WPXN-TV

WPXN-TV is the flagship station of the Ion Television network, formerly known as Pax TV and i. Licensed to New York City, the station broadcasts on UHF channel 31, and is owned and operated by ION Media Networks.

History

Municipal ownership

The City of New York, which was one of the United States' first municipalities to enter into broadcasting with the 1924 sign-on of WNYC radio, was granted a construction permit to build a new commercial television station in 1954. Seven years later, on November 5, 1961, WUHF took to the air for the first time. Through the Municipal Broadcasting System, which held the channel 31 license, the City (led by then-mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr.) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) used WUHF as an experiment to determine the viability of ultra-high frequency (UHF) broadcasts within an urban environment. Some of the early programming on WUHF included simulcasts of New York's existing commercial VHF stations; educational films produced by WNYC's Television Film Unit, established in 1949; college-level distance learning telecourses; and, reportedly, a nightly rundown of the New York City Police Department's "wanted" criminals list. The experiment was carried out through the installation of UHF receivers in several hundred test homes, public schools and businesses, with reception monitored by FCC and City engineers.