WBPX
Encyclopedia
WBPX-TV, digital channel 32, is the Ion Television station
owned by ION Media Networks
(formerly Paxson Communications), serving the Boston market. The station primarily broadcasts infomercial
s before 6 p.m. daily, along with a daily Catholic Mass and other religious programming, with Ion network programming beginning at 6 p.m.. The station is also simulcast on two full-power and two low-power
satellites each, WPXG-TV channel 21 (digital 33) in Concord, New Hampshire
, WDPX-TV channel 58 (digital 40) in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
, WMPX-LP channel 33 in Dennis, Massachusetts
, and W40BO, also in Boston.
, WCVB-TV
, and to a lesser extent WNAC-TV (later WNEV-TV; now WHDH). Channel 68 was the first UHF television station to employ what is known as "circular polarization" antenna transmission, which was intended to improve signal reception to inner city
viewers, many of whom had difficulty receiving television reception due to surrounding tall structures. The station's transmitter, containing its "helical" broadcast antenna, was installed by helicopter
in September 1978 on top of the Prudential Tower
.
WQTV began running a subscription television service (Pay TV
) in conjunction with Universal Subscription Television called BEST TV, which stood for "Broadcast Entertainment Subscription Television", based in Waltham, Massachusetts
. By the summer of 1979, its name was changed to Starcase, and by late 1981 it became known as Star TV. Subscription TV programming initially began after 7 p.m., with its programming day gradually expanded up to most of the broadcast day by 1980. Channel 68 was the answer for many TV viewers that wanted uncut movies but lived in areas that were not wired for cable TV. WQTV, with its easy signal hacking ability, the lure of uncut movies and late night adult entertainment created many electronic hobbyists eager to "home-brew" their own television descrambling devices.
In February 1983, Universal Subscription Television abruptly went out of business on WQTV due to a significant loss of paying subscribers to rampant piracy
of its subscription television signal. It was very easy to pirate the signal due to its simplistic scrambling method, known as "gated sync suppression," and its "decoding key" hidden in the audio channel subcarrier. This key was easily defeated with a decoder built around an FM
stereo
demodulator chip known as the LM1800. All of WQTV's subscribers were transitioned to another area subscription TV service known as Preview
, operated by Time Warner
's New England Subscription Television on Worcester
's WSMW-TV
channel 27. WQTV flipped to a general entertainment format consisting of off network drama shows, old sitcoms, and several movies. The station also continued to run most network shows that were preempted by WBZ-TV, WCVB-TV, and WNEV-TV.
In 1984, WQTV overextended themselves by adding somewhat stronger programming to the station. These were mostly shows previously airing on WSBK-TV
or WLVI that fell off those respective stations. Some of the shows run on WQTV included The Honeymooners
, The Munsters
, The Addams Family
, The Bob Newhart Show
, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
, Here's Lucy
, I Dream Of Jeannie
, Bonanza
, Gunsmoke
, The Partridge Family
, The Carol Burnett Show
, Star Trek
, Burns & Allen, Sergeant Bilko, Kojak
, The Rockford Files
, and others.
In the fall of 1985, WQTV dropped the rejected network programming and added more drama shows to the lineup. The station began to aggressively market themselves at that point. Unfortunately, the station continued to lose money and experienced severe financial problems by November. Right after Christmas, the station laid off most of the staff and dropped all its cash programming. Parent company Arlington Broadcasting (which also owned WTTO
in Birmingham, Alabama
and WCGV
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
) placed the station up for sale and turned the dropped programming back to the syndicators
. A few shows such as The Honeymooners
, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
, The Bob Newhart Show
, Perry Mason
and Gomer Pyle USMC would move to other stations, while the rest of the shows simply no longer aired in the market. For a few days it was thought that WQTV would be going dark, but somehow the station would remain on the air. Due to this uncertainty, TV Guide
stopped carrying WQTV in its listings for several months. WQTV kept a couple of barter shows, public domain
movies, and a few religious and minority shows. They also reinstated all the pre-empted network shows that had previously aired on the station.
The station was sold to the Christian Science Monitor
during the summer of 1986, and in the fall, WQTV began broadcasting Christian Science Monitor programming for thirty minutes a day. The following spring, WQTV brought back several previously aired syndicated programs that did not find homes in the Boston market such as Star Trek, Carol Burnett, and Rockford Files, which were added to the 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. timeslots. The rejected network shows and public domain movies remained temporarily. That April, WQTV was relaunched as a Family station. The station added a number of shows that fell off other station schedules such as Leave It To Beaver
, McHale's Navy
, and My Three Sons
, among others. The station also bought back many of the shows they previously owned back in 1983 to 1985. Other programming included Captain Kangaroo
, Dangermouse
, and Disney's Wonderful World. The station also dropped preempted network programming, which would move to WHLL (now WUNI
). WQTV began to brand itself as "The New QTV 68", with an emphasis on family entertainment. The station dubbed itself as, "Boston's Fastest-Growing Television Station". In addition, the station expanded the time allotted for the Christian Science Monitor programs to two hours.
