WUTF-TV
FCC | |
Facility ID | 30577 |
---|---|
ERP | 970 kW |
HAAT | 374 m (1,227 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°18′37″N 71°14′12″W / 42.31028°N 71.23667°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WUTF-TV (channel 27) is a
History
As an English-language independent station
The station first signed on the air on January 1, 1970, as WSMW-TV, an
WSMW also broadcast sports programs; from its debut through the end of the
In 1970, shortly after the cancellation of the long-running Bozo's Circus on
In the fall of 1980, channel 27 began running the
Initially, WHLL's schedule consisted of
Addition of Spanish programming and Univision affiliation
In 1992, the station added Spanish programming as a part-time affiliate of
On February 18, 2011, Rhode Island cable provider Full Channel TV, Inc. (now known as i3 Broadband) dropped WUNI from its systems and replaced the station with Univision's national feed on its digital cable tier; the impetus for the removal was a breakdown in negotiations over claims that Entravision demanded "a 33% increase in retransmission fees" as a cash payment to renew its carriage deal with WUNI.[2]
2017 call sign and channel swap
On December 4, 2017, as part of a multi-market realignment, the programming and call signs of WUNI and sister station WUTF were swapped: WUNI and its Univision programming moved to the Univision-owned facility using digital channel 27 and virtual channel 66, while Entravision's digital channel 29 and virtual channel 27 facility became the new home of UniMás affiliate WUTF.[3]
News operation
As WSMW, the station produced a nightly 6 p.m. newscast. This program was anchored by Doug White; Walter Cryan of WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, liked White's work on the newscast and hired him away from WSMW-TV; White subsequently became a longtime news anchor at another Providence station, WJAR.
On April 1, 2003, WUNI launched a half-hour local newscast, Noticias Univision Nueva Inglaterra (Univision News New England), at 6 pm. Sara Suarez was brought from Univision's Denver owned-and-operated station KCEC to serve as anchor and news director. Angel Salcedo, who hosted WUNI's public affairs program Enfoque Latino for several years, was chosen as Suarez's co-anchor. However, Salcedo left the station shortly afterwards, leaving Suarez as the sole anchor until Carlos Ruben Zapata was hired as Salcedo's replacement. In 2005, Zapata left the station and eventually hired Eduardo Guerrero as co-anchor late that year. Before the newscast debuted, the station signed a news share agreement with New England Cable News, in which the regional cable news channel provided news footage. In addition, several commercial spots for NECN aired on WUNI and WUTF-TV, targeted at both stations' Hispanic audience.
The agreement with NECN expired in mid-2005, WUNI then signed a content sharing agreement with CBS owned-and-operated station WBZ-TV (channel 4). WBZ is acknowledged with an on-air credit when news footage supplied by the station appears on WUNI's newscasts, as well as at the end of the broadcast, before the copyright tag.
In April 2007, WUNI began producing news updates under the title Despierta Boston (which was anchored by Maria Gonzalez), during Univision's morning news/talk program
Notable former on-air staff
- Upton Bell – college football color commentator (1978–1982)
- Doug Brown – sports anchor (1982–1983)
- Gino Cappelletti – college football color commentator
- Bob Cousy – college basketball color commentator
- Cy Follmer – sports anchor, Boston Celtics play-by-play announcer, New England Patriots play-by-play announcer (1970–1971)
- Bob Fouracre – sports anchor, Bay State Bowling host, Boston Celtics play-by-play announcer, college football and basketball play-by-play announcer (1971–1982)
- Stephen Guptill – elderly affairs reporter, host of The Elder American (1971–1975)
- Togo Palazzi – college basketball color commentator
- Doug White – news anchor (1970–1972)
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
27.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WUTF-TV | UniMás |
27.2 | 480i | LATV | LATV | |
27.3 | TheNest | The Nest | ||
27.4 | TheGrio | TheGrio | ||
27.5 | CourtTV | Court TV |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WUTF (as WUNI) shut down its analog signal, over
Entravision tower
Location | Boylston, Massachusetts |
---|---|
Tower height | 400 metres (1,300 ft) |
Coordinates | 42°20′9″N 71°42′55″W / 42.33583°N 71.71528°W |
Built | 1969 |
The Entravision tower is a former television
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WUTF-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "Full Channel | Local: News & Information". www.fullchannel.net. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011.
- ^ "Cambios programación UniMas y Univision". Entravision Communications. November 10, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
- ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WUTF". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- ^ "The Boston TV Dial: WUNI(TV)". Boston Radio. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
- ^ "FCCInfo Structure Registration Results". fccinfo.com. Retrieved December 6, 2019.