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WVPX-TV

WVPX-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Akron, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of Ion Television. Owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings, it is jointly operated with Canton-licensed Scripps News affiliate WDLI-TV (channel 17), which transmits using WVPX-TV's full-power spectrum via a channel sharing agreement.

Built and signed on by S. Bernard Berk's Summit Radio Corporation, this station originally was WAKR-TV—the television extension of WAKR—and positioned itself with a focus primarily on Akron even as it also covered the Greater Cleveland television market. From their 1953 establishment until 1996, the station was one of two primary ABC-TV affiliates within the Cleveland market, current primary affiliate WEWS-TV being the other. Denied what would have originally been a VHF license, WAKR-TV's competitiveness was negatively impacted throughout this era by financial shortfalls and continuous ratings issues, even with a move from channel 49 to channel 23 in 1967, and eventual market-wide carriage on cable systems. Becoming WAKC-TV in 1986 after WAKR was sold, the station remained in the hands of the Berk family until 1994, when it was sold to home-shopping broadcast chain ValueVision, but retained the ABC affiliation and local programming. A subsequent sale to Paxson Communications (now Ion Media) resulted in all newscast production ceasing immediately upon consummation on February 28, 1996, and disaffiliation from ABC at years' end; these moves made Akron the largest city in Ohio without a traditional television network affiliate or commercial television newscast.

Renamed WVPX-TV, the station has been an affiliate of Ion Television since it launched under the Pax TV name on August 31, 1998, and was owned and operated by the network until 2021. WKYC owner Gannett operated the station from 2001 until 2005, producing a daily half-hour Akron newscast during this period. WVPX-TV and WDLI-TV currently share studios on Renaissance Parkway in Warrensville Heights and transmitter facilities on Ohio SR 261 in Norton, Ohio.

Frozen out of VHF
In early December 1947, Summit Radio Corporation, the family-owned business of S. Bernard Berk and owners of WAKR (1590 AM) and WAKR-FM (97.5)—and Allen Simmons, owner of radio station WADC (1350 AM)—filed competing applications with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for what was initially seen as the lone television channel assigned to Akron, originally intended as a VHF license on channel 11. The applications were filed at the same time WEWS-TV had commenced operations as the first television station in Ohio. Both applications remained under review and went before a commission hearing on July 15, 1948, and WAKR had gone so far as to make a purchase order for VHF transmitting equipment from RCA, before the FCC implemented a freeze on any additional television licenses that September 30, while it studied the possibility of adding additional channels via the UHF band.

After the release of the FCC's Sixth Report and Order lifted the freeze in 1952, the Commission reassigned the proposed Akron license from a VHF signal to one of two potential UHF signals, as channel 11 was no longer available in order to protect what would become WTOL in Toledo and WIIC-TV (now WPXI) in Pittsburgh. Moreover, the Commission collapsed both Akron and Canton into the Cleveland market and now limited the combined market to three existing VHF signals—channels 3, 5 and 8 (changed from 4, 5 and 9). Summit Radio was awarded the permit for WAKR-TV on channel 49 by September 4, 1952; a coin flip determined the winning bid between Summit and WADC as the other frequency available, channel 65, was not considered operable at the time.

With WAKR already housed at the First Central Tower in the city's downtown, a UHF mast was affixed to the top of the building to much fanfare, with onlookers watching from the ground level during the multi-day process, and pictures of the tower installation published on the front page of the Akron Beacon Journal several times. Test transmissions began on June 7, 1953, that consisted solely of a test pattern card featuring the call sign and an illustration of the tower, while appliance stores in the city ran advertisements promoting either new television sets—or converter equipment to upgrade existing sets—concurrently promoting the station's upcoming launch. These signal tests continued on a regular set schedule until WAKR-TV formally signed on the air on July 19, 1953.

In contrast to the tower construction, the studio operations at the First Central Tower were temporary, as Summit Radio had acquired the former Copley Theatre as a permanent home for the WAKR stations; the building operated as a theater between March 1947 and October 1952. As part of the renovations of the theater, a second floor was added solely for office space, while one of the two TV studios featured a large steel turntable floor for set changing purposes; at the time, it was the only such turntable custom-built for a television studio. S. Bernard Berk's wife, Viola Berk, drafted the architectural plans for the new studios, scrapping plans drawn by a professional architect as being "pretty, but not practical". Formally opened that December as the "WAKR Television Center", the complex boasted an ultra-modern front lobby and interior designed by Viola Berk, and a second floor viewing room with windows where advertisers could watch programs being produced in the studios below.

Focused on Akron
WAKR-TV became an ABC-TV affiliate when they signed on, owing to WAKR radio's existing ABC Radio affiliation; Berk attributed the recent merger with United Paramount Theaters to create American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres as a determining factor for the affiliation. At the same time, ABC-TV was in an aggressive push to sign up as many affiliates as possible to compensate for their lack of competitiveness against CBS-TV, NBC-TV and DuMont. When WAKR-TV launched, ABC-TV had only secondary affiliations in the Cleveland market on both WXEL (channel 9; later channel 8), then a primary DuMont affiliate, and WEWS-TV (channel 5), then a primary CBS-TV affiliate. WXEL attained the market's CBS affiliation on March 1, 1955, resulting in WEWS becoming a primary ABC-TV affiliate alongside WAKR-TV.

Due to both the station's permanent studios still being under construction and ABC not yet programming on a full-time basis, WAKR-TV acquired a film package consisting of high-profile Republic Pictures and United Artists releases to fill airtime via a nightly "double-feature" showcase. WAKR-TV itself was able to join ABC officially on September 15, 1953, after Ohio Bell Telephone Company technicians completed the installation of receivers for the Bell System-operated relay network. An additional film package of 20th Century-Fox, Columbia Pictures and David O. Selznick releases was purchased by the station in 1956 and utilized in afternoons and prime time as an early form of counterprogramming against television network fare; owing to WAKR-TV's flexible schedule, these movies usually ran in complete form, with minimal edits for time. Milton F. Komito, a director for WMAL-TV in Washington, D.C., who also had produced and directed programs on NBC-TV and ABC-TV, was hired to direct all local productions for the station. Komito left in 1955 for a management role at WTAP-TV in Parkersburg, West Virginia, eventually returning to the WAKR stations in 1963 as sales manager. Robert I. Bostian, who replaced Komito as production director, was promoted to program director two months after having joined; Bostian would remain a part of WAKR-TV and Summit Radio management through the late 1980s as station vice president and once summed up the station's purpose by saying, "Our local programming is geared to giving Akron what it wants—news, advertising, announcements and local shows all about Akron."

From the beginning, WAKR-TV eschewed the Cleveland market proper in favor of Akron and Canton, boasting the only television newscast that focused specifically on both cities, sharing resources with WAKR, which had earned the distinction of being one of the first radio stations in the United States to house an active news department at its 1940 establishment. WAKR personalities began appearing on the television side, including long-time radio staffers Jack Fitzgibbons, Bill Murphy and Bob Wylie; indeed, the first live programs over WAKR-TV were a local newscast anchored by Bill Murphy, followed by a Bob Wylie-headlined sportscast. Jack Fitzgibbons would become the station's lead anchorman and news director alongside his daily radio news reports, positions he held until leaving broadcasting in 1969 to become Akron's deputy mayor. Future progressive rock radio personality Scott Muni, who was WAKR's evening host from 1956 to 1958, presented the nightly weather report at 6:55 p.m. on WAKR-TV featuring a unique setup allowing him to write the forecast on a pane of glass, then reversed by a mirrored camera, this would directly lead in to his radio program that started at 7:15 pm. Long-time WAKR midday host Jack Ryan—despite having no background in meteorology —later served as WAKR-TV's lead weatherman throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.

Live events and sports coverage heard on WAKR would find itself shown on WAKR-TV. Six days after the station's launch, the station's first live telecast of an outdoor event occurred with coverage of Akron's Sesquicentennial Parade. The following week, the station broadcast film of the 1953 Beacon Journal Soap Box Derby and All-American Finals in prime time, with Bob Wylie providing play-by-play. Wylie in particular soon became known as the "Voice of the Zips", thanks to the station's broadcasts of Akron Zips football and basketball. WAKR-TV also touted itself as having broken news of the armistice agreement which formally suspended the Korean War well before any of the Cleveland market stations reported the news. Another alliance existed with the Akron Beacon Journal, as publisher Knight Newspapers—a forerunner of Knight Ridder—held a minority stake in Summit Radio from 1946 to 1977.

