please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message wwlp springfield holyoke massachusetts united states branding 22 news the cw springfield dt2 slogan working for you dare to defy dt2 channels digital 11 vhf virtual 22 psip subchannels 22.1 nbc in hd 22.2 the cw in hd 22.3 ion television in sd translators 28 wfxq cd uhf affiliations nbc dt1 the cw via the cw plus dt2 ion television dt3 owner media general sale to nexstar broadcasting group pending wwlp broadcasting llc first air date march 17 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 03 17 call letters meaning william l. putnam the station s founder and longtime owner sister station s 32 wrlp tv greenfield 1957 1978 14 wwor tv wjzb tv worcester 1958 1969 former channel number s analog 61 uhf 1953 1955 22 uhf 1955 2009 former affiliations dt2 thecooltv 2010 2013 transmitter power 10 kw height 247 m facility id 6868 transmitter coordinates 42 5 4.8 n 72 42 13.3 w 42.084667 n 72.703694 w 42.084667 ; 72.703694 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wwlp.com wwlp is the nbc affiliated television station for the pioneer valley of western massachusetts that is licensed to springfield . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on vhf channel 11 from a transmitter on provin mountain in the feeding hills section of agawam . owned by media general wwlp has studios at broadcast center in the sandy hill section of chicopee at the northwest corner of the i 391 ma 116 chicopee street interchange . wwlp operates a full time low power digital repeater wfxq cd channel 28 that has a transmitter at the top of the old mount tom ski area in holyoke . due to the close proximity of the springfield holyoke and hartford new haven markets many stations in connecticut can be viewed in the southern pioneer valley . since wwlp s transmitter on provin mountain is not far from the state line this can be picked up in northern areas of the state . wvit which serves as connecticut s nbc affiliate except for fairfield county is currently the only hartford new haven big three station offered on comcast s basic tier . charter customers have access to wvit but only with a digital set top box . contents 1 history 1.1 satellites 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 wwlp dt2 2.3 wwlp dt3 2.4 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit wwlp began broadcasting on march 17 1953 one month before rival wggb tv then known as whyn tv . the station aired an analog signal on uhf channel 61 and was an nbc affiliate from the start . at its sign on the channel had the distinction of being one of the first uhf television stations in the united states after the federal communications commission fcc opened the uhf band as well as massachusetts oldest station outside of boston . it was founded by william l. putnam and his company springfield television . wwlp s original studios were at the transmitter site on provin mountain in feeding hills . it switched frequencies to uhf channel 22 on july 2 1955 . the previous analog allotment would remain unused until the second wtic tv signed on from hartford connecticut in 1984 . from its beginnings the springfield holyoke market was designated as a uhf island because it was too close to boston hartford new haven and the capital district of new york state for vhf analog service . as a result of technical limitations uhf stations faced in the 1950s wwlp s signal was not viewable in much of the northern portion of the market which at the time included brattleboro vermont and keene new hampshire . the station would sign on two full time satellites to solve that problem and extend its broadcasting radius see below . from 1975 until 1979 the station aired nationally syndicated national hockey league games from the nhl network . after three decades putnam retired from broadcasting in 1984 by selling his company and its three stations wwlp kstu tv and wkef to adams communications . adams ran into financial trouble and began breaking up the springfield television group in 1987 with the sale of kstu to mwt ltd. adams sold wkef to kt communications in 1989 before selling wwlp to brisette broadcasting in 1991 . however brisette himself ran into trouble and merged his group with benedek broadcasting at the end of 1995 . former owner lin tv corporation acquired wwlp in 2000 1 by swapping kake tv in wichita kansas and wowt tv in omaha nebraska to benedek . this was a result of chronicle broadcasting which owned the latter two being liquidated . the sale could be seen as the ultimate undoing for benedek which in 2002 declared bankruptcy and sold most of their stations including wowt and kake to gray television . in early 2000 the station s studios and offices moved to their current home in the sandy hill area of chicopee . however its transmitter remained in feeding hills . shortly after the change then pending owner lin tv constructed an addition at wwlp s new facilities which would serve as a master control hub for company owned stations in the northeast . at this location room for future expansion was made in the event lin tv expanded their northeast properties . that eventually became the case with sister stations wtnh wctx wpri tv lin tv flagship and wnac tv having master control and some internal operations currently located at the chicopee studios . wwlp was well known for producing as schools match wits one of american television s earliest and longest running high school quiz programs . the program first aired in october 1961 . in september 2006 the show was canceled because of the costs associated with new fcc regulations requiring all over the air television programming in the united states to be closed captioned for the deaf and hard of hearing . the show returned to the air in january 2007 but on the area s pbs affiliate wgby tv and based at westfield state college . on may 18 2007 lin tv announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives including the sale of the company . on march 21 2014 media general announced that it would purchase lin media and its stations including wwlp and wfxq cd in a 1.6 billion merger . 