Founded in 1954 by Charles Hasbrook and his stepson Stuart "Red" Martin, WCAX came into being to bring the very first television service to the state of Vermont. The idea sparked when the family, who already owned a local newspaper and radio station, realized that Vermont was lagging behind the rest of the country in technology. To solve the problem of getting a signal across the mountainous state, they undertook a difficult engineering project to install a massive transmitter on top of Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in Vermont. Today, the station is owned and operated by Gray Television, ending over 60 years of family ownership. Today, WCAX is run by a team of local reporters and meteorologists and is mainly focused on local news, weather, politics, and sports. They are based in South Burlington, Vermont, and serve as the primary news source for the Champlain Valley, which includes parts of Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire. One interesting fact: A unique fact about WCAX is the history behind its call letters. The letters C-A-X originally stood for College of Agriculture Extension. This is because the license was originally started by the University of Vermont in the 1920s to broadcast farm reports and agricultural advice to farmers before it ever became a commercial TV station.