Local music, variety and children's shows
In addition to local news and sports, the station tried producing different programs characteristic of the era, continuing to utilize talent from the radio station. WAKR morning host Torey Southwick became the emcee of an early-evening children's television program on WAKR-TV titled The Hinky-Dinks, which debuted on December 14, 1953, as part of an expansion of the station's broadcast day. Placing an emphasis on participation among the youngsters in the studio audience, The Hinky-Dinks featured puppetry, pet parades, birthday parties and a circus act on Fridays, in addition to Santa Claus reading letters throughout the month of December. Eventually with ABC-TV's The Mickey Mouse Club as a lead-in, the program ended on December 16, 1955, when Southwick left Akron to host mornings at KMBC (980 AM) in Kansas City, Missouri; Southwick later presided over similar children's shows in Kansas City on KMBC-TV and KCIT-TV.

A weekly local music and dance program titled The Hop aired on the station beginning in 1957 with a succession of WAKR air talent as host; this included Scott Muni, Jack Ryan and Rick (Hudak) Shaw. Originally a cross-promotional vehicle for WAKR's Top 40 format, The Hop became popular with teenage viewers as a local version of American Bandstand, which WAKR-TV also carried; dropped from the schedule at the end of 1961, it was temporarily revived in 1962 thanks to viewer demand. WAKR-TV also launched Akron Tonight—a late-evening variety show featuring local musical acts and Akron news headlines—on March 30, 1959; the show was briefly reworked the following February into a weekly program presented by WAKR's Charlie Greer. Greer had previously hosted a limited-run dance program devoted to big band music over WAKR-TV in 1958. One of the more successful local shows on WAKR-TV was another early-evening children's television program hosted by Jack Boigegrain (known on air as Jack Bennett) under the "Professor Jack" persona, which debuted on February 25, 1963. Bennett also presented weather reports in the late evenings, billed as the "Weather Profit". The program ended on April 1, 1966, after Bennett was denied a raise by station management; this followed a potential hiring by KYW-TV as a replacement for Linn Sheldon falling through due to a subsequent court-ordered ownership change.

Starting with the 1963–64 television season, WAKR-TV began carrying the entire ABC-TV lineup in pattern with occasional deviations for high school sports and Akron Zips sports coverage; this followed a change in FCC policy that also allowed affiliates to preempt or reschedule network shows at their discretion. Following this, much of the station's local productions were curtailed, with one of the last local prime time shows being Bob Lee Playhouse, a limited-run weekly variety show in the spring of 1963 hosted by WAKR's Bob Lee. Carrying the ABC lineup in pattern also resulted in WAKR-TV's broadcast schedule largely mirroring fellow ABC primary affiliate WEWS's schedule, although WEWS more freely preempted or rescheduled weaker offerings from the network. While WEWS had the larger measured audience by a commanding margin throughout, both stations would continue to fight for each other's viewership. One last attempt at a local variety/talk show occurred in the early 1970s with WAKR morning personality and WAKR-TV evening sportscaster Jerry Healey as host. The Jerry Healey Show launched on November 27, 1972, at 11 a.m. weekdays and aired until Healey left the stations at the end of 1973; Healey then hosted TGIF Party, a weekly WAKR-TV program on Friday nights throughout the summer of 1974.

Technical issues and move to channel 23
In promoting the station's sign-on, UHF signals were touted as not being any different from VHF signals in a technical sense, and S. Bernard Berk provided optimistic words that "about 99.44/100% of the Akron area will receive (WAKR-TV) without difficulty." Such sentiment was supported by a study one month after the station launched, showing almost one-third of television sets in the city had been converted to receive UHF, figures much higher than expected for a market serviced by VHF channels. Despite this initial optimism, the station immediately ran into issues with poor reception, transmission issues relating to inclement weather conditions, and a lack of adequate UHF channel tuners.

Even with passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act, these problems which would not be totally resolved until Summit Radio successfully petitioned the FCC to amend channel allocations between Canton and Akron, allowing WAKR-TV to move to a reassigned channel 23 allocation at higher power. As part of the petition, Summit Radio disclosed that WAKR-TV had amassed a "seven-figure" operating deficit dating back to 1953. This was not exactly new: in a 1961 request to the FCC that Akron should be at the "highest priority" for future potential VHF allocations, Summit Radio declared that channel 49 had "suffered very substantial operating losses" from the beginning. The change from channels 49 to 23 took place on December 1, 1967. Despite the move, WAKR-TV still lost significant amounts of money for the majority of its existence, relying on profits from WAKR to remain solvent. The former channel 49 allocation would be reassigned for educational use as PBS member station WEAO, using the same transmitter equipment on top of the First Central Tower at their launch.

The changes at WAKR-TV were not just technical: founder S. Bernard Berk died on July 11, 1966, at age 69. His widow Viola Berk initially assumed control over Summit Radio then transferred control over in 1970 to son Roger G. Berk, who had been actively involved with the TV station since its establishment.

Geographical disadvantages
While WAKR thrived throughout the 1970s and 1980s, WAKR-TV continued to struggle. Even with the move to channel 23, the Akron and Cleveland markets were collapsed into one, forcing the station to operate in the shadows of the three high-profile VHF stations in the Cleveland market. As one of two ABC affiliates broadcasting in the same market, WAKR-TV continued to clear the network's lineup in pattern with next to no deviations. Most notably, this included running Good Morning America in its entirety from the program's 1975 launch; WEWS did not carry GMA until 1978, and until September 1994 only aired the first hour, opting out at 8 a.m. for The Morning Exchange. At the same time, the carriage of ABC's lineup in its entirety was occasionally seen as a liability for channel 23 whenever WEWS opted to preempt lower-rated or weaker programming. WAKR-TV, however, did have success carrying a steady amount of paid local and national religious programming, including The 700 Club, which was added to the schedule in 1975. By 1979, the station aired religious fare for 32 hours every week, Roger G. Berk having chalked it up to viewer demand.

WAKR-TV's audience was often outranked by WEWS in Arbitron and Nielsen ratings diary reports, even in Summit County. Arbitron estimated in 1976 that one percent of all television sets in Summit County were tuned in to the station's 6 p.m. news. By 1991, the ratings service put the estimate at 3 percent for channel 23's 6 p.m. news, and 1 percent for their 11 p.m. news. Station management and ownership were frequently critical of how the surveys were set up, with Roger G. Berk stating that Arbitron never had given the station a fair share, while WAKR-TV never formally subscribed to the service, preventing Arbitron from more intently measuring the county; Roger's son Roger G. Berk, Jr. would refer to the ratings as "statistically invalid." Station manager Robert Bostian once raised the possibility of Akron viewers confusing WEWS for WAKR-TV based on informal phone surveys, and also claimed that ratings sampling procedures underestimated the station's overall audience; these allegations would persist into the 1990s.

A legitimate geographical disadvantage existed for the station. Summit County accounted for 14 percent of the Cleveland area of dominant influence (ADI)—as defined by Arbitron in 1991—and Summit County and the surrounding four counties accounted for one-third of the Cleveland ADI. Later analysis by Beacon Journal columnist Bob Dyer suggested that the newspaper's five-county circulation area would have resulted in the 50th biggest television market in the country, and the Akron metropolitan statistical area itself could have been the 100th largest television market, on par with El Paso and Savannah's MSAs. The ratings issues for channel 23, in turn, were reflected in advertising rates for the newscasts that were a fraction of what Cleveland stations would charge for. In 1976, a typical commercial spot on channel 23 only cost $150 for an advertiser compared to $300 for the same spot load on a Cleveland station; by the mid-1990s, channel 23 charged $200 while the Cleveland stations charged anywhere between $1,500 to $2,000. Management referred to the revenue disparity that resulted as a "Catch-23," preventing the station from acquiring any high-profile syndicated programming and having to resort to less-desirable off-network reruns like McHale's Navy and I Dream of Jeannie.

The station successfully fought to be excluded from market limitations for syndicated programming in 1974 for two years, and after cable television was introduced to the Akron market in 1974, WAKR-TV was placed at the channel 4 position by Warner Cable, a move later attributed for helping the station turn a profit in 1977. When a report came out in late 1977 that FCC chairman Charles D. Ferris was reconsidering cable television network nonduplication rules if a significantly viewed station were to seek an exemption from blackouts, Roger G. Berk responded with a letter of concern, disclosing that Summit/Group One had invested more than $2 million into WAKR-TV and suffered losses of over $5 million. As the station approached its 25th anniversary in 1978, Robert Bostian told the Beacon Journal that the station would have ceased operations early on had the Berks not absorbed a significant amount of said losses.

Becoming a training ground
Even with the numerous limitations facing the station, local newscast production remained consistent. Fred Anthony joined WAKR as a reporter in 1969, then became news director for both the radio and television stations, and lead anchor for WAKR-TV's 6 p.m. newscast. The station won the 1973 Ohio Associated Press award for best regularly scheduled news program, with Anthony receiving credit for helping instill "a renewed sense of pride" among the staffers. WAKR-TV was able to add an 11 p.m. newscast on September 20, 1976, and while Anthony gradually left his on-air position, he remained active in channel 23's operations into the mid-1980s and at WAKR until 1992. Under Anthony, the news department attained a reputation for hard work and scrappiness, competing against the Cleveland stations with a smaller staff, fewer resources and sometimes equipment shortages; at one point, the news department only had one camera capable of recording sound. Such shortages were not unique. The station ceased telecasting Akron Zips basketball games after the 1968–69 season when their remote unit used for the games—which only functioned in black-and-white—was donated to the university, and a replacement color remote unit was cost-prohibitive.

