For broadcast stations that previously used the WCAU call sign, see WCAU (disambiguation).

WCAU, channel 10, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WCAU has its studios on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter in the Roxborough neighborhood. Its signal covers the Delaware Valley area including Philadelphia, parts of central and southern New Jersey, and Delaware. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Access Hollywood, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Extra, and The Nate Berkus Show.

History[link]

As a CBS station[link]

In 1945, the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin secured a construction permit for channel 10, naming its proposed station WPEN-TV after the newspaper's radio stations, WPEN (950 AM) and WPEN-FM (98.1 FM, later WCAU-FM and now WOGL).

However, the picture changed dramatically in 1946, when The Philadelphia Record folded. The Bulletin inherited the Record's "goodwill," along with the rights to buy WCAU radio (1210 AM, now WPHT) and the original WCAU-FM (102.9 FM) from their longtime owners, brothers Ike and Leon Levy. The Bulletin sold off the less-powerful WPEN and WCAU-FM, with the latter being renamed WPEN-FM (it is now WMGK). The Bulletin kept its FM station, renaming it WCAU-FM to match its new AM sister. The newspaper also kept its construction permit for channel 10, renaming it WCAU-TV.

WCAU-TV went on the air on May 23, 1948 as Philadelphia's third television station.^[1] It was able to secure an affiliation with CBS through the influence of the Levy brothers, who continued to work for the newspaper as consultants. WCAU radio had been one of CBS's original 16 affiliates when the network premiered in 1927. A year later, the Levy brothers persuaded their brother-in-law, William S. Paley, to buy the struggling network. The Levy brothers had been shareholders and directors at CBS for many years. Due to this long relationship, channel 10 signed on as CBS's third television affiliate.

Original studio at 1622 Chestnut Street

Channel 10 was originally located at 1622 Chestnut Street in Center City along with its radio sisters. (The building, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, now houses The Art Institute.) In 1952, the WCAU stations moved to a new facility in the Main Line suburb of Bala Cynwyd. The studio, located on Monument Road at City Line Avenue, was a state-of-the-art television center, and the first building in America constructed specifically for broadcasting. Channel 10 is still headquartered there today.

In the late 1950s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) collapsed northern Delaware, southern New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley into the Philadelphia market. The Bulletin realized that channel 10's original tower, atop the PSFS Building in Center City, was inadequate for this larger viewing area. Accordingly, in 1957, WCAU-TV moved to a new 1,200-foot (370 m) tower in Roxborough, which added most of Delaware, the Jersey Shore and the Lehigh Valley to its city-grade coverage.

Also in 1957, the Bulletin bought CBS affiliate WGBI-TV (channel 22) in Scranton, changing its call letters to WDAU-TV (it is now WYOU). Soon after, the FCC told the Bulletin that it couldn't keep both stations due to a large signal overlap in the Lehigh Valley. The Bulletin could not afford to get a waiver to keep both stations, so it opted to keep the smaller WDAU-TV and sell the WCAU stations to CBS. CBS had to seek a waiver to buy the WCAU stations, as the signals of the WCAU stations overlapped with those of WCBS radio and WCBS-TV in New York City. (In the case of the radio outlets, both were clear-channel stations; the FCC at the time usually did not allow common ownership of clear-channel stations with overlapping nighttime coverage areas.) The FCC readily granted the waiver, and CBS took control in 1958.

From 1965 to 1986, WCAU-TV was the only network-owned station in Philadelphia. As such, it was the only station in the city that did not heavily or moderately preempt network programming. It did run an hour of Saturday morning cartoons during the 7 a.m. hour and a week behind to run the hour-long locally produced children's program, The Gene London Show, which ended in 1977. Beginning in 1978, WCAU TV began preempting an hour of Sunday Morning cartoon reruns and in the beginning of 1979 they preempted an hour of the Saturday Morning cartoons. By 1980, they were running the entire Saturday Morning cartoon lineup again and by early in 1981, the Sunday morning hour of children's programs were brought back.

