UHF in Southern New England (was WHNB/WVIT Channel 30 (was Re: WTAG-TV?))

[Bill Dillane]

>So, Channel 20 was sold and became Independent WTXX.  It immediately became
a smash in the Hartford area.

WTXX made a couple of good decisions after their power and tower increase in
April, 1982.  They advertised Warner Brothers cartoon characters on
statewide billboards to get the kids to watch this new station, showed
movies during prime time, and aired Star Trek nightly at 6 and 10.  The
10:00 Star Trek was not originally planned.  Tribune at the last minute
backed out of the deal for Ch 20 to air Independent Network News because of
WPIX-11, and 20 needed to fill the time.  The Honeymooners and other
classics were on the schedule.

WTVU-59 did not go on until 1995 because they had trouble finding a tower
location.  Previous owners of WTNH denied WTVU's request to rent tower
space.  However LIN, after purchasing WTNH, offered WTVU LMA and tower
rental agreements.  LIN now owns 59.

On another note, the FCC in the 50s and early 60s made several attempts to
move the Channel 3 allocation from Hartford to Providence.  Travelers
Insurance fought back (both before and after the WTIC-TV3 sign-on), and
Senator Abe Ribicoff publicly petitioned the FCC.  The FCC's purpose was to
make Hartford an all-UHF market (Ch 8 in New Haven was grandfathered because
it had gone on the air before the TV allocation freeze).