WUVN
Encyclopedia
WUVN is the Connecticut
affiliate for the Spanish language
Univision
television network
. It is licensed to Hartford
. Owned by Entravision, the station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF
channel 46. Its tower is located on Deercliff Road in Avon.
It largely simulcasts Boston
's Univision affiliate, WUNI
, and operates a secondary feed, targeted to Springfield, Massachusetts
, on its second digital subchannel (this service is also carried by Springfield-area cable systems). Both stations occasionally jointly refer to themselves as Univision Nueva Inglaterra, or Univision New England.
–ABC
affiliate. The station was initially owned by a partnership of The Hartford Times
and General Teleradio along with WGTH radio (1410 AM, now WPOP
), but was sold to CBS
in 1956, shortly after Hartford and New Haven merged into a single market. The station's call letters were changed to WHCT, for "Hartford CBS Television" (or alternatively "Hartford, ConnecticuT", or "Hartford Christian Television" in its later years, according to some).
As a CBS station, WHCT's ratings were low because television sets weren't required to come with UHF tuners until 1964. Even with a very expensive converter, UHF signals were very unclear at the time. In 1957, Travelers Insurance Company, owners of WTIC-AM
-FM
, signed on WTIC-TV on channel 3. By 1958, CBS had concluded that it was better to have its programming on a VHF
station, even if it was only an affiliate
. It moved its Hartford affiliation to WTIC-TV, and sold WHCT to a group led by Edward Taddei, which turned it into an independent station. Channel 3, which is now WFSB
, has been Hartford's CBS affiliate since then. Two years later, what had become RKO General
retook ownership of the station, this time without the involvement of the Times.
As an independent, WHCT's schedule consisted of cartoons, movies, off-network sitcoms and dramas, sports (including New York Mets
baseball
games), public affairs
programming, and religious shows. However, it never really thrived, even with the addition of all-channel tuning. Beginning in 1962, the station ran a subscription television service from 7:00 p.m. to midnight, with first-run movies and sports events from Madison Square Garden
. A decade before the 1972 premiere of HBO, WHCT's programming was an experiment between RKO and Zenith
, who provided the "Phonevision
" descrambler boxes. WHCT could be seen by all viewers with a UHF tuner and antenna during regular broadcast hours, but viewers needed a decoder box in order to view the signal during the subscription television block. The first pay-TV movie was Sunrise At Campobello
, starring Ralph Bellamy
and Greer Garson
. The subscription television service was deemed a failure, and RKO dropped it in 1968. By then, the station had slashed its operating hours, signing on in the afternoon and signing off late at night. Charles Osgood
, now the host of CBS Sunday Morning, was General Manager
of the station.
In 1972, RKO donated the station to California's Faith Center, led by Dr. Eugene Scott. Under Scott, the station began to air religious programming in the morning and evening hours, while continuing to air general entertainment programming from noon to 8 pm. Along with shows such as PTL Club and The 700 Club
, WHCT also aired programming featuring Dr. Scott himself. For a time, WHCT also broadcast games of the World Hockey Association
's New England Whalers
.
WHCT was almost exclusively religious by 1979, and the station's transmitter
was vandalized in the same year, forcing it to broadcast at low power. By 1981, the station aired Dr. Scott's shows full time. Scott would provide rambling discourses on wide ranging topics.
WHCT was put up for a "distress" sale in 1980, with the stipulation from the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) that the station be sold to minority ownership. After some legal wrangling, Astroline Communications took ownership of the station in 1984, and put WHCT back on the air in September 1985 with a lineup of movies, reruns, and syndicated programming not shown on the other two Connecticut independents, WTXX (now WCCT-TV) and WTIC-TV
. The station also once again carried the now-Hartford Whalers, by then a National Hockey League
team, from 1986 until 1990. However, WHCT continued to underperform in the ratings. Hartford/New Haven wasn't big enough at the time to support three independent stations, and it didn't help matters that New York City
's three major independents—WNEW-TV (now WNYW
), WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV
) and WPIX
—were all available on cable.
By the fall of 1987, WHCT was in serious financial trouble. Syndicated shows were pulled off the station daily because program distributors were not being paid; much of this programming would migrate to year-old WTWS (channel 26, now WHPX-TV). With the station's finances and program supply dwindling, WHCT gradually increased the amount of paid programming and infomercial
s on its schedule, to the point where it ultimately ran them for 18 hours a day.
