WXIX-TV - History

History

WXIX-TV began operation as an independent station on August 1, 1968 and was founded by U.S. Communications Corporation, which also owned UHF independent stations in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco. WXIX-TV was the first new commercial station in the market since 1949, and the second UHF station in the area (behind PBS member WCET). The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had allocated one full-power, commercial UHF station to Cincinnati—channel 65 (later 64). However, when U.S. Communications found out that the FCC had dropped in a channel 19 allocation across the river in Newport, it sought a license for that allocation in order to provide more signal at less cost.

While WXIX was running test transmissions before its inaugural broadcast, the station intermittently aired "mini-shows" featuring The Larry Smith Puppets promoting the sale of UHF converters which can be used with pre-1964 television sets which were only equipped to receive VHF signals at the time. Larry Smith and his puppets (a witch named "Battie Hattie from Cincinnati" and her dog "Snarfy" among other characters) later hosted a daytime children's program in the weekday afternoons for several years. Afterward, "The Cool Ghoul" – played by Dick VonHoene, known for his weekend late night sci-fi/monster movie program "Scream-In" – also hosted a weekday children's show in the afternoons. There was an afternoon show called "Kim's Cartoon Caper's". It had a girl of about 13 hosting the afternoon cartoon show.

By the early 1970s U.S. Communications encountered financial difficulties, largely due to poor advertising revenues and partially from the failure of a planned merger with the short-lived Overmyer Network. The firm wound up taking its San Francisco, Atlanta and Pittsburgh stations off-the-air (all would resume operations under different ownership) and also considered the same for WXIX-TV. Instead it put the station up for sale, and Metromedia bought it in 1972. Metromedia's deep pockets helped stabilize channel 19's entire operation, and the station benefited from Metromedia's aggressiveness in purchasing syndicated programming as well as developing its own first-run programming. After nearly a decade on air, channel 19 finally received competition in 1980 with the launch of WBTI (channel 64, now WSTR-TV), which ran general entertainment and religious programing before 7 pm and subscription TV at night. However, that competition was short-lived, ending when WBTI became a full-time subscription station by 1982. The over-air subscription TV phenomenon occurred in larger markets in the U.S. where cable had yet to penetrate city centers before the late 1980s.

Malrite Communications bought channel 19 from Metromedia in December 1983. The station remained the leading independent station in the market, even after WBTI returned to full-time general entertainment programming in 1985. Also in 1986, WXIX became a charter affiliate of the Fox network (which, coincidentally was based around some of WXIX's former Metromedia sister stations). The station changed its on-air branding from "19XIX" to "Fox 19" in 1996. In 1998, Malrite merged with Raycom Media, which continues to own WXIX today.

Around 2000, WXIX operated a large open space inside Tri-County Mall called the "FOX19 Station Break."

As of September 17, 2012. WXIX-TV became the Cincinnati market home of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, picking up both programs from WCPO-TV. WXIX is among six Fox affiliates to air the game shows; the others are located in Baltimore, Syracuse, New York, New Orleans, Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Mobile, Alabama.