Similar to the reputation WAKR developed in the 1940s and 1950s as a "stepping stone" for future famous radio and television announcers, WAKR-TV became a training ground for future broadcasters. Long-time anchorman Ted Henry began his career as a reporter for both WAKR and WAKR-TV in 1965, as did veteran Cleveland news anchor and reporter Dick Russ in 1976. Future CNN anchor Carol Costello, a Minerva native, got her start at the WAKR stations in 1984 as a reporter, covering the Akron police beat and multiple court trials. Sportscaster Jeff Phelps began his broadcast career in 1981 co-hosting a weekly program with Kent State Golden Flashes football coach Ed Chlebek on WAKR-TV, in addition to being a color commentator for Kent State football broadcasts on WAKR. Denny Schreiner was WAKR and WAKR-TV's sports director prior to joining ESPN as lead play-by-play voice for their PBA Tour coverage. Future WKYC meteorologist Mark Nolan and future WEWS chief meteorologist Mark Johnson worked together at the station, with Johnson training Nolan. Eventual lead anchor and news director Mark Williamson started his tenure with channel 23 in 1979; one of the first major stories he covered while doing helicopter-based traffic reports for the WAKR stations was the August 2, 1979, plane crash that killed Thurman Munson.

One bright spot for the TV station came when WAKR personality Billy Soule became a video jockey on WAKR-TV in 1984, first hosting 23 Nite Videos, a Saturday night music video program; this show eventually became 23 Music Magazine, a daily program that aired both in late afternoons via tape and was broadcast live in the prime time access hour of 7 p.m., itself compensating for the station's continued inability to acquire syndicated programming. The weeknight program ended in early 1989, but Soule continued hosting 23 Nite Videos on weekend overnights into the following decade, and won the 1993 Billboard Music Video Award for best pop/adult contemporary regional video program. A screenshot taken from a promo for 23 Music Magazine would later be used at the beginning and end of a music video for The Black Keys' 2019 single "Lo/Hi" in an apparent tribute to the show.

Separated from radio
Summit Radio sold off WAKR, WONE-FM, and their radio stations in Dayton, Dallas and Denver—held under the "Group One Broadcasting" subsidiary—to DKM Broadcasting for approximately $60–65 million on July 15, 1986. Negotiations between Summit and DKM had been underway for six months prior, and was later attributed as a deal made at the height of the mid-late 1980s junk bond frenzy. WAKR-TV was retained by the Berk family and placed under the "Group One" subsidiary, while Roger G. Berk vowed to take Group One into the field of television production and consulting with their Creative Technologies, Inc. firm. Roger G. Berk would retire in 1988 and was succeeded by his son, Roger G. Berk, Jr. Summit Radio had previously filed a trademark for WAKR (since expired) that was transferred to DKM, resulting in WAKR-TV changing its callsign to WAKC-TV that November 3; Roger Berk, Jr. chose the calls to allude to the previous identity and to recognize "Akron/Canton" as their area of influence.

The terms of the radio station sale called for WAKR and WONE-FM to be moved out of the Copley Road studios, as Summit/Group One retained ownership of the building, both radio stations left the following year. A co-op agreement was also established between the radio stations and WAKC; one WAKR reporter was notably fired due to his displeasure over having to record a video segment for a public affairs program jointly aired on both radio and television. WAKR and WAKC also continued co-production of Civic Forum of the Air in coordination with the Jewish Community Center of Akron; this weekly public affairs program, which aired on Sunday mornings on WAKC throughout this time, debuted on both radio and television on June 4, 1961, and remains on the WAKR schedule to the present day as Forum 360. Staff were eventually separated, however. Tim Daugherty—who had been hired by Summit/Group One as part of WONE-FM's initial airstaff following its conversion from WAEZ on January 1, 1985 —was retained by WAKC as their lead weatherman, despite minimal on-camera experience and, like Jack Ryan before him, no meteorological background. Meanwhile, Carol Costello briefly stayed with the radio stations after WAKC did not offer her a substantial on-air position, ultimately leaving the market altogether. While the Berks had initially invested the profits from the radio station divestitures into WAKC, the economic and financial struggles which had impacted the station throughout its existence never improved. WAKC attracted some negative attention for pre-recording their 11 p.m. newscast earlier in the evenings as a cost-saving measure, but that was reversed by 1990. The newscast production never evolved from its "no-frills" approach to journalism and began to be seen as an anachronism compared to flashy graphics, "happy talk" and tabloid journalism elements seen on the Cleveland stations, all of which regularly beat WAKC in the ratings in the Akron area by sizable margins. Some investments had been made, including teleprompters for the studio cameras and an electronic weather map system, but these had already been put into use by the Cleveland stations years earlier. A June 17, 1991, incident later recounted in the Akron Beacon Journal detailed anchor Jim Kambrich—who himself would serve as an anchor at WNYT in Albany, New York, from 1994 to 2020 —concluding his 11 p.m. newscast on set, only to find a reporter and two interns in the newsroom instead watching WJW's newscast, which focused on lead anchor Robin Swoboda's departure from that station.

ValueVision ownership
On November 20, 1993, the Akron Beacon Journal reported that Summit/Group One was in talks to sell off WAKC to a then-undisclosed home shopping network. Three days later, Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based ValueVision announced their $6 million purchase of the station; the deal ended 40 years of continuous ownership by the Berk family. As ValueVision was a company specializing in home shopping programming and infomercials, the sale immediately raised concerns in local media that WAKC would drop their ABC affiliation and potentially cancel its newscasts; prior to the sale, three newsroom staffers told the Beacon Journal "everyone in the newsroom has been making tapes" for other prospective employers. After the sale was announced, ValueVision made a public pledge to keep and expand WAKC's news department, while an ABC affiliate representative said they were not notified of the sale beyond existing newspaper articles and that no effort had been made to communicate with them. Roger G. Berk, Jr. took public exception to the speculation over WAKC's future, saying that ValueVision would be able to retain a news operation because it would own the station, as opposed to affiliates in other markets that had different owners. In addition, city councils in Akron and Barberton approved public resolutions that opposed the sale.

By mid-December, two ValueVision representatives visited the station and made multiple pledges to the staff, including no reduction in newscast output, no layoffs, and that WAKC would not become a 24-hour home shopping channel; other promises even included the establishment of a news bureau in Washington, D.C. Despite the assurances, Beacon Journal TV columnist Bob Dyer questioned the company's motives based on their prospectus, suggesting that WAKC was bought to help get their home shopping programming on cable thanks to the FCC's "must-carry" regulations for full-power television stations that apply to all cable systems. One of those representatives, vice president of broadcast operations Mike Jones, took over as WAKC's vice president and general manager when the deal closed on April 18, 1994; concurrently, ValueVision and ABC came to an agreement on a new affiliate contract for WAKC, effectively keeping the home shopping programming off of the station entirely.

This sudden change again attracted the ire of Bob Dyer, who openly asked in his June 22, 1994, column why their initial plans for WAKC becoming a home shopping outlet of some sort—all of which were publicly announced to investors, the FCC and the Securities and Exchange Commission—had been abandoned with no explanation. It was later revealed that ABC automatically renewed the affiliation once ValueVision took over via a clause in the existing contract, leaving the new owners with little choice but to continue running the station as an ABC affiliate. The ownership change had one definitive casualty: 23 Nite Videos ended production in early June 1994 after ten years, and aired in reruns throughout the summer. Billy Soule later admitted that Nite Videos was cancelled because Mike Jones "did not want me on the air, period", and was reassigned to off-air duties that included public affairs. Likewise, Tim Daugherty left during the transition to return to WONE-FM and WAKR on a full-time basis.

As part of the promised revamp of the news operations, veteran broadcaster Bob Tayek was hired as vice president of news, while existing news director/lead anchor Mark Williamson was also appointed to head a new investigative reporting unit. Rebranded as "The NorthOhio NewsStation" despite retaining a focus on Akron and Canton, WAKC's 6 p.m. newscast was expanded to one hour on October 31, 1994. That change, however, took longer than expected to implement and came at the expense of their weekend 11 p.m. newscasts, which were canceled and never reinstated. Questions still persisted among the staff about the new owners' commitment to news, while Tayek had assumed most of Mark Williamson's administrative duties. Despite the changes, viewership remained minimal and the quality was uneven at best; general manager Mike Jones even sent a memo to the staff calling one August 1995 newscast he had viewed "the worst newscast ever produced in the history of broadcasting." Bob Dyer later likened Jones unfavorably to then-Browns head coach Bill Belichick in his newspaper column, saying that Jones was "the perfect illustration of why people in places like Akron loathe most of what resides inside the Beltway," owing to his weekend commutes to a Washington, D.C., residence.

