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Friends were hoping to gather in a couple of weeks to celebrate the 97th birthday of WCCO legend Bud Kraehling.

Yesterday, organizers canceled the celebration after the family said he'd taken ill recently and had been moved to hospice care.

, in which he was installed as a charter member, described Kraehling as "one of Minnesota's best known and best loved television personalities."

"We learned as we went along," he said in a 2012 interview. "We didn't have any idea where this business was going; it just developed all by itself."

Like most TV pioneers, Kraehling was a radio guy who made the transition to TV as radio companies tried out the new medium.

At WCCO, he was paired with another legend -- 

He got his start on the little screen, though, when he was asked to fill in for somebody else. "I didn't know anything about the weather," he said, adding that he ended up doing the world's longest Taystee Bread commercial. "But the sponsor loved it and I got to stay on."

MPR's Paul Huttner is one of the many weather people who ended up in the business, partly because of Kraehling. Keep an eye on the 

He's not the only one inspired by the May 1965 tornado and Kraehling's presence during the storm.

In his Minnesota Weatherwatch book, WCCO Radio meteorologist Mike Lynch recalled it was the first time sirens were used to warn of severe weather.

About 10 years later, Lynch had his college degree and he began working with Kraehling.

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Bob Collins

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The Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame, in which he was installed as a charter member, described Kraehling as "one of Minnesota's best known and best loved television personalities."

Bud Kraehling, MN TV icon, dead at 96

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