National Capital Christian Broadcasting ownership edit

In 1974, National Capital Christian Broadcasting (NCCB) began organizing to build a Christian- and family-oriented television station in Manassas, which would serve greater Washington. This required petitioning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allot channel 66 to Manassas.^[2]

Activity accelerated in 1977, when NCCB applied for the construction permit after having channel 66 approved to operate in Manassas. Raker bought a former school and church and converted it into a television studio.^[3] The FCC granted the permit on October 3, 1977,^[4] and WTKK ("Witnessing the King of Kings"^[5]) began broadcasting on April 2, 1978—Easter Sunday.^[6] The fledgling station's finances were unsteady: within a year, it was described by program host Ken Connolly as "in a fight for life".^[5] Connolly's program marked the bulk of WTKK's local programming in 1979, alongside a children's show known as Beyond the Blue and a newscast. Raker—described financially by the head of the National Association of Religious Broadcasters as a "loner" compared to other similar ventures—was able to beg for equipment and money, including a used set and studio lights belonging to Good Morning America and a lease of the abandoned Baptist church, complete with an organ and stained glass windows.^[7] In 1982, the station increased its power to a full five million watts and moved its transmitter from Independent Hill to a new site in Fairfax Station;^[8][9] it was off the air for three months to make the move.^[10]

In 1983, channel 66 began to experiment with an increased secular programming schedule, as its all-religious lineup failed to attract viewers. With the addition of shows like The Lone Ranger, Green Acres, and Mister Ed, WTKK's ratings soared 1,000 percent from a 0.2 share to a 2.5 share in the span of a year. The station also had to hire advertising sales representatives to handle its increasing business.^[9] In November 1984, National Capital Christian Broadcasting expanded by starting WTLL (channel 63, "Witnessing the Lord of Lords") in Richmond; it was able to borrow money to start the Richmond station because of a land donation made by real estate developer Cecil D. Hylton.^[9] WTKK and WTLL shared some programming that was produced in Manassas, including the religious talk show Capital Life and an exercise program, Beverly Exercise.^[11] However, with continued money losses among independent TV stations, NCCB sold the Richmond station to Sudbrink Broadcasting in 1986.^[12]

ValueVision and Pax/Ion ownership edit

In 1994, WTKK was purchased by a subsidiary of ValueVision, a home shopping network, for $5.4 million.^[13] ValueVision at the same time acquired two other stations: WTWS-TV in New London, Connecticut, and KRTW in Baytown, Texas.^[14] and on June 6, 1994, the call letters were changed to WVVI; it was one of as many as four company-owned stations.^[15] After National Capital Christian Broadcasting sold channel 66, it came under state government scrutiny for its methods of attracting investors. The Commonwealth's Attorney for Prince William County solicited a Virginia State Police investigation of NCCB in November 1996 after more than a dozen investors sued the company seeking the return of their investments over misrepresentations.^[16] The company filed for bankruptcy with assets of $430,000 and liabilities exceeding $9 million. Many of these investors had provided funds for expansions that never were undertaken. By 1998, a Virginia State Police agent had written in court filings that "as of this date, this investigator doesn't know how the ValueVision [sale] proceeds finally were used".^[17]

Paxson Communications agreed to acquire WVVI in 1996; the deal was for a $30 million purchase price plus another $10 million if the Supreme Court of the United States upheld must carry regulations that required Washington's cable systems to air the station in their lineups.^[18] Paxson closed on the deal on August 1, 1997, and replaced ValueVision's home shopping programming with its inTV infomercial service.^[19] On January 13, 1998, the call letters were changed to the current WPXW in advance of the launch of the Pax network later that year.^[20] The station aired Baltimore Orioles games in 2005, the first year that they shared the market with the Washington Nationals.^[21] After changing its name to i: Independent Television in 2005, the network became known as Ion Television in 2007.^[22]

Subchannels edit

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion edit

WPXW-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 66, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal moved from its pre-transition UHF channel 43 to channel 34, using virtual channel 66.^[24] WPXW-TV relocated its signal from channel 34 to channel 35 on August 2, 2019, as a result of the 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction.^[25]

• Official website