Paxson takeover
Faced with operating a station that they could not use for their own programming, ValueVision announced the sale of WAKC on August 25, 1995, to West Palm Beach, Florida-based Paxson Communications, along with WHAI-TV in Bridgeport, Connecticut, for a combined $40 million in cash; Paxson was already closing in on the purchase of WOAC (channel 67) in Canton, with their chief financial officer having called that station "our entrée to Cleveland." Paxson was another company that specialized in home shopping, albeit of the infomercial variety, and whose founder co-founded the Home Shopping Network, but planned to retain WAKC's local operations and the ABC affiliation. Those intentions had credibility: Paxson had previously acquired WPBF, ABC's West Palm Beach affiliate, and gradually invested into that station's operations while Lowell "Bud" Paxson personally came to the studio promising staffers he would "sink more money" into the station's infrastructure. One month after the Paxson sale was announced, on September 25, 1995, WAKC launched an additional hourlong newscast at 5 p.m. titled Your News, which focused on lifestyle topics and stories with a "news you can use" theme.

Hours after the transaction closed on February 28, 1996, Paxson Communications president Dean Goodman entered the newsroom at 1:40 p.m. and tersely said to the staff, "News ceases at this moment." Anchor Mark Williamson and videographer Tim Coffey were at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cuyahoga Falls preparing a series on Mormonism; Williamson called the station only to hear an after-hours voicemail greeting, and by the time they returned to the station, fellow employees notified him and Coffey, not the new management. Reporter Steve Litz, later with Dayton's WHIO-TV and Miami's WTVJ, was told by executives while in a hallway, "we're firing you and your co-workers. Go around the place and pass the word to your friends that we won't be needing you people anymore." Earlier in the day, Williamson admitted to attendees at a senior center that "the station was in turmoil" due to the pending ownership change. Dean Goodman later gave a brief interview to other media outlets in the station's lobby, while two armed security guards were already stationed at the entrance, preventing access to the building for any former employees. One videographer who was the station's current "employee of the month" was notified of his firing over the telephone as his 13-month-old daughter was at a hospital being treated for rheumatoid arthritis.

No public on-air notice was given, nor were any newscast promos or "NorthOhio News Station" station identifications removed, resulting in some viewers expressing surprise over the syndicated Today's Health airing in place of the 6 p.m. news. Williamson expressed regret over not being able to break the news of the news department's shutdown, saying, "I was looking at that ugly building with that awful decor and thinking how I've been there almost every day for 17 years. And I was just crying my eyes out because I knew I'd never see it like that again." Williamson's wife, Beacon Journal columnist Mary Ethridge, disclosed that he was one of several employees that was offered a severance package described as "decent" but not extended to all the fired staffers. Then-Akron mayor Don Plusquellic, who subsequently hired Williamson as the communications director for the Akron Public Schools, compared the shuttering of WAKC's news operations to the closure of the O'Neil's department store seven years earlier, musing "people said it was such a shame, and I asked, 'when was the last time you shopped there?'", alluding to the low ratings that had plagued the newscasts throughout. Akron's City Council, however, unanimously passed a resolution critical of the firings and the city's loss of local TV newscasts, with one councilman urging a boycott against channel 23.

The total number of WAKC's 70 employees who were dismissed varied significantly. Paxson management said it was as low as 15, while former staffers said it was between 50 and 60. Later accounts had estimated the firings at 30 on-air and news production people. Williamson claimed that the only people left were "the ones that plug the station in in the morning and make sure the batteries didn't die overnight". Among the fired staffers was operations manager Elwood Edwards, who ValueVision promptly rehired as general manager for KVVV-TV in Houston. Edwards' voice was coincidentally starting to become recognizable as the (then uncredited) "You've Got Mail" voice for America Online's email service. Ultimately, five staffers were retained by Paxson to keep the station operational and to continue with any remaining commercial and public affairs productions, with one staffer tasked to remove any signage relating to "WAKC" throughout the building. Billy Soule was also retained and returned to on-camera work fronting a nightly interview program titled Community News, but resigned on June 28, 1996, in order to meet a deadline Paxson had for remaining staffers that wanted a severance package. Soule said about his last day at the station, "After 18 years, there was no one there to say thanks... I felt I had so much more to offer, and nobody wanted it."

Moving out of Akron
Dean Goodman and WAKC acting general manager Terry Hanson defended the dissolution of the news department. Hanson said, "we decided this is not the news we want to put on" and were re-evaluating many things but promised more locally produced public affairs shows would air in place of the local newscasts. Goodman stated it would take several months to decide if newscasts could be reinstated, or if WAKC would remain an ABC affiliate. Former viewers called the station and the Beacon Journal to lodge complaints, with one call likening the cancellation of local news to the Cleveland Browns moving to Baltimore. Goodman and Hanson publicly made intentions to move WAKC to "a more modern facility", as the current studios were not deemed proper; subsequent general manager Glenn Schiller described the Copley Road studios as "not nice at all... an old, run-down building." Paxson had consulted Akron officials about replacement sites for both WAKC and WOAC within the city before ultimately filing an application to Warrensville Heights' planning commission on June 21, seeking to rent space next to the studios of WCLV (95.5 FM) in the Cleveland suburb, with WCLV's tower being used as a studio-to-transmitter link. Schiller also disclosed with the announcement that Paxson had no plans to revive a news operation for WAKC.

News of the station's move to Warrensville Heights upset residents and business owners in the West Akron neighborhood, with city officials worried about the building's vacancy potentially harming plans for the neighborhood's economic redevelopment. Indeed, the former studios were used as storage; a onetime employee broke in to the building several times throughout 1997 to steal $75,000 worth of equipment once used by the news department for resale, only to be discovered by former colleagues who managed a Tallmadge electronics store. The Good Shepherd Baptist Church purchased the building in 1998 after their prior sanctuary across the street was destroyed in a fire, but moved out in 2014 after prolonged flooding and water damage to the building. Vacant from that point until the building was demolished in April 2022, signage bearing the "WAKC" name was never fully removed and still graced the building's entrance. WAKC's news tape archive held a better fate: Schiller arranged for the remaining tapes to be loaned to NBC for conversion to digital, then donated to the Summit County Historical Society at no cost.

In the fall of 1996, the station began branding itself as "ABC 23" and added some additional, newly-purchased syndicated programs to its schedule. Despite this, Paxson decided to end WAKC's affiliation at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 1997, a decision that even surprised Schiller, who intended to continue operating WAKC as an ABC affiliate from the new Warrensville Heights facility even without local newscasts. The remainder of their general programming inventory was also dropped on December 31 in favor of Paxson's infomercial service inTV (or the Infomall Television Network). WEWS general manager Gary Robinson expressed relief at no longer having to compete against WAKC for the same audience, a distinction no other Cleveland station had even as WAKC's prime time ratings were minimal by comparison. Having become largely superfluous, Paxson sold off managerial control of WOAC to Global Broadcasting Services in April 1997 for $23 million, but the deal was delayed after Global entered bankruptcy and was purchased by Shop at Home Network, who completed the transaction, while WOAC's operations remained in Warrensville Heights.

Bolstered by a Supreme Court decision affirming the "must-carry" FCC regulations, Paxson began developing plans for a network anchored by their chain of UHF stations, including WAKC, announcing the creation of Pax TV on November 18, 1997, following the acquisition of multiple off-network rerun packages. Consequently, WAKC assumed its current WVPX-TV callsign on January 13, 1998, to reinforce the Pax TV branding, while it was also seen as a symbolic severing of the station's last remaining connection to Akron. Positioned as a "family-friendly" network consisting mostly of high-profile off-network reruns, Pax TV launched on August 31, 1998, with WVPX as a charter owned-and-operated station, carrying the network's entire schedule.

