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WBPX-TV (channel 68) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...
in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the
Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented en ...
network. It is owned by the
Ion Media Ion Media (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) was an American broadcasting company that owned and operated over 71 television stations in most major American markets (through its television stations group ...
subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, which also owns Woburn-licensed Grit station WDPX-TV (channel 58); the two channels share the same TV spectrum. WBPX-TV and WDPX-TV are broadcast from a tower shared with WUNI and WWJE-DT on Parmenter Road in
Hudson, Massachusetts Hudson is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, with a total population of 20,092 as of the 2020 census. Before its incorporation as a town in 1866, Hudson was a neighborhood and unincorporated village of Marlborough, Massa ...
. WBPX-TV's programming is duplicated on WPXG-TV (channel 21) in
Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the county seat, seat of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third larg ...
, which shares its channel with
Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as ...
–licensed Daystar station WYDN (channel 48) and broadcasts from Fort Mountain near Epsom, New Hampshire. WBPX-TV began broadcasting as WQTV in 1979 and originally broadcast
subscription television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
programming to paying customers, which ended in 1983, with the station operating as a full-time commercial
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...
until succumbing to financial troubles and paring back its programming. After being sold to ''
The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'' in 1986, WQTV became the nucleus of a major production operation, which in 1991 spawned a cable television channel, the Monitor Channel. After $325 million in losses, this service shut down in 1992, and the ''Monitor'' sold WQTV to
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...
, which operated it for six years as commercial independent WABU. Boston University also bought the Concord station, which had been silent since it failed as CBS affiliate WNHT in 1989, and turned it into a satellite of WABU in 1995. Both stations were sold in 1999 to become outlets of the Pax network, which changed its name to i in 2005 before becoming known as Ion in 2007.


Early history


The subscription television years

On June 3, 1966, Boston Heritage Broadcasting, Inc.—a consortium of local owners and New Jersey-based Blonder-Tongue Laboratories—filed an application for a construction permit for channel 68 in Boston, which the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) granted on September 23, 1969, after a comparative hearing. Boston Heritage then filed the third-ever application for authority to install
subscription television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
(STV) equipment in July 1970, which the FCC granted three years later. Even though a construction permit had been awarded in 1969, it would be nearly a decade before channel 68 broadcast. By late 1977, Boston Heritage had begun work to build the transmitter on the
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, and Blonder-Tongue's pay-TV system was already in use in the New York area. The subscription television programs to be aired on the station would come from Universal Subscription Television, a subsidiary of Canadian company CanWest Capital Corporation. CanWest was in the middle of assembling a network of stations to air its programming, with outlets in various stages of consideration on New York's
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...
and in
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
,
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, and
Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
. WQTV began program testing at the very end of 1978 and regular programming on January 2, 1979. The subscription service, named BEST at launch, became known as StarCase in May 1979. That month, the station's only non-subscription programs were paid-for ethnic and religious hours. Universal was prompted to abandon its plan to sign up subscribers by area because prospective customers kept calling, having dialed past channel 56 to see the new station on their sets. Further interest was sparked when StarCase began broadcasting adult films in late-night hours. Universal Subscription Television was acquired in two parts during the course of 1981 by
Satellite Television & Associated Resources Satellite Television & Associated Resources (STAR) was an American operator of subscription television (STV) systems. Owned by businessman Byron Lasky and headquartered in Santa Monica, California, the company operated services under the "Star" an ...
(STAR) of
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
; after acquiring franchises for unbuilt services on stations in San Jose (
KSTS KSTS (channel 48) is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Telemundo network to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by NBCUniversal' ...
) and
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
( WGPR-TV) in January, STAR then spent $20.5 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) to acquire the Boston StarCase service and another $600,000 for WQTV itself. The service was rebranded Star with the sale. Star offered partial-season coverage of the
Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
to subscribers in the 1981–82 season, mostly because cable carrier PRISM New England was not available on the Boston cable system at the time. Channel 68 was not the only purveyor of subscription television programming in Massachusetts; alongside a microwave distribution system carrying HBO, its primary over-the-air competition came from
Preview Preview may refer to: Theatre, film, television * Preview (subscription service), an early subscription television service in the United States * Preview (theatre), a public performance of a theatrical show before the official opening * Previe ...
, owned by American Television and Communications (ATC)—the cable division of
Time, Inc. Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
—and broadcast on WSMW-TV from
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
. By June 1982, generally the zenith of STV's existence nationally, Star was the 8th-largest service in the nation with 52,000 subscribers; Preview was the 7th-largest with 60,000. Beginning in late 1982, subscription television began to decline as an industry due to increased penetration of cable services. Satellite Television & Associated Resources would be one of the first and highest-profile failures in the industry. At the end of January, Star's 23,000 remaining subscribers received Preview program guides for February; the end for Star came on the night of February 12, when customers were confronted with a graphic slide after a second mortgage holder foreclosed on the operation and sold its assets privately. Preview bought the subscriber list and temporarily simulcast most of its programming on both channels 68 and 27 until it could switch Star's subscribers to Preview equipment. At the end of March, Satellite Television & Associated Resources, with $ in liabilities, was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy by three movie studios and an advertising company in Los Angeles.


