WPHL-TV

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Coordinates: 40°2′30.9″N 75°14′21.9″W / 40.041917°N 75.239417°W / 40.041917; -75.239417
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WPHL-TV
kW
  • 1,000 kW (CP)
    • HAAT
    • 324 m (1,063 ft)
    • 321 m (1,053 ft) (CP)
    Transmitter coordinates40°2′30.9″N 75°14′21.9″W / 40.041917°N 75.239417°W / 40.041917; -75.239417
    Links
    Public license information
    Websitephl17.com

    WPHL-TV (channel 17) is a

    channel sharing agreement with Vineland, New Jersey–licensed Univision station WUVP-DT (channel 65), under which the two stations transmit using WPHL-TV's spectrum from a tower in the Roxborough antenna farm
    .

    History

    WPCA-TV

    Radio station WKDN of Camden, New Jersey, received a construction permit for channel 17 as WKDN-TV on January 27, 1954.[4] After not building the facility, the station sold the permit to the Young People's Church of the Air, owned by Percy Crawford, for $40,000 in February 1959.[5] The call letters were changed to WPCA-TV, reflecting both his initials and the name of his long-running broadcast ministry; the city of license was changed from Camden to Philadelphia in March 1960.[4]

    Promising a lineup of religious programs and family entertainment,[6][7] the station signed on July 17, 1960,[6] making it Philadelphia's first commercial UHF station.

    WPCA-TV struggled amid the low penetration of UHF tuners prior to the 1964 passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act and Crawford's unexpected death in an October 1960 car accident. The station went silent August 1, 1962, having operated just two years.[4]

    The independent years

    When channel 17 went silent, its sale was immediately announced to a consortium headed by attorney Aaron Jerome Katz and two real estate men.[8] The station returned to the air on January 31, only to go dark again on June 14, when an application for the sale of channel 17 was finally filed with the Federal Communications Commission.[4] The station's cameras were lent to WHYY-TV, the new public television station in Wilmington, Delaware, to allow that station to operate before a scheduled donation of equipment could be transferred and the station's own equipment did not function properly.[9]

    The Philadelphia Television Broadcasting Company, headed by Katz and advertising executive Len Stevens, was approved to purchase the station in mid-1964.[4] After receiving approval to boost its effective radiated power from 12,000 to 626,000 watts,[10] the new owners returned channel 17 to the air on September 17, 1965, as independent station WPHL-TV.[11][12][13][14] It was the third UHF independent to sign-on in Philadelphia that year, two and a half weeks after WKBS-TV (channel 48) and four months after WIBF-TV (channel 29, later WTAF and now WTXF-TV). After merging with U.S. Communications Corporation in 1967 WPHL-TV became the flagship station for their station group.[15][16][17][18] U.S. Communications also operated WATL in Atlanta, WPGH-TV in Pittsburgh, WXIX-TV in Cincinnati and KEMO-TV now (KOFY-TV) in San Francisco. The station produced and aired numerous local television shows over the years, including kids' favorite the Wee Willie Webber Colorful Cartoon Club and Dr. Shock's back-to-back shows Mad Theater and Horror Theater.[19]

    In the summer of 1975, WPHL-TV moved from its original studio facility at 1230 East Mermaid Lane in the suburb of

    cartoons
    . It focused more on movies, off-network drama series, recent off-network sitcoms and sports. The station also aired several hours of religious programming each day.

    Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, WPHL was known on-air as "The Great Entertainer," with voiceovers provided by announcer Sid Doherty. The station positioned itself as an alternative to both WTAF and WKBS, as it programmed more towards adults with movies and other syndicated programs, while its competitors were heavy on sitcoms and children's cartoons. WPHL was also a station heavy on local sports, as it aired games featuring

    NHL's Philadelphia Flyers
    in the 1990s.

    From October 1981 to August 1987, the WPHL studios hosted a weekday afternoon dance show called

    Voorhees, New Jersey, named Kelly Ripa
    .

    In the summer of 1982, WKBS went on the market after its owner, Field Communications, decided to exit broadcasting. The Providence Journal Company was among those who were bidding for channel 48's license. Had it won, Journal would have merged WPHL's and WKBS' schedules under the WKBS license and channel allocation, while selling the channel 17 license to either a religious or educational broadcaster. However, the Journal Company's bid was still far below Field's asking price. With no takers willing to give Field what it wanted for the station, WKBS-TV ceased operations one year later on August 29, 1983, and WPHL picked up various syndicated programs, cartoons, movies and production equipment from WKBS.

    In 1987, the Providence Journal Company sold WPHL-TV to a consortium headed by Dudley S. Taft, a

    Tribune Company
    .

    The WB affiliation

    On November 2, 1993, Tribune and the

    The WB Television Network. Due to the company's minority interest in the network (initially 12.5%, before expanding to 22%), Tribune chose to affiliate the majority of its independent stations with the upstart network, resulting in WPHL-TV becoming a network affiliate for the first time in its history upon The WB's January 11, 1995, debut.[20][21]
    In September of that year, the station changed its on-air identity to "WB 17". For most of The WB's run, WPHL was one of the network's strongest affiliates.

    Switch to MyNetworkTV

    On January 24, 2006,

    Warner Bros. Entertainment (the division that operated The WB) announced that they would dissolve UPN and The WB and merge both networks' stronger programming onto a newly created network, The CW. Concurrent with the announcement, it signed a ten-year affiliation agreement with 16 of Tribune's 19 WB-affiliated stations.[22][23]
    However, in the case of Philadelphia, The CW's affiliation went to the city's UPN station, CBS-owned WPSG (which was part of an affiliation deal with 11 of CBS' UPN stations). It would not have been an upset had WPHL been chosen as the area's CW affiliate, however. The network's officials were on record as preferring The WB and UPN's "strongest" stations for their new network, and Philadelphia was one of the few markets where the affiliates of both networks were both relatively strong.

    WPHL was slated to revert to its previous independent status, but on May 15, 2006, Tribune announced that it would affiliate channel 17 (and two other WB affiliates that were not included in the CW affiliation deal) with MyNetworkTV, making WPHL the largest station in terms of market size affiliated with the network that was not owned by its then-parent company News Corporation (which became 21st Century Fox in June 2013 after spinning off most of its non-entertainment properties). It is also the only major station in Philadelphia that is not owned by its respective network. In July, WPHL rebranded itself as "MyPHL17", reviving the station's former "PHL 17" moniker. WPHL began airing MyNetworkTV programming on the day that the new service was launched, September 5, 2006. As a result, it did not air the final two weeks of The WB's programming.

    Logo from 2010 to 2018

    On October 4, 2010, the station removed the "My" portion of the branding as many affiliates of the network began dropping references to MyNetworkTV due to it becoming more of a prime time programming service than a true television network. WPHL retains the multi-shaded 'blue TV' component of the network's logo as part of the station's own logo. Before the move of the broadcast rights of the Phillies in

    WCAU-TV
    , another version of the logo was used where the "p" in "phl" was replaced with the hat insignia "P" from the logo of the Philadelphia Phillies.

    Aborted sale to Sinclair; sale to Nexstar

    Main article: Attempted acquisition of Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group

    Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into an agreement to acquire Tribune Media on May 8, 2017, for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in Tribune debt.[24][25] The deal received significant scrutiny over Sinclair's forthrightness in its applications to sell certain conflict properties, prompting the FCC to designate it for hearing and leading Tribune to terminate the deal and sue Sinclair for breach of contract.[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]

    Following the Sinclair deal's collapse, Nexstar Media Group of Irving, Texas, announced its purchase of Tribune Media on December 3, 2018, for $6.4 billion in cash and debt.[38] The sale was completed on September 19, 2019.[39]

    Logo from 2018 to 2024, still used in WPVI newscasts

    Switch to The CW

    In May 2023, CBS News and Stations announced that its CW affiliates, including Philadelphia station WPSG, would cease their affiliation with the network in September 2023 and become independent stations.[40] A month later, Nexstar Media Group announced that WPHL would take over the CW affiliation for the Philadelphia market on September 1. The station continues airing MyNetworkTV programming on a digital subchannel as a secondary.[1]

    Local programming

    Sports programming

    Throughout the station's three of its first four decades on the air, WPHL had a tremendous professional sports presence—at various points holding the broadcast rights to the Phillies (1971–82 and 1993–98, and through the production of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia–now

    NBC Sports Philadelphia+ are carrying other games and present over-the-air carrier WCAU is preoccupied by NBC network commitments), the Flyers (1991–98) and the 76ers (1982–95), as well as covering local college basketball and football, with games featuring teams from the Philadelphia Big 5 (La Salle Explorers, Penn Quakers, Saint Joseph's Hawks, Temple Owls and Villanova Wildcats
    ). After the station joined The WB, it released many of its sports contracts in order to concentrate on its network programming obligations.

    The station aired syndicated college football and basketball games from the syndication arm of ESPN involving the Mid-American Conference (football, owing to Temple being a football-only member of the league) and Big East Conference (basketball) until 2009, when WPVI took over rights. WPHL also aired Big Ten Conference games (owing to Penn State's large fan base in the area) until the creation of the Big Ten Network on cable in 2007.

    WPHL has aired preseason games of the

    Disney
    ) being majority owner in ESPN, but generally defers to standard ABC programming.

    From 2018 season until the 2022 season, WPHL and WPVI shared local broadcast rights to the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer, with WPVI producing the telecasts.[41] The contract ended when MLS terminated all regional television deals, replacing them with one single Apple TV+ contract.

    As of the

    Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League, carrying all home games and select away games.[42]

    Newscasts

    Further information: WPVI-TV § News operation

    In 1994, WPHL entered into an agreement with local daily newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer to broadcast an Inquirer-branded prime time news program. The half-hour Inquirer News Tonight was a hybrid newscast that integrated the conventions of a typical television news program with contributions from the newspaper's personnel. However, the format failed to make any headway against WTXF's established prime time newscast; behind-the-scenes issues with Knight-Ridder (the Inquirer's owner at that point), including newspaper staffers' wariness of being on TV and compensation and contract issues, as well as general mismanagement, doomed the program.[43] Another blow occurred in October 1995 when weekend weatherman Bill Elias was fired following the revelation of his involvement with a local crime family (he had given mob boss John Stanta's bodyguards a videotape of a mob funeral in 1993, to pick targets from another crime family to kill); he had previously lost his job at WTXF over this.[44] WPHL took full control of the newscast, changing to the WB 17 News at Ten in late 1996.

    Even after WPHL took its newscast in-house, it still remained far behind WTXF in the ratings. In the fall of 2005, WPHL announced that its news department would be shut down; the final 10 p.m. newscast produced by WPHL aired on December 9, 2005. The following day, production of the 10 p.m. newscast was turned over to NBC O&O WCAU through a news share agreement. This newscast was partially renamed to WB 17 News at 10, Powered by NBC 10. On July 25, 2006, the program was renamed My PHL 17 News, Powered by NBC 10 to correspond with WPHL's upcoming switch to MyNetworkTV. On December 10, 2008, WCAU began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition, and the WPHL newscast was also included in the HD upgrade. The newscast was renamed once again on October 4, 2010, as phl17 News at 10, Powered by NBC 10.

    On October 31, 2011, WPHL began airing

    Fort Worth sister station KDAF and is also distributed on Tribune-owned stations in three other markets that provide their own localized content.[45][46]

    The WCAU-produced 10 p.m. newscast ended on September 14, 2012, with WPHL entering into a new agreement with ABC owned-and-operated station WPVI-TV to produce Action News at 10 on PHL17. The newscast's weekday editions are currently anchored by Sharrie Williams and Gray Hall. Williams became sole anchor on January 12, 2022, when her co-anchor of the 5 p.m. newscast on WPVI, Rick Williams (no relation), was promoted to anchor of the 11 p.m. newscast, replacing long-time anchor Jim Gardner. Gardner stepped down from the broadcast after 45 years to begin a semi-retirement in which he would only anchor the 6 p.m. newscast, fully retiring from WPVI on December 21 after anchoring his final 6 p.m. newscast and handing over to his successor Brian Taff, who started the next evening. Hall was the weekend morning anchor on WPVI until March 2022 when he was chosen to become Sharrie Williams' co-anchor for the 10 p.m. newscast exclusively. The weekend editions use the same staff (anchor Walter Perez, sports anchor Jamie Apody and meteorologist Brittany Boyer) as WPVI's weekend evening newscasts.[47] It is the third ABC owned-and-operated station involved in a news share agreement, following KGO-TV in San Francisco (which produces independent station KOFY-TV's 9 p.m. newscast) and WTVD in Durham (which produced CW affiliate WLFL's 10 p.m. newscast until June 27, 2022[48]) and was later joined in 2014 by KABC-TV in Los Angeles (which produces independent station KDOC-TV's 7 p.m. newscast). On September 8, 2014, the newscast was expanded to an hour, making it only the second hour-long 10 p.m. newscast in Philadelphia other than that of competitor WTXF. Competitor station WPSG also had an hour-long newscast, CBS News Philadelphia NOW on The CW Philly from July 2022 until August 2023; however, it was a hybrid local/national news program and not fully produced locally like Action News at 10 on PHL17.[49]

    On March 9, 2015, WPHL launched an independently-produced half-hour 5:30 a.m. newscast titled PHL17 Morning News. It is the first in-house newscast since the closure of its former news department at the end of 2005. The station's news studio was rebuilt, and the tri-caster formerly used was replaced with switchers, along with other equipment. The team then began producing independent news reports for the Delaware Valley.

    On October 22, 2018, PHL17 Morning News expanded to a three-hour newscast from 5 to 8 a.m., when Eye Opener, which was later replaced by Morning Dose, was canceled. In September 2019, PHL17 Morning News expanded again by an additional hour to run from 5 to 9 a.m.

    Subchannels

    The station's signal is

    multiplexed
    :

    Subchannels of WPHL-TV[50]
    Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
    17.1 720p
    16:9
    		 WPHL-DT Main WPHL-TV programming / The CW
    17.2 480i
    4:3
    		 Antenna Antenna TV / MyNetworkTV
    17.3 Grit Grit
    17.4 16:9 Comet Comet

    WPHL-TV's broadcasts became digital only, effective June 12, 2009.[51]

    Out-of-market coverage

    In Pennsylvania, WPHL was carried on

    Cecil County
    .

    In New Jersey, WPHL is carried in parts of

    Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset and Warren counties. It is available on Cablevision's analog service on its systems in Ocean and Monmouth counties. On Comcast in Ocean and southern Middlesex counties, WPHL was available in standard definition on digital cable 255. Comcast had carried the station on analog channel 17 until February 2008, when it was moved to digital only to "preserve bandwidth". Comcast added WPHL's HD signal to its lineups in Ocean and Southern Middlesex counties, the borough of Roosevelt in Monmouth County and Lambertville in Hunterdon County on August 22, 2012, on digital channel 907. The station was removed from Comcast's Central New Jersey systems altogether on June 26, 2019, due to Fox invoking exclusivity, only allowing MyNetworkTV O&O WWOR-TV to be carried on those systems. WPHL's Antenna TV, This TV (both were already carried as subchannels of WPIX) and Tango Traffic (now GeoTraffic) subchannels were added to the provider's Southern Middlesex County system on November 27, 2012 (found with a rescan of a digital tuner) but have not been mapped into the Comcast digital boxes or DTAs. There is no satellite
    coverage of WPHL outside of the Philadelphia market.

    During the 1970s and 1980s, WPHL was a regional superstation available in New York City and portions of Long Island, as well as the large majority of New Jersey. In New Jersey, WPHL was carried on alongside competitors WTAF, and until it shut down in 1983, WKBS. The station was also carried on Comcast on the former Adelphia system in the suburbs of Scranton until replaced with a local affiliate.

    References

    1. ^ a b Lafayette, Jon (June 14, 2023). "3 Nexstar Stations to Add The CW Affiliations On Sept. 1". Broadcasting + Cable. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
    2. ^ Commercial Broadcast Stations Biennial Ownership Report (FCC Form 323), Federal Communications Commission, January 31, 2020, p. 11, retrieved February 2, 2020
    3. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WPHL-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
    4. ^ a b c d e f FCC History Cards for WPHL-TV
    5. ^ "TV Permit Brings $40,000". The Herald-News. February 26, 1959. p. 2. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
    6. ^ a b "A second Philadelphia UHF station..." Philadelphia Inquirer. July 12, 1960. p. 32. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
    7. ^ "WPCA (TV) debut near" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 6, 1960. p. 58 – via americanradiohistory.com.
    8. ^ "WPCA-TV Sold to Syndicate". Philadelphia Inquirer. August 3, 1962. p. 14. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
    9. ^ "'Dateline' TV Show On Today". Wilmington Morning News. September 27, 1963. p. 21. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
    10. ^ "Area TV Outlet Seeks FCC Okay". Philadelphia Daily News. January 20, 1965. p. 16. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
    11. ^ "Broadcasting July 1, 1963 Page 74 WPCA-TV" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com.
    12. ^ "Broadcasting June 8, 1964 Page 82 WPCA-TV" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com.
    13. ^ "Broadcasting August 31, 1964 Page 38" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com.
    14. ^ "Television Factbook 1967 Page 602-b". americanradiohistory.com.
    15. ^ "WPHL to Head New Six-Station Group p. 15". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Newspapers.com. June 13, 1967.
    16. ^ "Broadcasting June 19, 1967 Page 63" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com.
    17. ^ "Broadcasting January 22, 1968 Page 37 Overmyer sale papers are signed" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com.
    18. ^ "Television Factbook 1970-71 Page 662-b". americanradiohistory.com.
    19. ^ "About PHL17". February 22, 2013.
    20. ^ Warner Bros., Tribune Broadcasting & Jamie Kellner to Launch WB Network in 1994 Archived October 22, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, TheFreeLibrary.com. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
    21. ^ Tribune Broadcasting Joins with Warner Bros. to Launch Fifth Television Network Archived October 22, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, TheFreeLibrary.com. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
    22. CNNMoney.com
      , January 24, 2006.
    23. ^ UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network, The New York Times, January 24, 2006.
    24. ^ Battaglio, Stephen (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion plus debt". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 6, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
    25. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group Sets $3.9 Billion Deal to Acquire Tribune Media". Variety. Archived from the original on June 5, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
    26. ^ Shields, Todd (July 16, 2018). "Sinclair and Tribune Fall as FCC Slams TV Station Sale Plan". Bloomberg News. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
    27. ^ Neidig, Harper (July 16, 2018). "FCC chair rejects Sinclair-Tribune merger". The Hill. Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
    28. ^ Feder, Robert (July 16, 2018). "FCC throws Sinclair/Tribune deal in doubt". RobertFeder.com. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
    29. ^ Hart, Benjamin (July 16, 2018). "FCC Throws Wrench into Sinclair Media Megadeal". New York. New York Media, LLC. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
    30. ^ Lee, Edmund (July 18, 2018). "Sinclair Tries to Appease F.C.C., but Its Tribune Bid Is Challenged". The New York Times. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
    31. Baltimore Sun
      . Tronc. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
    32. News Corp.
      August 9, 2018.
    33. ^ Miller, Mark K. (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Kills Sinclair Merger, Files Suit". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
    34. Tronc
      .
    35. ^ Lee, Edmund; Tsang, Amie (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Ends Deal With Sinclair, Dashing Plan for Conservative TV Behemoth". The New York Times.
    36. ^ Lafayette, Jon (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Ends Deal with Sinclair, Files Breach of Contract Suit". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
    37. ^ Fung, Brian; Romm, Tony (August 9, 2018). "Tribune withdraws from Sinclair merger, saying it will sue for 'breach of contract'". The Washington Post. Nash Holdings LLC.
    38. ^ Lafayette, Jon (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Announces Deal to Buy Tribune for $6.4B". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
    39. ^ Miller, Mark K. (September 19, 2019). "Nexstar Closes On Tribune Merger". TVNewsCheck. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
    40. ^ "Eight CBS Stations To Ditch CW And Go Independent This Fall". Deadline. May 5, 2023. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
    41. ^ "PHL17 Announces New Broadcast Partnership with Philadelphia Union". PHL17.com. December 20, 2017. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
    42. ^ "PHL17 and Philadelphia Wings Announce Broadcast Partnership" (Press release). WPHL-TV. December 5, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
    43. ^ newsgroup postings about turmoil behind-the-scenes at INT, March 20–30, 1997.
    44. ^ "Weatherman loses job for providing funeral tape", The Gettysburg Times, October 14, 1995.
    45. ^ The Gossip, Eye Opener at PHL17, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 3, 2011.
    46. ^ "PHILLYmediaWATCH: WPHL-17 "Eye Opener"". October 4, 2011.
    47. TVSpy
      , August 27, 2012.
    48. ^ The CW22 [@thecw22] (June 27, 2022). "Programming alert: effective today we'll be airing The National Desk from 10-11:30pm. https://t.co/3ww1r8XPok" (Tweet). Retrieved December 14, 2022 – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
    49. ^ WPHL loves Action News so much that its 10 p.m. news is expanding to 1 hour. The Changing Newscasts Blog, August 18, 2014.
    50. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WPHL-TV". RabbitEars. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
    51. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2006.

    External links

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WPHL-TV&oldid=1219183220"