Finally, in 1988, WHCT filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. On April 4, 1991, the filing was converted to chapter 7, and soon afterwards the station was ordered off the air by the Federal Bankruptcy Court, with its equipment repossessed to satisfy the creditors' demands. On April 9, WHCT ceased operations.
Two if By Sea Broadcasting attempted to purchase the station in 1993, but its application was tied up in a license renewal dispute between Astroline and Shurberg Broadcasting, in which Shurberg alleged that Astroline had misrepresented itself as a minority broadcaster in order to purchase the station. In the meantime, WHCT stayed dark until February 5, 1997, when the bankruptcy trustee for Astroline, to avoid the license being automatically canceled by the FCC on February 9, put the station back on the air with programming provided by Paxson Communications
(which sold WTWS soon afterward). The FCC designated WHCT's license for hearing that April. Paxson's inTV service was dropped from WHCT in June 1998 in favor of Shop at Home Network
programming, and the Pax TV affiliation for Hartford ultimately went to the renamed WHPX (though WHCT still carried some Worship Network programming, as well as Boston Red Sox
games declined by WBNE (now WCTX
), in addition to Shop at Home). Another affiliation change took place in January 1999, when the station affiliated with ValueVision (now ShopNBC
).
The Astroline-Shurberg dispute continued even after an administrative law judge approved WHCT's license renewal and the sale to Two if By Sea in 1999, as Shurberg raised concerns about that company's qualifications. As a result, the following year, Entravision Communications proposed to purchase the station for $18 million, to be split between Shurberg, Two if By Sea, and Astroline. Although Entravision's offer was itself briefly threatened by both a separate dispute with Barbara Laurence, in which Laurence attempted to obtain a 10-percent stake in WHCT, as well as WNTO (now WVEN-TV
) in Daytona Beach, Florida
, by alleging that she found the stations for Entravision, and a complaint from Astroline general partner Richard Ramirez over a payment by the bankruptcy trustee to Shurberg, it was eventually approved; the station changed its call letters to WUVN that December, and dropped ValueVision in favor of Univision's Spanish-language programming on April 1, 2001. Since then, WUVN has largely been a semi-satellite of Boston's WUNI.
's digital signal; its programming from America One
and the American Independent Network
moved to former simulcast partner WMLD-LP (channel 6, now WRNT-LP on channel 48). As the station did not return to the air within a year of going dark, the license was deemed to have expired by the Federal Communications Commission on October 11, 2002. However, original owner Harvard Broadcasting claimed to the FCC that WHTX had briefly resumed operations on an annual basis, and the license was reinstated a month later; it was sold to Entravision soon thereafter. Entravision moved the station to channel 43 in Springfield, and signed the new WHTX-LP on the air in November 2003 as a semi-satellite of WUVN. WHTX was picked up by Comcast
's Springfield-area systems on July 10, 2006, replacing the national Univision feed.
Soon after WHTX made its move, however, Meredith Corporation
filed an objection, stating that the station's claimed resumptions were not enough to avoid the automatic expiration of its license, and that there were sufficient channels available in the Hartford area for WHTX to use to accommodate WTNH. As a result, the move was never formally granted even a construction permit
, and was operated by a series of special temporary authority
grants; in the end, on March 9, 2009, the FCC overturned the reinstatement of the WHTX license and permanently revoked its operating authority. Nonetheless, its programming continues to remain available on cable and on WUVN's digital channel 18.2.
). WHCT made another attempt at a news operation for a short time in 1969, experimenting with a 10 p.m. newscast anchored by Pat Sheehan. (Another attempt at a 10 p.m. newscast would not be attempted until twenty years later, when WTIC-TV launched such a newscast, itself anchored at first by Sheehan.)
Upon the sale to Entravision, the company announced that it would launch a Spanish-language local news operation on WUVN. However, a full-scale news operation has not launched , and channel 18 has simulcast WUNI's newscast, Noticias Univision Nueva Inglaterra (Univision News New England), since the program's launch on April 1, 2003 (though WUVN again raised the possibility of a local newscast in 2006).
}
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
affiliate for the Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
. It is licensed to Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
. Owned by Entravision, the station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
channel 46. Its tower is located on Deercliff Road in Avon.
