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(UniMas Boston LLC)}}'''WUNI''', virtual channel 66 (UHF digital channel 27), is an Univision-owned television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Marlborough. The station is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, as part of a duopoly with Derry, New Hampshire-licensed True Crime Network affiliate WWJE-DT (channel 50); Entravision Communications, which owns Worcester, Massachusetts-licensed UniMás affiliate WUTF-TV (channel 27), operates WUNI under a joint sales agreement (JSA). WUNI and WWJE share studios and transmitter facilities on Parmenter Road in Hudson; under the JSA, master control and some internal operations of WUNI are based at WUTF's studios on 4th Avenue in Needham. |
(UniMas Boston LLC)}}'''WUNI''', virtual channel 66 (UHF digital channel 27), is an Univision-owned television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Marlborough. The station is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, as part of a duopoly with Derry, New Hampshire-licensed True Crime Network affiliate WWJE-DT (channel 50); Entravision Communications, which owns Worcester, Massachusetts-licensed UniMás affiliate WUTF-TV (channel 27), operates WUNI under a joint sales agreement (JSA). WUNI and WWJE share studios and transmitter facilities on Parmenter Road in Hudson; under the JSA, master control and some internal operations of WUNI are based at WUTF's studios on 4th Avenue in Needham. |
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| + | == History == |
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| + | <br /> |
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| + | === As an English-language independent station[edit] === |
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| + | The station first signed on the air on January 1, 1970 as '''WSMW-TV''', an independent station that featured English general entertainment programs including old movies (including the entire series of Abbott and Costello movies and the Bowery Boys/Dead-End Kids movies starring Huntz Hall), cartoons, religious shows (including the Jacob Brothers and ''The PTL Club''), a cooking show (''Cooking with Bernard''), science fiction shows (such as Gerry Anderson's ''UFO''), dramas (including ''Maverick'' and ''Thriller''), as well as sitcoms (including ''The Phil Silvers Show'' and ''Petticoat Junction''). Though WSMW-TV was within the Boston market, it was far enough from Boston itself that the station was able to air some of the same shows as the Boston stations, in a similar situation to WMUR-TV (channel 9), the ABC affiliate in Manchester, New Hampshire. The station's call letters stood for '''S'''tate '''M'''utual (Insurance Co.) in '''W'''orcester, the corporate owner of the station. |
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| + | WSMW's original logo from 1970 to 1982. |
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| + | WSMW also broadcast sports programs; from its debut through the end of the 1971–72 NBA season, the station was the television home of the Boston Celtics. In 1970 and 1971, WSMW broadcast (same-weekend tape-delayed coverage of) New England Patriots preseason games. WSMW also offered extensive coverage of college basketball throughout the 1970s, mostly games of the College of the Holy Cross and Assumption College, with some Boston College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Bentley College games included on the schedule. The broadcast team of play-by-play man Bob Fouracre and analyst Bob Cousy worked these games. During the college football season, the station carried a taped two-hour broadcast of a game from earlier in the day on Saturday nights at 10:30 p.m. These games were typically Holy Cross home games, and when Holy Cross was on the road, games from UMass. Fouracre worked these games, and the analyst most of the time was Gino Cappelletti. WSMW also broadcast ''Bay State Bowling'', a weekly candlepin bowling program on Sunday evenings for most of the 1970s, which was hosted by Fouracre. |
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| + | In 1970, shortly after the cancellation of the long-running ''Bozo's Circus'' on WHDH-TV, WSMW-TV debuted their own version of the Bozo the Clown series franchise, ''Bozo's Big Top''. Tom Matzell played Bozo, alongside Gene Sanocki as Bozo's sidekick Professor Tweetyfoofer. Local children were featured on the program daily, with many waiting up to one year or more for their chance to be on the show. This version aired until 1974. |
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| + | In the fall of 1980, channel 27 began running the subscription television service Preview at night after 7 p.m. In February of 1983, the station expanded Preview to begin weekday programming at 5 p.m. and 2 p.m. weekends. Then on July 1, 1983, the station dropped all of its entertainment programs and began running Preview 21 hours a day, with the remaining hours 6 to 9 a.m. (in the morning) devoted to religious and public affairs programming. In the spring of 1985, WSMW cut Preview's broadcast hours down to 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on weekdays and after 3 p.m. on weekends; it also brought back some general entertainment programs. Hill Broadcasting bought the station in late 1985, and changed the station's call letters to '''WHLL'''. At that time, WHLL dropped Preview and reverted to being a general-entertainment independent full-time. |
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| + | WUNI's former ''Univision 27'' logo. Variations of this logo were used from the mid-1990s through 2012. |
