However, its plans to market itself were hindered by two factors: a signal that was not clearly received in all areas of Nashville and the launch less than two months later of WCAY-TV (channel 30), which had better programming and ratings.

[3] Of the 23 stockholders in Channel 39 of Murfreesboro, 80 percent were minorities, which was expected to provide the group an advantage in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s comparative hearing process.

[6] At the same time, two of the headline owners of channel 39 parent company Focus Communications, William Geissler and Douglas Ruhe, were part of a successful bid for news agency United Press International.

[9] By June, the deadline had slipped to October, but WFYZ had begun to move into the former Murfreesboro news bureau of Nashville's WNGE-TV in the city's Public Square.

[13][14][15][16] The management hoped to launch the station on Christmas Day,[17] but an ice storm and holiday work schedules scuttled those plans.

The June 1984 ratings book showed WCAY with three percent of the total viewing audience; this, in turn, was behind Nashville's established independent, WZTV (channel 17).

[28] Amid persistent rumors, one of the major stockholders, Bill Geissler, told The Tennessean on September 1 that the station was "here to stay" in spite of its troubles.

[31] Tim McDonald, president of TVX, doubted his competitor's strategy, noting that programming costs would continue to be the primary expense and telling The Tennessean, "If you're going to be of service to your viewers, you have to be there.

[34] Beginning on April 1, 1985, the station filled most of its broadcast day with music videos from the Odyssey service and removed many of the remaining syndicated reruns it aired.

[35] In order to devote more time to the troubled UPI wire service, Geissler and Ruhe filed in June 1985 to sell WFYZ to Murfreesboro Television Corporation, a company headed by Bob Hudson.

On the first edition of a live talk show hosted by program director Bill Perkins, the butterfly backdrop on the set fell down—twice.

[40] The transmitter experienced problems in cold weather when a heat exchanger failed, causing pipes in the water-cooled equipment to burst.

[44] WHTN's precarious position came to a head at the end of March 1986, when general manager Bill Perkins resigned rather than follow orders from Hudson to lay off six employees.

[45] The station was late to sign on on April 9 because the MTE disconnected electric service over an unpaid bill and an expired bond; paychecks for the employees that remained were becoming irregular.