1937.
 

Introduced in August 1963, The Control Data 6600, designed by Control Data Corp. of Chippewa Falls, was the first Super Computer. It was used by the military to simulate nuclear explosions and break Soviet codes. These computers also were used to model complex phenomena such as hurricanes and galaxies.
 

Candy maker Frank C. Mars of Minnesota introduced the Milky Way candy bar in 1923. Mars marketed the Snickers bar in 1930 and introduced the 5 cent Three Musketeers bar in 1937. The original 3 Musketeers bar contained 3 bars in one wrapper. Each with different flavor nougat.
 

A Jehovah's Witness was the first patient to receive a transfusion of artificial blood in 1979 at the University of Minnesota Hospital. He had refused a transfusion of real blood because of his religious beliefs.
 

Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people, more than any other state.
 

There are 201 Mud Lakes, 154 Long Lakes, and 123 Rice Lakes commonly named in Minnesota.
 

The Hull-Rust mine in Hibbing became the largest open-pit mine in the world.
 

Minnesota's waters flow outward in three directions: north to Hudson Bay in Canada, east to the Atlantic Ocean, and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
 

At the confluence of the Big Fork and Rainy Rivers on the Canadian border near International Falls stands the largest Indian burial mound in the upper midwest. It is known as the Grand Mound historic site.
 

Author Laura Ingalls Wilder lived on Plum Creek near Walnut Grove.
 

Akeley is birthplace and home of world's largest Paul Bunyan Statue. The kneeling Paul Bunyan is 20 feet tall. He might be the claimed 33 feet tall, if he were standing.
 

Hibbing is the birthplace of the American bus industry. It sprang from the business acumen of Carl Wickman and Andrew "Bus Andy" Anderson - who opened the first bus line (with one bus) between the towns of Hibbing and Alice in 1914. The bus line grew to become Greyhound Lines, Inc.
 

The first official hit in the Metrodome in Minneapolis was made by Pete Rose playing for the Cincinnati Reds in a preseason game.
 

Polaris Industries of Roseau invented the snowmobile.
 

Twin Cities-based Northwest Airlines was the first major airline to ban smoking on international flights.
 

Alexander Anderson of Red Wing discovered the processes to puff wheat and rice giving us the indispensable rice cakes.
 

In 1898, the Kensington Rune stone was found on the farm of Olaf Ohman, near Alexandria. The Kensington Rune stone carvings allegedly tell of a journey of a band of Vikings in 1362.

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