"Where the Stars Shine"

Preview's transitional service for former Star customers and promotional messages for Preview occupied WQTV's evening hours until September 5, 1983, when channel 68 launched a new ad-supported evening lineup. The station's existing daytime programming from the
Financial News Network The Financial News Network (FNN) was an American financial and business news television network that was launched November 30, 1981. The purpose of the network was to broadcast programming nationwide, five days a week for seven hours a day on t ...
(FNN) was joined by syndicated fare including ''
Kojak ''Kojak'' is an American action crime drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theodopolis "Theo" Kojak. Taking the time slot of the popular ''Cannon'' series, ...
'', ''
Barnaby Jones ''Barnaby Jones'' is an American detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law, who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, California. The show was o ...
'' and ''
Tic-Tac-Dough ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, ''X'' or ''O'', on the board. Three versions were produc ...
''. The new programming proved popular enough that the FNN daytime programming was discontinued on April 2, 1984. WQTV became an aggressive buyer of programs and an aggressive promoter of its programming. The station relocated its studios to a site on Soldiers Field Road in
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
. It managed to see ratings increases, and sales nearly doubled in 1985 to $4.2 million ($ in dollars). However, the early 1980s had brought a boom in independent stations and rapid increases in the prices for syndicated programming that formed the backbone of these stations. WQTV succumbed in December 1985 and laid off all except "the essential operating staff"—dismissing more than half of its 40 workers—in a desperate bid to cut costs; it also put itself on the market. Many popular programs were axed by the station because they had become too expensive, while WQTV's national sales representative resigned from the position and began considering "further action" to obtain back payments. Clifford Curley, the general manager, managed to get the station to turn an operating profit in the first months of 1986 by subsisting on pre-1948 films, any and every network show turned down by the local affiliates, and other titles it owned in perpetuity, along with aggressively promoting the studios for lease to industrial filmmakers. Within six months of going on the market, it had been joined by two competing independent stations: WXNE-TV (channel 25) and
WSBK-TV WSBK-TV (channel 38) is an independent television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS owned-and-operated station WBZ-TV (channel 4). Both stations share studios on So ...
(channel 38), with stronger programming portfolios and higher asking prices.
Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...
, owner of noncommercial WERS, was invited to make a bid.


