WCPX-TV
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Chicago, Illinois United States |
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| Branding | Ion Television |
| Slogan | Positively Entertaining |
| Channels |
Digital: 43 (UHF) Virtual: 38 () |
| Subchannels | 38.1 - Ion HD (720p) 38.2 - qubo (480i) 38.3 - Ion Life (480i) 38.4 - Ion Shop (480i) 38.5 - QVC 38.6 - HSN |
| Affiliations | Ion Television |
| Owner |
Ion Media Networks (Ion Media Chicago License, Inc.) |
| First air date | May 31, 1976 |
| Call letters' meaning |
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| Former callsigns | |
| Former channel number(s) |
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| Former affiliations |
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| Transmitter power | 200 kW |
| Height | 510 m |
| Facility ID | 10981 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°52′44″N 87°38′8.9″W / 41.87889°N 87.635806°WCoordinates: 41°52′44″N 87°38′8.9″W / 41.87889°N 87.635806°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www |
WCPX-TV, virtual channel 38 (UHF digital channel 43), is an Ion Television owned-and-operated television station located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The station is owned by Ion Media Networks. WCPX-TV maintains office facilities located on Des Plaines and Van Buren Streets in the Chicago Loop, and its transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive in the Loop.
Chicago's channel 38 was originally a construction permit for WCFL-TV, which was to have been owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor, along with WCFL radio (1000 AM, now online. 1000 AM frequency now occupied by WMVP). The plans were for a fourth general entertainment independent station, but even a market as large as Chicago would not have been able to support one. The Chicago Federation of Labor was unable to obtain financing for the station, and by the summer of 1974 it had put the WCFL-TV construction permit up for sale. No mainstream commercial broadcaster at the time was interested, but there were several minority broadcasters that were. The Spanish International Network (forerunner of Univision), at that time seen in Chicago via a part-time clearance on WCIU-TV (channel 26), made a bid, but lost to a Christian group, Christian Communications of Chicagoland.
Christian Communications of Chicagoland had been founded in 1971, when Pastor Owen C. Carr approached his church's board of directors with a desire to begin a Christian television station for the Chicago area. Carr's then congregation, The Stone Church, raised $135,000 by the end of September 1973, at which point Christian Communications of Chicagoland was incorporated. In 1974, a commitment to purchase the WCFL-TV construction permit. The First National Bank of Evergreen Park financed $600,000 for the purchase of needed equipment and a studio. The transfer of the license was approved by the FCC in November 1975, and the sale was consummated in March 1976. On May 26, the call letters were officially changed to WCFC-TV (standing for "Winning Chicagoland For Christ"), and at 5 p.m. on May 31, 1976, from the Olympic Studios on the city's near west side, WCFC signed on with the Holy Bible opened to the first chapter of Genesis, read by Pastor Carr; this was followed by a broadcast of The 700 Club. WCFC was only the fourth full-time Christian station nationwide. Jerry Rose, who previously worked for KXTX-TV in Dallas and helped Pat Robertson build that station, was hired as the station's general manager. However, while KXTX was programmed as a family-friendly independent station with some religious programming, WCFC had no plans for any secular programming.
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