WPHL-TV
Encyclopedia : W : WP : WPH : WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV, channel 17, is a television station currently affiliated with the WB television network, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and owned by the Tribune Company. The station's studios are located in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia, and its transmitter is located in the Roxborough neighborhood.
On May 15, 2006, Tribune Broadcasting announced that WPHL-TV will be part of a new primetime network called My Network TV, which is scheduled to launch on September 5, 2006. My Network TV will be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division, Twentieth Television.
History
The history of channel 17 dates back to June 17, 1960, when the station signed on the air as WPCA-TV, a religious station owned by Percy Crawford. The call letters stood for "People's Christian Association." The station was Philadelphia's first commercial UHF channel, but at a time when UHF converters weren't required on most TV sets, WPCA only lasted two years and went off the air in 1962.However, on September 17, 1965 channel 17 signed back on the air as independent station WPHL-TV. It was the third UHF independent to sign-on in Philadelphia that year, two and-a-half weeks behind WKBS-TV (channel 48, now WGTW) and four months later than WIBF-TV (channel 29, later WTAF and now WTXF-TV). WPHL went through a string of owners, most notably as an affiliate station of the short-lived Overmeyer Network.
The station offered a schedule of off network drama shows, sitcoms, old movies, sports and religious shows. During most of the 1970s, channel 17 also offered Japanese live action shows and cartoons dubbed in English, including Ultraman, Marine Boy, Space Giants, Speed Racer, King Kong and Johnny Sokko. They also ran NBC programs that were pre-empted by KYW-TV until the fall of 1976 and again from the fall of 1977 to the summer of 1983. The Providence Journal Company bought channel 17 in 1979.
Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, WPHL was known on-air as "The Great Entertainer", with voiceovers from 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-TV was also a station heavy on sports, as it aired contests featuring Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies, the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. In 1983, channel 17 picked various syndicated programs, movies, and production equipment from WKBS-TV, which ceased broadcasting in late August of that year.
In 1987, the Providence Journal Co. sold WPHL-TV to a consortium headed by Dudley S. Taft Jr., the former president of the Cincinnati-based Taft Broadcasting Company, the longtime owners of rival WTAF-TV. Dudley Taft had left his family's namesake company following a corporate restructuring which resulted in the firm changing its name to Great American Broadcasting. He also brought along key personnel from WTAF (which Taft had sold to TVX Broadcast Group in early 1987), including general manager Randy Smith. The new ownership scrapped the "Great Entertainer" slogan and related logo for a new identity as PHL 17 in an apparent attempt to counter WGBS-TV's (now WPSG) Philly 57 branding. In 1991, the Taft group sold channel 17 to the Tribune Company. The station affiliated with the WB in January 1995, and in September of that year changed its on-air identity to WB 17.
Throughout the station's first three decades of service, WPHL had a tremendous professional sports presence -- at various points holding the broadcast rights to the Phillies, the Flyers, the 76ers, and pre-season games of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles -- as well as covering local college basketball and football, with games featuring teams from the University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University and Temple University. After the station took on WB programming, it let go of many of its sports contracts in order to concentrate on its network obligations. Currently, the station does air syndicated college football and basketball games from the syndication arm of ESPN involving schools from the Big Ten Conference (football) and Big East Conference (basketball).
In 1994, WPHL entered into an unusual agreement with The Philadelphia Inquirer to broadcast an Inquirer-branded news program. "Inquirer News Tonight" was a hybrid newscast that integrated normal television news conventions with contributions from the newspaper's personnel. "Inquirer News Tonight" did not last, and in late 1996 the program was rebranded "WB17 News At Ten". On December 10, 2005, all in-house news operations ceased, and turned over to WCAU as they produce the rebranded "WB 17 News at Ten Powered by NBC 10" [link].
On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced that they would merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger will take effect in September 2006 and at that time current UPN station WPSG, owned by CBS, will become the CW's Philadelphia affiliate. At that time, WPHL will affiliate with My Network TV. The station will brand as "MyPHL17".
Logos
Trivia
- From September 1981 to August 1987, the WPHL studios hosted a Monday-through-Friday afternoon dance show, Dancin' On Air as well as a spin-off on the USA Network called Dance Party USA with the latter hosted by Dave Raymond, who was better known as the man in the Phillie Phanatic costume. Those shows marked the on-air debut of a young girl from nearby Voorhees, New Jersey named Kelly Ripa.
- As Philadelphia is the fourth largest television market, WPHL is the largest WB affiliate on the UHF dial. It is also the largest WB affiliate that will not join the CW. And as of September 2006, it will be the largest station carrying My Network TV that is not owned by News Corporation (Fox's parent company).
- WPHL is also seen on cable in the Harrisburg market, which has no WB affiliate of its own, although WPHL had a translator there before it went dark in 2005.
External links
- [WPHL-TV website]
- [Query the FCC's TV station database for WPHL-TV]
- [Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia]
| Terrestrial television>Broadcast television in the Philadelphia / Camden / Wilmington market [(Nielsen DMA #4)] | ||
|---|---|---|
|
KYW 3 (CBS) -
WPVI 6 (ABC) -
W07DC 7 (ABC) -
WELL-CA 8 (DS) -
WCAU 10 (NBC) -
WHYY 12 (PBS) -
WPHL 17 (The WB - to be MNTV in 09/06) (The Tube on DT2) -
WNJS 23/WNJT 52 (PBS/NJN) -
W25AW 25 (A1) -
WFPA-CA 28 (TFR) -
WTXF 29 (Fox) -
WQAV-LP 34 (AV/Ind) -
WYBE 35 (Public) -
WLVT 39 (PBS) -
WMGM 40 (NBC) -
W40AZ 40 (Smile) -
WMCN 44 (ShN) -
WGTW 48 (TBN) -
WTVE 51 (Religious) -
WPSG 57 (UPN - to be The CW in 09/06) -
WBPH 60 (FamNet) -
WPPX 61 (i) -
WWSI 62 (TMO) -
WUVP 65 (UVN) -
WFMZ 69 (Ind)
| ||
| Past broadcast stations | ||
|
WKBS 48 (IND)
| ||
| Local cable television channels | ||
| CN8 - Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia | ||
| Terrestrial television>Broadcast Television in the Harrisburg / Lancaster / York (Susquehanna Valley) market [(Nielsen DMA #41)] | ||
|---|---|---|
| WGAL 8 (NBC) - WLYH 15 (UPN/CW) - WHP 21 (CBS/MNTV on DT2) - WHTM 27 (ABC) - WITF 33 (PBS) - W35BT 35 (CTVN) - WPMT 43 (Fox/The WB) - WGCB 49 (Ind) | ||
| Local cable television channels: | ||
| WHBG 20 (public access) | ||
| Significantly-viewed out-of-market stations | ||
| WPIX 11 (The WB/CW) - WPHL 17 (The WB/My Network TV) | ||
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