WXPO-TV

WXPO-TV

Company type	Independent TV station
Industry	Broadcasting
Founded	1969
Defunct	1970
Headquarters	Lowell, Massachusetts and Windham, New Hampshire , United States
Area served	Manchester, New Hampshire; Lowell, Massachusetts
Owner	Merrimack Valley Communications

WXPO-TV, broadcasting on UHF analog channel 50, was an independent TV station licensed to Manchester, New Hampshire, with service extending to Lowell, Massachusetts. The station was owned by Merrimack Valley Communications and was operational from November 1969 until June 1970.

History

After experiencing delays, WXPO commenced operations on November 6, 1969. It maintained two separate facilities: its production and office spaces were located in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts, while the main studio and transmitter were situated on Governor Dinsmore Road in Windham, New Hampshire. This arrangement adhered to FCC regulations mandating that the transmitter be within 15 miles of the city of license. The station’s programming approach featured business news content under the banner "Info-50" during daytime hours, followed by a mix of general entertainment and sports programming in the late afternoon and evening slots.

The afternoon segment titled Treehouse 50 cultivated a dedicated audience among college students in the Boston area by combining slapstick humor with Warner Bros. cartoons. WXPO also experimented with live remote broadcasts and produced an unconventional New Year's Eve special. It was a forerunner in delivering hourly news bulletins—anticipating the concept of continuous news coverage—and notably became New England’s first station to schedule a prime-time newscast at 10 p.m., preceding similar initiatives from competitors. Despite these innovations, the station lacked access to news film footage and instead utilized Associated Press photo slides for visual elements.

Reception within Greater Boston was unreliable. The proximity of WXPO’s Lowell studio to WLLH’s transmitter caused daytime radio frequency interference, which compromised production quality. Moreover, advertising revenue suffered as the Lowell Sun newspaper discouraged advertisers from supporting WXPO. Financial difficulties mounted, resulting in unpaid obligations.

By January 1970, unsuccessful negotiations with potential investors compelled WXPO to shorten its daily broadcast schedule from 12 hours to just 6 hours and scale back both local and syndicated programming. Approximately ninety percent of the workforce was dismissed, although many employees remained optimistic about the station’s future. The Lowell facility was shuttered that spring amid impending bankruptcy. Broadcast operations ceased by May or June 1970 when power was disconnected at the Windham studios during a rerun of Maverick.

Merrimack Valley Communications pursued potential purchasers for WXPO-TV’s assets and license, placing advertisements in industry trade publications. In late 1971, an application was submitted to the FCC seeking approval to transfer majority ownership to Vendelco, Inc., which received authorization in August 1972. Channel 50 briefly resumed test transmissions on July 17, 1973, with intentions to relaunch—possibly as New Hampshire’s CBS affiliate—but these plans never came to fruition. The FCC officially canceled WXPO-TV’s construction permit on November 25, 1974. The channel remained inactive until WNDS (currently WWJE-DT) began operations in September 1983.

External links

• WXPO-TV 50 at UHF Morgue (Internet Archive)