WLOT-LP

WLOT-LP channel 46 was a 19kW low-power Class A television station in Watertown, New York. It was Watertown's affiliate for the now-defunct UPN network, as well as the America One network, and was rebroadcast on co-owned WBQZ-LP channel 34, in the area to the northwest of Watertown. The stations are now silent.

History

WLOT and WBQZ were owned by Anthony DiMarcantonio. Originally branded as "PS66", W66CH took the WLOT-LP callsign in November 1999 and launched a website (newmediacommunications.com, now defunct) in September 2000.^[2] As a UPN affiliate, the station pair was added to Time Warner Cable's Watertown lineup in July 2002.^[3]

The stations lost the UPN affiliation to WNYF-CA in October 2002,^[4] where it only was to be a secondary affiliation for the low-powered Fox affiliate. The newly independent WLOT stations were dropped from cable soon thereafter, as the continuing cost to rent the "cable 97" slot from Time Warner proved prohibitive.^[5]

Both stations were listed for sale in January 2003, at one point appearing on eBay with a $950,000 asking price.^[6] An acquisition by Clear Channel Communications in September 2003^[7] at a price of $180000^[8] ultimately fell through,^[9] leaving DiMarcantonio to attempt to find individual investors to buy equity in the stations.

Clear Channel at that time owned WWTI (ABC 50 Watertown), now Newport Television.

Demise

Anthony DiMarcantino suffered a fatal heart attack on February 23, 2005 at the age of 46.^[10] The stations shut down, although both licenses remained active.

On January 24, 2006, UPN and The WB were to announce their merger; their replacement The CW is carried by Newport-owned WWTI-DT 50.2, ending the historical association of UPN with any Watertown low-power TV station.

As with all television station licenses in the state of New York, WLOT's and WBQZ's licenses were to expire on June 1, 2007 and license renewal applications were due February 1, 2007. As of 2008 both stations' licenses were still active, according to FCC databases, despite the stations having been silent for far more than a year. The FCC had listed WLOT-LP 46 as licensed to NC Partners (as of 2010, neither the WLOT calls nor the local UHF TV 46 frequency are allocated to any licensed broadcaster) but continued to list WBQZ-LP 34 as licensed to Anthony DiMarcantonio.^[11] As of 2011, both licences are defunct.

The question of who owns the stations was the subject of legal challenges.^[12] The courts have yet to rule.

References

External links

• Query the FCC's TV station database for WLOT
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WBQZ