Switch from CBS to NBC[link]

In 1994, CBS entered into a long-term affiliation agreement with Westinghouse (Group W) Broadcasting, the owners of Philadelphia's longtime NBC affiliate, KYW-TV (channel 3). Westinghouse converted three of its stations, KYW-TV among them, into CBS affiliates. KYW-TV had been a very distant third in the Philadelphia ratings for more than a decade, while WCAU was a solid runner-up to rival ABC-owned station WPVI-TV (channel 6). Nonetheless, CBS decided to affiliate with channel 3 and sell channel 10, ending a 47-year relationship (including 37 years of ownership) with the station.

NBC and New World Communications then emerged as the leading bidders for WCAU. NBC's motivation was obvious—though it was losing KYW-TV, the network also saw a chance to get an owned-and-operated station in Philadelphia, the largest market where it didn't own a television station. Meanwhile, New World had recently partnered with Fox in most markets and NBC in two others. It considered either NBC of Fox for WCAU TV but leaned toward turning WCAU into a Fox affiliate, as it did with most of its other stations. Had New World opted to affiliate WCAU with Fox, channel 10 would have retained its status as the "home" station of the Philadelphia Eagles. The station had carried Eagles games since 1950, and continued to air most Eagles games after CBS gained broadcast rights to National Football League games in 1956. CBS had recently lost the rights to the National Football Conference (where the Eagles played) to Fox.

Even before CBS put WCAU on the market, rumors abounded that Fox was about to lose its original Philadelphia affiliate, Viacom/Paramount-owned WTXF-TV (channel 29), to the new United Paramount Network. Fox announced plans to buy WGBS-TV (channel 57, now WPSG), but later canceled them and entered the WCAU bidding in case New World's bid either fell through or New World opted to affiliate WCAU with NBC. In the end, Viacom/Paramount opted to sell WTXF to Fox and buy WGBS. New World and NBC then bid for Channel 10 but due to a complex swap, CBS wound up selling WCAU TV to NBC.

As an NBC-owned station[link]

On September 10, 1995, KYW-TV and WCAU-TV swapped network affiliations, part of a more complex affiliation/ownership deal involving NBC, CBS and Group W. While all of Group W's other stations had switched to CBS in January, the swap was delayed in Philadelphia after NBC discovered it could not buy channel 10 outright without going over the FCC's ownership limit of the time. To solve this problem, NBC swapped KCNC-TV in Denver and KUTV in Salt Lake City to CBS in return for WCAU. CBS then traded controlling interest in KCNC and KUTV to Group W for a minority stake in KYW-TV. As part of this deal, NBC and Group W/CBS also traded broadcasting facilities in Miami. Group W's parent, the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, purchased CBS in 1996, making CBS's Philadelphia radio stations sisters to WCAU-AM/WPHT's longtime rival, KYW radio.

NBC had wanted to own a station in Philadelphia for many years. It briefly succeeded in 1956, when it extorted Westinghouse into exchanging channel 3 (then called WPTZ-TV) and KYW radio for NBC's Cleveland stations, WTAM-AM-FM and WNBK television. However, the FCC and the U.S. Justice Department nullified the swap in June 1965. In purchasing channel 10 in 1958, CBS cited NBC's then-ownership of WRCV-TV (as KYW was called) and WRCA-TV in New York City in its successful effort to obtain an FCC waiver.

Although the radio stations had dropped the WCAU calls some years before, NBC dropped the -TV suffix from channel 10's callsign soon after it assumed control.

Digital Television[link]

On October 25, 2010, WCAU introduced its own version of WNBC's New York Nonstop channel, NBC Philadelphia Nonstop. This sub-channel features various news and entertainment programs, and a 7PM newscast.