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| + | Initially, WHLL's schedule consisted of B-grade movies, drama series, public domain cartoons and a few sitcoms, as well as religious programs. While the station again initially shared some of its programming with Boston stations, by the fall of 1986 the duplication had largely been eliminated, and WHLL began to market itself as a Boston station. When cartoons and sitcoms were gone around 1987, the station began running preempted network programming from NBC, ABC, and CBS (that were declined by WBZ-TV channel 4; WCVB-TV channel 5; and WNEV-TV channel 7, now WHDH), which had previously aired on Boston's WQTV (channel 68, now WBPX-TV) and started airing BBC and Nine Network shows as well as airing new cartoons. The graphics were made by Cranston/Csuri and Pacific Data Images in 1989, which was less expense than BBC has. WHLL also began running some first-run syndicated shows by 1988, as well as a good amount of religious programming. During the station's tenure as WHLL, it employed WMJX radio personality David Allan Boucher as its booth announcer. |
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| + | === Addition of Spanish programming and Univision affiliation[edit] === |
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| + | In 1992, the station added Spanish programming as a part-time affiliate of Telemundo, with the network's programming running from 4 or 5 p.m. until about 1 a.m. By 1993, when the Jasas Corporation acquired the Hill Broadcasting stations, WHLL ran Spanish-language programs after noon; much of the remaining English-language programming consisted of preempted network shows and religious programs. That year, the station became an Univision affiliate and changed its call letters to '''WUNI'''. In 1995, the station began carrying Spanish language programming full-time. The station was purchased by Entravision Communications in 2000. |
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| + | On February 18, 2011, Rhode Island cable provider Full Channel TV, Inc. (now known as i3 Broadband) dropped WUNI from its systems and replaced the station with Univision's national feed on its digital cable tier; the impetus for the removal was a breakdown in negotiations over claims that Entravision demanded "a 33% increase in retransmission fees" as a cash payment to renew its carriage deal with WUNI. |
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| + | On December 4, 2017, as part of a channel swap made by Entravision Communications, WUNI and sister station WUTF swapped channel numbers, with WUNI moving to digital channel 27 and virtual channel 66. |
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Revision as of 00:26, 21 June 2021
WUNI, virtual channel 66 (UHF digital channel 27), is an Univision-owned television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Marlborough. The station is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, as part of a duopoly with Derry, New Hampshire-licensed True Crime Network affiliate WWJE-DT (channel 50); Entravision Communications, which owns Worcester, Massachusetts-licensed UniMás affiliate WUTF-TV (channel 27), operates WUNI under a joint sales agreement (JSA). WUNI and WWJE share studios and transmitter facilities on Parmenter Road in Hudson; under the JSA, master control and some internal operations of WUNI are based at WUTF's studios on 4th Avenue in Needham.
History
As an English-language independent station[edit]
The station first signed on the air on January 1, 1970 as WSMW-TV, an independent station that featured English general entertainment programs including old movies (including the entire series of Abbott and Costello movies and the Bowery Boys/Dead-End Kids movies starring Huntz Hall), cartoons, religious shows (including the Jacob Brothers and The PTL Club), a cooking show (Cooking with Bernard), science fiction shows (such as Gerry Anderson's UFO), dramas (including Maverick and Thriller), as well as sitcoms (including The Phil Silvers Show and Petticoat Junction). Though WSMW-TV was within the Boston market, it was far enough from Boston itself that the station was able to air some of the same shows as the Boston stations, in a similar situation to WMUR-TV (channel 9), the ABC affiliate in Manchester, New Hampshire. The station's call letters stood for State Mutual (Insurance Co.) in Worcester, the corporate owner of the station. WSMW's original logo from 1970 to 1982. WSMW also broadcast sports programs; from its debut through the end of the 1971–72 NBA season, the station was the television home of the Boston Celtics. In 1970 and 1971, WSMW broadcast (same-weekend tape-delayed coverage of) New England Patriots preseason games. WSMW also offered extensive coverage of college basketball throughout the 1970s, mostly games of the College of the Holy Cross and Assumption College, with some Boston College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Bentley College games included on the schedule. The broadcast team of play-by-play man Bob Fouracre and analyst Bob Cousy worked these games. During the college football season, the station carried a taped two-hour broadcast of a game from earlier in the day on Saturday nights at 10:30 p.m. These games were typically Holy Cross home games, and when Holy Cross was on the road, games from UMass. Fouracre worked these games, and the analyst most of the time was Gino Cappelletti. WSMW also broadcast Bay State Bowling, a weekly candlepin bowling program on Sunday evenings for most of the 1970s, which was hosted by Fouracre.