Attempts at local news
While WAKC's operations was the only such television news department wholly based in Akron, WKYC, WEWS and WJW each have maintained staffed news bureaus in the city. WEWS notably entered into a news sharing partnership with the Akron Beacon Journal, invested in a tower camera from the University of Akron's Bulger Hall to assist with skyline shoots in the event of breaking news coverage, and promised to increase staffing in their bureau. Despite this, multiple community and government officials in Akron had repeatedly expressed their public disappointment in the city no longer having a nightly television newscast devoted to the city. Channel 23's closure of local operations and disaffiliation from ABC had given Akron the dubious distinction of being the largest city in Ohio—and one of the largest cities in the United States after Newark, New Jersey—to not have a commercial television newscast or a traditional "Big Three" network affiliate. Conversely, WOIO general manager Tony Ballew likened this newfound demand to "Captain Kangaroo Syndrome" when people complained after CBS canceled the long-running children's television show, while the network had made the move due to low ratings, a fate largely similar to WAKC's newscasts. Several attempts were made to fill the void. Former channel 23 sports anchor Phil Ferguson attempted a time-brokered Akron-centered nightly sports show on WAKC titled In The Zone; the program only lasted two weeks due to a lack of advertisers. Canal Communications, a for-profit group led by the Rev. Raymond Burgess that consisted solely of volunteers, was established to produce Akron-centered news content on cable-access television with hopes of attaining a low-power television license, but it had little in the way of financial backing. WAOH-LP (channel 29), a low-power television station with a Cleveland simulcast, started rebroadcasting WOIO and co-owned WUAB's newscasts on an hour tape-delay and promised five-minute Akron-centered segments. PBS member stations WNEO/WEAO initially considered starting a nightly newscast but deemed it financially impossible after estimates placed the annual cost for such a venture at a minimum of $1.5 million. WNEO/WEAO instead launched NewsNight Akron, a weekly news and panel discussion program that was subsidized by existing funds provided to the stations; it aired from 1998 to 2013. Former WJW news director and general manager Virgil Dominic even proposed a possible news operation that his Twinsburg-based video production company was willing to produce for broadcast on television or cable, but was solely dependent on securing funding for an extended period. University of Akron Zips football and basketball highlights, however, were still shown over channel 23 via block programming produced by the university's athletic department.

When Paxson submitted a zoning request to the Akron City Council on November 15, 1999, for a replacement 963 ft high-definition television tower for WVPX—and several other FM stations that used an adjacent tower—the council used the request as leverage, and threatened to deny the permit unless news production was reinstated on the station or an investment would be made into a television news product. The existing transmitter for WVPX was nearing the end of its lifespan, with the station having suffered multiple over-the-air signal outages throughout December 1999 and January 2000, at one point having been off-the-air for three times in one week for prolonged periods. The council issued the permit after Paxson agreed to make a one-time only payment of $300,000 to the city for local news and public affairs productions. WVPX used this tower until the FCC's spectrum auction, when the station moved to the transmitter of WDLI-TV on September 26, 2018, following the purchase of WDLI-TV's license in a channel sharing agreement.

WKYC alliance and Pax 23 News
NBC acquired a 32 percent stake in Paxson Communications on September 16, 1999, worth $412 million in convertible stock; the deal was envisioned on a national scale as NBC potentially utilizing Pax TV as a second television network. As part of the deal, NBC began to encourage the owners of their affiliates to enter into management alliances with Pax TV stations; in promoting the new transmission tower for WVPX, Paxson executive Dean Thatcher spoke of a forthcoming agreement between WVPX and WKYC's parent company Gannett, which was initially downplayed by WKYC management. A joint sales agreement was announced between Gannett and Paxson that October 12, the terms of which allowed for WKYC's evening newscasts to be replayed later in the evening, and for WKYC to program an additional hour of airtime for WVPX.

WKYC subsequently announced on March 28, 2001, the launch of a new newscast produced for WVPX by WKYC's news department but focused on Akron stories, and based at an expanded Akron bureau. Launched on June 13, 2001, under the Pax 23 News banner, the program was anchored by WKYC's Akron bureau chief Eric Mansfield, with sports and weather provided by Jim Donovan and Mark Nolan, respectively; both Mansfield and Nolan previously worked at WAKC in the early 1990s. The $300,000 payment provided by Paxson was envisioned by the city of Akron as potential "seed money" for a new television news operation; a seven-member board to manage the funds was considered by Akron mayor Don Plusquellic, but the positions were never filled. However, those funds—along with an additional $200,000 in taxpayer funds from both the city and county governments—were provided by the city of Akron to help finance construction of a new facility for WKYC and Pax 23 News at the United Building in the city's downtown. Former WAKC anchor Mark Williamson, in his position as a spokesperson for the city, likened his involvement on the WKYC alliance to "planning your ex-wife's next wedding." While ratings for the 6:30 p.m. broadcast were relatively small, production of a 10 p.m. newscast began in January 2003, and WKYC general manager Brooke Spectorsky made known at launch that the station was fully committed to Pax 23 News for the long-term.

Paxson formally withdrew the joint sales agreement between WKYC and WVPX on March 25, 2005, ending that June 30. This action came as NBC and Paxson were engaged in litigation against each other, NBC having filed for a redemption of what was now a $549 million investment in Paxson. Pax TV also had reportedly lost approximately $76 million in 2003, and rumors began to surface that the company could be sold. After negotiations between different groups, WKYC reached an agreement with Time Warner Cable to produce the newscasts for the cable company's public access channel, which coincidentally held the "23" position; Time Warner Cable also agreed to provide space for WKYC's WeatherPlus digital subchannel. What became Akron/Canton News aired on the cable system until May 30, 2008, when insufficient ad revenue and low ratings made the newscast cost-prohibitive.

Concurrent with the termination of the joint sales agreement with WKYC, Pax TV was rebranded as i, then as Ion Television the following year, with WVPX carrying the network schedule in pattern with no deviations.

Sale to Scripps and resale to Inyo
Ion Media agreed to be acquired by the E. W. Scripps Company—founding owner of onetime competing ABC affiliate WEWS-TV—in a $2.65 billion deal announced on September 24, 2020, with financing provided by Berkshire Hathaway. In order to meet regulatory approval on both local and national levels, Scripps concurrently agreed to spin off WVPX and WDLI-TV to Inyo Broadcast Holdings in a $45 million deal that concluded WVPX's status as an owned-and-operated network station. As part of the divestiture agreement, Inyo agreed to continue Ion network affiliations for at least seven years, while Ion was subsequently combined with Scripps' Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of digital multicasting networks. Both the sale to Scripps and divestitures to Inyo were completed on January 7, 2021.

Following the acquisition, Scripps announced the March 1, 2021, closure of several digital multicast networks operated by Ion Media—Ion Plus, Ion Shop and Qubo—in favor of existing Katz Broadcasting networks. On February 27, WVPX's 23.2 and 23.3 subchannels switched from Qubo and Ion Shop to Grit and Ion Mystery (the latter re-mapped to 23.4) and co-owned WDLI-TV concurrently switched from Ion Plus to Court TV; WVPX 23.5 changed from HSN to Defy TV on July 1.

Notable alumni

 * Carol Costello
 * Elwood Edwards
 * Lauren Glassberg
 * Ted Henry
 * Scott Muni
 * Jeff Phelps

Subchannels
On April 20, 2010, WVPX started broadcasting Ion Television programming on the station's main channel (23.1) in high definition.

Analog-to-digital conversion
WVPX-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 23, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 59, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era UHF channel 23.

title: WVPX-TV


text:
Baháʼí Faith and education

The theme of education in the Baháʼí Faith is given emphasis. Its literature gives a principle of universal and compulsory education, which is identified as one of key principles alongside monotheism and the unity of humanity.

Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith wrote:
 * "Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom."
 * Baháʼu'lláh, Tablets of Baháʼu'lláh, p. 161.

The Baháʼí teachings focus on promoting a moral and spiritual education, in addition to the arts, trades, sciences and professions. The emphasis on education is a means for social and national improvement. Since all Baháʼís have the duty to do work that is useful to humanity, Baháʼí education is meant to prepare Baháʼís to perform such work.

Purpose
One purpose of universal compulsory education is implied in the Baháʼí Short Obligatory Prayer which states that the God's primary reason for creating humanity is so that each of us would come to know and love Him. Clearly one purpose of education would be to facilitate this process. But religious education, however critical, should not lead to division and conflict. Baháʼu'lláh writes:

 * "Schools must first train the children in the principles of religion, so that the Promise and the Threat recorded in the Books of God may prevent them from the things forbidden and adorn them with the mantle of the commandments; but this in such a measure that it may not injure the children by resulting in ignorant fanaticism and bigotry."
 * Baháʼu'lláh, Tablets of Baháʼu'lláh, p. 67.

This principle is most commonly applied by Baháʼís in the form of social-welfare projects and children's classes. The emphasis on education as a means for social and national improvement is shown in the following quote by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the son and appointed successor of Baháʼu'lláh:
 * "The primary, the most urgent requirement is the promotion of education. It is inconceivable that any nation should achieve prosperity and success unless this paramount, this fundamental concern is carried forward. The principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples is ignorance. Today the mass of the people are uninformed even as to ordinary affairs, how much less do they grasp the core of the important problems and complex needs of the time."
 * ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 109.

Type of education
The type of education that is written about in the Baháʼí writings does not point to one particular type or method of education.

Moral and spiritual education
The Baháʼí teachings focus on promoting a moral and spiritual education, in addition to the arts, trades, sciences and professions.

 * "Training in morals and good conduct is far more important than book learning. A child that is cleanly, agreeable, of good character, well-behaved even though he be ignorant is preferable to a child that is rude, unwashed, ill-natured, and yet becoming deeply versed in all the sciences and arts. The reason for this is that the child who conducts himself well, even though he be ignorant, is of benefit to others, while an ill-natured, ill-behaved child is corrupted and harmful to others, even though he be learned. If, however, the child be trained to be both learned and good, the result is light upon light."
 * ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Sec. 110, pp. 135-136.