WCAU also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 10.1, labelled "NBC10", broadcasting at 1.83 Mbit/s.^[2][3]

As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion was completed, WCAU shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009. The station's digital broadcasts remained on channel 34, because ABC affiliate WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania continued broadcasting on channel 10 after ceasing channel 27 analog transmission that day.^[4] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers continue to display WCAU's virtual channel as 10.1

News operation[link]

WCAU Studios
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	1618-22 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates:	39°57′19″N 75°10′27″W / 39.95528°N 75.17417°W / 39.95528; -75.17417Coordinates: 39°57′19″N 75°10′27″W / 39.95528°N 75.17417°W / 39.95528; -75.17417
Built:	1931
Architect:	Harry Sternfeld; Multiple
Architectural style:	Modern Movement, Art Deco
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	83002281[5]
Added to NRHP:	January 27, 1983

News has been produced at WCAU from when it went on the air on in 1948. Charles Shaw, who had worked with Edward R. Murrow as a CBS correspondent in London during World War II, was the station's news director from 1948 until he left the station in the early 1960s. John Facenda, who later gained fame as the voice of NFL Films, was the station's main anchorman from shortly after it signed on until 1973. At the time he retired, he had been a main anchor longer than anyone in Philadelphia. He has since been passed by WPVI's Jim Gardner.

Soon after joining the station, Facenda sold the Bulletin on the idea of a local 11 pm newscast—the first in the country. It aired for the first time on September 8. In 1950, WCAU became the first station with a four-man news team. The 6 pm newscast was anchored by Facenda, with Philadelphia radio legend Phil Sheridan handling weather, Jack Whitaker on sports and Ed McMahon as announcer. In 1965, channel 10 introduced the "Big News" format from sister station KNXT (now KCBS-TV) in Los Angeles.

The station's news operation was the ratings leader in Philadelphia for most of the time from the late 1940s through the 1960s. In the 1960s KYW-TV's Eyewitness News passed it in the rating. The station then remained a strong second until the 1970s, when WPVI-TV's Action News bumped channel 10 down to third place. WCAU struggled through the late 1970s while most of its CBS sisters dominated the ratings, but has since recovered and has been a solid runner-up to longtime leader WPVI for over a quarter century. WCAU did manage to pass WPVI in the 5 pm time slot for a time in the early 1980s with its original "Live at 5," anchored by Larry Kane & Deborah Knapp (now at KENS-TV in San Antonio). In 2001, WCAU made national news when its 11 pm news (anchored by Larry Mendte and Renee Chenault-Fattah) knocked WPVI from the top slot for the first time in decades. Since 2003, WCAU has had to fend off a spirited challenge from a resurgent KYW-TV for second place in the Philadelphia ratings. Channel 3's resurgence was fueled in part by luring Mendte away from channel 10.

Shortly after CBS agreed to sell the station to NBC, WCAU dropped its longtime moniker of Channel 10 News in favor of NewsCenter 10. After the sale closed, NBC changed the newscast name to News 10. It became NBC 10 News in 2000.

WCAU used music based on "Channel 2 News", written for WBBM-TV in Chicago (the de facto official music for CBS' O&O stations) & variations on it from 1982 until the 11 PM newscast on September 9, 1995 hours before the flip to NBC. It used the original 1975 version from 1982–1987, a synthesized version written by a local composer during the 1987-88 season and the Palmer News Package from 1988 to 1995. KYW-TV has used variants on this theme in recent years.

On December 10, 2005 WCAU took over production of WPHL-TV (channel 17)'s half-hour 10 pm nightly newscast after that station canceled in-house primetime newscast and laid off its entire news and production staff. This new newscast was called WB 17 News at 10 Powered by NBC 10. On July 25, 2006, the program was renamed My PHL 17 News Powered by NBC 10 to correspond with WPHL's upcoming switch to MyNetworkTV. This newscast competes with the 10PM newscasts on WTXF (channel 29, which is produced in-house) and WPSG (channel 57, which is produced by KYW-TV).

The station debuted an all-new website, NBCPhiladelphia.com, on October 23, 2008. NBC Local Media took the operation of its news sites back in-house, ending its contract with IBS] (Internet Broadcasting Systems). The original NBC10.com was removed and the URL now redirects to the new site.