In the summer of 1989, WQTV condensed the entertainment programming into the late afternoon and evening hours, as the station began to focus on programs produced by the Monitor Channel, which consisted of cultural, religious, news, and information shows. By 1990, the station was down to a few hours of entertainment during the evening and overnights, and by 1992, the Monitor Channel was WQTV's only source of programming. However, in that year the Monitor Channel left the air, which left the station with reruns of the network's programming. In early 1993, the Monitor programs were finally dropped in favor of previously dropped off network sitcoms and drama shows that did not find other stations in the market to air on.
bought the station and for the third time relaunched it as a commercial general entertainment station
, with the new call letters of WABU. The station's broadcast schedule consisted of older cartoons, sitcoms, and family dramas, though the new station briefly ran a few preempted CBS shows from WHDH-TV. A considerable amount of in-house local programming made to the schedule during the WABU years, especially during prime time hours. BU managed to steal prominent local media personalities away from the major stations to host public affairs and news programs; among them were ECU with Gail Harris, Business World with Jim Howell, D.O.C.: Doctors On Call with Dr. Odysseus Argy, The Job Show, Adler Online with Charles Adler
, Consider This with Ted O'Brien and Delores Handy, and some children's programming on weekends (Lil' Iguana, The Story Shop, etc.).
Movies aired under the Cinema 68 heading, at first airing in primetime after the aforementioned regularly scheduled local shows that aired in the 8 PM hour. By 1997, public affairs shows were moved to later weekday time slots, as well as during the day on weekends, so that Cinema 68 could start at 8 PM on weeknights. From April to June 1999, which marked the last few months of BU's reign, Dana Hersey arrived at WABU to host 68 Film Loft, a revival of the legendary Movie Loft which had been a staple of WSBK-TV
's prime time lineup for over two decades. The Movie Loft title could not be adopted since the rights to the name were still owned by, and eventually used again on, WSBK.
WABU boasted a news department during the entire six years of BU ownership, producing two-minute news updates airing at the top of every hour between 11:58 AM and 11:00 PM known as Newsbreak 68. Ted O'Brien and Dolores Handy were the principal anchors, who always appeared separately, with other on-air staff appearing over time. Occasionally, meteorologists would hold in-depth weather forecasts, but general five-day forecast charts were the norm. From 1996 to 1998, WABU was also the over-the-air flagship station of the Boston Red Sox
, taking over from longtime Red Sox flagship station WSBK-TV. WFXT
's former sports anchor Butch Stearns
first surfaced as a part of Channel 68's Red Sox coverage before he joined the Fox affiliate.
From the beginning, WABU was planning to extend the reach of their programming. On November 30, 1993, not too long after BU acquired channel 68, the station announced that it was purchasing WNHT
of Concord, New Hampshire
, which returned to the air as WNBU on September 1, 1995 http://lists.bostonradio.org/bri/v02/msg00497.html. Additionally, the station purchased WCVX of Vineyard Haven
in 1994 and turned the station back on as WZBU http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/7692.html.
) bought WABU and its satellites, immediately mixing PAX programming into the station schedule and changing the stations' call letters to WBPX, WPXG, and WDPX (respectively) later that year. Eventually, the syndicated shows were dropped, leaving WBPX and its satellites as full PAX affiliates by 2000.
WBPX terminated its analog
over the air signal on April 16, 2009. The station's digital
signal contains three various sub-channels in addition to the main network.
WBPX also has plans for a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 68.1.
WBPX is also relayed on WMPX-LP channel 33 in Dennis
and W40BO in Boston.
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
owned by ION Media Networks
ION Media Networks
ION Media Networks is an American television broadcasting company that owns and operates over 60 television stations in most major American markets. It is now a privately owned company.-History:...
(formerly Paxson Communications), serving the Boston market. The station primarily broadcasts infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
s before 6 p.m. daily, along with a daily Catholic Mass and other religious programming, with Ion network programming beginning at 6 p.m.. The station is also simulcast on two full-power and two low-power
Low-power broadcasting
Low-power broadcasting is electronic broadcasting at very low power and low cost, to a small community area.The terms "low-power broadcasting" and "micropower broadcasting" should not be used interchangeably, because the markets are not the same...
satellites each, WPXG-TV channel 21 (digital 33) in Concord, New Hampshire
Concord, New Hampshire
The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....
