Nielsen Media Research treats WCCO-TV and KCCW-TV as one station in local ratings books, using the identifier name WCCO+.

In 1934, two newspapers—the Minneapolis Tribune and the Saint Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch—formed a joint venture named "Twin Cities Newspapers", which purchased the radio station and changed its call letters to WTCN.

During the 1980s, a cable-exclusive sibling station was created to supplement WCCO, with its own slate of local and national entertainment programming.

While CBS shareholders retain a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom, now Audacy, is the surviving entity, with WCCO radio and its sibling stations separated from WCCO-TV.

[8][9] On August 13, 2019, National Amusements announced that Viacom and CBS Corporation would recombine their assets, forming the entity ViacomCBS.

On August 14, 2023, Wendy McMahon, a former creative services director at WCCO-TV, was named CBS News and Stations president.

In 1992, WCCO provided coverage of Super Bowl XXVI and that year's Final Four, which were hosted at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

Since 2023, WCCO has aired select Minnesota Golden Gophers football games as a part of a new deal between CBS and the Big Ten Conference.

WCCO leads by large margins in overall households, though compared to the 25–54 demographic, the numbers are much more competitive with NBC affiliate KARE.

WCCO began broadcasting local newscasts in high-definition on May 28, 2009, becoming the third major network station in the Twin Cities (behind KARE and KMSP) to do so.

As part of the SAFER Act, WCCO-TV kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

WCCO-TV remains available on cable and satellite providers in the Alexandria area; Selective TV, Inc., a local translator collective, announced on December 22, 2017, that it had struck a deal to add WCCO to its lineup.