KARE-11 broadcasting from Shoreview, Atlanta after transformer fire at Golden Valley studio

Twin Cities television station KARE (Ch. 11) will continue broadcasting its full slate of its local news programs with the help of an Atlanta station and its transmitter tower in Shoreview.

The NBC affiliate was forced out its Golden Valley studio Tuesday afternoon after a transformer started popping, sparking and exploding, sending smoke into the facility off Hwy. 55 and Boone Avenue.

All staff members were safely evacuated and nobody was hurt, said station General Manager and President Doug Wieder.

In the hours that followed, the station flew anchor Lauren Leamanczyk and meteorologist John Ziegler to Atlanta and both were behind the cameras at WXIA for KARE’s “Sunrise” morning news Wednesday. WXIA is owned by Tegna Inc., the same company that owns KARE-TV.

Other staffers have assembled at the station’s 1,400-foot-tall tower in Shoreview, which will serve as KARE’s home for the foreseeable future, Wieder said.

“We can continue to bring viewers the local news and weather they rely on and trust,” Wieder said in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

He added that KARE will determine when operations can return to Golden Valley or a temporary space.

Anchor Jana Shortal posted video of the incident on social media.

“Just lots of pops, lots of pops,” Shortal said.

The KARE 11 team got creative to put together an outdoor broadcast at 6 p.m., skipping their 5 p.m. newscast, from their site in Shoreview. The station also broadcast its 10 p.m. news from there Tuesday night.

“Honestly, there are so many moving parts to make a newscast happen and the people behind the scenes are the true MVPs at a news station,” Lewis told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “I am happy to be surrounded by people who genuinely care about the work we do and will go to the ends of the earth to make TV magic happen.”

Reporter Kent Erdahl will show viewers how a news broadcast comes together during broadcasts on Wednesday, Lewis said.