Early history
The station came to the air at 8p.m. on January 29, 1988, as W13BG on VHF channel 13 in Nashua;[3] its license was granted on July 29.[4] Founded by Robert Rines[5] and owned by Center Broadcasting Corporation of New Hampshire, a non-profit partnership between the Concord–based Franklin Pierce Law Center and the Boston–based Academy of Law Sciences, the station aired local community programming for the Nashua area, along with programming that was already being sold to cable stations though the Yankee Communications Network.[3] Channel 13 changed its callsign to WYCN-LP on April 8, 1996.[6] Its tower in the analog era of television was on the campus of Rivier University, between two above-ground reservoirs and Brassard Hall, with studios in Memorial Hall on the same campus.[7]
WYCN-LP was nearly dropped by Harron Cable on its Nashua-area systems in October 1999 to accommodate a must-carry request by WMFP (channel 62),[8] a move that could have led to the closure of channel 13[9] even though its carriage on MediaOne in Nashua itself was not affected.[8] Its carriage was ultimately continued by Adelphia Communications following its purchase of Harron,[10] though the station was dropped for a time in 2000 after an additional must-carry request, from WYDN (channel 48), while Adelphia rebuilt the systems.[11] By August 11, 2000, WYCN-LP had been authorized to carry programming from FamilyNet.[12]
WYCN-LP, along with three co-owned translators in Nashua, Manchester, and Concord, was sold by Center Broadcasting Corporation of New Hampshire to New Hampshire 1 Network, a company controlled by William H. Binnie, in 2010;[13] by this point, control of the stations had passed to longtime WYCN staffers Gordon Jackson and Carolyn Choate[5] following the death of Robert Rines.[14] The deal was completed January 3, 2012;[15] in the meantime, Binnie would also acquire WBIN-TV (channel 50, now WWJE-DT) in Derry. As a result of the sale, much of WYCN's community programming, including aldermatic debates, was discontinued.[16] In December 2012, the station's studios moved from Rivier University to a location shared with sister station WFNQ (106.3 FM).[17]
OTA Broadcasting ownership and conversion to digital
New Hampshire 1 Network filed to sell WYCN-LP to OTA Broadcasting, a company controlled by Michael Dell's MSD Capital, on January 14, 2013; the three translators were not included in the deal,[18] and began to simulcast WBIN-TV. Operation of WYCN continued to be handled by New Hampshire 1.[19] At the time of the sale, WYCN was affiliated with My Family TV.[20] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the sale on March 22,[21] and it was completed on May 20.[22]
WYCN-LP resumed producing local programming soon after the sale to OTA Broadcasting, rehiring Gordon Jackson and Carolyn Choate as station managers;[5]
