W1XSO took to the air for the first time on February 23, 1940 from studios at 26 Grove Street in Hartford.  The FM tower was at the WTIC AM facility at 375 Deercliff Road, atop Avon Mountain in Avon, CT. Travelers Broadcasting Service Corp. was the licensee and the station operated with 1,000 watts on 43.2 MHz. 
      In December, 1941 the station changed frequency to 45.3 Mhz. and commenced commercial operation with the call sign W53H. On November 1, 1943, the unpopular alphanumeric call system was dropped and the station was assigned the call letters WTIC-FM. When the FM band was changed to 88 - 108 MHz, WTIC-FM was assigned 93.7 but it never used that frequency, instead settling on 96.5 MHz in 1948.
    During the sixties and into the seventies WTIC-FM was a classical music station.
    In the mid-seventies WTIC FM was purchased by a local group of investors.  Shortly thereafter the format was switched to Top 40, a move which angered a number of listeners who ultimately created "The Connecticut Classical Listeners Guild" in an effort to challenge the transfer of WTIC-FM license.  Wisely, the FCC stayed out of the programming side of things and the wishes of the new owners prevailed.

The following is an excerpt from  the unofficial history of WTIC Engineering written by Charles Fitch, reprinted with permission.

     Although the Broadcasting yearbook lists WTIC-FM as beginning on February 5th, 1940 apparently from the FCC's records, all that was happening that year was an application to build a new station on 45.3 MHz initially annotating a 50 kw transmitter plant. This application went in July 26, 1940. The application was amended to a lower power and a license was granted for that facility on July 24, 1942.

     Not everyone was convinced that FM would prosper and in the new high frequency band as AM, FM and 'special modulation' for facsimile, etc., could be used on request. That request was made on February 19, 1944.

     Surprisingly right in the middle of the war fledgling WTIC-FM changed frequency to 43.3 MHz and installed an RCA FM 50A transmitter finishing out the war and their time on the FM 'lowband' running considerable power.

     The end of the war brought peace and a new FM spectrum and so on January 20th, 1947 the station applied to move to 93.5 MHz using an REL model 519A-DD 3 kw transmitter producing about 8 kw ERP which was installed and licensed on March 18, 1947. The next transmitter was an RCA BTF-1D 1 kw which precipitated an ERP reduction to 5.45 kw.  In 1964 the station increased power to 15 kw ERP and finally to it's present 20.2 kw in August 1980. Somewhere in there, WTIC-FM was assigned its present frequency of 96.5 Mhz.

     The station, like many early FMs, was programmed with a heavy classical music format. In the late 70's with the success of  contemporary music on the AM side, the FM moved to more modern music triggering one of the strongest listener reactions ever witnessed. The public response and petitioning before the FCC

to make the station's format a license renewal issue was acrimonious to say the least and set the arguments and issues that would be used as a model by all that followed seeking format redress before the Commission.

     Eventually market place economics were viewed as the ultimate criterion for what was the best format use of a station and modern music continues on the station to this day.  

Above: This is all that is left of the original W1XSO (WTIC-FM) tower. Originally topping out at 300', it was cut down to about 100' around 1970 to accomodate channel 3's weather radar.  This photo was taken in 2006.  The weather radar is long gone but you can see WWUH's auxiliary antenna on the upper left rear leg of the tower.  The tower also supports STL antennas for WWUH and WJMJ.

1972 Letterhead

1957 Photo of Transmitter Building.

1941

1941

FM Defense Net

WTIC Management, 1965.
Courtesy of the WTIC Alumni site.

1965
Courtesy of the WTIC Alumni site.

WTIC Announcers, 1965
Courtesy of the WTIC Alumni site.

Engineering Staff, early 80s.

FM Transmitter c. 1992

Gary Craig's FM Morning Crew