Children, and the requirement to give them a proper education, is particularly emphasized in many of the Baháʼí writings. Children's classes have become common-place in most Baháʼí communities, and were named by the Universal House of Justice in 2001 as one of the four core activities that Baháʼís should focus on.

Baháʼí individuals have created the noted book The Family Virtues Guide, which is dedicated to the spiritual education of children. Its multi-religious content has brought it enough popularity to sell over 100,000 copies and to win the authors an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

A useful trade or profession
All Baháʼís have the duty to do work that is useful to humanity. A major goal of Baháʼí education is therefore to prepare Baháʼís to perform such work.

This is by no means the only goal (as the categories above and below indicate), or even necessarily the overriding one, but Baháʼís are warned against courses of study which "begin and end in words":

 * "The learned of the day must direct the people to acquire those branches of knowledge which are of use, that both the learned themselves and the generality of mankind may derive benefits therefrom. Such academic pursuits as begin and end in words alone have never been and will never be of any worth. The majority of Persia's learned doctors devote all their lives to the study of a philosophy the ultimate yield of which is nothing but words."
 * Baháʼu'lláh, Tablets of Baháʼu'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 169.

Literacy
The seventh Ishráq of Baháʼu'lláh's Ishráqat stipulates as follows:

 * "Unto every father hath been enjoined the instruction of his son and daughter in the art of reading and writing... "

While there do exist a number of preliterate or non-literate cultures, Baháʼís assume the spread of literacy to be one of the signs of an "ever-advancing civilization." For example, a priesthood is not needed in this era because the ability to read and write is no longer restricted to a professional class, with the masses reduced to auditors of their sacred texts.

Languages
Baháʼís expect the world's governments to one day cooperate in selecting an international auxiliary language to be used in global communication. After this is done, that language, along with one's mother tongue will be taught in schools all over the world.

 * "It is incumbent upon all nations... to convene a gathering and through joint consultation choose one language from among the varied existing languages, or create a new one, to be taught to the children in all the schools of the world."
 * Baháʼu'lláh, Tablets of Baháʼu'lláh, p. 165.

Although Baháʼu'lláh rued the necessity of spending many years learning multiple languages, when only one could be selected, various authoritative writings do assume foreign languages to be included among the "useful subjects" which Baháʼís will probably study.

Other subjects
The Baháʼí Faith has not yet endeavored to describe an ideal school curriculum, though its writings assume the usefulness of a wide variety of subjects.

 * "You have asked him [Shoghi Effendi] for detailed information concerning the Baháʼí educational programme: there is as yet no such thing as a Baháʼí curriculum, and there are no Baháʼí publications exclusively devoted to this subject, since the teachings of Baháʼu'lláh and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá do not present a definite and detailed educational system, but simply offer certain basic principles and set forth a number of teaching ideals that should guide future Baháʼí educationalists in their efforts to formulate an adequate teaching curriculum which would be in full harmony with the spirit of the Baháʼí Teachings, and would thus meet the requirements and needs of the modern age.

 * "These basic principles are available in the sacred writings of the Cause, and should be carefully studied, and gradually incorporated in various college and university programmes. But the task of formulating a system of education which would be officially recognized by the Cause, and enforced as such throughout the Baháʼí world is one which the present-day generation of believers cannot obviously undertake, and which has to be gradually accomplished by Baháʼí scholars and educationalists of the future."

 * From a letter dated 7 June 1939 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer.

Baháʼí writings variously allude to mathematics, science, technology, commerce, industry, the liberal arts, and religion as suitable subjects for inclusion in an educational curriculum.

Pedagogical issues
In education theory, in addition to what is taught, it is also important to note how education is taught. In addition to the traditional mode of education, other forms of education exist such as alternative schools, unschooling, homeschooling, Montessori, and Waldorf education. The Baháʼí requirements for education do not necessarily reject any of these possibilities.

Responsibility
The father is attributed with the responsibility for every child's education and should he fail to execute his responsibility to educate his children he can be compelled and even lose his rights as father. Mothers are acknowledged as the "first educators" of humanity, and their responsibility is equally confirmed. Beyond this, responsibility also falls to the community as a whole, as embodied in its Baháʼí institutions:

 * "Among the sacred obligations devolving upon the Spiritual Assemblies is the promotion of learning, the establishing of schools and creation of the necessary academic equipment and facilities for every boy and girl."
 * From a letter dated 8 June 1925 written by Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of Persia.

In the unfortunate event that parents and/or their communities cannot educate all their children, Baháʼí law stipulates that girls are to be given priority over boys.

Environmental factors
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote about school uniforms, cleanliness and courtesy:

 * "As to the organization of the schools: If possible the children should all wear the same kind of clothing, even if the fabric is varied. It is preferable that the fabric as well should be uniform; if, however, this is not possible, there is no harm done. The more cleanly the pupils are, the better; they should be immaculate. The school must be located in a place where the air is delicate and pure. The children must be carefully trained to be most courteous and well-behaved. They must be constantly encouraged and made eager to gain all the summits of human accomplishment, so that from their earliest years they will be taught to have high aims, to conduct themselves well, to be chaste, pure, and undefiled, and will learn to be of powerful resolve and firm of purpose in all things. Let them not jest and trifle, but earnestly advance unto their goals, so that in every situation they will be found resolute and firm."
 * ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 135.

Baháʼí education in practice
Among the four core activities that Baháʼís are currently urged to focus on, supporting children's classes and engaging in a sequence of courses known as study circles has become part of the community life of Baháʼís around the world.

Ruhi sequence of courses
The most common sequence is called Ruhi (meaning: of the spirit), which was originally developed in Colombia and currently consists of 7 courses, with the themes from the Baháʼí writings of prayer, education, history, and more.

The following sequence of courses is:

 * Book 1: Reflections on the Life of the Spirit
 * Book 2: Arising to Serve
 * Book 3: Children's Classes, Grade 1
 * Book 4: The Twin Manifestations
 * Book 5: Children's Classes, Grade 2
 * Book 6: Teaching the Cause
 * Book 7: Walking Together on a Path of Service

Book 8 and 9 are in development and are slated for release into the community gradually, the topics to be covered are the Covenant and the Family, respectively.

Core curriculum
The United States has developed a set of curriculum for children's classes known as the core curriculum.

Fundamental verities
Another sequence of courses uses for education of the Baháʼí teachings is called Fundamental Verities. This sequence was developed in the United States, and is not as common as the more widely used Ruhi sequence.

Baháʼí House of Worship
The Baháʼí House of Worship is an institution alluded to in the writings of the Baháʼí Faith. In its entirety, it represents a temple for worship, hospital, university, hospice, and other humanitarian and educational structures. It will serve as the city center for future Baháʼí societies.

Social and economic development
Some of the more mature and able Baháʼí communities around the world have taken on the task of Social and Economic Development (SED) projects. These can vary from place to place depending on the needs of different areas. Some examples include programs for the free education of migrant workers, the employment of the homeless, or the support of displaced refugees. Individuals have also worked to reform educational practices in society, such as Dr. Dwight W. Allen, a Baháʼí, who co-authored American Schools: The 100 Billion Dollar Challenge with William H. Cosby, Jr in 2000; and the work of Dr. Daniel Jordan in the ANISA Educational Model. The Baháʼís of the world have set up more than 300 academic "Baháʼí schools" around the world.

Praise for teachers
The Baháʼí writings give a high praise for teachers, and, in the case that no personal will has been written, provide that some of a person's inheritance goes to their teachers.

 * "Having attained the stage of fulfilment and reached his maturity, man standeth in need of wealth, and such wealth as he acquireth through crafts or professions is commendable and praiseworthy in the estimation of men of wisdom, and especially in the eyes of servants who dedicate themselves to the education of the world and to the edification of its peoples. They are, in truth, cup-bearers of the life-giving water of knowledge and guides unto the ideal way. They direct the peoples of the world to the straight path and acquaint them with that which is conducive to human upliftment and exaltation. The straight path is the one which guideth man to the dayspring of perception and to the dawning-place of true understanding and leadeth him to that which will redound to glory, honour and greatness.
 * Baháʼu'lláh, Tablets of Baháʼu'lláh, p. 34.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Baháʼí Faith and education


text:
Agathon Jean François Fain

Agathon Jean François Fain (January 11, 1778 – September 16, 1837) was a French historian.

He was born in Paris, France. Having gained admittance to the offices of the Directory, he became head of a département. Under the French Consulate he entered the office of the secretary of state, in the department of the archives. In 1806 he was appointed secretary and archivist to the cabinet particulier of the emperor, whom he attended on his campaigns and journeys. He was created a baron of the empire in 1809, and, on the fall of Napoleon, was first secretary of the cabinet and confidential secretary.

