WUVN (channel 18) is a television station licensed to Hartford, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven television market as an affiliate of the Spanish-language Univision network. It is owned by Entravision Communications alongside low-power, Class A UniMás affiliate WUTH-CD (channel 47). The two stations share studios at Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford and transmitter facilities on Birch Mountain Road in Glastonbury, Connecticut.
WUVN operates a low-powered semi-satellite in Springfield, Massachusetts, WHTX-LD (channel 24), which airs the same programming as provided by its parent but airs separate commercial inserts and station identifications. WHTX-LD's transmitter is located on Provin Mountain in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam, Massachusetts; aside from that, it does not maintain any facilities in Springfield or Holyoke. Master control and other internal operations for WHTX-LD are based at WUVN's studios.
History
WUVN is one of the oldest UHF stations in New England. It began operation on October 2, 1954, as WGTH-TV, a primary ABC/secondary DuMont affiliate. The station was initially owned by a partnership of The Hartford Times and General Teleradio, along with WGTH radio (1410 AM, now WPOP), but was sold to CBS in 1956, shortly after Hartford and New Haven were merged into a single market. The station's call letters were changed to WHCT, for "Hartford, Connecticut" (or alternatively, "Hartford Christian Television", during its time as an affiliate for Faith Broadcasting Network).
As a CBS station, WHCT's ratings were low because television sets were not required to have UHF tuners until 1964. Even with a very expensive converter, UHF signals were very unclear at the time. In 1957, Travelers Insurance Company, owners of WTIC-AM-FM, signed on WTIC-TV on channel 3. By 1958, CBS had concluded that it was better to have its programming on a VHF station, even if it was only an affiliate. It moved its Hartford affiliation to WTIC-TV, and sold WHCT to a group led by Edward Taddei, which turned it into an independent station. Channel 3, which is now WFSB, has been Hartford's CBS affiliate ever since then. Two years later, what had become RKO General retook ownership of the station, this time without the involvement of the Times.
As an independent, WHCT's schedule consisted of cartoons, movies, off-network sitcoms and dramas, sports (including New York Mets baseball games), public affairs programming, and religious shows. However, it never really thrived, even with the addition of all-channel tuning. Beginning in 1962, the station ran a subscription television service from 7:00 p.m. to midnight, with first-run movies and sports events from Madison Square Garden. A decade before the 1972 launch of pay cable network HBO, WHCT's programming was an experiment between RKO and Zenith, who provided the "Phonevision" descrambler boxes. WHCT could be seen by all viewers with a UHF tuner and antenna during regular broadcast hours, but viewers needed a decoder box in order to view the signal during the subscription television block. The first pay-TV movie was Sunrise at Campobello, starring Ralph Bellamy and Greer Garson. The subscription television service could only broadcast in black and white, despite the fact that many of the movies shown were made in color. It was deemed a failure, and RKO dropped it early in 1968. By then, the station had slashed its operating hours, signing on at 1 p.m. and signing off late at night. The future host of CBS News Sunday Morning from 1994 to 2016, Charles Osgood, was general manager of the station. By 1970, the station was signing on at 10 a.m. and had a moderate amount of then-strong programming, including Gilligan's Island, The Dick Van Dyke Show, McHale's Navy, Mister Ed, Bugs Bunny, The Fugitive, The Untouchables and What's My Line?, as well as the RKO film library. They also ran Romper Room, which was produced at then-sister station WOR-TV in New York.