, WDPX-TV channel 58 (digital 40) in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
Vineyard Haven is a community within the town of Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It is listed as a census-designated place by the U.S...
, WMPX-LP channel 33 in Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; located near the center of Cape Cod. The population was 14,207 at the 2010 census.The town encompasses five distinct villages, each of which has its own post office...
, and W40BO, also in Boston.
WQTV
WBPX signed on in 1979 as WQTV, originally with programming from the Financial News Network, as well as public domain movies. The station was (at that time) owned by Arlington Broadcasting. The station also ran most network shows that were preempted by WBZ-TVWBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...
, WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV, channel 5, is a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Hearst Television and affiliated with the ABC Television Network. WCVB-TV's studios and transmitter are co-located in Needham, Massachusetts. WCVB is also one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada by...
, and to a lesser extent WNAC-TV (later WNEV-TV; now WHDH). Channel 68 was the first UHF television station to employ what is known as "circular polarization" antenna transmission, which was intended to improve signal reception to inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
viewers, many of whom had difficulty receiving television reception due to surrounding tall structures. The station's transmitter, containing its "helical" broadcast antenna, was installed by helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
in September 1978 on top of the Prudential Tower
Prudential Tower
The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru, is a skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, a part of the Prudential Center complex, currently stands as the 2nd-tallest building in Boston, behind the John Hancock Tower. The Prudential Tower was...
.
WQTV began running a subscription television service (Pay TV
Pay TV
Pay television, premium television, or premium channels refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analog and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and internet television...
) in conjunction with Universal Subscription Television called BEST TV, which stood for "Broadcast Entertainment Subscription Television", based in Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
. By the summer of 1979, its name was changed to Starcase, and by late 1981 it became known as Star TV. Subscription TV programming initially began after 7 p.m., with its programming day gradually expanded up to most of the broadcast day by 1980. Channel 68 was the answer for many TV viewers that wanted uncut movies but lived in areas that were not wired for cable TV. WQTV, with its easy signal hacking ability, the lure of uncut movies and late night adult entertainment created many electronic hobbyists eager to "home-brew" their own television descrambling devices.
In February 1983, Universal Subscription Television abruptly went out of business on WQTV due to a significant loss of paying subscribers to rampant piracy
Pirate decryption
Pirate decryption most often refers to the reception of compromised pay TV or pay radio signals without authorization from the original broadcaster...
of its subscription television signal. It was very easy to pirate the signal due to its simplistic scrambling method, known as "gated sync suppression," and its "decoding key" hidden in the audio channel subcarrier. This key was easily defeated with a decoder built around an FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
demodulator chip known as the LM1800. All of WQTV's subscribers were transitioned to another area subscription TV service known as Preview
Preview (TV channel)
Preview was a subscription television service, started in 1980, similar to ON-TV and SelecTV. Like ON-TV and SelecTV, Preview was a scrambled UHF Subscription channel requiring a special set-top box to decode....
, operated by Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
's New England Subscription Television on Worcester
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
's WSMW-TV
WUNI
WUNI, digital channel 29, is the Univision television affiliate for the Greater Boston market. Licensed to Worcester, Massachusetts, the station runs general Spanish entertainment programs as well as news and information programming...
channel 27. WQTV flipped to a general entertainment format consisting of off network drama shows, old sitcoms, and several movies. The station also continued to run most network shows that were preempted by WBZ-TV, WCVB-TV, and WNEV-TV.
In 1984, WQTV overextended themselves by adding somewhat stronger programming to the station. These were mostly shows previously airing on WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV is a MyNetworkTV television station for eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire that is licensed to Boston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter along the Needham and Wellesley town line southwest of the MA 9 and I-95 / MA 128...
or WLVI that fell off those respective stations. Some of the shows run on WQTV included The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
, The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
, The Addams Family
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. As named by Charles Addams, the Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing....
, The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, , to April 1, . Comedian Bob Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers...
, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
, Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create...
, I Dream Of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
, The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
, Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, Burns & Allen, Sergeant Bilko, Kojak
Kojak
Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...
, The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
, and others.
