in September 1976; Kaiser, itself in the process of being sold to minority owner Field Communications, divested their equity stake in the station. Under Gaylord, WUAB continued its expansion into cable television; when the station signed a three-year contract on October 20, 1979, for Cleveland Indians broadcasts, its cable footprint reached five states and one million homes. Bruce Drennan and Joe Tait were hired to announce WUAB's Indians telecasts and called Len Barker's perfect game on May 15, 1981. WUAB then reacquired the local rights to Cleveland Cavaliers broadcasts from WJKW-TV effective with the 1980–81 season, helping to establish a year-round sports presence. While WKBF-TV's closure raised doubts about the possibility of a second UHF independent in the market, the imminent maturity of subscription television (STV) technology led a consortium of four Chicago-area companies to sign on WCLQ-TV (channel 61) on March 3, 1981. WCLQ-TV operated at first as a hybrid independent and area affiliate for Preview, but Preview's demise in 1983 forced WCLQ-TV to operate as a full-time independent. A subsequent ownership change at WCLQ-TV resulted in that station aggressively purchasing syndication rights to multiple programs, in turn driving up costs for programs on WUAB in what was later termed "the indie boom". Despite WCLQ-TV's aggressiveness, WUAB maintained a position in 1985 as the top-rated independent station in town, buoyed largely by Indians and Cavaliers broadcasts, an extensive film library and well-established local programs. At the same time, WOIO (channel 19) launched on May 19, 1985, owned by a group with Malrite Communications as one of the investors, while WBNX-TV (channel 55) was signed on by the ministry of televangelist Ernest Angley. The added competition ultimately drove down ratings and advertising rates for all four independent stations, in particular WOIO and WUAB. WUAB purchased Webster reruns and continued to pay for the show's rights into 1990 despite having removed the program from its schedule years earlier. While WOIO immediately made an impact in the local ratings, the station was sold outright to Malrite for an infusion of capital. Finding next to no return on investment for their aggressive programming purchases and little possibility of profitability, WCLQ-TV was sold outright to Silver King Broadcasting to carry HSN programming as WQHS, with that station's outgoing ownership ultimately sued into bankruptcy. WOIO concurrently partnered with the Fox Broadcasting Company after Gaylord declined to affiliate any of their stations, including WUAB, with the