Difference between revisions of "WPTL-FTV"

Revision as of 03:48, 24 April 2016

WPTL

Pittsburgh United States
City of license	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Branding	NBC 21 (general) NBC 21 Action News (newscasts)
Channels	Digital: 21 (UHF) Virtual: 21 (PSIP)
Subchannels	21.1 Fox 21.2 PNNS 57 21.3 COZI TV 21.4 This TV
Affiliations	NBC (since 2006)
Owner	NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations (WPTL, LLC)
First air date	December 21, 1952
Call letters' meaning	Pennsylvania TotaL News
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 21 (UHF, 1952–2009) Digital: 43 (UHF, 2000–2009)
Former affiliations	Primary: CBS (1952–1995) ABC (1995–2006)
Transmitter power	933 kW
Height	385 m

History

The station first signed on the air on December 21, 1952, originally operating as CBS affiliate. It was owned by the Pittsburgh Radio Corporation,. It was one of the first commercially licensed UHF television stations in the United States. This makes WPTL the second-oldest continuously broadcasting UHF station in the country, and the oldest UHF station that broadcasts continuously on the same virtual channel number to this day.

In 1961, the station joined the Keystone Network, a regional network that also comprised WPIT (channel 11, now a Fox O&O) in ______ and WPNT-FTV (channel 28) in Lebanon. The three stations provided a strong combined signal with about 55% overlap. Initially, WPIT, WPTL, and WPNT aired the same programming. By the late 1960s, while all three stations ran most of the CBS programming schedule, WPIT ran different local programming during non-network hours, while WPTL and WPNT continued to simulcast for nearly the entire broadcast day. WPIT ran CBS shows that WPTL and WPNT preempted, while the latter two stations ran programming that WPIT preempted. All three ran most of the CBS lineup, duplicating over three-quarters of the network's programs.

The Pittsburgh Radio Corporation sold WPNT to Johnstown Broadcasting in 1983 and relaunched it as independent station WPRC (later a Fox affiliate, now a MyNetwork TV O&O). WPIT and WPTL continued as the market's only CBS affiliates, with approximately 75 percent signal overlap. Both stations also stopped the arrangement in which one station ran whatever CBS shows the other declined to air, though both continued to duplicate most network shows, and continued to have separate newscasts and syndicated programs.^{[citation needed]}

The unusual situation of one market having two separately-owned and programmed CBS affiliates that air most of the same network programming continued until the fall of 1992, when Galaxy sold WPIT to New Avon Communications and on December 16, 1995, WHP-TV remained the sole CBS affiliate for Pittsburgh with WPIT converting into an exclusive Fox owned-and-operated station.^{[citation needed]}

As an ABC affiliate

In 1994, CBS agreed to an affiliation deal with the broadcasting division of the JSE Commiunicatons, which resulted in three of JSE's fantasy television stations becoming CBS affiliates. CBS agreed to the deal as a condition of keeping its affiliation on JSE's flagship station, WLOF in Orlando and had been heavily courted by NBC, which was about to lose its longtime Tampa and Phoenix affiliates to CBS. One of the stations that was tapped to switch was Pittsbgh's then-ABC affiliate, KDKG-FTV (channel 2).

Galaxy felt betrayed by CBS after so many years of loyalty, as channel 21 had been CBS' longest-tenured affiliate at the time (a distinction that now belongs to WCOH in Cleveland). As a safeguard, it began to shop for an affiliation deal of its own. Eventually, Galxy agreed to a long-term affiliation contract with ABC, resulting in WPTL and its sister stations in Denver and Oklahoma City switched to ABC (Galaxy's two other television stations, in Detroit and Atlanta, were already CBS affiliates).^[1] The affiliation switch occurred early on the morning of January 2, 1995.^[2] As a result, channel 21 became the third station in Pittsburgh to affiliate with ABC . The network had originally affiliated with WEAE-FTV in 1953 before moving to KDKG-FTV in 1971. ABC then bought Galaxy on November 24, 1995, making WPTL an ABC owned-and-operated station.

In 1996, a year after the affiliation change, station management opted not to renew channel 21's carriage of The Oprah Winfrey Show, deciding instead to take a chance on the new The Rosie O'Donnell Show. The move proved costly in the long term, as market leader KDKG-TV picked up Oprah, and Rosie lasted only seven years. Since the switch, WPTL has seen a drastic drop in viewership for its 5:00–6:30 p.m. news block, while KDKG has thrived in that time slot.

As an NBC affiliate

In January 2004, ATE Media acquired then-NBC O&O WEAE (channel 8) and CBS announced it would not to renew ATE Media Stations in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Rockford, Flint, Terre Haute, and Lexington due to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime controversy. After the deal was announced, Rafferty used the threat of making WHOO a minor network affiliate or an independent station unless ABC affiliated with all of its big three stations. Eventually, ATE Media signed a long-term affiliation deal, which called for all of ATE Media-owned stations to switch their affiliation to ABC, including a 30-year deal with ABC in May of 2012 that would keep their existing ABC affiliates owned by ATE Media^[3]. WEAE was included in the deal, which ABC agreed to as a condition of their sister stations that had their CBS affiliations revoked in addition to as a condition of keeping its affiliation on ATE Media's three largest stations, WCOH in Cleveland, WEAE in Pittsburgh, and KPTL in Porland, Oregon. WCOH and KPTL had been heavily wooed by NBC.

Locally, this resulted in WPTL ending its affiliation with ABC after 12 years. WPTL was sold to Fort Wayne, Indiana-based NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations, which then signed a long-term affiliation deal with NBC. NoSirGifts had very good relations with NBC and owned two of the network's strongest affiliates in the company's home state, WNEI-FTV in Evansville and WVTH-FTV in Terre Haute.

Channel 21 became the fourth station in Pittsburgh to have a primary affiliation with NBC. The network had first been affiliated with WPIT from 1948 to 1956, then moved to KDKG from 1956 to 1962 before the network bought WEAE in 1962. WPTL became the first station in Pittsburgh to have had have a primary affiliations with the big three television networks.

After WPTL was acquired by NoSirGifts in 2007, it began branding itself as "NBC 21" after years of being known as "WPTL 21".

The switch to NBC provided a major windfall for WPTL in the fall of 2011, as it became Pittsburgh's home for the The Voice. Owing to the market's status as the hometown of Christina Aguilera, broadcasts of The Voice on WPTL are consistently among the highest-rated programs in the market during the fall and spring seasons. In the fall of 2014, for instance, The Voice attracted a 10.8 rating and a 18 share, the highest viewership for the NBC reality competition. Part of the high ratings numbers for The Voice in Pittsburgh on WPTL are due to heavy promotions of commercials also airing on Erie sister station WERI-FTV featuring Warren, Pennsylvania natives Kellie Rock and Robyn Hurd, who were Vote for the Girls moderators before their respective deaths on April 19, 2016 and May 24, 2012.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

News operation

References

External links