Springfield Television Corporation was a group owner of television stations based in Springfield, Massachusetts. The company was founded by William Lowell Putnam III, who launched the company's first television station, WWLP, on March 17, 1953. (Putnam was the son of politician and businessman, Roger Putnam. He was also a former trustee of the Lowell Observatory, founded by his great-uncle, astronomer Percival Lowell.)
The company owned five television stations during its lifetime, no more than four at any given time.
The company folded in 1984 with Putnam's retirement, and the sale of its remaining stations—WWLP, WKEF in Dayton, Ohio, and KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah—to Adams Communications.
Former stations
| Market | Station | Years Owned | Today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield, MA | WWLP 22** (NBC) |
1953-1984 | NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
| Greenfield, MA | WRLP-TV 32** (NBC; repeater of WWLP, to 1974) (independent; 1974–1978) |
1957-1978 | Defunct, went dark April 9, 1978; frequency never reactivated |
| Worcester - Boston, MA | WJZB-TV 14 (NBC; repeater of WWLP) |
1958-1969 | Defunct, went dark after a fire in Spring 1969, shortly after its sale to Evans Broadcasting; frequency never reactivated |
| Dayton, OH | WKEF 22 (ABC, 1966–1979) (NBC, 1980–2004) |
1966-1984 | ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Salt Lake City, UT | KSTU 20** (independent) |
1978-1984 | Fox affiliate owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, operating on channel 13 under a different license |
References
- Putnam, Kitty Broman; Putnam, William Lowell (2011). How We Survived in UHF Television. Flagstaff, Arizona, United States: Light Technology (published 2012). ISBN 978-1-62233-696-8.