In the fall of 1985, WQTV dropped the rejected network programming and added more drama shows to the lineup. The station began to aggressively market themselves at that point. Unfortunately, the station continued to lose money and experienced severe financial problems by November. Right after Christmas, the station laid off most of the staff and dropped all its cash programming. Parent company Arlington Broadcasting (which also owned WTTO
WTTO
WTTO is a CW affiliate for the Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa, Alabama market. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 28, however through the use of PSIP technology, digital television receivers display WTTO's virtual channel as 21. It is licensed to Homewood, a Birmingham suburb...
in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
and WCGV
WCGV-TV
WCGV-TV, digital channel 25 , is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, affiliated with MyNetworkTV Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, including the cities of Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha...
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
) placed the station up for sale and turned the dropped programming back to the syndicators
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
. A few shows such as The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
, The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, , to April 1, . Comedian Bob Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers...
, Perry Mason
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
and Gomer Pyle USMC would move to other stations, while the rest of the shows simply no longer aired in the market. For a few days it was thought that WQTV would be going dark, but somehow the station would remain on the air. Due to this uncertainty, TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
stopped carrying WQTV in its listings for several months. WQTV kept a couple of barter shows, public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
movies, and a few religious and minority shows. They also reinstated all the pre-empted network shows that had previously aired on the station.
The station was sold to the Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
during the summer of 1986, and in the fall, WQTV began broadcasting Christian Science Monitor programming for thirty minutes a day. The following spring, WQTV brought back several previously aired syndicated programs that did not find homes in the Boston market such as Star Trek, Carol Burnett, and Rockford Files, which were added to the 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. timeslots. The rejected network shows and public domain movies remained temporarily. That April, WQTV was relaunched as a Family station. The station added a number of shows that fell off other station schedules such as Leave It To Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
, McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy is an American television sitcom series which ran for 138 half-hour episodes from October 11,1962, to August 31, 1966, on the ABC network. The series was filmed in black and white and originated in a one-hour drama called Seven Against the Sea, broadcast on April 3, 1962...
, and My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
, among others. The station also bought back many of the shows they previously owned back in 1983 to 1985. Other programming included Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo is a children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running children's television program of its day...
, Dangermouse
DangerMouse
Danger Mouse is a British animated television series which was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for Thames Television. It features the eponymous Danger Mouse, an English mouse who works as a superhero/secret agent. The show is a loose parody of British spy fiction, particularly James Bond and the...
, and Disney's Wonderful World. The station also dropped preempted network programming, which would move to WHLL (now WUNI
WUNI
WUNI, digital channel 29, is the Univision television affiliate for the Greater Boston market. Licensed to Worcester, Massachusetts, the station runs general Spanish entertainment programs as well as news and information programming...
). WQTV began to brand itself as "The New QTV 68", with an emphasis on family entertainment. The station dubbed itself as, "Boston's Fastest-Growing Television Station". In addition, the station expanded the time allotted for the Christian Science Monitor programs to two hours.
In the summer of 1989, WQTV condensed the entertainment programming into the late afternoon and evening hours, as the station began to focus on programs produced by the Monitor Channel, which consisted of cultural, religious, news, and information shows. By 1990, the station was down to a few hours of entertainment during the evening and overnights, and by 1992, the Monitor Channel was WQTV's only source of programming. However, in that year the Monitor Channel left the air, which left the station with reruns of the network's programming. In early 1993, the Monitor programs were finally dropped in favor of previously dropped off network sitcoms and drama shows that did not find other stations in the market to air on.
WABU-TV
In the fall of 1993, Boston UniversityBoston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
bought the station and for the third time relaunched it as a commercial general entertainment station
Independent station
An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....
, with the new call letters of WABU. The station's broadcast schedule consisted of older cartoons, sitcoms, and family dramas, though the new station briefly ran a few preempted CBS shows from WHDH-TV. A considerable amount of in-house local programming made to the schedule during the WABU years, especially during prime time hours. BU managed to steal prominent local media personalities away from the major stations to host public affairs and news programs; among them were ECU with Gail Harris, Business World with Jim Howell, D.O.C.: Doctors On Call with Dr. Odysseus Argy, The Job Show, Adler Online with Charles Adler
Charles Adler (broadcaster)
Charles Adler is a Hungarian-born Canadian broadcaster who, when he was a child, was smuggled in a backpack out of Hungary by his father during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. Charles grew up in Montreal, where he started his broadcast career while attending McGill University...
, Consider This with Ted O'Brien and Delores Handy, and some children's programming on weekends (Lil' Iguana, The Story Shop, etc.).
Movies aired under the Cinema 68 heading, at first airing in primetime after the aforementioned regularly scheduled local shows that aired in the 8 PM hour. By 1997, public affairs shows were moved to later weekday time slots, as well as during the day on weekends, so that Cinema 68 could start at 8 PM on weeknights. From April to June 1999, which marked the last few months of BU's reign, Dana Hersey arrived at WABU to host 68 Film Loft, a revival of the legendary Movie Loft which had been a staple of WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV is a MyNetworkTV television station for eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire that is licensed to Boston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter along the Needham and Wellesley town line southwest of the MA 9 and I-95 / MA 128...