It largely simulcasts Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
's Univision affiliate, 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...
, and operates a secondary feed, targeted to Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
, on its second digital subchannel (this service is also carried by Springfield-area cable systems). Both stations occasionally jointly refer to themselves as Univision Nueva Inglaterra, or Univision New England.
History
WUVN is one of the oldest UHF stations in New England. It began operation on October 2, 1954 as WGTH-TV, a DuMontDuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
–ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate. The station was initially owned by a partnership of The Hartford Times
The Hartford Times
The Hartford Times was a daily afternoon newspaper serving the Hartford, Connecticut community from 1826 to 1976. Several accomplished individuals contributed to the newspaper, including Brit Hume, as a reporter; the television writer Robert Palm; the American painter, James Britton, employed as a...
and General Teleradio along with WGTH radio (1410 AM, now WPOP
WPOP
WPOP is a radio station broadcasting a Sports radio format. Licensed to Hartford, Connecticut, USA, the station serves the Hartford-New Britain-Middletown area...
), but was sold to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in 1956, shortly after Hartford and New Haven merged into a single market. The station's call letters were changed to WHCT, for "Hartford CBS Television" (or alternatively "Hartford, ConnecticuT", or "Hartford Christian Television" in its later years, according to some).
As a CBS station, WHCT's ratings were low because television sets weren't required to come with UHF tuners until 1964. Even with a very expensive converter, UHF signals were very unclear at the time. In 1957, Travelers Insurance Company, owners of WTIC-AM
WTIC (AM)
WTIC is a 50,000-watt radio station operating out of Hartford, Connecticut, broadcasting news and talk radio. Its signal, located at 1080 kHz, can be picked up throughout southern New England by day and over several states as well as parts of Canada by night...
-FM
WTIC-FM
WTIC-FM is a radio station primarily serving the Hartford, Connecticut market, though its signal can be picked up throughout most of Connecticut and into Springfield, Massachusetts. It currently broadcasts a Hot Adult Contemporary format. It is located on the dial at 96.5 MHz...
, signed on WTIC-TV on channel 3. By 1958, CBS had concluded that it was better to have its programming on a VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
station, even if it was only an affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
. It moved its Hartford affiliation to WTIC-TV, and sold WHCT to a group led by Edward Taddei, which turned it into an independent station. Channel 3, which is now WFSB
WFSB
'WFSB, channel 3, is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, owned by the Meredith Corporation. WFSB's studios and offices are located in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and its broadcast transmitter is based on Talcott Mountain in Avon, Connecticut. Syndicated...
, has been Hartford's CBS affiliate since then. Two years later, what had become RKO General
RKO General
RKO General was the main holding company through 1991 for the noncore businesses of the General Tire and Rubber Company and, after General Tire's reorganization in the 1980s, GenCorp. The business was based around the consolidation of its parent company's broadcasting interests, dating to 1943, and...
retook ownership of the station, this time without the involvement of the Times.
As an independent, WHCT's schedule consisted of cartoons, movies, off-network sitcoms and dramas, sports (including New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
games), public affairs
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
programming, and religious shows. However, it never really thrived, even with the addition of all-channel tuning. Beginning in 1962, the station ran a subscription television service from 7:00 p.m. to midnight, with first-run movies and sports events from Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. A decade before the 1972 premiere of HBO, WHCT's programming was an experiment between RKO and Zenith
Zenith Electronics
Zenith Electronics Corporation is a brand of the South Korean company LG Electronics. The company was previously an American manufacturer of televisions and other consumer electronics, and was headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois. LG Electronics acquired a controlling share of Zenith in 1995...
, who provided the "Phonevision
Phonevision
Phonevision was a project by Zenith Radio Company to create the world's first pay television system. It was developed and first launched in Chicago, followed by further trials in New York City and Hartford, Connecticut.- History :...
" descrambler boxes. WHCT could be seen by all viewers with a UHF tuner and antenna during regular broadcast hours, but viewers needed a decoder box in order to view the signal during the subscription television block. The first pay-TV movie was Sunrise At Campobello
Sunrise at Campobello
Sunrise at Campobello is a 1960 American biographical film made by Dore Schary Productions and Warner Bros. It tells the story of the initial struggle by future President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family when he was stricken with paralysis at the age of 39 in August...
