Springfield Television Corporation was a group owner of television stations based in Springfield, Massachusetts. The company was founded by William Lowell Putnam III, who launched the company's first television station, WWLP, on March 17, 1953. (Putnam was the son of politician and businessman, Roger Putnam. He was also a former trustee of the Lowell Observatory, founded by his great-uncle, astronomer Percival Lowell.) - Source: Wikipedia