In 1970, shortly after the cancellation of the long-running Bozo's Circus on WHDH-TV, WSMW-TV debuted their own version of the Bozo the Clown series franchise, Bozo's Big Top. Tom Matzell played Bozo, alongside Gene Sanocki as Bozo's sidekick Professor Tweetyfoofer. Local children were featured on the program daily, with many waiting up to one year or more for their chance to be on the show. This version aired until 1974.
In the fall of 1980, channel 27 began running the subscription television service Preview at night after 7 p.m. In February of 1983, the station expanded Preview to begin weekday programming at 5 p.m. and 2 p.m. weekends. Then on July 1, 1983, the station dropped all of its entertainment programs and began running Preview 21 hours a day, with the remaining hours 6 to 9 a.m. (in the morning) devoted to religious and public affairs programming. In the spring of 1985, WSMW cut Preview's broadcast hours down to 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on weekdays and after 3 p.m. on weekends; it also brought back some general entertainment programs. Hill Broadcasting bought the station in late 1985, and changed the station's call letters to WHLL. At that time, WHLL dropped Preview and reverted to being a general-entertainment independent full-time. WUNI's former Univision 27 logo. Variations of this logo were used from the mid-1990s through 2012.
Initially, WHLL's schedule consisted of B-grade movies, drama series, public domain cartoons and a few sitcoms, as well as religious programs. While the station again initially shared some of its programming with Boston stations, by the fall of 1986 the duplication had largely been eliminated, and WHLL began to market itself as a Boston station. When cartoons and sitcoms were gone around 1987, the station began running preempted network programming from NBC, ABC, and CBS (that were declined by WBZ-TV channel 4; WCVB-TV channel 5; and WNEV-TV channel 7, now WHDH), which had previously aired on Boston's WQTV (channel 68, now WBPX-TV) and started airing BBC and Nine Network shows as well as airing new cartoons. The graphics were made by Cranston/Csuri and Pacific Data Images in 1989, which was less expense than BBC has. WHLL also began running some first-run syndicated shows by 1988, as well as a good amount of religious programming. During the station's tenure as WHLL, it employed WMJX radio personality David Allan Boucher as its booth announcer.
Addition of Spanish programming and Univision affiliation[edit]
In 1992, the station added Spanish programming as a part-time affiliate of Telemundo, with the network's programming running from 4 or 5 p.m. until about 1 a.m. By 1993, when the Jasas Corporation acquired the Hill Broadcasting stations, WHLL ran Spanish-language programs after noon; much of the remaining English-language programming consisted of preempted network shows and religious programs. That year, the station became an Univision affiliate and changed its call letters to WUNI. In 1995, the station began carrying Spanish language programming full-time. The station was purchased by Entravision Communications in 2000.
On February 18, 2011, Rhode Island cable provider Full Channel TV, Inc. (now known as i3 Broadband) dropped WUNI from its systems and replaced the station with Univision's national feed on its digital cable tier; the impetus for the removal was a breakdown in negotiations over claims that Entravision demanded "a 33% increase in retransmission fees" as a cash payment to renew its carriage deal with WUNI.
On December 4, 2017, as part of a channel swap made by Entravision Communications, WUNI and sister station WUTF swapped channel numbers, with WUNI moving to digital channel 27 and virtual channel 66.