''Christian Science Monitor'' ownership

On May 28, 1986, ''
The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'', a daily newspaper owned by the Boston-based
Church of Christ, Scientist The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of '' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,'' and founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word a ...
, announced it would purchase WQTV for $7.5 million (equivalent to $ in dollars). It was the first broadcasting property to be owned by the ''Monitor'', though the long-running publication had been involved in electronic media for nearly a decade with a news service for commercial radio stations, begun in 1977, and the half-hour Monitoradio program distributed through American Public Radio. The transaction closed six months later, by which time channel 68 had essentially fallen out of contention in the Boston market. After selling the station, former owner WQTV, Inc., was forced into
Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...
liquidation by program distributors at the start of 1987;
MCA Television NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV, is the television syndication division of NBCUni ...
,
Paramount Television The original incarnation of Paramount Television was the name of the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, that was responsible for the production of Viacom television programs, until it changed its name ...
and
20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Co ...
alleged they had not been paid in six months. The Christian Science Monitor Syndicate was formed to serve as WQTV's licensee in order to comply with equal employment opportunity laws for broadcasters; the ''Monitor'' itself employed only Christian Scientists. The ''Monitor'' hired Allan Ginsberg, the former vice president of
Metromedia Metromedia (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMon ...
, and announced that it would not operate WQTV with an all-religious lineup; instead, channel 68 would feature commercial programs along with some programming already produced by the newspaper, such as the weekly ''Christian Science Monitor Reports'', which was distributed through Independent Network News to 88 stations across the country. This program had debuted as a monthly show in 1985, though it aired in off hours and often on smaller, lesser-viewed stations. It had reason to begin an extensive expansion into broadcasting: the newspaper was prestigious but a longtime money-loser for Christian Science. The ''Monitor''-produced programming was restructured in September 1988, when ''World Monitor'', a half-hour international news program hosted by former
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...
correspondent John Hart, debuted on WQTV in Boston and nationally on
The Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...
; the program almost aired on A&E, but ''Monitor'' executive John H. Hoagland, Jr., turned it down for a higher-priced offer from Discovery, a decision he would later regret. The original concept for ''World Monitor'' involved four co-anchors in Boston, London, Tokyo and Washington; this was scrapped when Hoagland hired
Sanford Socolow Sanford Socolow (November 11, 1928 – January 31, 2015) was an American broadcast journalist who worked at CBS News from 1956 to 1988. He was executive producer of '' The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite'' from 1978 to 1981. Early life Soco ...
, former executive producer of the ''
CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature st ...
'', who deemed the concept unworkable. The new program debuted to favorable reviews in the national media. The introduction of ''World Monitor'' presaged a total programming change in April 1989; WQTV dropped almost all of its remaining entertainment programming—retaining just a handful of nature and children's shows—and began offering a suite of new ''Monitor''-produced public affairs programs. The move was ordered by Hoagland, an ex-CIA officer and head of the Christian Science Publishing Society who became chair of the new ''Monitor'' television operation, against the advice of broadcast consultants; the new programs would appeal to the
psychographic Psychographics is a qualitative methodology used to describe traits of humans on psychological attributes. Psychographics have been applied to the study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. Two approaches to ...
of the " global citizen" as opposed to demographics typically used in television targeting. Newer, more expensive consultants were then hired; one television producer noted that these consultants "talked the ''Monitor'' into incredible expenses" that amounted to a "flagrant waste of money", while a church member described the new consultants as "yes-men". An unsolicited $25 million ($ in dollars) offer for WQTV, made in 1988 by a group of outside investors, was rejected as a new project emerged on the horizon, using the internal name of "TV: Special Programming"—a 24-hour cable television service. Even though ratings dropped precipitously for channel 68 after the removal of many of the syndicated shows, with the network plan well into development but still not publicly announced, ''Monitor'' officials forged ahead and announced they would add another 24 hours a week of new output on WQTV by early 1990, intending to syndicate some of it nationally. Programs on the air at this time included the newsmagazine ''One Norway Street''; ''Today's Monitor'', featuring looks at stories in that day's newspaper; the Spanish-language ''Monitor de Hoy'', the first-ever Spanish-language TV show in Boston; ''50 Years Ago Today'', featuring excerpts from 50-year-old issues of the ''Monitor''; and the weekly minority-oriented ''Inner City Beat'', hosted by longtime ''Monitor'' journalist
Luix Overbea Luix Virgil Overbea (died July 10, 2010) was an American journalist who was one of the founding members of the National Association of Black Journalists. Biography Luix Overbea was a native of Chicago; and received a bachelor's degree in philo ...
. Religious programs featured in only a limited capacity: a daily Bible lesson and a five-minute reading of the religious article in the ''Monitor''. This was supplemented by foreign-purchased programs, such as the 42-part Japanese documentary ''
The Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
''. Some of the new programs found their way to the
WWOR EMI Service WWOR EMI Service was a New York City-based American cable television channel that operated as a superstation feed of Secaucus, New Jersey-licensed WWOR-TV (channel 9). The service was uplinked to satellite from Syracuse, New York by Eastern Mic ...
, the
superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...
feed of New York television station
WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW ...
, which was created at the start of 1990 to substitute some of the New York station's programming due to new syndication exclusivity rules. By 1990, ''World Monitor'' alone cost some $20 million ($ in dollars) a year to produce; that same year, Canadian journalist
Peter Kent James Peter Kent (born July 27, 1943) is a former Canadian journalist and former politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Thornhill from 2008 to 2021. He served as Minister of the Environment in the 28t ...
joined as reporter and substitute anchor, a post he would hold until the program ceased production in 1992.