, starring Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned sixty-two years.-Early life:He was born Ralph Rexford Bellamy in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lilla Louise , a native of Canada, and Charles Rexford Bellamy. He ran away from home when he was fifteen and managed to get into a road show...
and Greer Garson
Greer Garson
Greer Garson, CBE was a British-born actress who was very popular during World War II, being listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top ten box office draws in 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1946. As one of MGM's major stars of the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award...
. The subscription television service was deemed a failure, and RKO dropped it in 1968. By then, the station had slashed its operating hours, signing on in the afternoon and signing off late at night. Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood is a radio and television commentator in the United States. His daily program, The Osgood File, has been broadcast on the CBS Radio Network since 1971. He is also known for being the voice of the narrator of Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film released in 2008, based on the book...
, now the host of CBS Sunday Morning, was General Manager
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of the station.
In 1972, RKO donated the station to California's Faith Center, led by Dr. Eugene Scott. Under Scott, the station began to air religious programming in the morning and evening hours, while continuing to air general entertainment programming from noon to 8 pm. Along with shows such as PTL Club and The 700 Club
The 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...
, WHCT also aired programming featuring Dr. Scott himself. For a time, WHCT also broadcast games of the World Hockey Association
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
's New England Whalers
Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.. The club played in the World Hockey Association from 1972–79 and in the National Hockey League from 1979–97...
.
WHCT was almost exclusively religious by 1979, and the station's transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
was vandalized in the same year, forcing it to broadcast at low power. By 1981, the station aired Dr. Scott's shows full time. Scott would provide rambling discourses on wide ranging topics.
WHCT was put up for a "distress" sale in 1980, with the stipulation from the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) that the station be sold to minority ownership. After some legal wrangling, Astroline Communications took ownership of the station in 1984, and put WHCT back on the air in September 1985 with a lineup of movies, reruns, and syndicated programming not shown on the other two Connecticut independents, WTXX (now WCCT-TV) and WTIC-TV
WTIC-TV
WTIC-TV, channel 61, is a television station in Hartford, Connecticut. Owned by the Tribune Company, WTIC-TV is a charter affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company...
. The station also once again carried the now-Hartford Whalers, by then a National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
team, from 1986 until 1990. However, WHCT continued to underperform in the ratings. Hartford/New Haven wasn't big enough at the time to support three independent stations, and it didn't help matters that New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's three major independents—WNEW-TV (now WNYW
WNYW
WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
), WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
) and WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
—were all available on cable.
By the fall of 1987, WHCT was in serious financial trouble. Syndicated shows were pulled off the station daily because program distributors were not being paid; much of this programming would migrate to year-old WTWS (channel 26, now WHPX-TV). With the station's finances and program supply dwindling, WHCT gradually increased the amount of paid programming and 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 on its schedule, to the point where it ultimately ran them for 18 hours a day.
Finally, in 1988, WHCT filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. On April 4, 1991, the filing was converted to chapter 7, and soon afterwards the station was ordered off the air by the Federal Bankruptcy Court, with its equipment repossessed to satisfy the creditors' demands. On April 9, WHCT ceased operations.
Two if By Sea Broadcasting attempted to purchase the station in 1993, but its application was tied up in a license renewal dispute between Astroline and Shurberg Broadcasting, in which Shurberg alleged that Astroline had misrepresented itself as a minority broadcaster in order to purchase the station. In the meantime, WHCT stayed dark until February 5, 1997, when the bankruptcy trustee for Astroline, to avoid the license being automatically canceled by the FCC on February 9, put the station back on the air with programming provided by Paxson Communications
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:...
(which sold WTWS soon afterward). The FCC designated WHCT's license for hearing that April. Paxson's inTV service was dropped from WHCT in June 1998 in favor of Shop at Home Network
Shop at Home Network
The Shop at Home Network was a television network in the United States Before its acquisition by Jewelry Television in 2006, The E. W. Scripps Company owned and operated the network from 2002 until 2006, when the network temporarily ceased operations on June 21...
programming, and the Pax TV affiliation for Hartford ultimately went to the renamed WHPX (though WHCT still carried some Worship Network programming, as well as 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"...
games declined by WBNE (now WCTX
WCTX
WCTX is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for the state of Connecticut that is licensed to New Haven. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter in Hamden. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to ABC affiliate WTNH and the two...
