KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Island Sound, it is 60 miles (97 km) from Manhattan and 40 miles (64 km) from The Bronx. It is bordered by the towns of Trumbull to the north, Fairfield to the west, and Stratford to the east. Bridgeport and other towns in Fairfield County make up the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk-Danbury metropolitan statistical area, the second largest metropolitan area in Connecticut. The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk-Danbury metropolis forms part of the New York metropolitan area.
Showman P. T. Barnum was a resident of the city and served as the town's mayor (1871). Barnum built four houses in Bridgeport and housed his circus in town during winter. The city in the early 20th century saw an economic and population boom, becoming by all measures Connecticut's chief manufacturing city. Bridgeport was the site of the world's first mutual telephone exchange (1877), the first dental hygiene school (1949), and the first bank telephone bill service in the US (1981). Harvey Hubbell II invented the electric plug outlet in Bridgeport in 1912. The Frisbie Pie Company was founded in Bridgeport, and the city is credited as the birthplace of the Frisbee.
The world's first Subway restaurant opened in the city's North End in 1965. After World War II, industrial restructuring and suburbanization caused the loss of many large companies and affluent residents, leaving Bridgeport struggling with issues of poverty, violent crime, and a bad image.Since the beginning of the 21st century, Bridgeport has begun extensive redevelopment of its downtown and other neighborhoods. Bridgeport is home to 3 museums, the University of Bridgeport, Housatonic Community Collage, Paier College, and part of Sacred Heart University as well as the state's only zoo.
KC2XAK was the world's first UHF television station, which went on the air on December 29, 1949. It was a broadcast translator of New York City's WNBT (today's WNBC), and broadcast on 529–535 MHz in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
The station's launch was code-named "Operation Bridgeport", as a test by RCA and NBC, to determine if the UHF spectrum was feasible to use for communications and broadcasting as part of a nationwide television station plan. It was operational during a several-year freeze on new television stations by the FCC which lasted from October 1948 to April 1952.
The station used a 1 kW transmitter with a 20-dB gain antenna on a 210-foot (64 m) tower elevated 450 feet (140 m) above average terrain at the top of Success Hill. This resulted in an effective radiated power of 10 kW.
Operation Bridgeport was a success in the sense that it demonstrated the viability of UHF broadcasting, and UHF became a major part of the FCC's plan for new television licensing in the early 1950s. KC2XAK was shut down by RCA and NBC on August 23, 1952, a few months after the 1948 freeze on new television licenses was lifted. KC2XAK thus was not only the first UHF television station operational in the United States, but the only one for several years.
Once KC2XAK's transmitter was shut down, Empire Coil purchased it, and the transmitter and support equipment were dismantled in Bridgeport under supervision of RCA. Dismantling began on August 25 and was shipped via truck and fast freight train to Portland, Oregon. The transmitter was re-assembled as a 250-foot (76 m) tower on Council Crest, more than 1,000 feet (300 m) above Portland on September 9, 1952. Thus, KC2XAK's transmitter was re-used for Portland's KPTV, which became the first commercial full-power UHF television station in the country. KPTV would utilize the transmitter for five years on channel 27, before merging with another broadcaster on VHF channel 12 in 1957, where it has broadcast since (though the station is scheduled to return its physical transmission to UHF some time in 2022).
Bridgeport is now covered over-the-air by WNBC and the other New York City broadcast stations.