A group of women, under the name of Bridgeways Communications Corporation,[10] received a construction permit for a new station on channel 43 on November 20, 1980,[11] and on September 28, 1987, the station signed on as WBCT-TV, airing home shopping programming.[10] Initially, the station planned to become a locally focused independent station, with WBCT's management concerned that Bridgeport was being served only by New York City stations;[10] a year later, however, the station had changed its plans and planned to implement cultural programming aimed at the Jewish community in the New York City market as a whole.[12] Shortly afterward, the station changed its call letters to WHAI-TV, in reference to chai, the Hebrew word for living. However, the station was sold in 1994 to ValueVision,[13] which in turn sold WHAI to Paxson Communications in 1996.[14] By then, the station had also added infomercials to the schedule.
Original plans called for the station to become a charter station of the Pax TV network[15][16] (as WIPX[16][17]) when it launched in August 1998, but those plans were scrapped (mainly due to duopoly concerns resulting from Paxson's acquisition of WPXN-TV channel 31, as both stations' signals overlap[18] and are considered part of the New York City market; at that time the FCC did not allow common ownership of such stations) and the call letters were again changed, this time to WBPT.[19] After an attempt to sell the station to Cuchifritos Communications (which planned to make the station the flagship of a Spanish-language home-shopping service[18]
Azteca América nearly bought the station late in 2000 to serve as its New York City affiliate.[23] The deal quickly collapsed,[24] with Azteca América citing concerns over WSAH's coverage of the market;[25] the network ultimately affiliated with WNYN-LP. The station continued to run Shop at Home, with a brief interruption in 2006 when the network temporarily closed.
On September 26, 2006, The E. W. Scripps Company (the then-owner of the former Shop at Home owned-and-operated stations) announced that it was selling WSAH along with four other stations (KCNS in San Francisco; WMFP in Boston; WOAC (now WRLM) in Canton, Ohio; and WRAY-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina) to Multicultural Television for $170 million.[26] Multicultural assumed control of KCNS, WOAC and WRAY on December 20, 2006, and flipped their programming to an all-infomercial format; it did not take control of WSAH and WMFP immediately due to the stations' pending license renewal. The licenses were renewed in early April 2007, and on April 24, 2007, Multicultural took control of these stations.
In May 2007, WSAH changed shopping networks, switching from Shop at Home to Gems TV, a shopping network that specializes in jewelry. In addition, infomercials once again became a part of the schedule. The Gems TV affiliation was discontinued in 2009.
Switch to entertainment programming (2009–2016)
On July 1, 2009, WSAH affiliated with the Retro Television Network (RTV), becoming one of only a few affiliates to carry RTV on its main channel.[27] Initially, RTV programming was seen from 6 p.m. to midnight, with infomercials continuing during the remainder of the broadcast day. In September 2009, WSAH cut RTV programming back to end at 11 p.m. on weekdays, and 10 p.m. on weekends. Shortly afterwards, the station announced that it would drop RTV completely at the end of the month.[28] The next month, WSAH added a subchannel, airing Chinese-language programming from sister station KCNS.[29] On June 6, 2011, the station rejoined RTV, running its programming from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m.
After Multicultural ran into financial problems and defaulted on its loans, WSAH was placed into a trust; the station was then placed for sale.[30] On October 6, 2011, it was announced that WSAH would be auctioned off in bankruptcy court by the end of 2011.[31]
As a religious station (2017–2019)
On January 1, 2017, WZME became an affiliate of the Sonlife Broadcasting Network, run by Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.
On January 1, 2020, WZME switched affiliations to Shop LC (formerly the Liquidation Channel), a home shopping network for the first time in 11 years. Sonlife was shifted to the station's second digital subchannel. In November, the station switched affiliations again to ShopHQ.
Sale to Weigel Broadcasting; switch to MeTV Plus (2021–present)
On September 1, 2021, WZME was sold to Weigel Broadcasting.[35] MeTV programming returned to the station via Weigel's MeTV Plus on September 27, 2021.
On April 1, 2022, MeTV Plus on 43.1 was replaced with Story Television. MeTV Plus programming moved to a new 43.2 subchannel.
