WNNE - History

History

The analog channel 31 allocation in the Upper Valley was first occupied by WRLH, which signed-on July 26, 1966 originally on UHF channel 49. It was a low-powered black-and-white NBC affiliate operating out of studios in, and licensed to, Lebanon. A construction permit had been issued as early as 1954. The station moved to the UHF channel 31 position in 1971. WRLH brought NBC programming to much of the region for the first time. Although this area is part of the Burlington/Plattsburgh market, WPTZ was the only station in the region that did not operate any translators.

Despite providing the best access to NBC, WRLH failed to make any decent headway in the ratings in part because it could not air programming in color. It finally succumbed to low viewership and, as a result, went dark in 1976. The calls currently reside on a Fox affiliate in Richmond, Virginia owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The Taft Broadcasting Corporation, the same company who founded KGUL-TV in Galveston, Texas (now KHOU in Houston) but unrelated to the larger Taft Broadcasting Company of Cincinnati, obtained a permit for a new channel 31 that was by then reallocated to Hanover in 1977. Initially, this new television station was assigned the call letters WMVW but went on-the-air September 25, 1978 as WNNE-TV from its current facility in White River Junction. The station was granted a waiver by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to identify as "Hartford-Hanover" in 1980 and the -TV suffix was subsequently dropped at a later time.

For its first twelve years, WNNE was a full-fledged station running its own syndicated lineup as well as network programming from NBC. In 1990, Heritage Media (then-owner of WPTZ) bought WNNE and turned it into a semi-satellite of WPTZ. For a time, most programming still originated out of WNNE, but certain shows were relayed from Plattsburgh through a new microwave relay system. In 2000, WPTZ moved WNNE's master control to its studios in Plattsburgh. This move would be followed by WNNE's website being integrated into a separate section of WPTZ's website in July 2001.

On July 20, 2005, this station began broadcasting a standard definition digital signal on UHF channel 25 from a transmitter on WVTA's nearby tower on Mount Ascutney. WNNE, unlike WPTZ, did not add a second digital subchannel when NBC Weather Plus launched on November 15 of the year. Despite this, the two stations featured common weather graphics seen during all newscasts that referred to the 24-hour weather channel as "NewsChannel 5 & 31 Weather Plus". The service could be seen on Comcast digital channel 196 in the Upper Valley. In December 2008, NBC shut down the national Weather Plus service.

WPTZ continued offering a locally-derived version of "NewsChannel 5 & 31 Weather Plus" until August 31, 2009 when it was replaced with This TV. As with Weather Plus, the new network offering was not added to a second digital subchannel of WNNE. Comcast systems in the Upper Valley initially relocated WPTZ-DT2 to digital channel 296 before moving it to the current location on channel 302. On January 2, 2013, This TV programming was be replaced on 5.2 with its sister network Me-TV (both networks are owned by Weigel Broadcasting). On February 17, 2009, the station shut down its analog signal on UHF channel 31 and became exclusively digital remaining on channel 25.

On March 4, 2013, WPTZ's second digital subchannel assumed the CW affiliation for the Plattsburgh/Burlington market from WFFF-DT2. Programming from Me-TV will remain on WPTZ-DT2 during all time periods outside of the weeknight prime time (8 until 10) slot. Despite adding The CW, there has been no announcement made public if WNNE will add the network in order to increase the broadcasting radius. Currently, access is solely through the digital tier of Comcast systems in the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire.

During the analog era and some of the digital-only broadcasting period, it operated a repeater, W65AM on channel 65. Licensed to White River Junction, this signal had a transmitter west of Lebanon on Crafts Hill. W56AM had its license cancelled by the FCC on March 19, 2010. This translator was within reach of a former analog repeater operated by sister station WMTW based in Portland, Maine. Also licensed to White River Junction, the translator was established in 2005 after WMTW moved its main transmitter from Mount Washington closer to the Greater Portland area in Maine.

That signal had a transmitter located in Hanover's Mascoma section. FCC regulations do not allow two or more stations from two or more different markets have coverage in the same location (in this case, White River Junction). This rule does not apply to repeaters so WMTW's translator was allowed to operate. Hearst sold the low-powered repeater to New Hampshire Public Television in 2009 after taking it silent following the loss of its lease of the transmitter site.