WUVN

From Freepedia

WUVN
New Haven / Hartford, Connecticut
Branding	Univision 18/Univision Nueva Inglaterra
Slogan
Analog channel	18 (UHF)
Digital channel	46 (UHF)
Affiliations	Univision
Owner	Entravision
Founded	1954
Call letters meaning	"UniVisioN"
Former affiliations	DuMont, ABC (1954-55) CBS (1955-59) Independent (1959-79, 1985-91) Religion (1972-85) Infomercials (1987-91, 1996-99)
Website	www.wuvntv.com

WUVN is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut. It serves as the Univision affiliate for the state of Connecticut primarily the Hartford market. Owned and operated by Entravision, the station broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 18, and its digital signal on UHF channel 46.

History

The station began operation on August 4, 1954 as WGTH-TV, a DuMont/ABC affiliate broadcasting on UHF channel 71. It was initially owned by The Hartford Times newspaper, but was sold to CBS in 1955. The station's call letters were changed to WHCT, for "Hartford CBS Television" (or, alternatively, "Hartford, CT" or "Hartford Christian Television" according to some). The station also moved to channel 18, and began to air programming from CBS. (The ABC affiliation moved to WNHC, now WTNH-TV.)

WHCT, however, did not remain a CBS station for long. WTIC-TV channel 3 (now WFSB) signed on air in 1957, and CBS soon decided that it was better to affiliate with a VHF station than to own and operate a UHF station (especially since television sets were not required to come with UHF tuners before 1964). As such, CBS affiliated with WTIC-TV in 1959, and sold WHCT to RKO General.

As an independent station, WHCT's schedule consisted of cartoons, movies, off-network sitcoms and dramas, sports, public affairs programming, and religious shows. From 1964 to 1968, the station ran a subscription television service from 7pm to midnight with scrambled first-run movies and sports events from Madison Square Garden. Viewers needed a decoder box in order to view the signal. The subscription television service was deemed a failure, and RKO dropped it in 1968. The station now signed on in the afternoon and signed off late at night everyday.

By 1972, RKO had given up on this operation, and gave the station to 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 8pm. Along with shows such as "PTL Club" and "The 700 Club", WHCT also aired locally-produced programming featuring Dr. Scott himself.

The general entertainment programming was gone from the station by 1979. 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.

WHCT was put up for a "distress" sale in 1985, with stipulation from the FCC that the station be sold to a group of minority ownership. After some legal wranglings, Astroline Communications took ownership of the station, and WHCT returned to air in September of that year with a lineup of movies, re-runs, and low-rated syndicated programming not shown on WTXX (Channel 20) and WTIC-TV (Channel 61). The station continued to underperform in the ratings, and was facing financial troubles by the fall of 1987. The station failed to pay programming distributors, and syndicated shows were pulled off the station daily. The station gradually increased the amount of paid programming and infomercials to 18 hours a day.

WHCT filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990, and by 1991, the station was ordered off the air by the Federal Bankruptcy Court, with its equipment repossessed to satisfy the creditors' demands.

Paxson Communications purchased the license in 1996, and the station returned to air in the spring of that year, airing home shopping and other paid programming. The station was sold to Entravision in 1999, and began to air Spanish-language programming that year.

Reference

• RadioDXer.com

External links

• Official website (same content as the WUNI-TV site)
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WUVN
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WHTX-LP

Broadcast television in Western Massachusetts
WCDC 19 (ABC) - WWLP 22 (NBC) - WXXA 23 (FOX) - WGGB 40 (ABC) - WHTX 43 (UNI) - WGBY 57 (PBS) - WDMR 65 (TEL) - WSHM 67 (CBS)