It will not have been noticed by many others, but on Aug. 2, when WHPX-TV moved its transmitter out of our area, I felt the loss. As a committed cable cutter who gets most of his programming from streaming services, I will miss the nostalgic pleasure of receiving the station’s ION TV channel over the air with a simple antenna attached to my set. I had become a loyal fan of ION’s endless cop show-rerun programming (CSI, Law & Order, Blue Bloods, and Criminal Minds). I am not a religious person, but the 6:30 a.m. Bible classes taught by the grandfatherly Les Feldick and the Sunday morning televangelists added a kind folksy Americana flavor to the channel. You got religious salvation in the morning and on Sundays, and criminal justice the rest of the day. 

After decades of adjusting and maintaining roof-top and set-top antennas in an effort to get rid of snow and wavy lines, you wouldn’t imagine anyone could miss catching broadcast television signals on a wire, but I will.

Stuart Vyse

Stonington