Bridgeport, Connecticut (March 1953-December 1960) commonly owned and operated with WICC-AM
In March of 1953, a month after WKNB-TV, Channel
30 signed on as Connecticut's first UHF station,
people in Bridgeport decided to take a chance with
WICC-TV Channel 43. The station, named for the
popular radio station at AM 600, offered a mix of
local programming as well as ABC and DuMont. The
driving force of this station that went nowhere was
the late Bob Crane. Yes, the star of "Hogan's Heroes"
and some later movies of---(ahem)---ill refute, was a
popular radio star on WICC and hosted a variety show
on Channel 43.
Some of the stunts WICC tried were ridiculous for
their time. One of the station's stars, Morgan
Kaeolean tried using a robot. He sent the machine
to New York to try and promote the station. The
robot was arrested, right on the spot. Another thing
that went wrong for Channel 43 was the fact that no
one
was watching. Why? UHF was practically new at the
time. So, for about $100, a LOT of money back then,
one could buy an adapter to attach to the TV to pick
up the UHF signals. The station did boast of some
history. A man named Dick Alexander worked for
Channel 43. He was the first African-American
announcer in CT.
Eventually, WICC-TV's Bob Crane tried a last ditch effort to
get viewers--BY PAYING THEM!!! If anyone was watching they would have seen Bob holding a crisp $100 bill right on camera.
The first caller could phone the station and get the $100. NOBODY CALLED! In December, 1960, the station
went off the air. A few months later, most of WICC's
programming was destroyed in a fire,except for a film
showing the last day of WICC's programming. That was
featured in a special produced by CT Public TV
called..... "You're On The Air."
In 1987, Channel 43 was purchased by a group of
women and renamed WBCT-TV, with a line-up of some
community programs and infomercials and home shopping.
In the early 90's it became WHAI-TV with the same
line-up. The station, in 1998 was to have become a
part of Lowell Paxson's Pax-TV as WBPX, but some
deals fell through and Channel 43 was left as an
all-infomercial channel, with rumors of a switch to
Spanish Home Shopping as WBPT. Pax-TV can be seen on
WPXN-TV channel 31 (formerly WNYC-TV and WBIS) in
New York. The rest of CT can see Pax on WHPX-TV,
Channel 26 in New London (formerly WTWS-TV). A potential sale to TV Azteca Spanish Network had been in the offing but never materialized.
Footnotes:
