The Minneapolis Star-Tribune looks at the legacy of Daniel T. “Tom” Cousins, a longtime WCCO promotions executive who died last month. Cousins, who spent 38 years at the CBS-owned station in Minneapolis, was the original architect of the station’s live studio broadcasts from the State Fair:
It was Cousins’ idea in 1968 to build a fully functioning, climate-controlled television studio that would be used only during the 12-day fair. WCCO has been broadcasting live from the State Fair ever since.
Nancy Nelson, who worked as WCCO’s “Saturday Night Weather Girl” for part of her long broadcasting career, said that Cousins recognized the importance of the State Fair, how it related to public relations and how it gave the station the ability to interact with its audience.
Advertisement“This is the only time that people who view all of our ’CCO on-air folks regularly got to meet them,” Nelson said. “To this day it is an extraordinary presence for WCCO.”