WTIC-TV
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WTIC-TV is the Fox affiliate for Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting along with sister station WTXX. Its transmitter is located in Farmington, Connecticut.
History
A group led by Arnold Chase won a construction permit for channel 61 in February 1984. Chase originally planned to call his new station WETG-TV, in memory of Ella T. Grasso, the first woman in the country to be elected governor, who died in 1981. However, these plans were scuttled when the WETG-TV calls were taken by a startup station operated by Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. When Gannon refused to part with the calls, Chase was left scrambling for new ones with only a few months before sign-on. He later found out that the WTIC-TV calls were available, and got permission to use them from Arch Communications, then owner of WTIC-AM 1080 and WTIC-FM 96.5. In return, Chase sold a minority interest in the station to Arch. The WTIC-TV calls had last been used by what is now WFSB from 1957 to 1974. In memory of Grasso, WTIC showed clips of Grasso at work at sign off, while church bells played the Star Spangled Banner. A graphic at the end mentioned that WTIC-TV was dedicated in Grasso's memory. [link]WTIC-TV began operation on September 17, 1984. Originally, it was a general entertainment independent station running cartoons, sitcoms, old movies, CBS shows pre-empted by WFSB, ABC shows pre-empted by WTNH, drama shows and sports, in competition with WTXX. Arch eventually bought full control of the station.
By 1985-1986, the station was investing in stronger programming and managed to become a charter Fox affiliate in 1986. However, by 1987, Arch and Chase encountered financial problems and nearly filed for bankruptcy. Many syndicators went unpaid and responded by yanking their shows off the air. The shows were replaced by low-budget barter programming.
Chase Broadcasting (no relation to Arnold Chase though many assumed they were one and the same) acquired WTIC-TV in 1988. The barter programming continued, but a few stronger syndicated shows began to appear during key time periods. The growing popularity of Fox was also helpful to its ratings. By 1991, the station began to tie WTXX in the ratings, surpassing channel 20 the next year.
Chase sold all its stations to Renaissance Broadcasting (who owned WTXX) in 1992. To follow FCC regulations at that time, Renissance sold WTXX in March 1993 to a Roman Catholic non profit group, Counterpoint Communications. Renaissance tried to negotiate a local marketing agreement with WTXX' new owners, in which it would buy WTXX' entire broadcast day. From the time the sale became final until July of 1993 Renaissance allowed WTXX to run Disney Afternoon from 3 to 5 p.m. and some off network sitcoms from 5 to 7 p.m. weekdays free of charge as well as first run syndicated shows on weekends in this slot. However, Counterpoint balked, wanting a part-time arrangement. That July WTXX enetered into a part-time LMA with WVIT. Renaissance began moving WTXX' shows to WTIC-TV, effectively creating a very strong lineup for channel 61. Some programming such as older sitcoms, however, returned to syndicators and wound up on WTVU (now WCTX). The cartoons that did not move to WTIC were actually sold to WVIT and moved back to WTXX which they aired daily from 6 to 9 a.m. (until 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays) and weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m.
WTIC-TV was sold to the Tribune Company in 1997 as part of a group deal. At that point, the station took over management of WTXX (then a UPN affiliate, later a WB (soon to be The CW station). In 1998 WTIC-TV, replaced WVIT as WTXX's LMA partner, and the WVIT-produced newscast at 10 p.m. was replaced with a simulcast of the first half-hour of channel 61's news program. (As of April 24, 2006, WTXX simulcasts the full WTIC newscast.) In 2001, Tribune bought WTXX outright.
As time went on WTIC began dropping cartoons, movies, and older sitcoms in favor of more talk and reality shows. The weekday cartoons ended at the end of 2001 when Fox ended its weekday kids' block.
Since Fox entered sports programming in 1994, WTIC has had to deal with issues regarding Major League Baseball and National Football League coverage. Connecticut is split between the home territories of MLB's New York Yankees, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox, as well as the NFL's New York Giants and New England Patriots. The football issue is not typically as stark because the Giants and Patriots play in separate conferences, each with their own network TV deals, so there is little overlap. However, Fox picks both the Yankees and Red Sox for its baseball broadcast windows from time-to-time. MLB limits Fox to a single game, and does not allow other channels to broadcast baseball in that window (from 1 pm to 4 pm Eastern). This creates serious anger among Connecticut baseball fans when WTIC must broadcast either the Yankees or the Red Sox, as the usual cable channels (YES & NESN) are blacked out for the team not broadcast by Fox. This anger is intensified by fans in the Springfield market when the station picks the Yankees over the Red Sox given fan loyalties.
Notable Employees
Jay Crawford has been the co-host of ESPN2's Cold Pizza since March 2003.External links
| Terrestrial television>Broadcast television in the Hartford/New Haven market [(Nielsen DMA #28)] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| WFSB 3 (CBS) - WTNH 8 (ABC) - WRDM 13 (TEL/RAI) - W17CD 17 (Ind) - WUVN 18 (UNI) - WTXX 20 (The WB/The CW) (The Tube on DT2) - WEDH 24 / WEDW 49 / WEDN 53 / WEDY 65 (PBS/CPTV) - WHPX 26 (i) - WVIT 30 (NBC) - WHCT 38 (AZA) - WSAH 43 (S@H/JTV) - WUTH 47 (TFU) - WNHX 51 (Ind) WCTX 59 (UPN/MNTV) - WTIC 61 (Fox) | |||
| Local digital television channels | |||
| WSHM 33.2 (CBS) | |||
| Broadcast television in the Springfield / Holyoke market [(Nielsen DMA #108)] | ||
|---|---|---|
| WWLP 22 (NBC) - WGGB 40 (ABC/HSN) - WHTX 43 (UNI) - WGBY 57 (PBS) - WDMR-LP 65 (TEL) - WSHM-LP 67 (CBS) | ||
| Out-of-market stations serving/available in Springfield | ||
| WCDC 19// WTEN 10 (ABC, Adams) - WEDH 24 (PBS/CPTV, Hartford) - WNYA 51 (UPN/My Network TV, Pittsfield) - WCTX 59 (UPN/My Network TV, New Haven) - WTIC 61 (FOX, Hartford) | ||
| Local cable television channels | ||
| "WBQT" 11/16 (The WB) | ||
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