The Monitor Channel

At the 1990
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conference in Atlanta, the ''Monitor'' announced its plans to launch the Monitor Channel, a full-time cable television channel growing out of the newspaper's television output already seen on WQTV that would launch in May 1991. The new service would aim itself at people who were not frequent television viewers with a range of substantive, globally minded programs. The Monitor Channel soft-launched on May 1, 1991 (with the official start date of May 15), into a crowded landscape. Between regulatory paralysis and a lack of channel capacity, a number of new channel launches at the start of the decade were struggling to get traction; Hoagland believed that the new service could wait out early lean years because most of its expenses were tied up in existing radio and WQTV operations. The launch was a major risk for the Monitor Syndicate. WQTV's programming was seen as in-depth but slow in pace and was not garnering audience interest in Boston, an image that would transfer to the Monitor Channel. At WQTV, the only show getting ratings attention of any variety was a weekly airing of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', and Monitor Television president Netty Douglass admitted to ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' that the station had lost as much as $10 million a year prior to restoring some of its catalog of syndicated shows to its schedule. However, major expenditures were made, including $14 million in newsgathering equipment. As early as April 1990, when ABC's '' World News Tonight'' ran a report on the financial losses of the Monitor television division, concern arose among some within ''The Christian Science Monitor'' about the scope and priority placed on the broadcasting operation. Even before the Monitor Channel launched, several maneuvers prompted financial questions: church officials were touring the country urging an increase in contributions, while the Monitor Channel began to court outside investment. In April 1991, the church was revealed to have transferred $25 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) from its retirement fund to its general fund, sparking more concerns. Dissidents in the church complained of losing jobs or being warned of potential excommunication for criticizing the board of trustees. While the Monitor Channel featured many of the same shows seen in Boston on WQTV, ''World Monitor'' could not be scheduled on the national service because of the existing Discovery contract. New shows included one helmed by comedian
Mort Sahl Morton Lyon Sahl (May 11, 1927 – October 26, 2021) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actor, and social satirist, considered the first modern comedian. Sahl pioneered a style of social satire that pokes fun at political and current event t ...
. In the early months, the Monitor Channel performed well. With four million homes signed up in a difficult environment, regional Emmy and other awards for its programming, positive media reception, and new shows coming to air on a regular basis, the channel seemed set up for long-term success. That fall, ''World Monitor''—the most widely available ''Monitor'' program, with a national viewership of 450,000—underwent turmoil. Hart resigned on October 31, 1991, citing differences over the religious mission of the church, as well as the program's coverage of the ''Twitchell'' case in which two Christian Scientist parents were tried for refusing medical care for their child. A lengthy biography depicting Hart as a brooding, isolated anchor ran in ''The Boston Globe'' Magazine a week and a half after, unbeknownst to his ''Monitor'' colleagues; the resignation was made public days later. He was replaced by
John Palmer John Palmer may refer to: People Politicians * John Palmer (fl. 1377–1394), English politician *Sir John Palmer, 5th Baronet (1735–1817), British politician * John Palmer (1785–1840), U.S. congressman from New York * John Palmer (1842–190 ...
, former host of ''
The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...
'', but the resignation of Hart—who was a key element in Discovery chairman
John Hendricks John Samuel Hendricks (born March 29, 1952)"John Hendricks: An Oral History," The Cable Center, September 2, 2003. is an American businessman and is the founder and former chairman of Discovery, Inc. (now a part of Warner Bros. Discovery) a broa ...
's decision to carry the program—prompted Discovery to pull out of its six-year contract to carry ''World Monitor''. As a result, the show began to air only on the Monitor Channel, reducing its circulation from 56 million cable homes to just 2 million; indeed, the channel's existence was another reason for the end of the Discovery partnership. Executives would later regret not acting more decisively to combine what had essentially been parallel operations at that time. With the channel's carriage still severely limited by the same structural factors of channel capacity and an uncertain regulatory environment, the Monitor Channel offered ''World Monitor'' for air to cable systems free for two years, as long as the system added the Monitor Channel to its lineup at the end of that period. Before long, any discussion of the ''Monitor'' television operation was overshadowed by financial considerations that by now were affecting the core religious functions of the Church of Christ, Scientist. In 1958,
Bliss Knapp Bliss Knapp (June 7, 1877 – March 14, 1958), the son of Ira O. and Flavia S. Knapp, students of Mary Baker Eddy, was an early Christian Science lecturer, practitioner, teacher and the author of '' The Destiny of the Mother Church''. Childh ...
died and left a bequest to the church on one condition: that it publish ''
The Destiny of The Mother Church ''The Destiny of The Mother Church'' is a book by Bliss Knapp published by Christian Science Publishing Society in 1991. Knapp and his parents, Ira O. and Flavia Stickney Knapp, all knew Mary Baker Eddy. His parents were students of hers and his ...
'', a book written by Knapp that had been repeatedly rejected by Christian Science leaders as blasphemous for depicting Christian Science founder
Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy (July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author who founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, in New England in 1879. She also founded ''The Christian Science Monitor'', a Pulitzer Prize-winning se ...
as the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy and equal to
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...
, by the year 1993. In 1991, the church published the book, leading to charges that this had only been carried out to obtain the money. A continued soft advertising market due to the deepening
early 1990s recession The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incu ...
—worst in New England, home to WQTV—and threats of legal challenges that delayed any collection of the Knapp bequest money, however, amplified the financial problems that would define 1992 for the Monitor Channel and its Boston television station.


