WCTX

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WCTX
New Haven / Hartford, Connecticut
Branding	My TV 9 (cable slot)
Slogan	Connecticut's MyNetworkTV Station (general programming) Connecticut's Coverage You Can Count On (newscasts)
Channels	59 (UHF) analog, 39 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	MyNetworkTV
Owner	LIN TV
Founded	1994
Call letters meaning	CT = Connecticut
Former callsigns	WTVU (1994-95) WBNE (1996-2001)
Former affiliations	WB (1995-2001) UPN (2001-2006)
Website	mytv9web.com

WCTX is the MyNetworkTV affiliate for the state of Connecticut. Licensed to New Haven, the station broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 59, and its digital signal on UHF channel 39. It is owned and operated by LIN Television, and is a sister station to ABC affiliate WTNH-TV (channel 8). WCTX's facilities are housed within the WTNH studios in New Haven, and its transmitter is located in Hamden, Connecticut.

WCTX is available on channel nine on almost all of Connecticut's cable systems and this is reflected in its on-air branding, "My TV 9". This branding is not to be confused with WWOR-TV in nearby New York City, which brands itself as My 9.

WCTX is also the MyNetworkTV affiliate for the Springfield, Massachusetts television market by default, as that market does not yet have a MyNetworkTV affiliate of its own.

[edit] 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 other syndicated programs, most of which barter products or second runs from WTNH. With of some of these clearences, the WB's Wednesday night primetime programming slot was seen on Saturday nights until the summer 1996. The station changed its call letters in 1996 to WBNE.

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 (channel number)" branding. LIN purchased WCTX outright in 2002. On September 19, 2005, WCTX became known as UPN 9, which highlighted its channel position in local cable systems but was also the branding for WWOR-TV in New York City, a station available over-the-air and on cable in southwestern Connecticut.

Since 2000, WTNH has produced various newscasts for WCTX, originally starting with a daily 35-minute 10:00 p.m. newscast known as The 10 O'Clock News on WB 59/WCTX. Currently, the newscast is known as News Channel 8 Non Stop News at 10 on My TV 9. In 2005, WCTX began simulcasting the 6:00 a.m. hour of WTNH's weekday morning newscast Good Morning Connecticut followed by a second hour (7 to 8 a.m.) seen only on WCTX. Now only the 7 to 8 a.m. edition of the weekday morning newscast is shown.

On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced they would merge into a new network the CW. WTXX was chosen as the CW's Hartford/New Haven affiliate, leaving WCTX to tenatively become an independent station once again. On April 26, 2006, WCTX announced it would join the News Corporation's new network, MyNetworkTV, which began operations on September 5, 2006. WCTX did not carry the final two weeks of programming from UPN, which ceased operations on September 15, 2006. With its new network affiliation, the station changed its branding to the current My TV 9.

[edit] Newscasts

• Good Morning Connecticut - Monday-Friday 7:00-8:00 a.m.
• NewsChannel 8 Non-Stop News at 10 PM on My TV 9 - Monday-Friday 10:00 to 10:30 p.m.
• NewsChannel 8 Non-Stop News at 10 PM on My TV 9 Weekend - Saturdays and Sundays 10:00 to 10:35 p.m.

WCTX shares its news staff with WTNH; see the WTNH article for a listing of news personnel.

[edit] External Links

• Station Website
• WTNH Website
• WTNH Wireless
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WCTX