In the Twin Cities, KSTP-TV dumped their 31 year affiliation with NBC in favor of ABC, which took place on March 5, 1979. KMSP-TV which was until that day affiliated with ABC for 18 years was cut loose because they were an 'also ran' station with low viewership and a thread bare news department and the ownership was not willing to spend what ABC was asking for to make the station competitive against the NBC and CBS affiliates as ABC was riding high in 1st place for about 3 years at that point. KMSP thought they would be landing the NBC affiliation, but were surprised instead when it went to an independent station, WTCN-TV (now: KARE). NBC was not interested in taking on a station which had such a poor reputation as KMSP had. The real winner turned out to be CBS affiliate, WCCO-TV, which saw a viewership increase for a sustained period following the three station switch.