way in late 1983 to the Financial News Network, which signed channel 50 as its 14th affiliate. In late 1984, Independent American Broadcasters (IAB), a group headed by Nolanda Hill, filed to buy WCQR and a 50 percent stake in Super TV for $12 million (equivalent to $ in ) plus the assumption of $3 million in debt. The STV service was showing a profit, but the new ownership began to plan the station's transition to ad-supported commercial broadcasting. Hill noted that Ledbetter had gotten the station going but lacked the capital to move forward. WFTY On July 1, 1985, WCQR changed its call sign to WFTY. In late October, the station announced that Super TV would come to an end over channel 50 on January 1, 1986. Former Metromedia executive Allen Ginsberg was hired to supervise the purchasing of new programming and promotion for the new commercial independent station. Super TV continued on channel 54 in Baltimore until March 31, 1986, when it left the air as one of the last over-the-air STV services still in business. The newly retooled WFTY stepped out into an independent television world in turmoil. Independent stations were becoming squeezed by high programming prices and a softening advertising market. The Post described its first full television season as "grueling". The station signed with Viacom for programs, but the station's plans to air I Love Lucy were dashed by competing independent WTTG, which decided to renew the show. By October, the station was owing $1.14 million on its $12 million, seven-year contract (equivalent to $ in ) with the company; Viacom took shows including Perry Mason, then the highest-rated program on WFTY, off the station's air. Further, two executives were replaced amid mismanagement charges that led to breach of contract lawsuits, and Hill moved her corporate headquarters from Dallas to the station's facilities in Rockville, Maryland, renaming the group from Hill Broadcasting to Corridor Broadcasting. In 1990, WRC-TV made a proposal to WFTY to spend $1,000 a weeknight to program the 7:30 p.m. half-hour with a newscast, which it would produce and sell advertising for. The program, 7:30 News Headlines, debuted on January 14, 1991, anchored by Wendy Rieger and seeking to cater to an upscale audience. It was the first such news-share program ever announced and the second to air. However, the newscast attracted worse ratings than the show it replaced, The Avengers. It