Editing WFTC (section)

===As a Fox affiliate, then becoming a UPN station===
In 1988, [[KMSP-TV]] ended its affiliation with [[Fox Broadcasting Company|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 signs in the United States|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, Minnesota|Rochester]], did not have Fox affiliates of their own until [[KXLT-TV]] in Rochester joined the network 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 (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 [[American Broadcasting Company|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. 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.