WXPO-TV,

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 ...

analog channel 50, was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

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 ...

licensed to

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Ha ...

, and serving

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 ...

. Owned by Merrimack Valley Communications, the station operated from November 1969 to June 1970.

History

The station first signed on the air November 6, 1969, after several delays. WXPO operated from two studio facilities: its offices and master production facilities were located on Dutton Street in downtown

; however, its transmitter and "main" studio was located on Governor Dinsmore Road in Windham, New Hampshire, to comply with

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) regulations requiring that a station's transmitter be located within 15 miles of the city of license. The original vision for the station was to air business news programming, known as "Info-50" during the daytime hours, and a general entertainment format – including sports – during the late afternoon and evening hours. Its afternoon program, ''Treehouse 50'', gained a cult following among Boston-area college students, as it featured slapstick comedy and the

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that had been released to television stations at that time. The station also attempted to do live remotes with some mixed success. In addition, WXPO was infamous for a

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

show that, according to some who watched, had started to become particularly strange by 1:00 a.m. WXPO also attempted a news operation; in addition to the financial news programming, it was the first station to provide news updates every hour (a precursor to the 24 Hour News Source format used by many stations around the United States in the 1990s and ten years before CNN launched as the first all-news cable channel), and was the first New England television station to air a primetime newscast at 10 p.m. (WKBG-TV – channel 56, now

WLVI WLVI (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, serving the Boston area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside WHDH (channel 7), an independent station. WLVI and W ...

– also attempted such a newscast during this time, but would not launch theirs for another two months). WXPO did not have any news film and relied solely on slides of photographs provided by the

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for visuals. The station's signal coverage in many parts of

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was spotty at best. The Lowell studio was located less than 1,000 feet from the WLLH transmitter, making high-quality production impossible during the day due to RF interference with the cameras. Advertisers were scared off when the ''

Lowell Sun ''The Sun'', also known as ''The Lowell Sun'', is a daily newspaper based in Lowell, Massachusetts, United States, serving towns in Massachusetts around the Greater Lowell area and beyond. As of 2011, its average daily circulation was about 42 ...

'' blacklisted anyone who advertised on the station. Bills went unpaid for several months. In January 1970, in the wake of the failure of negotiations to bring in new investors and ameliorate channel 50's financial difficulties, WXPO cut its broadcast day from 12 hours to 6 and dropped several local and syndicated shows. 90 percent of WXPO's staff was removed from the payroll, although many continued with the station, believing it could pull through. However, the spring of that year saw the closure of the Lowell studio, and bankruptcy proceedings claimed the station. It either went off the air in May, or in June when the power company pulled the plug at the Windham studios during a ''

Maverick Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Bure ...

'' rerun, taking WXPO off the air. Merrimack Valley Communications offered the WXPO-TV facility and permit for sale, including with ads in ''

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

'' magazine; at the end of December 1971, it filed with the

to sell majority control to Vendelco, Inc. The FCC approved the transfer to Vendelco in August 1972. On July 17, 1973, channel 50 returned to the air with a test transmission, with plans to return the station to the air later that year, possibly as New Hampshire's CBS affiliate. Those plans were never realized, and the WXPO-TV construction permit was deleted by the FCC on November 25, 1974. The channel would remain silent until September 1983, when WNDS (now WWJE-DT) began operations.

References

External links

WXPO-TV 50 at UHF Morgue (Internet Archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wxpo-Tv XPO-TV Television channels and stations established in 1969 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1970 Defunct television stations in the United States XPO-TV Defunct companies based in Massachusetts XPO-TV 1969 establishments in New Hampshire 1970 disestablishments in New Hampshire XPO-TV