WHFV (defunct)

WHFV
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Channels Analog: 69 (UHF)
Affiliations NBC
Owner Television Fredericksburg, Inc.
Founded 1972
First air date October 8, 1973
Last air date May 29, 1975
Call letters' meaning Historic Fredericksburg Virginia [1]
Transmitter power 220.3 kW
Height 540 m

WHFV, channel 69, was an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Fredericksburg, Virginia and owned by Television Fredericksburg, Inc. The station signed on in 1973, found itself heavily in debt and losing money, and was forced to fold in 1975.

History

Sign-on

Television Fredericksburg, Inc. was granted a construction permit for station WHFV on channel 69 in November 1972.[2]

After construction delays, WHFV obtained an affiliation with NBC and signed on in the evening of October 8, 1973. Local radio man Keith Angstadt, formerly a reporter with WFLS (1350 AM, now WNTX, and 93.3 FM, still WFLS-FM) was the first general manager.[3]

Although Fredericksburg was its own radio market and the ownership group believed the city was large enough for a locally focused TV station, the fact remained that WHFV was attempting to enter a very saturated regional television market. There was first the proximity of two well-established NBC stations, WRC-TV Washington and WWBT Richmond, which were available over the air in most of WHFV's coverage area. Second, any reasonably popular syndicated programming was likely to be already picked up by stations in the larger markets – especially Washington with its two independent stations – leaving WHFV to either duplicate the shows or pick up weaker ones. Third, all other network affiliates in the area were on VHF, so many viewers were not used to tuning to a UHF channel or did not even have the right antenna. WHFV was forced to run advertisements explaining how to tune a UHF channel.[4]

Issues for WHFV began almost immediately, as it signed on before FCC permission for the local cable franchise to carry it was granted, causing interested viewers to flood the company with complaints.[5]

The station carried on for more than a year, carrying NBC, two newscasts a day, a typical slate of syndicated sitcom and drama reruns, and a few local productions.[6] Advertising support was initially weak in the small market, and financial losses started mounting. As early as April and May 1974, the station began advertising in The Free Lance-Star that stock in Television Fredericksburg, Inc. was available to local residents.[7] One of two non-news productions, the daily Children's World, was canceled and replaced by the then-relatively unknown The Phil Donahue Show at the end of the 1973-74 season. The station's financial losses accelerated during the summer.[8]

Financial trouble and sign-off

By the fall, WHFV was in dire straits. Beginning Labor Day 1974, it became little more than a pass-through for NBC, as nearly all syndicated programs besides news and Donahue were removed from the schedule. The station filled out its schedule during non-network hours with a daily 4:30 pm movie, an unusually timed 7 pm local newscast, and one low-rent syndicated show in the 7:30 pm slot.[9] Realizing the station was on the brink, Television Fredericksburg began advertising nationally for a buyer and had to resort to short-term loans to continue operations, but was not bringing in the money to pay them back and slipped into default. The Free-Lance Star reported that the station had been sued for more than $1 million owed to five local banks, two equipment lessors, and the IRS, in addition to reporting operating losses of $207,000 year-to-date in October 1974. One potential sale to Fairfax County businessman Charles Henry Smith, Jr. fell through in September. Smith expressed his opinion that the operation could turn a profit in several years, and its fatal mistake was going on the air without accounting for this; it clearly did not have enough cash on hand to survive even a year of losses. [8][10]

Events came to a head on December 16, 1974, as station employees conducted a walkout after going a month without pay. General manager Angstadt locked himself in the building, canceled the newscasts for the day, and performed all other operations solo.[8] The employees returned to work the next day, contingent on being paid December 24, which was itself contingent on a just-agreed "imminent" sale.[11] The buyer was Texas religious broadcaster Release The World For Christ, Inc., who did not operate any stations but did have a syndicated talk show, The Chris Panos Show, airing on the few stations of the fledgling Christian Broadcasting Network.[12]

