WFYZ: Construction and a delayed start
In 1980, two groups applied for Murfreesboro's channel 39: Family Television Inc., proposing a general-entertainment independent station, and Channel 39 of Murfreesboro, which proposed a hybrid independent with subscription television programming.[1] Of the 23 stockholders in Channel 39 of Murfreesboro, 80 percent were minorities, which was expected to provide the group an advantage in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s comparative hearing process.[2] In April 1982, the FCC published its decision favoring Channel 39 of Murfreesboro.[3] Family Television then withdrew, opting not to appeal in exchange for a partial reimbursement of its expenses in proposing the station.[4] At the same time, two of the headline owners of channel 39 parent company Focus Communications, William Geissler and Douglas Ruhe, were part of a successful bid for news agency United Press International.[5] In February 1983, station president John Rattliff announced that the station would sign on August 1 as a family-oriented independent outlet;[6] the subscription programming proposal had been abandoned when the industry began to sour.[7] By June, the deadline had slipped to October, but WFYZ had begun to move into the former Murfreesboro news bureau of Nashville's WNGE-TV in the city's Public Square.[8][9][10] Tower installation delays pushed the station's launch date back several more times.[11][12][13][14]
WFYZ began broadcasting on December 30, 1983.[17] However, it continued to have an abbreviated broadcast day for months after it started. The rush to sign on caused a problem that management spent the early months of 1984 fixing: all the programs were being broadcast off tape machines at the transmitter site at Gladeville instead of the downtown Murfreesboro studio, as a downtown building blocked the line of sight between the two locations until the station raised the height of the tower at its studios.[18][19] Also a concern was that some areas of Nashville did not get a strong signal from channel 39. However, the station had debuted a local public affairs program as well as a series of music video shows, one featuring The Tennessean music reporter Robert K. Oermann.[20][21] There was also a change in general manager, as Kaki Holt was hired, making her the first woman to run a Nashville-area TV station.[22]
Troubles and programming changes
Channel 39 had a disappointing ratings debut. In June 1984, its first ratings book after signing on, WFYZ's audience was too small for A. C. Nielsen or Arbitron to generate a rating; according to Arbitron, its afternoon block of children's programming was the only significant source of viewership. This was in stark contrast to a Nashville station that had signed on less than two months later, WCAY-TV (channel 30), owned by the TVX Broadcast Group. The June 1984 ratings book showed WCAY with three percent of the total viewing audience; this, in turn, was behind Nashville's established independent, WZTV (channel 17).[23] The arrival of WCAY-TV compounded many of the station's problems.[24] Seeking to remedy its technical problems, the station applied in September 1984 to move its tower closer to Nashville, but it could not do so until the allocated but unused channel 42 was moved out of the city.[25] Months after going on the air, it had become apparent that WFYZ would be a challenge.[26] Amid persistent rumors, one of the major stockholders, Bill Geissler, told The Tennessean on September 1 that the station was "here to stay" in spite of its troubles.
WHTN: New owners, same problems
In order to devote more time to the troubled UPI wire service, Geissler and Ruhe filed in June 1985 to sell WFYZ to Murfreesboro Television Corporation, a company headed by Bob Hudson.[34] Hudson partnered with Bob Goad; the two already jointly owned two AM radio stations in Tennessee. Hudson had owned a TV station, though it had never broadcast; he owned the then-dark channel 17 in the early 1970s but failed to secure financing to return it to the air.[35]
The station changed its call letters to WHTN on October 18, 1985, ahead of a programming revamp that took place on November 4. Hudson told The Tennessean that the new call letters did not mean "Hudson Television Network", saying, "I'm not that much of an egotist". Channel 39 switched back to a general-entertainment format, discontinuing the music videos, and added classic movies.[36] The first day of the new programming was plagued by technical and other mishaps and filled with last-minute schedule changes. On the first edition of a live talk show hosted by program director Bill Perkins, the butterfly backdrop on the set fell down—twice.[37]
CTN ownership
On May 6, 1986, the Christian Television Network (CTN) of Clearwater, Florida, agreed to purchase WHTN, and the station returned to air immediately with Christian programming from CTN as well as selected programs from the station's prior inventory.[48] However, by that time, WHTN had already lost its slot on Viacom Cablevision in Nashville.[49] By 1991, the station had relocated its studios from Murfreesboro to Mount Juliet.[50]
WHTN-TV began digital broadcasting by November 2002.[51] In 2009, the station shut down analog broadcasting; WHTN was one of two local stations to cease analog broadcasting before the February 17, 2009, national shutoff date.[52] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 38, using