Compelled by the second Restoration to retire into private life, he devoted his leisure to writing the history of his times, an occupation for which his previous employments well fitted him. He published successively Manuscrit de l'an 1814, contenant l'histoire des six derniers mois du régime de Napoléon (1823; new edition with illustrations, 1906); Manuscrit de l'an 1814, trouvé dans les voitures impériales prises à Waterloo (Paris 1823); Manuscrit de l'an 1813, contenant le précis des évènements de cette année pour servir à l'histoire de l'empereur Napoléon (1824); Manuscrit de l'an 1812 (1827); and Manuscrit de l'an trois (1794–1795), contenant les premières transactions des puissances de l'Europe avec la république française, et le tableau des derniers événemens du régime conventionnel (1828), all of which are remarkable for accuracy and wide range of knowledge, and are a very valuable source for the history of Napoleon.

Of still greater importance for the history of Napoleon are Fain's Mémoires du Baron Fain, Premier Secrétaire du Cabinet de l'Empereur, which were published posthumously in 1908; they relate more particularly to the last five years of the empire, and give a detailed picture of the emperor at work on his correspondence among his confidential secretaries. The first English edition, Napoleon: How He Did It - The Memoirs of Baron Fain, First Secretary of the Emperor's Cabinet, was published in 1998.

Immediately after the overthrow of Charles X, King Louis Philippe appointed Fain first secretary of his cabinet (August 1830). Fain was a member of the council of state and deputy from Montargis from 1834 until his death, which occurred in Paris on the 16 September 1837.

title: Agathon Jean François Fain


text:
Canadian Sunset

"Canadian Sunset" is a popular song with music by jazz pianist Eddie Heywood and lyrics by Norman Gimbel. An instrumental version by Heywood and Hugo Winterhalter reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 7 on the R&B chart in 1956. A version sung by Andy Williams was also popular that year, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard chart. The Sounds Orchestral, conducted by Johnny Pearson, hit the Easy Listening chart reaching No. 14 and the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965 reaching No. 76. In Canada their version reached No.25 on the Top 40 charts.

Emergence as a jazz standard
The tune has been covered by a number of jazz performers beginning in the 1960s.
 * Wes Montgomery (guitar) recorded the piece with small combo. The recording features his signature octave melodic technique.
 * Danny Gatton (guitar) playing with Buddy Emmons (pedal steel) produced a funky version of the tune with the "redneck jazz" sound they developed (jazz played on instruments normally relegated to country music)
 * George Shearing (piano) recorded the piece with his quintet along with an orchestral arrangement of his writing.
 * Floyd Cramer (piano)
 * Gene Ammons (tenor saxophone) on the 1960 album Boss Tenor
 * Earl Bostic (alto saxophone)
 * Earl Grant (organ)
 * The Impacts (R. Baber, H. Brooks, H. Powell, C. Mattocks and K. Seymour) recorded a doo-wop version in 1959 that can be found on The Doo Wop Box II.
 * Etta Jones (vocals) recorded this tune on her album Something Nice in 1961
 * Cedar Walton made it funky on the 1976 album Beyond Mobius
 * Sam Cooke did a version on his You Send Me album
 * Dean Martin recorded a version on his 1959 album A Winter Romance
 * Beegie Adair (piano) recorded the piece with her trio on Moments to Remember in 2009
 * Carey T. Smith recorded a version on his 2009 album Birdy
 * Horst Jankowski recorded a version on his 1965 album More Genius of Jankowski
 * Earl Klugh recorded a version on his 2008 album The Spice of Life
 * Doc Severinsen recorded a version on his 1967 album The New Sound of Today's Big Band

title: Canadian Sunset


text:
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, head of Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau of the Hong Kong Government, is responsible for the monitoring of financial services sector and maintaining the assets of the government.

The position was created on 1 July 2002, when the Principal Officials Accountability System was introduced, by merging the previous positions of Secretary for the Treasury and Secretary for Financial Services.

List of office holders
Political party:

Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

 * Julia Leung (2008–2013)
 * James Lau (2014–2017)
 * Joseph Chan (2017–present)


text:
User:Mellowkid

A dumbass

title: User:Mellowkid


text:
Scottish Law Commission

The Scottish Law Commission (Coimisean Lagh na h-Alba) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It was established in 1965 to keep Scots law under review and recommend necessary reforms to improve, simplify and update the country's legal system. It was established by the Law Commissions Act 1965 (as amended) at the same time as the Law Commission in England and Wales.

Appointments are ordinarily made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland's Code of Practice.

The commission is part of the Commonwealth Association of Law Reform Agencies.

Functions
The Commission exists to keep Scots law under review and recommend reform as needed. The commission's scope encompasses devolved and reserved matters, as defined by the Scotland Act 1998 and as such has duty for laws that are the responsibility of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as well as those that are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.

Composition
The commission consists of five commissioners appointed by the Scottish Ministers. One of the commissioners is the chairman who by convention is a Senator of the College of Justice. The other commissioners are drawn from those holding judicial office, advocates, solicitors or university law teachers. Commissioners are appointed for a maximum term of five years with the possibility of re-appointment. The current commissioners are as follows:

 * 1) The Rt Hon Lady Paton (chair)
 * 2) David Bartos
 * 3) Professor Gillian Black
 * 4) Professor Frankie McCarthy
 * 5) Ann Stewart

The commissioners are supported by the interim chief executive of the commission, Mr Charles Garland, and by legal and non-legal staff. All permanent staff are seconded from the Scottish government.

Chairs
The past and current chairs are as follows:

 * Lord Kilbrandon (1965–1971)
 * Lord Hunter (1971–1981)
 * Lord Maxwell (1981–1988)
 * Lord Davidson (1988–1996)
 * Lord Gill (1996–2001)
 * Lord Eassie (2002–2006)
 * Lord Drummond Young (2007–2011)
 * Lady Clark (2012–2013)
 * Lord Pentland (2014–2018)
 * Lady Paton (2019–present)

title: Scottish Law Commission


text: Category:Sports venues in Sweden

title: Category:Sports venues in Sweden


text:
Talk:New Mills

older entries
How about a disambig page.

There are two "New Mills" in Scotland, 2 in Ireland, 2 in Cornwall plus Gloucestershire and Herefordshire

 * I've added a clean-up tag because the article could benefit by some rearranging of the text into a more logical order. At the moment it reads like a random list of facts with no discernable progression.

Fire
I seem to remember visiting the heritage center, years back, and they had a little demonstration on, about a fire in the mills, which is why they're now old and broken, and have not been converted into luxury waterfront apartments. Isn't it worth mentioning, and if it is, and I missed it, should it not be in the History section? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.109.85.162 (talk) 04:01, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
 * The fire is mentioned at Torr Vale Mill, which is probably where it best belongs. Dave.Dunford (talk) 14:11, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

newtown
isnt newtown a district of disley? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.111.106.6 (talk) 22:40, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

 * The western part of Newtown is in Disley Civil Parish (and Cheshire East), but the bulk of the village, including the school, station and church, is in Derbyshire. See 1:25000 map at streetmap.co.uk. Dave.Dunford (talk) 14:24, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

"Robert Hibbert" grave
This source tells us that the vault of Robert Hibbert is, as one expect it, in The Wesleyan Cemetery at New Mills. How is the grave, in Slough, of someone born in 1836/36, pictured in File:Robert Hibbert Grave St Mary's Slough.jpg, connected? The inscription on the lower part of that memorial is too indistinct to be clearly read. Martinevans123 (talk) 22:59, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Without some supporting source, just adding this image to the article counts as WP:OR. So I have added a cn tag. Martinevans123 (talk) 09:56, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

Robert Hibbert in Slough MIGHT possibly, but remotely possibly, be a descendant of the Hibberts of Birtles, one of whom, John Nembhard Hibbert, inherited one of the Hibbert family's southern estates at Chalfont, and whose family held it until the late 1880s, when it was sold. For John Nembhard Hibbert, and his kin, see the Legacies of British Slaveownership database by Googling lbs ucl, which is readily searchable. This Robert Hibbert is not mentioned, or doesn't seem to be, but Chalfont is much closer to Slough than New Mills. The lower base stone in the image appears to have an inscription of some length, which may well be the key to the problem. It doesn't seem to be available in transcription online,  But if you blow up the image the words Robert Hibbert,  Cotton Spinner,New Mills" become visible there.  By then the Birtles Hibberts were landowners, in the eighteenth century Jamaica slavetraders,  and merchants, not just spinners. One of these Hibberts did die aged 76, but the year in this image is indecipherable. The Robert Hibbert born in New Mills who is shown as Superintendent of the St Pancras Baths in the 1901 census, living in King Street St Pancras, seems to have died aged 66, not 76.   There was a family of Hibberts in and around Slough in the 1911 census, but no certain Robert, and none born in New Mills.   Can some Wikipedian in Slough have a look?81.158.101.97 (talk) 17:04, 24 March 2016 (UTC)

Railways - the Hayfield branch was operated by the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, later Great Central Railway, and had been built from Romiley between 1860 and 1868 by a company backed by the MS&L, which later took it over in 1865, and completed the New Mills -Hayfield branch. The Midland later from 1867 had a joint interest in the London Road -Hyde- New Mills line, which gave it its first route to Manchester through Romiley, and also through Tiviot Dale, to Cheshire. When Edward Watkin expelled the Midland from London Road, the Midland built its South Manchester line to the new Central Station, in 1880. Even into the 1950s the tickets sold on the Manchester-Hayfield line at some stations, eg Marple, were printed as Midland and GC. But the Hayfield branch itself from New Mills was wholly MS&L/Great Central see (ia) Dow, G The Great Central Railway Vol 2 p 12 and passim81.158.101.97 (talk) 16:44, 24 March 2016 (UTC).