The sale was announced on the 26th, pending FCC approval. Release the World head Chris Panos pledged to keep as much secular programming as possible, including the NBC affiliation.[13] Still, six full-time staff members left, including Angstadt, leaving the station's engineer Ray McInturff to pull double duty as manager. The station crammed into half of its building in an attempt to stabilize its financial situation by renting the other half out.[14] The station's financial trouble brought the attention of the State Corporation Commission, who in March found grounds to block the sale. Television Fredericksburg had been granted an exception from stock-registration requirements under Virginia law, which the state argued should be removed if a controlling stake was to be sold to an out-of-state interest. Television Fredericksburg successfully defended its actions in an April 2 hearing, and the sale was allowed to proceed.[15]

In an abrupt reversal, on May 28, 1975, WHFV suddenly notified the FCC it was out of money and would go off the air the next day. The station, having waited as long as it could for FCC approval of the sale, blamed inaction on Release the World's part. The FCC agreed, stating that Release the World had been notified that it failed to submit complete financial information in its application to transfer control. The FCC placed the application on hold and did not take any action while it awaited completed information. (Potential transferees must prove they have enough cash on hand to acquire the station and run it for one year.) The FCC set an original deadline of May 22 to complete the application, after which it would close and eventually be dismissed. Release the World negotiated an extension to May 29.[10]

The Free Lance-Star quoted both an anonymous station employee and McInturff as suspecting that the delay showed that Release the World was attempting to back out of the deal. For their part, Release the World said it had sent the information to its lawyer in Washington in time to have the application completed on the 29th, but also stated the group would "change [their] thinking" on the purchase if the station were to go dark and lay off its staff.[10][16] Despite this statement, Release the World's lawyer said he never received the information; the application was not completed in time, and the FCC formally dismissed it in July.[17]

WHFV signed off for what would be the final time on May 29, 1975 at exactly 4:57:45 pm. At the time, it was so far in debt that it didn't matter that there was no money to pay UPI for the wire service – the staff could not even afford more paper for the teleprinter.[10][18]

Post-signoff

When exactly the WHFV license was finally canceled is unclear. McInturff indicated that even though he was taking the station dark, he was planning to renew the station's license in October 1975 to keep a potential buyer from having to expend the time and money to re-establish it.[10] In July 1975, Television Fredericksburg's lawyer said the company would soon "cease to exist" as a result of its debts.[17] WHFV was listed as an active callsign when Broadcasting compiled a list of currently licensed UHF stations in February 1979, as well as in the callsign list but not the directory of the 1979 Television Factbook; this implies that the station was not on the air, but that the license was still active.[19][20] No evidence exists that WHFV was ever sold or that another broadcast was ever made over channel 69 from Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg grew into a full-fledged radio market of its own in the 1980s and 1990s, but another attempt has never been made to start a locally focused television station.

The channel 69 allocation would later become occupied by WQAW-LP before it was removed from television use in the 2009 digital television transition. The WHFV callsign is now in use on an unrelated FM station in Elkton, Virginia.

Keith Angstadt moved to Mutual. Steve Handelsman, now a political reporter with NBC News, worked as a reporter at WHFV before moving on to WLWT as the station shut down.[21]

Programming and coverage

WHFV was on the air from 7:00 am until the end of network programming, signing on for Today and on most days signing off at 2:00 am after The Tomorrow Show.[22] Initial programming outside of NBC and local news for the 1973-74 season were reruns of older sitcoms and dramas (I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Have Gun Will Travel, The Danny Thomas Show), movies on the weekends, and church services and other religious programming on Sunday mornings. The station had two other local productions: a public affairs program titled Close-Up, which aired Sunday evenings at 10:30 pm, and the daily Children's World at 9 am. Local newscasts aired on the weekdays during Today station breaks (7:25 and 8:25 am), and every day at 6 and 11 pm.[6]

