WRLH (New Hampshire)

Last updated
WRLH
Channels
Programming
Affiliations NBC
Ownership
OwnerUpper Valley Television Broadcasting Co.
History
First air date
September 1966 (1966-09) [lower-alpha 1]
Last air date
March 28, 1974 (1974-03-28)
Call sign meaning
White River, Lebanon and Hanover [2]
Technical information
ERP 10.48 kW [1]
HAAT 270 ft (82 m)
Transmitter coordinates 43°39′19″N72°17′43″W / 43.65528°N 72.29528°W / 43.65528; -72.29528

WRLH was a television station on channel 31 licensed to West Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States. It broadcast from 1966 to 1968 and again from 1971 to 1974 as an affiliate of NBC. Financial and technical woes sank the station twice.

Contents

History

In June 1965, Upper Valley Television Broadcasters, Inc., was approved by the Federal Communications Commission to construct a new television station. The year before, Upper Valley's application specified channel 49, [3] but successive national overhauls of the table of UHF television channel allotments moved the station to channel 57 by the time a permit had been approved and construction began for the station atop Crafts Hill. [4] By August, the call letters WRLH (for White River, Lebanon, and Hanover) had been selected, and an affiliation with NBC had been announced. [2] However, a second frequency change ordered by the FCC, to channel 31, held back completion of the facility by months because some equipment was custom-made for stations on a specific channel. [5] Final designation of channel 31 for WRLH came in June 1966, allowing construction to be completed. [6]

WRLH finally went on air on September 10, 1966, with studios atop Crafts Hill at the transmitter site and business offices in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. [7] Through its first stint on air, it struggled. The problems were out of the gate, and they began weeks before startup when the station's original source of network programming, WRLP of Greenfield, Massachusetts, lost its transmitter tower at Gun Hill near Winchester, New Hampshire, when an airplane crashed into it and damaged the tower to the point where it had to be taken down. [8] [9] The station was off the air for weeks at a time because of its inability to reliably receive NBC shows. [10] Trouble with network program reception led the station to invest in microwave equipment to improve picture quality. [11] However, it was on the air less than two years, ceasing to broadcast on August 23, 1968. [1]

In 1969, the FCC granted a transfer of control of the dormant station to Johnson and Whitman Communications, whose stockholders owned 50 percent of a commercial printing firm in Canaan, New Hampshire. [12] The Johnson was William R. Johnson, a Republican state lawmaker from Hanover who was an advisor to Governor Walter R. Peterson Jr. and called WRLH "a profit-making station that makes no profit". [13] However, the sale to Johnson and Whitman failed to close after Johnson was named a superior court judge, [8] and in 1970, the station was sold to two parties: Sconnix Radio Enterprises (owned by Scott McQueen and Ted Nixon and owner of WCVR in Randolph, Vermont) and two attorneys from Lebanon. [14] It returned to the air on August 2, 1971, again as an NBC affiliate. [15]

In 1973, the other owners ousted McQueen and Nixon as managers, and they soon sold their stock back to the attorneys, William Baker and Ridler Page. Facing mounting losses and continued technical issues, Baker and Page took WRLH off the air on March 28, 1974. [16] [8] An editorial in the Valley News declared that WRLH had been dying since its first moment on air. [17] On September 23, 1975, a public auction ordered by a bank sounded WRLH's final "death knell" and served as a "daylong requiem" for the venture as the station's equipment was sold in parts to the highest bidder. The tower on Crafts Hill went for $150 to a company seeking to start a paging service. [18] From a reported $200,000 in debt, creditors were still owed $50,000, including several employees. [18]

Channel 31 in the region was reused beginning in 1978 by WNNE, nominally licensed to nearby Hartford, Vermont. [19]

Note

  1. ↑ The Television Factbook lists September 26. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "WRLH" (PDF). Television Factbook. 1972. p. 512-b – via World Radio History.
  2. 1 2 "A Page from the Voice & Vision Diary". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. August 6, 1965. p. 19. Retrieved May 20, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 21, 1964. pp. 108–109.
  4. ↑ "FCC Gives OK To Start Work On Local TV Broadcast Station". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. June 29, 1965. p. 1. Retrieved May 20, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Gallagher, William E. (January 29, 1966). "Local TV Station Waits For Final FCC Approval". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. p. 1. Retrieved May 20, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Gallagher, William E. (June 11, 1966). "West Leb TV Station Ready". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. p. 1. Retrieved May 20, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "UHF Channel 31 Goes On The Air With NBC All-Color Programming". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. September 8, 1966. p. 1-S, 3-S . Retrieved May 20, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 3 Lambert, George (March 30, 1974). "Succumbs To Financial Woes: Channel 31's Screen Goes Blank". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. p. 1, 3 . Retrieved May 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Dad, Son Killed When Plane Hits TV Tower". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. August 16, 1966. p. 10. Retrieved May 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Notice". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. December 1, 1966. p. 3. Retrieved May 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Local Channel To Improve Area Reception". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. November 17, 1967. p. 12. Retrieved May 20, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 24, 1969. p. 100.
  13. ↑ "Hanover's Rep. Johnson Defends His Close Ties To WRP, Absence From House Floor". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. April 8, 1969. p. 5. Retrieved May 20, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Leavitt, Sid (May 27, 1971). "WRLH-TV Shoots For July 1: Tri-Town Television Returning". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. p. 1, 20 . Retrieved May 20, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Slot 10 On Cable: Channel 31 Prepares For Tuesday Startup". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. July 31, 1971. p. 1, 16 . Retrieved May 20, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "WRLH Off Air". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. March 29, 1974. p. 16. Retrieved May 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "The Blank Screen". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. April 3, 1974. p. 4. Retrieved May 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  18. 1 2 Clark, Susan (September 24, 1975). "Death Knell Sounds For Channel 31". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. p. 1, 22 . Retrieved May 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Channel 31 Debuts; Staff 'Very Elated'". Valley News. West Lebanon, New Hampshire. September 28, 1978. p. 12. Retrieved May 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
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