WPXQ-TV

WPXQ-TV is a television station in the Providence, Rhode Island market. The station is owned and operated by Ion Media Networks (the former Paxson Communications) as an affiliate of the Ion Television network. It is licensed to Block Island, Rhode Island on digital UHF channel 17, but is not carried by Block Island Cable TV, despite being the city of license.

Occasionally, NBC affiliate WJAR broadcasts their Sunday 6 PM newscast on WPXQ, due to runover of NBC Sports coverage past that time.

History

The FCC was persuaded to allocate channel 69 (WPXQ's original analogue frequency) to Block Island by Ted Robinson, an island resident, who claimed during the allocation filing process in 1984-85 that an independent TV station providing niche programming from there would serve the public interest better. Robinson subsequently ran into local opposition to tower siting, and sold out his interest to Ray Yorke, who obtained the initial construction permit. The station began broadcasting a few hours of old movies daily in 1992 using the call WOST-TV (meaning Ocean State Television, the original owners). By 1996, the station was owned by Paxson Communications, which had implemented their infomercials (via their inTV network) and religious programming. The station became WPXQ in 1998, and in August of that year began to run programming from the Pax TV network (now Ion Television).

External links

• www.ionline.tv
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WPXQ
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WPXQ-TV