External links modified (February 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 13 external links on New Mills. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20121006215527/http://www.newmillshistory.org.uk/archives.html to http://www.newmillshistory.org.uk/archives.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130403085100/http://derbyshire-peakdistrict-co-uk.leia.parcomweb.net/newmills.htm to http://derbyshire-peakdistrict-co-uk.leia.parcomweb.net/newmills.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141126230413/http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/hp/your-council/about-council/councillors/councilors-a-z?party=All&ward=Sett&sort_by=field_councillor_surname_value&sort_order=ASC to http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/hp/your-council/about-council/councillors/councilors-a-z?party=All&ward=Sett&sort_by=field_councillor_surname_value&sort_order=ASC
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141126230135/http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/hp/your-council/about-council/councillors/councilors-a-z?party=All&ward=New+Mills+East&sort_by=field_councillor_surname_value&sort_order=ASC to http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/hp/your-council/about-council/councillors/councilors-a-z?party=All&ward=New+Mills+East&sort_by=field_councillor_surname_value&sort_order=ASC
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141126230259/http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/hp/your-council/about-council/councillors/councilors-a-z?party=All&ward=New+Mills+West&sort_by=field_councillor_surname_value&sort_order=ASC to http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/hp/your-council/about-council/councillors/councilors-a-z?party=All&ward=New+Mills+West&sort_by=field_councillor_surname_value&sort_order=ASC
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080725074013/http://www.pdmhs.com/BulletinIndexVolume15.asp to http://www.pdmhs.com/BulletinIndexVolume15.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141129024300/http://www.newmillshistory.org.uk/pdfshow.html?P1=nl15.pdf&P2=Newsletter+15 to http://www.newmillshistory.org.uk/pdfshow.html?P1=nl15.pdf&P2=Newsletter+15
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110927165921/http://www.derbyshire-photographs.co.uk/newmills.html to http://www.derbyshire-photographs.co.uk/newmills.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141128223043/http://www.newmillsschool.co.uk/about.html to http://www.newmillsschool.co.uk/about.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141128033410/http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/pages/NewMillsCAmap.pdf to http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/pages/NewMillsCAmap.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141128033410/http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/pages/NewMillsCAmap.pdf to http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/pages/NewMillsCAmap.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230132/http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/pages/New%20Mills%20Conservation%20Area%20Character%20Appraisal%20Adopted%20July%202008.pdf to http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/pages/New%20Mills%20Conservation%20Area%20Character%20Appraisal%20Adopted%20July%202008.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20170521061521/http://www.newmillsgolfclub.co.uk/page.aspx?pid=11273 to http://www.newmillsgolfclub.co.uk/page.aspx?pid=11273

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 06:19, 17 February 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:New Mills


text:
Talk:DADA

From WP:RfD''

 * DADA → Defense Against the Dark Arts, a really obscure Harry Potter reference (do they even use this acronym in the books?). The destination redirects again to Hogwarts subjects. There was only one reference to DADA, which was fixed. EmilioSilva 04:45, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I was going to suggest making it a disambig, but a quick web search didn't show many other significant uses of the caps form. It did show some examples of DADA as the Harry Potter term, though, so I'd suggest keeping this. Noel (talk) 16:35, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
 * "DADA" is used as an acronym for Defence Against the Dark Arts in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Sliggy 23:53, July 19, 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:DADA


text: Category:Sports venues in the Czech Republic


text:
IHRD

IHRD may refer to:

 * Institute of Human Resources Development, Kerala, India
 * International Holocaust Remembrance Day

title: IHRD


text:
Talk:Bagerhat

Discussion

 * I think that there should be two distinct articles - one about the Bagerhat district and the one about the specific place Bagerhat, which the UNESCO has declared as a World Heritage site. That would do justice to this World Heritage site of Bangladesh. Unfortunately, very few World Heritage Sites are there in Bangladesh and I feel all such sites of that countrey should have independent articles. I will study the matter further and then come back. OK. --Bhadani 14:12, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

 * There is actually not city per se. The mosque city dedicated as World Heritage Site is important, but making it the main focus of the article would be not be correct. There is a modern city named Bagerhat, which is the main city in the Bagerhat district. My idea is to have the history and the other bits of information into the "History" and "Places of Interest" sections in Bagerhat District. --Ragib 16:28, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I do agree with you. But UNESCO has declared a particular point of Bagerhat district as a World Heritage site, and Bangladesh unfortunately has only 3 World Heritage Sites, and one of them is certainly not the Bagerhat district, but a particular location in the district. As regards, your idea to have this information in sections of the article Bagerhat district- then, I am helpless. In my humble opinion, it is perhaps not a prudent and perfect idea perhaps. If that be the case, a single article in wikipedia named History of the World will take care of the entire history of humanity, and a single article named India will take care of all bits of information about India. Would any one agree with that? In my opinion, there should be two distinct article - one about Bagerhat - which will be about Bagerhat town, and the other Bagerhat district. I would request you to think over this point. In case, you do not agree or has some other views, that is OK, there are several other interesting things to do on wikipedia and talk about. I will place certain texts on this page, and if you feel they are appropriate, you are most welcome to use them in the article Bagerhat district. now Cheers. --Bhadani 17:14, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Hi Bhadani, how about this idea: To create an article on "Mosque city in Bagerhat" or something?  Because I am fine with an article on the topic of the world heritage site ... I should really thank you for caring so much ... the only thing is that Bagerhat city should refer to the modern city, and the "Mosque city of Bagerhat" should refer to the world heritage site. I am quite fine with having these 3 different articles (District, city, old mosque city). We can refer to the mosque city article on both the district article and the city article, (like "main article "Mosque city""), and give a small summary of the possibly larger and richer article on the heritage site. What do you think about this idea? PS: I was looking through your contributions, and thanks a lot for starting the museum articles ... I really appreciate your effort in adding content to the Bangladesh related topics. Thanks. --Ragib 17:38, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Hello my dear Ragib, really great idea, actually I was thinking on these lines, but kudos to you - you beat me. Now, I would suggest that the name of the World Heritage Site related article may be: Mosque City of Bagerhat. I would request you to start at least a stub as soon as you get time: you have started so many articles on Bangladesh that this credit should also go to you. I would surely contribute after few days, depending on the materials which I will be able to collect.  And, no thanks please, we all are here to make wikipedia the "sum total of human knowledge. I also thank you: actually, I copied your idea from your User page - your style to list my contributions on my User page. Have a nice time around and fine editing.--Bhadani 18:17, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

Ok, I have created the article Mosque city of Bagerhat, and also one on the builder of the city Khan Jahan Ali (Also known as Ulugh Khan). I'll get more info on him and the city, and possibly some images. Thanks. --Ragib 20:37, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Bagerhat


text:
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs

The secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs is the head of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau in Government of Hong Kong, which is responsible for promoting the Basic Law, constitutional affairs, electoral development, and coordinate liaison between the Hong Kong government and the relevant mainland China authorities, as well as to promote various regional cooperation initiatives between Hong Kong and the mainland. Prior to 2007, this post was known as the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs.

The post was known as Deputy Chief Secretary between 1985 and 1989.

List of office holders
Political party:


text:
Big D (song)

"Big D" is a song about Dallas, Texas, written by Frank Loesser in 1956 for the musical The Most Happy Fella. It was introduced by Susan Johnson as "Cleo" and Shorty Long – the country and not the soul singer as "Herman". The song's refrain spells out "Dallas": "Big D, little A, double L, A, S."

Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1956 with his son Lindsay Crosby for use on Bing's radio show, and it was subsequently issued on the CD New Tricks – 60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2017).

Jo Stafford also recorded the song in 1956. It was featured on a various artists EP of Columbia artists, Hits from 'The Most Happy Fella'.

Edmund Hockridge recorded the song for his EP The Most Happy Fella (1960).

Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews performed "Big D" in 1961, while Burnett was a regular and Andrews a guest star on The Garry Moore Show. The success of this appearance led to the development of a 1962 CBS television special, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, in which the pair reprised their duet.

title: Big D (song)