WWDP

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WWDP
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding =
analog = 46 (UHF)
digital = 52 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = ShopNBC
network =
founded =
airdate = 1987
location = Norwell/Boston, Massachusetts
callsign_meaning = DP Media (former owner)
former_callsigns = WRYT (1987-1988)
WHRC (1988-1998)
WBPX (1998-1999)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = ValueVision Media
"(37% owned by NBC Universal, Inc.)"
licensee = Norwell Television, LLC
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = independent (1986-1989)
"silent" (1989-1996)
inTV (1996-1998)
Pax TV (1998-1999)
inTV (1999-2000)
Telemundo (2000-2002, as satellite)
ACN (2002-2003)
effective_radiated_power = 501 kW (analog)
337 kW (digital)
HAAT = 107 m (analog)
216 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 23671
coordinates = coord|42|1|36.1|N|71|3|34.6|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (analog)
coord|42|0|45.7|N|71|5|37.4|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (digital)
homepage =

WWDP is a television station in the United States, serving the Boston, Massachusetts market. The station broadcasts on analog channel 46. It is licensed to Norwell, Massachusetts, airs home shopping programs from ShopNBC, and is owned by ValueVision Media.

History

WWDP first came on in 1987 as WRYT, an independent station. It operated from a tiny 300-foot (91-meter) tower in Hanover, Massachusetts broadcasting at only 6,000 watts--the minimum amount for a full-power station. All of the equipment--two tape decks, a mixer, a primitive character generator, a satellite receiver and an Emergency Broadcast System unit--was located in an old video store bathroom.

On February 4, 1988 the station changed its calls to WHRC. Two months later, it began broadcasting from a considerably better broadcast facility in Brockton. Its 952,000-watt ERP gave it fairly decent coverage of the southern fringe of Greater Boston, and it had also managed to get on cable throughout the metropolitan area. However, the antenna was somewhat heavier than normal, and the owners feared that the tower couldn't handle the weight of ice buildup. It was thus forced to go off the air while a new site was found.

In January 1989, WHRC returned to the air from a transmitter in Foxborough, with considerably reduced power (501,000 watts). Unfortunately, the site was not wired for three-phase power, as is usually the case with television transmitters. WHRC was forced to make do with diesel power, which was totally inadequate for a television transmitter. Two of the transmitter's three diesel generators had failed by the spring of 1989, leaving WHRC unable to broadcast in color for half the time. The station had never been on good financial ground, and the technical problems only made things worse.

By June, the owner had stopped paying syndicators, the diesel fuel supplier and other creditors, and the employees' paychecks were bouncing. Finally, in September, the diesel fuel supplier refused to deliver any more fuel. As a result, the lone remaining generator used up its last bit of fuel at 1:13 pm on September 19, 1989. At the time, many of the employees had not been paid for eight weeks.

Paxson Communications bought the WHRC license in December 1996, and returned channel 46 to the air with the informercial format from their inTV network that was already in place on the company's other stations. On January 13, 1998, the station became WBPX, in anticipation of the impending launch of the Pax TV network. It also added a (short-lived) local newscast. [cite news |first=Scott |last=Fybush |title=Ian Taylor, RIP |url=http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-980108.html |work=North East RadioWatch |date=1998-01-08 |accessdate=2007-10-27 ] It continued to air infomercials until August 31 of that year, when Pax launched, with channel 46 as a charter affiliate.

In 1999, WBPX gave up its callsign and Pax affiliation to Paxson's newest acquisition, then-independent station WABU. Paxson sold the station to DP Media (named for Devon Paxson, brother of Bud Paxson), which changed the call sign to WWDP (for DP Media) and returned to inTV. [cite news |first=Scott |last=Fybush |title=CRTC Acts on Montreal Frequencies |url=http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-990625.html |work=North East RadioWatch |date=1999-06-25 |accessdate=2007-10-27 ] After just one year with that format, ZGS Communications began operating WWDP under a local marketing agreement [cite news |first=Dan |last=Trigoboff |title=Station Break |url=http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA183020.html |publisher="Broadcasting & Cable" |date=2001-11-19 |accessdate=2007-10-26 ] , running it as a full-powered repeater of Telemundo affiliate WTMU-LP.

On July 1, 2002, WWDP dropped the WTMU simulcast [cite news |first=Scott |last=Fybush |title=WMTW Clears Out |url=http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-020708.html |work=North East RadioWatch |date=2002-07-08 |accessdate=2007-10-27 ] , switching to the America's Collectibles Network home shopping network [cite news |first=Scott |last=Fybush |title=Clear Channel Faces Hearings on Augusta Purchase |url=http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-020715.html |work=North East RadioWatch |date=2002-07-15 |accessdate=2007-10-27 ] . However, a few months later, WNEU was purchased by NBC to convert it to a full-power satellite of WTMU. As a result, ValueVision Media bought WWDP in 2003 and picked up ShopNBC (which had previously been seen on WNEU) [cite news |title=ValueVision to acquire Boston's WWDP television station |url=http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2003/01/13/daily48.html |publisher="Boston Business Journal" |date=2003-01-13 |accessdate=2007-10-26 ] , which remains on the station to this day.

References

*cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/radiojunkie1/whrc.html |title=WHRC-TV, Channel 46, Norwell-Boston, MA |accessdate=2007-10-27 |last=George |first=Peter |date=2004-05-30 |work=UHF Morgue

External links

* [http://www.shopnbc.com/ ShopNBC website]
*TVQ|WWDP
*BIA|WWDP|TV|TV