WCAU upgraded its studios for high-definition television newscasts and began transmitting high definition newscasts on December 10, 2008 starting with its 4 pm newscast.^[6] WCAU advertised its switch to high definition newscasts with the slogan "We've saved the best for last." WCAU is the last station in the Philadelphia designated market area to do so.^[7]

On November 13, 2008, Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media reached a deal to test a system that will allow Fox-owned stations and NBC-owned stations to pool their news resources ranging from shared video to any aerial video from a helicopter. WCAU and Fox owned-and-operated station WTXF were the first stations to undertake the plan as an effective way to deal with the difficulties in costs in news operations.^[8]

On September 12, 2011, WCAU began NBC 10 News Today at 4:30 a.m. It also launched a new midday newscast at 11 a.m., and The 10! Show switched to a half hour. On December 6, 2011, the station announced a partnership with public broadcasting stations WHYY-FM-TV as part of a larger effort by NBCUniversal to partner with nonprofit news organizations following its acquisition by Comcast.^[9]

On-air staff[link]

Anchors

• Renee Chenault-Fattah – weekdays at 4 p.m., and weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.; also health reporter
• Tim Lake – weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
• Dawn Timmeney – weekdays at 4 p.m.
• Tracy Davidson – weeknights at 5 p.m.; also consumer reporter
• Denise Nakano – weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.
• Aditi Roy – weeknights at 7 p.m. (on Philadelphia Nonstop) and 10 p.m. (on WPHL)
• Lori Wilson – weekday mornings "NBC 10 News Today (4:30-7 a.m.) and 11 a.m.
• Stacey Stauffer - weekday mornings "NBC 10 News Today" (4:30-7 a.m.); also Lehigh Valley/Berks County reporter
• Ted Greenberg - weekend mornings; also Jersey Shore reporter

NBC10 EarthWatch Team

• Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) – chief meteorologist; weeknights 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. (on NBC10), 7 p.m. (on Philadelphia Nonstop) and 10 p.m. (on PHL 17)
• Michelle Grossman – meteorologist; weekend mornings
• Bill Henley – weather anchor; weekday mornings "NBC 10 News Today" (4:30-7 a.m.) also co-host of The 10! Show
• Dave Warren (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) – meteorologist; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.
• Sheena Parveen (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekdays at 11 a.m. and weeknights at 5 p.m.

Sports team

• Vai Sikahema – sports anchor; weeknights at 5, 6, 10 p.m. (on WPHL) and 11 p.m.
• John Clark – sports anchor; weekdays and weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.
• Howard Eskin - Substitute sports anchor, cohost of Sports Final

NBC10 Investigators

• Lu Ann Cahn – investigative reporter
• Harry Hairston – investigative reporter

Reporters

• Monique Braxton – general assignment reporter
• Rosemary Connors – general assignment reporter
• Deanna Durante – general assignment reporter
• Tim Furlong – general assignment reporter
• Steve Highsmith – political director
• Vince Lattanzio - technology reporter
• Christine Maddela - evening traffic reporter
• Jillian Mele – morning traffic reporter, 10! Show co-host; also substitute sports reporter/anchor
• Justin Pizzi – general assignment reporter
• Claudia Rivero – general assignment reporter
• Bryon Scott - general assignment reporter
• Doug Shimell – general assignment reporter
• Cydney Long - general assignment reporter
• Lou Dubois - social media editor

Notable former staff[link]

• Diane Allen
• Cherie Bank
• Suzanne Bates (later with WBZ-TV in Boston, now owns a speech firm in Boston)
• Pat Battle
• John Bolaris (later with rival WTXF-TV, now suspended)
• Tom Brookshier (later with CBS Sports; deceased)
• Ron Burke (now with Comcast SportsNet)
• Bill Campbell
• Herb Clarke (deceased)
• Lori Delgado
• Vince DeMentri
• Herb Denenberg (deceased)
• John Facenda (deceased)
• Amy Freeze (later at WFLD-TV in Chicago, now at WABC-TV in New York)
• Doreen Gentzler (now with WRC-TV in Washington, DC)
• Adam Goldstein
• Mike Golic (now with ESPN)
• Judd Hambrick
• Edie Huggins (deceased)
• Jack Jones (later of rival KYW-TV; deceased)
• Larry Kane (now with The Comcast Network)
• Siani Lee (later with KYW-TV; deceased)
• Don Lemon (now anchor/reporter with CNN)
• J. J. Maura
• Ed McMahon (later with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; deceased)
• Larry Mendte (now with WPIX in New York)
• Kathy Orr (now Chief Meteorologist at rival KYW-TV)
• Fred Sherman (deceased)
• Stephanie Stahl (now Medical Specialist with rival KYW-TV)
• Mike Strug
• Brian Williams (now anchor/managing editor with NBC Nightly News)

Cable and satellite carriage[link]

Outside of the Philadelphia market in central and southern New Jersey, WCAU is carried in southern Middlesex County on Comcast Digital Cable in the municipalities of Plainsboro, South Brunswick, Monroe, Cranbury, Jamesburg, Helmetta, Spotswood and East Brunswick. Up until November 2006, WCAU was carried on cable channel 10 until Comcast moved WCAU over to digital cable channel 253 to preserve bandwidth.

Monmouth County carries WCAU on Cablevision Monmouth and Monmouth/Wall outlets. All of Ocean County carries WCAU on Comcast and Cablevision outlets. Like in Middlesex County, WCAU was also removed from Channel 10 and moved over to digital cable channel 253 to preserve bandwidth.

Comcast transmits WCAU to most of Sussex County in Delaware, except for Fenwick Island as the town uses former TCI (now Comcast) service, on Channel 10. It is the only Philadelphia local channel remaining on the Limited Analog Service. Mediacom and Verizon FiOs do not broadcast WCAU in Sussex County.

Also in November 2006, Comcast of Long Beach Island also moved WCAU from its basic analog lineup to its basic digital package (like in Middlesex County on digital channel 253) causing a massive public outcry from the Island's municipalities, including a resolution passed by the Boro of Harvey Cedars that the channel be re-instated to basic analog.^[10]

Currently, DirecTV and DishNetwork does not carry any Philadelphia stations out of the Philadelphia market in New Jersey. In the Salisbury, Maryland market, DirecTV carries WCAU as an NBC affiliate as there is no NBC affiliate in the Salisbury market. The closest NBC affiliate that actually covers the area is NBC-affiliate WMGM Atlantic City, although it is not on the DirecTV Significantly Viewed list for the area.

References[link]

External links[link]

Philadelphia portal

• WCAU website
• Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
• Listing and photographs of WCAU Studio at the Historic American Buildings Survey
• WCAU-TV Alumni
• Video of WCAU's network switch
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WCAU

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Randall Cunningham

No. 1, 7, 12
Quarterback
Personal information
Date of birth: (1963-03-27) March 27, 1963 (age 49)
Place of birth: Santa Barbara, California
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Weight: 215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
College: UNLV
NFL Draft: 1985 / Round: 2 / Pick: 37
Debuted in 1985 for the Philadelphia Eagles
Last played in 2001 for the Baltimore Ravens
Career history
Philadelphia Eagles (1985–1995) Minnesota Vikings (1997–1999) Dallas Cowboys (2000) Baltimore Ravens (2001)
Career highlights and awards
4× Pro Bowl selection (1988, 1989, 1990, 1998) 4× All-Pro selection (1989, 1990, 1992, 1998) 1990 PFWA NFL MVP 1990 UPI NFC Player of the Year 1988 Pro Bowl MVP 3× Bert Bell Award winner (1998, 1990, 1988) 1992 NFL Comeback Player of the Year
Career NFL statistics as of 2001
TD-INT 207–134 Yards 29,979 QB Rating 81.5 Stats at NFL.com
Stats at pro-football-reference.com
Stats at DatabaseFootball.com

Randall W. Cunningham (born March 27, 1963) is a former American football quarterback.

After playing college football at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he was selected in the second round of the 1985 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he remained through the 1995 season. He announced his retirement from football following the end of that season, taking a job as an analyst for TNT in 1996. The following year, however, he resumed his playing career. He played for the Minnesota Vikings (1997–1999), the Dallas Cowboys (2000), and the Baltimore Ravens (2001). Cunningham then re-signed with the Philadelphia Eagles and retired for good in 2002.^{[citation needed]} He won the Bert Bell Award in 1990, the height of the 'Ultimate Weapon' stories. He is the younger brother of former college and professional football player Sam Cunningham who played for the New England Patriots.

