WFXQ-CD


WFXQ-CD is a low-powered, Class A television station licensed to Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. It is a translator of dual NBC/CW+ affiliate WWLP, owned by Nexstar Media Group, allowing viewers in the core of the market UHF access to WWLP, which transmits on VHF channel 11. WFXQ-CD broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 21 from a transmitter at the old Mount Tom Ski Area summit in Holyoke. Its parent station maintains studios at Broadcast Center in the Sandy Hill section of Chicopee at the northwest corner of the I-391/MA 116/Chicopee Street interchange.

History

The station first went on-the-air May 6, 1987 on VHF channel 11. Using the calls W11BJ, it originally aired a low-powered analog signal from the Rattlesnake Mountain transmitter site of Connecticut's Fox affiliate WTIC-TV. The station was an Independent that aired local shows to a senior retirement community in Farmington, Connecticut. It used a live skycam weather forecast which consisted of a character generator and a home video camera with shots of the window from the transmitter building. The owner of the station was the Chase family.
When LIN TV bought W11BJ in 2004, there was a construction permit approved to broadcast this station on UHF channel 28 from a new transmitter on Mount Tom in Holyoke. During the building of this transmitter, WWLP temporarily put on a simulcast of Connecticut's UPN affiliate WCTX through an off-air pickup. In early 2006, W28CT signed-on from the top of Mount Tom and the W11BJ transmitter on Rattlesnake Mountain was shut down. Right from the start, the station began to simulcast WWLP in a full-time manner. LIN TV had initially changed the call sign to WXCW-CA in reference to The CW in anticipation of it becoming an affiliate of that network. This affiliation eventually went to cable-only WB affiliate "WBQT".
As a result, the channel's call sign was changed again to WFXQ-CA referring to a possible Fox affiliation. This caused rumors on several television industry message boards that it would become an affiliate of that network. Speculation also existed that WFXQ might affiliate with Fox's new sister network, MyNetworkTV. At the time, cable television viewers in the Springfield/Holyoke market received Fox from WTIC-TV and the network's owned-and-operated station in Boston, WFXT, with MyNetworkTV coming from WCTX.
On November 16, 2007, the Springfield Republican reported that ABC affiliate WGGB-TV would be launching a Fox affiliate on a new second subchannel which was expected to launch at the end of that year. This was ultimately delayed until the end of March 2008 when the new service took on a primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliation. Up to that time, Springfield held the distinction of being the largest television market without a Fox affiliate of its own.
Until December 9, 2008, WFXQ's analog signal transmitted on the same frequency as Providence, Rhode Island CW affiliate WLWC. After the Federal Communications Commission approved a construction permit, the station "flash-cut" to digital sometime after June 12, 2009 although, at the time, the station was still assigned a "-CA" suffix. Eventually, the FCC updated its listing and this channel began using the WFXQ-CD calls. Since that point it has mainly served as a local UHF translator of WWLP for the central part of the Springfield market, including Northampton, Easthampton, and Holyoke, and most of Springfield.
On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would purchase LIN Media and its stations, including WWLP and WFXQ-CD, in a $1.6 billion merger. The merger was completed on December 19.
On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire the Meredith Corporation for $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General once the sale is finalized. Because Meredith already owns WGGB-TV, and the Springfield-Holyoke market does not have enough full-power television stations to legally allow a duopoly in any event, the companies would have been required to sell either WGGB or WWLP to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations that restrict sharing agreements. Meredith-owned CBS affiliate WSHM-LD is the only one of the three stations affected by the merger that could legally be acquired by Meredith Media General, as FCC rules permit common ownership of full-power and low-power stations regardless of the number of stations within a single market. On January 27, 2016, however, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General, who subsequently abandoned its plans to purchase Meredith.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
22.11080iWWLP-DTMain WFXQ-CD programming / NBC
22.2720pWWLP-CWThe CW Springfield
22.3480iWWLP-IOIon Television
22.4480iWWLP-ESCourt TV Mystery