WCPT-TV was a UHF commercial independent television station licensed to Crossville, Tennessee

Crossville, Tennessee

Crossville is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,795 at the 2010 Census.-Geography:Crossville is located at...

, broadcast over channel 55 from 1977 to 1982 and over channel 20(as WINT-TV) from 1982 to 1983.

History

The station was signed on by Edward Johnson in 1977 as the first independent station in the Knoxville market, as well as the first new commercial station in the area in over 20 years. Johnson owned it until February of 1979. John Cunningham and Calvin Smith owned WCPT-TV from 1979 to September of 1981, of at which time the station was sold to Cumberland Communications, a division of McClatchy Newspapers. The station moved to Channel 20 and changed calls to WINT-TV in 1982.

Initially WCPT ran a mix of religious shows, some low budget syndicated movies and westerns, and some cartoons, as well as sporting shows and public affairs programs. By the early 80's, more movies and drama shows aired as well as cartoons.

In 1983, another company built WKCH-TV channel 43 (now WTNZ

WTNZ

WTNZ is the Fox-affiliated television station for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Knoxville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter on Sharp's Ridge in the city's Arlington section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 11 and in high definition...

) and at that point, WINT went dark, selling their programming to WKCH and turning their license to the FCC at the end of 1983. In 1997, WBXX-TV

WBXX-TV

WBXX-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Crossville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 20 from a transmitter in unincorporated Southwestern Anderson County. The station can also be seen on Comcast and Knology channel 7 as well as...

began broadcast on channel 20, on a new license.