High school and college[link]

Cunningham attended Santa Barbara High School in Santa Barbara, California, and was a graduate of the class of 1981.^[1] As a senior, he led his team to a League title and the CIF Finals.^[2] He then went on to attend the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. He was a 1983 and 1984 College Football All-America Team selection as a punter. In 1984, his junior year, he led the Rebels to an 11-2 season—still the school's only 10-win season ever. Cunningham opted to turn pro after that season, but returned to graduate with a bachelors degree in leisure studies in 2004.

Professional career[link]

Philadelphia Eagles[link]

Cunningham was the Eagles' second-round pick in the 1985 NFL Draft. Cunningham was also sought by the United States Football League's Tampa Bay Bandits that same year. Eagles owner Norman Braman refused to negotiate with Cunningham if he accepted offers from the Bandits. Ultimately, the USFL folded, thus ending that issue. In his rookie season he played sparingly as a backup to veteran Ron Jaworski but made a big splash with his uncanny scrambling ability, though he completed just 34 percent of his passes and threw just one touchdown against eight interceptions. In 1986, new head coach Buddy Ryan arrived in Philadelphia and made wholesale changes, many of them unorthodox. At the quarterback position, Ryan designated 35-year-old Ron Jaworski the starter but would replace the aging veteran with the fleet-footed Cunningham in third-and-long situations where the youngster’s scrambling would presumably put the defense on its heels. After a hand injury to Jaworski in week 10, Cunningham would replace him as the Eagles’ starter. Cunningham was permanently handed the Eagles' starting job for the 1987 season. Cunningham was said to have reached "elite" status during the 1988 season, when he threw for 407 yards during the "Fog Bowl" playoff game against the Chicago Bears.

In 1989, Cunningham, who had been an all-conference quarterback and punter while at UNLV, unleashed a 91-yard punt against the Giants on December 3, the longest in Eagles history (and the fourth-longest ever).^[3] He had 20 punts during his career, with an average of 44.7 yards per punt.^[4]

In a 1990 game against the Buffalo Bills, when Cunningham, throwing from his end zone, was about to be sacked by Bruce Smith from his blind side. Cunningham ducked and threw a pass 60 yards to wide receiver Fred Barnett, resulting in a 95-yard touchdown. That same year, Cunningham finished with 942 rushing yards, 3rd most ever for a quarterback, 10th best in the league.

In 1991, Cunningham's season came to an abrupt end when he was tackled by Bryce Paup of the Green Bay Packers and tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the 1st game of the season. He would return to the Eagles completely healed the following season, and led the team to its first playoff victory in 12 years. However, it was evident that the injury he suffered took away much of his speed and athleticism. The 1993 and 1994 seasons would be riddled by a series of nagging injuries and a transition to the west coast offense that eventually led to his benching in favor of veteran Rodney Peete. Feeling as if the fans and organization didn't fully appreciate his contributions to the team's success, as well as being unhappy with his role as a back-up, Cunningham retired from football after the 1995 season.

Minnesota Vikings[link]

Cunningham joined the Vikings in 1997 after being out of football in 1996. There he reunited with former Eagles wide receiver Cris Carter. In his first year with the Vikings, he orchestrated two late touchdown drives to defeat the New York Giants in an NFC Wild Card game at Giants Stadium, 23-22. However, the Vikings lost in the Divisional Round to Steve Young and the San Francisco 49ers.

Cunningham enjoyed the greatest season of his career in Minnesota during the 1998 campaign when he guided the Vikings to a 15–1 regular season record with 34 touchdown passes and only 10 interceptions. Cunningham had a good supporting cast that year with Cris Carter, Rookie Randy Moss and Jake Reed at Wide Receiver and Robert Smith at Running Back. Cunningham led the league with a 106.0 passer rating while the Vikings posted a then-NFL record 556 points during the 1998 season. Cunningham claimed the Vikings Monday night 37–24 victory over the Green Bay Packers was "the greatest night of my football career". Cunningham threw for 442 yards and 4 touchdowns in a game where Brett Favre, in the prime of his career, was benched at the end of the first half.

During the early stages of the 1999 season, after throwing 9 interceptions in just 6 games, Cunningham was benched once again—this time in favor of Jeff George. After the team announced that 2nd-year quarterback Daunte Culpepper would be the starter prior to the 2000 season, Cunningham was released.