WWDP

WWDP, virtual channel 46 (VHF digital channel 10), is an EVINE Live-affiliated television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Norwell. The station broadcasts on digital VHF channel 10. airs home shopping programs from, and is owned by EVINE Live, Inc. WWDP maintains studios on Bert Drive in West Bridgewater, and its transmitter is located off Pleasant Street in West Bridgewater.

History

The station first signed on the air on December 6, 1986 as WRYT, operating as an independent station from a bare-bones facility in Hanover. It operated from a tiny 300-foot (91 m) tower originally designed for use as a translator. It broadcast at only 6,000 watts – the minimum transmitter power 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.

The station changed its callsign to WHRC on February 4, 1988. Two months later, it began broadcasting from a considerably improved broadcast facility in Brockton. Its 952,000-watt effective radiated power gave it fairly decent coverage of the southern fringe of Greater Boston, and it had also managed to get carriage on cable throughout the market. However, the antenna was somewhat heavier than normal, and the owners feared that the tower could not handle the weight of ice buildup should winter weather hit the area. As a result, the station was forced to go off the air in November while a new site was found.