2 the merger was completed on december 19 . 3 on september 8 2015 media general announced that it would acquire the meredith corporation for 2.4 billion with the combined group to be renamed meredith media general once the sale was finalized . because meredith already owns wggb tv and the springfield holyoke market does not have enough full power television stations to legally allow a duopoly in any event wggb tv and wwlp are the only full power licenses assigned to the market the companies would have been required to sell either wggb tv or wwlp to comply with fcc ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same market television stations that restrict sharing agreements had the sale gone through . meredith owned cbs affiliate wshm ld channel 3 was the only one of the three stations affected by the merger that could legally be acquired by meredith media general as fcc rules permit common ownership of full power and low power stations regardless of the number of stations within a single market . 4 5 6 on january 27 2016 however nexstar broadcasting group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire media general who subsequently abandoned its plans to purchase meredith . 7 satellites edit in 1957 wrlp tv in greenfield signed on as the first full time satellite of wwlp . this served the northern portion of the pioneer valley market where wwlp s signal was marginal at best due to the area s rugged and mountainous terrain . from a transmitter on gunn mountain in winchester new hampshire one of the highest points in the region wrlp could also be seen in springfield as well creating a strong combined signal with over fifty percent overlap . in 1958 putnam purchased a defunct station in worcester wwor tv no relation to the current new york city station with the same calls and returned it to the air as a second full time satellite of wwlp . although it was relaying a springfield based station wwor was part of the boston market . the channel was only broadcasting six hours a day in order to protect the interests of then nbc affiliate wbz tv . wwor later changed its calls to wjzb tv and became an independent while continuing to simulcast some programming from wwlp . wrlp and wjzb eventually went off the air due to financial difficulties with wjzb going dark in 1969 followed by wrlp in 1978 . almost immediately after wrlp left the air its transmitter was shipped to salt lake city utah in order to launch kstu an independent sister station on uhf channel 20 . that channel eventually became a fox affiliate on analog vhf channel 13 operating under a different owner . digital television edit digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 8 22.1 1080i 16 9 wwlp dt main wwlp programming nbc 22.2 720p wwlp d1 the cw springfield the cw plus 22.3 480i 4 3 wwlp d2 ion television wwlp dt2 edit wwlp dt2 originally signed on in 2007 airing a live feed of its weather radar with no background audio . as a byproduct of an affiliation agreement between lin tv and thecooltv to carry the music video network on lin s stations wwlp affiliated with the network on its second digital subchannel in 2010 . the network was dropped on july 15 2013 with the subchannel remaining dark for the next 20 months . on december 23 2014 as part of a long term affiliation renewal with the network media general announced that wwlp and wfxq cd would affiliate their respective second digital subchannels with the cw allowing the former cable exclusive wbqt channel serving the market to have an over the air presence . 9 as a result on april 1 2015 the two station began carrying cw programming via the cw plus on digital subchannel 22.2 under the brand the cw springfield . the subchannel is available on comcast channel 16 and charter channel 13 both in standard definition to viewers in hampden hampshire and franklin counties . comcast began carrying the subchannel s high definition feed on digital channel 820 on april 1 2015 with charter adding the feed on digital channel 788 in mid april 2015 for viewers in hampden hampshire and franklin counties making cw programming available in hd in the pioneer valley for the first time . 10 11 12 wwlp dt3 edit on november 5 2015 wwlp soft launched a standard definition feed of ion television s main signal over subchannel 22.3 as part of media general s carriage agreement of the network in markets without a dedicated ion affiliate . new london connecticut based whpx tv has served as the market s nominal affiliate for years with some cable coverage though over the air coverage of that station is generally poor in the pioneer valley and the national feed has mainly been offered by local providers who carry the network . analog to digital conversion edit wwlp discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 22 on february 17 2009 the original target date in which full power television stations in the united states were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate