Those two stations were definitely popular and carried on CATV systems in the Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia areas. "Mini" superstations, if you will.
Indeed they were. WXIX was carried basically everywhere north of Interstate 64 in Kentucky, and got as far east as Huntington and Charleston WV. It was hugely popular before WVAH went on the air in the early 1980s.
WTTV made it into Huntington in the late 1970s.