WACH-TV,

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

channel 33, was a commercial

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

licensed to Newport News,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, United States, which broadcast from 1953 until 1955 (with a gap of around four months in 1954). The station was owned by the Eastern Broadcasting Corporation.

History

WACH-TV was the third television station to sign on in

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

, debuting on October 13, 1953. Operating as a

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

to WHYU radio (1270 kHz), it broadcast from the tallest structure in the Lower Peninsula, its tower at 114 24th Street in downtown. Its schedule consisted mainly of sports and mystery shows, with five hours a day of programs such as '' Crusader Rabbit'', ''All American Football'' and ''Ringside with Rasslers''. Before even going on the air, the new TV station had made waves in

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when it lobbied for the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC) to regulate the television networks, saying that the lone

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

station in Hampton Roads, WTAR-TV, was "hogging" all three network hookups. (A month before WACH signed on, WVEC-TV had taken to the air on channel 15 and became the area's NBC affiliate.) The day that WACH-TV suspended operations—March 27, 1954—WHYU radio took on the WACH call letters. The night before, its schedule had consisted of just four programs repeated in a loop: a newscast, ''Crusader Rabbit'', ''Short Subjects'', and ''Hornliegh on Holiday''.

Brief return to the air

In August 1954, WACH-TV returned to the air, simulcasting the associated radio station; it was the first time a UHF station that had suspended operations for economic reasons proceeded to resume telecasting. The station ended operation around July 1, 1955. Citing economic losses, the owners of WACH-TV asked the FCC to assign all future VHF channels in Hampton Roads for

educational Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

use only, which would have left just one commercial station (WTAR-TV) on VHF. By this time, the comparative proceeding for channel 10 was in progress; several months prior, in April, the station told the FCC that network affiliations in the area were unsettled pending action in the channel 10 hearings. Eastern's venture into television resulted in a bankruptcy that, on February 1, 1956, forced the temporary suspension of operations for WACH radio. The WACH radio license and TV construction permit were sold to Richard Eaton's United Broadcasting later that year; the TV station construction permit, which remained in force, briefly took on the WYOU-TV call letters concurrent with the change of the radio station from WACH to WYOU. Eaton held on to the TV permit past the 1960 sale of WYOU; in November 1964, the FCC notified 29 permittees, including Eaton, that they had to put their dark UHF stations on the air. Channel 33 in the region would not be revived until

WTVZ WTVZ-TV (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios on Clearfield Avenue in Vi ...

began telecasting on September 24, 1979, more than 24 years after WACH-TV's final broadcast. The WACH call sign is now used by the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

affiliate in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wach-Tv (Virginia) ACH-TV Television channels and stations established in 1953 1953 establishments in Virginia Television channels and stations disestablished in 1955 1955 disestablishments in Virginia Defunct television stations in the United States Newport News, Virginia ACH-TV ACH-TV