Demise of the Monitor Channel and sale of WQTV

The Christian Science Church revealed in March 1992 that it had borrowed $41.5 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) in the first two months of the year to underwrite its media operations, including WQTV and the Monitor Channel; in doing so, it denied that the borrowing from its own endowment and other sources would affect the church's pension fund. By this time, the Monitor Channel was in 4 million cable homes, far short of the 25 million needed to turn a profit, and even the bequest was in doubt due to a lawsuit from the other potential beneficiaries,
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
and the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...
. The legal action prompted an immediate hiring and salary freeze in February 1992. At home, the coverage of the ''Globe'', which generally had a negative tone toward the Monitor Channel operation, grew; in 1992, the newspaper wrote more about its woes than about the troubles engulfing Boston technology companies
Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president un ...
,
Wang Laboratories Wang Laboratories was a US computer company founded in 1951 by An Wang and G. Y. Chu. The company was successively headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1954–1963), Tewksbury, Massachusetts (1963–1976), and finally in Lowell, Massachus ...
and the
Raytheon Company The Raytheon Company was a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft unti ...
combined. Monitor Channel executives released a statement, titled "Staying the Course", in which they described the ''Globe'' "all-out assault on the television activities of the ''Monitor''"; according to Susan Bridge, a former employee who later wrote a book on the Monitor Channel's history, this had been provoked by continuing talks for a partnership between the Monitor Channel and The Providence Journal Company. On March 9, the church announced it had put the Monitor Channel up for sale and would shut it down by June 15 if no buyer was found for the cable service; that same day, church leader Harvey W. Wood—who had been a supporter of the media expansion—resigned as chairman. WQTV would not be affected and was declared to not be for sale. The next month, the majority of the channel's 400-person workforce was laid off, with a small staff kept on to wind down operations; the cost of shutting down the channel was quoted at $45 million (equivalent to $ in dollars). Several last-minute sale talks were held in the two months that followed, but none bore fruit. The last task confronting the church as it wound down its once-expansive media operation was to sell the Boston television station that had fueled its boom. The church announced on May 16, citing continued fiscal pressures, that it would seek to sell WQTV. With much of the equipment used in the Monitor Channel operation being sold separately and a poor signal from the Prudential Tower, added to a competitive market with many existing stations, the station would face some difficulty in its immediate future. As the Monitor Channel shut down on June 28, WQTV continued to air archive programming from the service. Continued litigation over the $97 million bequest, promoted by the two potential California beneficiaries, led the church to auction off equipment and the Monitor Channel transponder: the latter fetched $14.2 million (equivalent to $ in dollars), being sold at a profit to the Discovery Channel, while another $4 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) was raised from the equipment. By early May 1993, two bidders presented proposals to the church: Krypton Broadcasting Corporation, owned by Elvin Feltner, and audio electronics manufacturer Ira Gale. Gale dropped out, leaving Feltner as the sole bidder; he pledged to turn channel 68 into an all-movie station. However, the church was not able to conclude negotiations with Feltner, who was facing mounting difficulties with his stations in the Southeast. Less than two weeks after Feltner emerged as the only prospective buyer, several program distributors asked a federal bankruptcy court to force Feltner's two Florida stations, WNFT in
Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
and
WTVX WTVX (channel 34) is a television station licensed to Fort Pierce, Florida, United States, serving the West Palm Beach area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside CBS affiliate WPEC (channel 12) and two ...
serving
West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
, into
Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
reorganization, and the bank that had supported the purchase of WTVX in 1988 was suing for nonpayment on a $19 million loan. In the end, ''The Christian Science Monitor'' lost $325 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) in its television venture, and the Monitor Channel cost $65.9 million to shut down (equivalent to $ in dollars). Bridge cites three outside factors that contributed to its closure: the recession, lack of channel capacity on cable systems in an uncertain and depressed investment environment, and the association of an "internal opposition" within Christian Science with ''The Globe''.