's prime time lineup for over two decades. The Movie Loft title could not be adopted since the rights to the name were still owned by, and eventually used again on, WSBK.
WABU boasted a news department during the entire six years of BU ownership, producing two-minute news updates airing at the top of every hour between 11:58 AM and 11:00 PM known as Newsbreak 68. Ted O'Brien and Dolores Handy were the principal anchors, who always appeared separately, with other on-air staff appearing over time. Occasionally, meteorologists would hold in-depth weather forecasts, but general five-day forecast charts were the norm. From 1996 to 1998, WABU was also the over-the-air flagship station of the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
, taking over from longtime Red Sox flagship station WSBK-TV. WFXT
WFXT
WFXT is a television station owned and operated by the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Boston, Massachusetts. The station's studio and office facility is in Dedham, Massachusetts, and its transmitter is located in Needham, Massachusetts...
's former sports anchor Butch Stearns
Butch Stearns
Butch Stearns is an American television and radio personality. He is a former sports anchor for WFXT and radio host for WEEI, both located in Boston, Massachusetts.-Television:...
first surfaced as a part of Channel 68's Red Sox coverage before he joined the Fox affiliate.
From the beginning, WABU was planning to extend the reach of their programming. On November 30, 1993, not too long after BU acquired channel 68, the station announced that it was purchasing WNHT
WNHT (TV)
WNHT was a television station in southern New Hampshire, licensed to the city of Concord. The station broadcast programming on channel 21 and briefly served as the area's CBS affiliate.- History :...
of Concord, New Hampshire
Concord, New Hampshire
The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....
, which returned to the air as WNBU on September 1, 1995 http://lists.bostonradio.org/bri/v02/msg00497.html. Additionally, the station purchased WCVX of Vineyard Haven
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
Vineyard Haven is a community within the town of Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It is listed as a census-designated place by the U.S...
in 1994 and turned the station back on as WZBU http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/7692.html.
WBPX-TV
In 1999, Paxson Communications (now ION Media NetworksION Media Networks
ION Media Networks is an American television broadcasting company that owns and operates over 60 television stations in most major American markets. It is now a privately owned company.-History:...
) bought WABU and its satellites, immediately mixing PAX programming into the station schedule and changing the stations' call letters to WBPX, WPXG, and WDPX (respectively) later that year. Eventually, the syndicated shows were dropped, leaving WBPX and its satellites as full PAX affiliates by 2000.
WBPX terminated its analog
Analog television
Analog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
over the air signal on April 16, 2009. The station's digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
signal contains three various sub-channels in addition to the main network.
WBPX also has plans for a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 68.1.
Satellite stations
| Station | City of license City of license A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.... |
Channels Channel (broadcasting) In broadcasting, a channel is a range of frequencies assigned by a government for the operation of a particular radio station, television station or television channel. In common usage, the term also may be used to refer to the station operating on a particular frequency.-See also:*Broadcast... (PSIP) |
First air date | Former callsigns Call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations... |
ERP Effective radiated power In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains... (Digital) |
HAAT Height above average terrain Height above average terrain is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is actually much more important than effective radiated power in determining the range of broadcasts... (Digital) |
Facility ID Facility ID The facility ID number or FIN is a unique positive integer assigned by the United States Federal Communications Commission to each domestic and international broadcast station in its Common Database System . Licensees are required to provide the relevant station's FIN when filing reports and... |
Transmitter Coordinates |
| WPXG-TV | Concord, New Hampshire Concord, New Hampshire The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695.... |
33 (21) | September 1, 1995 | WNBU (1995–1999) | 100 kW | 344 m | 48406 | 43°11′4"N 71°19′12"W |
| WDPX-TV | Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts Vineyard Haven is a community within the town of Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It is listed as a census-designated place by the U.S... |
40 (58) | November 28, 1994 | WCVX (January 31, 1985-November 28, 1994), WZBU (November 28, 1994-July 19, 1999), WDPX (July 19, 1999-June 15, 2009) | 300 kW | 153 m | 6476 | 41°41′20"N 70°20′49"W |
WBPX is also relayed on WMPX-LP channel 33 in Dennis
Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; located near the center of Cape Cod. The population was 14,207 at the 2010 census.The town encompasses five distinct villages, each of which has its own post office...
and W40BO in Boston.