In the early 1970s,
WTIC in Hartford dropped its longtime classical music format in favor of
adult contemporary music, and sold its library to CPTV. Looking for a way to put the library to use, CPTV decided to get into radio. At the time, while Hartford got a fairly decent signal from
WFCR in
Amherst, Massachusetts, and much of southwestern Connecticut was covered by
WNYC in New York City, most of the rest of the state did not even get a grade B signal from an NPR station. New Haven, for instance, had to content itself with a translator of WFCR on 90.5 FM. Finding available frequencies proved difficult, however. In addition to the crowded state of the noncommercial end of the FM dial in the Northeast, there was a considerable glut of 10-watt stations in the state. Ultimately, CPTV bought the 90.5 frequency from the Friends of WFCR, the New Haven group that owned the WFCR translator, and used it as the linchpin for what would become Connecticut Public Radio. The network's first station, WPBH, The station was licensed to
Meriden, halfway between Hartford and New Haven, to serve both cities (Hartford and New Haven, then as now, are separate radio markets). CPBI originally wanted the WNPR calls, but the FCC turned it down due to objections from
WPLR in New Haven, which claimed the calls sounded too similar. It became WPKT in 1984 This ended in 2016, when WNPR turned over operation of WAIC to
WFCR, the NPR member for Western Massachusetts. WFCR made WAIC a satellite of its all-news network. == Programming ==