WHDH (TV)

WHDH, virtual channel 7 (UHF digital channel 42), is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The station is owned by Sunbeam Television, as part of a duopoly with CW affiliate WLVI (channel 56). The two stations share studio facilities located at Bulfinch Place (near Government Center) in downtown Boston; WHDH's transmitter is located in Newton. WHDH is the largest NBC station by market size that is not owned by the network.

History

Origins

The station first signed on the air on May 22, 1982 as WNEV-TV. It was originally owned by the New England Television Corporation (NETV), who received a new license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for channel 7 in Boston after improprieties by RKO General, the owner of the previous occupant of the channel 7 allocation, WNAC-TV. WNAC-TV had operated since June 21, 1948, and had been Boston's CBS affiliate (except 1961–1972, when it was an ABC affiliate).

WNAC-TV's fight for survival and transition

WHDH-TV (defunct)

WHDH-TV, VHF analog channel 5, was a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The station ceased operations on March 18, 1972, following the revocation of the station's license. The channel 5 allocation in the market was taken over by WCVB-TV the following morning: March 19, 1972. WCVB operates using a separate license from WHDH-TV; conversely, the original WHDH-TV is also of no relation to the current WHDH (channel 7), which serves as the Boston market's NBC affiliate.

History

The station first signed on the air on November 26, 1957. It was owned by the Boston Herald Traveler Corporation, along with WHDH radio (850 AM, frequency now occupied by WEEI; and 94.5 FM, now WJMN). Before the Herald-Traveler signed the station on, the DuMont Television Network applied for the channel 5 license to replace sold-off Pittsburgh DuMont station WDTV (now KDKA-TV) among its DuMont O&O station group, but DuMont shut down before being able to acquire the license. WHDH-TV was originally an ABC affiliate, but switched to CBS on January 1, 1961.

WHDH

The call letters WHDH may represent:

WEEI

WEEI is a sports radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, that broadcasts on 850 kHz from a transmitter in Needham, Massachusetts, and is owned by Entercom Communications and operated by The Walt Disney Company, ESPN Radio's majority owner, under a local marketing agreement. Studios are located in Brighton, Massachusetts. The station currently broadcasts programming from ESPN Radio; until October 4, 2012, the station aired a highly rated locally produced sports talk format, which is now heard on WEEI-FM (93.7 FM).

History

WEEI's seven decades at 590 kHz

WEEI traces its roots to its original owner, Edison Electric Illuminating (hence the call letters). Edison placed the station on the air September 29, 1924. The station broadcast on various frequencies over the next several years, settling on 590 kHz in 1927. In 1926, WEEI became a charter member of the NBC Red Network and remained an NBC Red affiliate until 1936, when the station was leased by CBS and became an affiliate of that network. CBS bought WEEI outright from Boston Edison on August 31, 1942. An FM sister station, WEEI-FM (103.3 FM, now WODS), went on the air in 1948. Until 1960, WEEI, through CBS Radio, was the last Boston radio station to devote a large amount of its program schedule to "traditional" network radio programming of daytime soap operas, comedy shows, variety shows, and similar fare.