), in addition to Shop at Home). Another affiliation change took place in January 1999, when the station affiliated with ValueVision (now ShopNBC
ShopNBC
ShopNBC is an American broadcast and cable home shopping network, owned and operated by ValueVision Media, which is in turn 30% owned by GE Equity and NBC Universal...
).
WVEN-TV
WVEN-TV digital channel 49 is a television affiliate of Univision licensed to serve Daytona Beach, Florida, but with sufficient signal to cover Orlando and Melbourne, Florida. The station is owned by Entravision and offers a Spanish language entertainment format. WVEN takes its call letters from...
) in Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, USA. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city has a population of 64,211. Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Deltona – Daytona Beach – Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which the census bureau estimated had...
, by alleging that she found the stations for Entravision, and a complaint from Astroline general partner Richard Ramirez over a payment by the bankruptcy trustee to Shurberg, it was eventually approved; the station changed its call letters to WUVN that December, and dropped ValueVision in favor of Univision's Spanish-language programming on April 1, 2001. Since then, WUVN has largely been a semi-satellite of Boston's WUNI.
WUVN-DT2
WUVN's Springfield feed has its origins in W10CG, a low-power station on channel 10 in Hartford that signed on in February 1997, became WHTX-LP on March 31, and shut down in December 1998 to make room for WTNHWTNH
WTNH is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of Connecticut that is licensed to New Haven. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 from a transmitter in Hamden. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX and the two...
's digital signal; its programming from America One
America One
America One is an over-the-air television network in the United States. The network serves over 170 LPTV, Class A, Full Power, Cable and Satellite affiliate stations...
and the American Independent Network
American Independent Network
The American Independent Network was one of the first major attempts at building a television network, consisting of low-powered television stations. Started by Don Shelton, Randy Moseley, and Lynn Synder, it was similar to the older Channel America , and was the foundation for Urban America TV...
moved to former simulcast partner WMLD-LP (channel 6, now WRNT-LP on channel 48). As the station did not return to the air within a year of going dark, the license was deemed to have expired by the Federal Communications Commission on October 11, 2002. However, original owner Harvard Broadcasting claimed to the FCC that WHTX had briefly resumed operations on an annual basis, and the license was reinstated a month later; it was sold to Entravision soon thereafter. Entravision moved the station to channel 43 in Springfield, and signed the new WHTX-LP on the air in November 2003 as a semi-satellite of WUVN. WHTX was picked up by Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
's Springfield-area systems on July 10, 2006, replacing the national Univision feed.
Soon after WHTX made its move, however, Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
filed an objection, stating that the station's claimed resumptions were not enough to avoid the automatic expiration of its license, and that there were sufficient channels available in the Hartford area for WHTX to use to accommodate WTNH. As a result, the move was never formally granted even a construction permit
Construction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
, and was operated by a series of special temporary authority
Special temporary authority
In U.S. broadcast law, a special temporary authorization or special temporary authority is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters...
grants; in the end, on March 9, 2009, the FCC overturned the reinstatement of the WHTX license and permanently revoked its operating authority. Nonetheless, its programming continues to remain available on cable and on WUVN's digital channel 18.2.
Newscasts
In the station's early years, WGTH-TV aired a local newscast, hiring away Charles Norwood from WNHC-TV (now WTNHWTNH
WTNH is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of Connecticut that is licensed to New Haven. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 from a transmitter in Hamden. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX and the two...
). WHCT made another attempt at a news operation for a short time in 1969, experimenting with a 10 p.m. newscast anchored by Pat Sheehan. (Another attempt at a 10 p.m. newscast would not be attempted until twenty years later, when WTIC-TV launched such a newscast, itself anchored at first by Sheehan.)
Upon the sale to Entravision, the company announced that it would launch a Spanish-language local news operation on WUVN. However, a full-scale news operation has not launched , and channel 18 has simulcast WUNI's newscast, Noticias Univision Nueva Inglaterra (Univision News New England), since the program's launch on April 1, 2003 (though WUVN again raised the possibility of a local newscast in 2006).
External links
- Advertising information site (from WUVN owner Entravision)
- WUVN's tower and transmitters
- History of the old WHCT, by former staff member Kyle Bookholz
}