HWAN-TV

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HWAN-TV is an NBN-operated O&O of the Metropolitan Television Network. It was signed on by the Zircon Corporation in 1953 and waas later sold off to become Hopeland's most profitable independent television station.

History[edit | edit source]

Zircon era[edit | edit source]

The Zircon Corporation wanted to get into the television industry as far back as 1947, when the first licenses were being given. Due to a freeze in licenses imposed by the Hopelandian government for "technical purposes", they had to wait until 1950 for a new bid. Zircon was unique among the companies involved, whereas other companies had existing radio networks attached to them, Zircon had none.

At the time of the 1950 license round to fill in the six remaining VHF band channels in Albany, Zircon was assigned to operate on channel 5 with the callsign HWAN-TV. The license was given on February 25, 1951. However, despite the building of the Zircon Telecenter and its completion in June 1952, its launch was delayed to October 1, 1953, alongside four other television stations that would affiliate in some way to the network.

Broadcasts started on October 1, 1953 at 6:45pm with the first edition of the Zircon Television News followed at 7pm by live coverage of The Annual Diamond Gala Ball, live from the Albany Convention Center, then at 11pm it was followed by a brief news recap and later signed off. The following day (as Zircon was building its schedule for the upcoming 1954 television season), the station signed on at 6pm with a kids' show (Captain Five) followed by local news. Local production during its first months on air was kept at a minimum.