WCTX
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WCTX is the UPN affiliate for the state of Connecticut. It is licensed to New Haven and broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 59, and its digital signal on UHF channel 39. It is owned and operated by LIN Television along with ABC affiliate WTNH (channel 8). Its transmitter is located in Hamden, Connecticut.
The station recently rebranded itself as "UPN 9" because it is available on channel nine on almost all of Connecticut's cable systems. This branding is not to be confused with WWOR-TV in the nearby New York City market, which, until recently, was also branded as UPN 9. With both stations affiliating with My Network TV on September 5, 2006, both stations could share branding once again as "My 9".
WCTX is also the UPN station by default for Springfield, Massachusetts, although UPN affiliate WNYA from Albany, New York can be seen in the western parts of that market. Springfield looks to have two My Network TV affiliates in September 2006 as both channels will become affiliates of the new network.
History
A construction permit (CP) was issued for this station by the FCC in 1953, but it took 41 years for this license to go on-air. Of all the licenses ever granted, this one took the longest to get on the air.
The CP was originally owned by the Connecticut Radio Foundation. This organization was never able to get the station on the air, so it sold the CP to Impart Systems in 1967. For many years, it served as a translator for NBC affiliate WVIT. On November 5, 1994, channel 59 finally signed-on as a stand-alone independent station, WTVU; it broadcasted initially on low-power, running Shop at Home programming and later adding coverage of the OJ Simpson murder trial. In April 1995 WTVU upgraded to full power operations, and in June of that year LIN Television took over control of the station through a local marketing agreement with WTNH. With the LMA came an affiliation with the then-new WB network, which at that point had been airing programming on WTNH on Saturday nights. The LMA also allowed WTVU to acquire better syndicated programs, most of which barter product or second runs from WTNH; because of some of these clearences, The WB's Wednesday night programming was seen on Saturday nights until summer 1996. The station changed its call letters in 1996 to WBNE (for Warner Brothers New England).
After WB-minority owner Tribune Broadcasting purchased UPN affiliate WTXX, WBNE and WTXX swapped network affiliations, an action that took place on January 1, 2001. With the new network came the new WCTX calls and the now rarely used identity "The X" which for some time was used in lieu of the conventional "UPN##" branding. LIN purchased WCTX outright in 2002. On September 19, 2005, WCTX became known as UPN 9, though this brand is to end in September 2006 (see below).
Since 2000, WTNH has produced various newscasts for WCTX, originally starting with a 35-minute 10:00 p.m. newscast (originally known as The 10 O'Clock News on WB59/WCTX", now "NewsChannel 8 Non-Stop News"). In 2005, WCTX began simulcasting the 6:00 a.m. hour of WTNH's "Good Morning Connecticut" with a second hour from 7:00-8:00 a.m. seen only on WCTX. Now only the 7-8 AM and 10 PM newscasts are shown.
On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced they would merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger will take effect in September 2006, and at that time WTXX will become the CW's Connecticut affiliate. WCTX will become an affiliate of Fox's My Network TV.