Boston University ownership

With the Krypton bid in peril, another local group entered the picture:
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...
(BU) began to analyze the possibility of buying WQTV. The deal was officially announced in June, with WQTV being sold for $3.8 million (equivalent to $ in dollars), below the church's $4.5 million asking price. After the WQTV sale, Christian Science would retain only a small production facility to continue making religious programs. While researching WQTV, Boston University also learned of other television opportunities. Less than a month after announcing its purchase of channel 68, BU reached a deal to buy WCVX (channel 58), an inactive television station licensed to
Vineyard Haven Vineyard Haven is a community within the town of Tisbury, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard. It is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) by the U.S. Census Bureau with a population of 2,114 as of the 2010 census. The area was ...
and covering
Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
. Later that year, BU acquired WNHT (channel 21) in
Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the county seat, seat of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third larg ...
, which had been silent since going off the air in March 1989; it would not be able to go on air from Concord until 1995 due to complaints by other New Hampshire TV stations over competition. The combination of these stations, renamed WZBU and WNBU, created a station with regional coverage only surpassed by longtime regional superstation WSBK. BU, through commercial affiliate Boston University Communications, closed on the purchase of WQTV in November 1993. The call letters were changed to WABU as the new ownership set out to build a commercial general entertainment station. The first local programs materialized three months later: hourly newsbreaks hosted by market veterans Ted O'Brien and Gail Harris, the latter of whom had also worked at the Monitor Channel. BU's presence also augmented the 37 paid staff with some two dozen student interns earning credit for their work at channel 68. Additionally, ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
'' briefly joined the channel 68 lineup in early 1994 after WHDH (channel 7) stopped carrying it. This would mark the start of two years of upgrades and new local programs. ''Adler on Line'', a nightly call-in program hosted by Canadian broadcaster
Charles Adler Charles Adler may refer to: * Charles Adler (broadcaster) (born 1954), Canadian broadcaster * Charlie Adler (born 1956), American voice actor * Frederick Charles Adler (1889–1959), usually known as F. Charles Adler, English-German conductor * ...
, started in August 1994 and was followed by two Sunday programs: news review ''Consider This'' and a business program, ''Business World with Jim Howell''. ''Consider This'' became a nightly show the next year, and a new weeknight talk show fronted by Harris also joined the primetime lineup in 1995. By the end of 1995, WABU had upgraded its original programming and acquired newer and more popular syndicated shows than it aired at launch, including ''
Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bo ...
'', ''
Northern Exposure ''Northern Exposure'' is an American Northern comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents of a fictional small town in Alaska that ran on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. It received 57 ...
'' and ''
The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty Wh ...
''. However, ratings had largely been flat. At the same time, WABU ramped up its sports coverage. BU hockey was soon joined by the
Beanpot A beanpot is a deep, wide-bellied, short-necked vessel used to cook bean-based dishes. Beanpots are typically made of ceramic, though some are made of other materials, such as cast iron. The relatively narrow mouth of the beanpot minimizes evap ...
and other events, and by 1995, the station aired 60 collegiate games a year. However, a bigger opportunity awaited. WSBK ended its 21-year run and dropped the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
after the 1995 season, and after another deal the Red Sox had been making collapsed, WABU became the new home of 80 Red Sox games for 1996 on a one-year contract. The deal, however, created upheaval for Red Sox fans outside of the Boston market, as WABU and the team had to seek new coverage partners where WSBK's regional cable carriage once sufficed. In the middle of the 1996 season, a new pact was reached between the Red Sox and WABU, extending the partnership through 1998. 1996 also brought the
New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...
in the new
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
to channel 68, which aired 19 of 32 games in the league's first season. In 1997, ''68 Sports Night'' debuted, hosted by John Holt. After the Red Sox arrived on WABU, potential buyers began to make themselves known. By February 1996, Boston University had received multiple unsolicited offers for channel 68 and its satellites, prompting BU to retain an investment firm to determine the value of the properties. One reported offer came from the
Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned magazines, television stations, websites, and radio stations. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more ...
, which had prepared a $50 million bid for WABU. BU's indebtedness began to increase administration's desire to sell off the television station; in 1998, the
USA Broadcasting USA Broadcasting was an American television broadcasting company owned by the veteran entertainment industry executive Barry Diller. This company was the over-the-air broadcasting arm of USA Networks. Before founding USA Broadcasting, Diller wa ...
group owned by
Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall o ...
signed a letter of intent to purchase WABU for a reported $30 to $40 million. In 1998, WABU struck a three-year deal to replace WSBK as the home of Boston Celtics away games. That same year was the last for the Red Sox on WABU; with the station losing $5 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) a year, the Red Sox sold their television rights to a consortium known as JCS for the 1999 season.