For the 1974-75 season, the non-network schedule was gutted to cut costs. Programming included reruns of the 1950s-era Hank Thompson Show, Jim Ed Brown's The Country Place and a syndicated version of The Jimmy Dean Show, all in the 7:30 pm slot. After Release the World entered into an agreement to buy the station, The Chris Panos Show was added to this rotation. The remaining time after NBC went off the air at 4:30 pm and before the NBC Nightly News at 6:30 pm was filled by a daily movie, with the local evening newscast moving to 7 pm. Close-Up was kept, while Children's World was replaced with The Phil Donahue Show.[23]

WHFV transmitted from a studio and tower on Hudgins Road roughly three miles southwest of downtown Fredericksburg with an ERP of 220.3 kW. (Long after the building and land were sold, businesses in the area still have mailing addresses on TV Drive.) [3][24]

The station claimed grade B coverage in a 35-mile radius: north to Centreville, west to Orange, south to Ashland and east into rural St. Mary's County, Maryland. It also gained carriage on the few cable systems within its coverage area: Fredericksburg, Orange, Culpeper, Dale City, Woodbridge, and La Plata, Maryland. At least in Fredericksburg proper, the cable system carried all three NBC outlets but substituted WHFV during network programming.[7][25]

References

  1. ↑ "Call Letter Meanings". Americanradiohistory.com. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  2. ↑ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 20, 1972. p. 88.
  3. 1 2 Staff (October 8, 1973). "Area station begins telecasting tonight". The Free Lance-Star. p. 14.
  4. ↑ Free Lance Star advertisement, November 24, 1973
  5. ↑ Staff (October 10, 1973). "FCC permit awaited for cable use by WHFV". The Free Lance-Star. p. 14.
  6. 1 2 "Television highlights". The Free Lance-Star. December 29, 1973. -- Sample fall 1973 schedule
  7. 1 2 "Free Lance Star advertisement, April 20, 1974".
  8. 1 2 3 Moore, Nancy; Epstein, Daniel (December 17, 1974). "Employees' walkout snags TV operation". The Free Lance-Star. p. 1.
  9. ↑ "TV August 31 to September 7". The Free Lance-Star. August 31, 1974. -- Sample schedule post-Labor Day 1974
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Moore, Nancy (May 28, 1975). "Troubled WHFV-TV may go off the air". The Free Lance-Star. p. 1.
  11. ↑ Jones, Edward (December 18, 1974). "WHFV employes [sic]: 'No matter what happens, it'll never be the same'". The Free Lance-Star. p. 23.
  12. ↑ Delano, Frank (December 18, 1974). "Broadcast evangelist prospective TV station owner". The Free Lance-Star. p. 23.
  13. ↑ Delano, Frank (December 26, 1974). "TV station here agrees to Houston firm's terms". The Free Lance-Star. p. 1.
  14. ↑ Delano, Frank (December 31, 1974). "New ownership near, WHFV gets some changes". The Free Lance-Star. p. 2.
  15. ↑ Delano, Frank (April 3, 1975). "SCC drops injunction against sale of TV stock". The Free Lance-Star. p. 7.
  16. ↑ Jones, Edward (May 29, 1975). "Channel 69 closing down to both relief and concern". The Free Lance-Star. p. 15.
  17. 1 2 Moore, Nancy (July 12, 1975). "FCC dismisses petition for WHFV-TV transfer". The Free Lance-Star. p. 14.
  18. ↑ Jones, Edward (May 30, 1975). "TV station 'goes dark', future still uncertain". The Free Lance-Star. p. 14.
  19. ↑ "State of the art in UHF" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 26, 1979. p. 77.
  20. ↑ Television Factbook (PDF) (48th ed.). Washington: Television Digest, Inc. 1979. p. 13.
  21. ↑ "Fates and Fortunes" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 28, 1975. p. 43.
  22. ↑ WHFV TV 69 Fredericksburg VA 1973 Sign Off. 1973.
  23. ↑ "TV February 8 through February 15". The Free Lance-Star. February 7, 1975.
  24. ↑ "NBC-TV's newest" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 29, 1973. p. 28.
  25. ↑ Jones, Edward (March 30, 1974). "Cablevision expansion in three months is seen". The Free Lance-Star. p. 1.
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