V66 The station first signed on the air on February 12, 1985, as WVJV-TV (branded as "V-66, the Beat of Boston"), maintaining a
music video format at a time when they were a major part of the American
culture (this was just four years after
MTV launched in August 1981). The station was originally owned by longtime New England radio broadcasters
John Garabedian (who later became host of the nationally syndicated radio show
Open House Party) and
Arnie "Woo-Woo" Ginsburg. Garabedian also owned WGTR (1060 AM, now
WQOM); both WVJV and WGTR operated from studios in
Natick. The music format combined videos from
progressive rock (as heard on
WBCN) and
pop contemporary (as heard on
WXKS-FM). Irrespective of the
must-carry rule requiring cable systems to carry the station, many cable systems freely chose to carry WVJV instead of
VH1. WVJV was also the first station in the Boston area to transmit in
stereo.
Change from music videos to home shopping Garabedian had hoped to launch a national
over-the-air music video network (predating the existence of
The Box) to compete against MTV, if WVJV had succeeded. However, although channel 66 received a sizable number of viewers, the station struggled to retain them for long periods of time, and by mid-1986, the station's advertising sales were insufficient to ensure the station's long-term viability; additionally, attempts to broaden the station's programming to include shows on sports and other topics proved unsuccessful. produced by Christian de Rezendes and Eric Green,
"Hub 66", WHUB-TV In 1999,
Barry Diller, owner of HSN and its broadcast arm
USA Broadcasting (formerly Silver King Television), began plans to turn his stations into true
independents under the "CityVision" banner. After switching stations in
Miami,
Atlanta, and
Dallas–Fort Worth, this format was implemented in Boston on Channel 66 as WHUB-TV (from Boston's nickname "The Hub"), with the "Hub 66" branding and a main slogan echoing
The Standells' "
Dirty Water" ("Ahhh, Boston you're our home"). The station under the "CityVision" format aired primarily
syndicated and first-run programming including sitcom reruns of shows like
Cheers and
Taxi, drama reruns of shows like
Star Trek: The Next Generation, cartoons via
BKN, and movies under the
HubFlix banner. Like other "CityVision" stations, the station also obtained live sports rights specifically
Boston University ice hockey games (previously held by
WABU/WBPX), as well as the annual
Beanpot tournament. with plans immediately announced to make the station (and all but three USAB stations) a charter affiliate of what would become Telefutura (originally referred to as Univision Duo and later rebranded as
UniMás in 2013); (a few 1950s UHF independent stations, such as the three-month-long
WBES-TV, had shorter).
AT&T Broadband obtained some of WHUB's programming for its AT&T 3 channel including the 2001 Beanpot, However, just one month later, the station changed the callsign again to WUTF with both changes occurring during the interim period of HSN programming. It was not until January 14, 2002, that channel 66 joined Telefutura, offering a general Spanish-language entertainment format with
movies,
serials, sports and
children's programming. Telefutura later rebranded as
UniMás on January 7, 2013.
2017 call sign and channel swap; ATSC 3.0 conversion On December 4, 2017, as part of a multi-market realignment, the programming and call signs of WUTF and sister station WUNI were swapped: WUTF and its UniMás programming moved to the Entravision-owned facility using digital channel 29 and virtual channel 27, while Univision's digital channel 27 and virtual channel 66 facility became the new home of WUNI. On November 30, 2022, it was announced that WUNI would convert to ATSC 3.0. == News operation ==