Pax and Ion ownership

On May 4, 1999, Boston University announced that it had sold WABU and its repeaters to an affiliate of Paxson Communications Corporation, which owned the
Pax TV Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented ente ...
network. While the university had rejected a string of unsolicited offers, it felt comfortable with the Pax bid because of the network's family-friendly program orientation. Pax opted not to retain the Celtics, who moved all games to Fox Sports Net New England (now NBC Sports Boston). The buyer was not Paxson directly but DP Media, owned by
Bud Paxson Lowell White "Bud" Paxson (April 17, 1935 – January 9, 2015) was an American media executive. In 1982, Paxson and his business partner, Roy Speer, co-founded the Home Shopping Club (now called the Home Shopping Network). He later established Pax T ...
's son Devon; Pax had launched the year before in Boston over DP Media's WBPX (channel 46) and Paxson Communications-owned WPXB (channel 60) in
Merrimack, New Hampshire Merrimack is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 26,632 as of the 2020 census. There are four villages in the town: Merrimack Village (formerly known as Souhegan Village), Thorntons Ferry, Reeds Fe ...
. The WBPX call letters moved to channel 68 along with the Pax programming months later, and WNBU and WZBU became WPXG and WDPX, respectively. Paxson acquired the DP Media stations in December 1999. Pax operated as a national network with very little program deviation and moved to shutter the entire WABU-TV local operation, resulting in 75 layoffs at channel 68, including a local personality who would move to WFXT: Butch Stearns, who had been a sports host at the station. The 1660 Soldiers Field Road studio space was acquired by the Staples Inc. office supply chain to expand its existing location; the Brighton store had been the chain's very first in 1986 and was now small compared to its more recent builds, and Pax moved into a former Ground Round restaurant at 1120 Soldiers Field Road. After changing its name to i: Independent Television in 2005, the network became known as Ion Television in 2007. On May 18, 2016, the ''
Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Puli ...
'' reported that
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primar ...
was considering acquiring WBPX to serve as the market's new
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
owned-and-operated station, after announcing in January that it was pulling the affiliation off of WHDH; such a purchase never materialized, as it ultimately purchased WTMU-LP and moved its programming there under the WBTS call sign on January 1, 2017. In the FCC's
incentive auction The 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 1001, allocated approximately 100 MHz of the United States Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum formerly allocated to UHF television in the 600 MHz band. The sp ...
, WDPX-TV sold its spectrum for $43,467,644 (equivalent to $ in dollars) and indicated that it would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement. WDPX now channel-shares with WBPX-TV; as WBPX's signal does not reach Vineyard Haven, WDPX changed its city of license to Woburn. On February 27, 2021,
Qubo Qubo ( ; stylized as qubo) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media, it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital ...
,
Ion Plus Ion Plus is an American free linear television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company that formerly operated as a broadcast television network until February 28, 2021. The network originally launched in 2 ...
and Ion Shop ceased broadcasting, and WBPX-TV's second and fourth subchannels switched to
Ion Mystery Ion Mystery (formerly Escape and Court TV Mystery, stylized as ESCAPE and MYSTERY; formerly branded on-air as Mystery) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. It focus ...
and
Bounce TV Bounce TV is an American digital multicast television network owned by Katz Broadcasting, a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created to target African Americans", the channel fe ...
; concurrently, WDPX-TV replaced Ion Plus with
Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cov ...
. This change was as part of the acquisition of Ion by the E. W. Scripps Company, which already owned a suite of diginets. The QVC and HSN subchannels were switched on July 1 to new multicast networks from Scripps,
Defy TV Defy TV is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. Defy TV is targeted at men aged 25–54. Defy TV and TrueReal, a complementary network targeted at women aged 25–54 ...
and
TrueReal TrueReal (working title: Doozy) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. TrueReal is targeted at women aged 25–54. TrueReal and Defy TV, a complementary network targ ...
, as part of their launch in 92 percent of the United States, with the Ion transmitters as their primary carriers.


