An independent throughout its history, channel 31 was unable to develop a market between the established stations in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, which impeded it from obtaining a network affiliation.

[3] In 1963, Geneco filed to sell a majority stake in WTAF-TV to Northern Indiana Broadcasters, which owned radio stations in Michigan City and Goshen, for $66,740.

After the CBS outlets in Indianapolis (WISH-TV) and Fort Wayne (WANE-TV) refused channel 31's overtures, it was successful at reaching an agreement with WFAM-TV in Lafayette, though this required construction of new microwave links.

[6] This failed to materialize by January 1965, when the station was described as a potential customer of the system which would receive programming from WBBM-TV in Chicago.

[10] By this time, it partially rebroadcast the programming of WTTV in Bloomington, airing its lineup from 7 to 10 p.m.; sixty percent of its output consisted of live shows.

[14] In January 1969, Martin-Trigona filed a $3 million antitrust lawsuit against CBS, ABC, Corinthian Broadcasting (owner of WISH and WANE), and Avco (which owned the then-ABC affiliate in Indianapolis, WLWI).

It charged that the local CBS and ABC affiliates had blocked WTAF-TV from carrying the programs of those networks and claimed that the defendants were engaging in monopolistic practices.

Martin-Trigona stated that the station would pick up an hour and a half of NBC prime-time programs a night in two weeks' time, which was needed to convert equipment to color.