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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

WHFV (Fredericksburg, Virginia)

former TV station in Fredericksburg, Virginia

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ28228888 ↗
Source-derived summary

WHFV (channel 69) was a television station in Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Television Fredericksburg, Inc. The station signed on in 1973, found itself heavily in debt and losing money, and was forced to go dark in 1975.

History

Sign-on

Television Fredericksburg, Inc. was granted a construction permit for station WHFV on channel 69 in November 1972.

After construction delays, WHFV obtained an affiliation with NBC on May 3, and signed on in the evening of October 8, 1973. Local radio man Keith Angstadt, formerly a reporter with WFLS (1350 AM, now WNTX, and 93.3 FM, WFLS-FM) was the first general manager. WHFV transmitted from a studio and tower on Hudgins Road roughly three miles southwest of downtown Fredericksburg with an effective radiated power of 220.3 kW.

Although Fredericksburg was, then as now, part of the Washington, D.C., television market, it was a separate radio market. The ownership group believed the city was large enough for a locally focused TV station. However, the fact remained that WHFV was trying to compete in a very saturated regional television landscape. First, WHFV not only had to compete with WRC-TV in Washington, but WWBT in Richmond was also available over the air in most of WHFV's coverage area (Fredericksburg is roughly halfway between Richmond and Washington).

Editorial summary

“WHFV (Fredericksburg, Virginia)” enters the record as former TV station in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what WHFV, Fredericksburg and Virginia can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1973, 1975, 1972, 1350—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around WHFV, Fredericksburg and Virginia.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“WHFV (Fredericksburg, Virginia)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, WHFV, Fredericksburg and Virginia provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28228888. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1973, 1975, 1972 and 1350.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “WHFV (Fredericksburg, Virginia)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow WHFV (Fredericksburg, Virginia) primary sources, WHFV (Fredericksburg, Virginia) archive and WHFV research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “WHFV (Fredericksburg, Virginia)”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “WHFV (Fredericksburg, Virginia)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.