Technical information


Subchannels

The stations' digital signals are
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
: One channel on each multiplex is devoted to the channel-sharing stations: WDPX-TV (58.1 Grit) on the WBPX-TV multiplex and WYDN (48.1 Daystar) on the WPXG-TV multiplex.


Analog-to-digital conversion

WBPX-TV shut down its
analog signal An analog signal or analogue signal (see spelling differences) is any continuous signal representing some other quantity, i.e., ''analogous'' to another quantity. For example, in an analog audio signal, the instantaneous signal voltage varies ...
, over
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 68 (removed from television use after the transition), on April 16, 2009. The station's
digital signal A digital signal is a signal that represents data as a sequence of discrete values; at any given time it can only take on, at most, one of a finite number of values. This contrasts with an analog signal, which represents continuous values; a ...
continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 32.


Former translators

WBPX's signal was previously relayed on
translator stations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
WMPX-LP (channel 33) in
Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is somet ...
and W40BO (channel 40) in Boston. On December 15, 2014, Ion transferred WMPX-LP and W40BO to Word of God Fellowship, parent company of the Daystar network.


See also

*
Channel 68 virtual TV stations in the United States The following television stations operate on virtual channel 68 in the United States: * KPXD-TV in Arlington, Texas * KTLN-TV in Novato, California * WABM in Birmingham, Alabama * WBPX-TV in Boston, Massachusetts * WDTJ-LD in Toledo, Ohio * WEFS ...
*
Channel 32 digital TV stations in the United States The following television stations broadcast on Digital television, digital channel 32 in the United States: * K32AB-D in Yuma, Colorado, on virtual channel 4, which rebroadcasts KCNC-TV * K32AG-D in Parowan, Enoch, etc., Utah * K32CA-D in Battle Mo ...
*
List of television stations in Massachusetts This is a list of broadcast television stations that are licensed in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Full-power stations VC refers to the station's PSIP virtual channel. RF refers to the station's physical RF channel. Defunct full-power statio ...
*
WNHT (TV) WNHT was a television station broadcasting on channel 21 in Concord, New Hampshire, United States. Owned for most of its existence by The Flatley Company, the organization of real estate developer Thomas Flatley, it broadcast from 1984 to 1989 ...
(for information on WPXG prior to 1993)


Notes


References


Bibliography

*


External links

*
WBPX at the Archives at BostonRadio.org
{{ION Ion Television affiliates Ion Mystery affiliates Scripps News affiliates Bounce TV affiliates Defy TV affiliates TrueReal affiliates E. W. Scripps Company television stations Television channels and stations established in 1979 BPX-TV 1979 establishments in Massachusetts