WPBF
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| WPBF | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Tequesta / West Palm Beach, Florida | |
| Branding | WPBF-TV 25 (general) WPBF News 25 (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Weather First |
| Channels | |
| Subchannels | 25.1 ABC 25.2 AccuWX |
| Owner | Hearst Corporation (operated by Hearst-Argyle Television) (WPBF-TV Company) |
| First air date | January 1, 1989 |
| Call letters’ meaning | West Palm Beach, Florida |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 25 (UHF, 1989-2009) |
| Transmitter Power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 454 m |
| Facility ID | 51988 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 27°7′17″N 80°23′42″W / 27.12139°N 80.395°W |
| Website | wpbf.com |
WPBF is the ABC-affiliated television station for West Palm Beach, Florida that is licensed to Tequesta. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 16 from a transmitter south of Fort Pierce along I-95 in Martin County. Owned by the Hearst Corporation and operated by its publicly-traded television division Hearst-Argyle Television, the station has studios on RCA Boulevard in the Monet section of Palm Beach Gardens. Syndicated programming on WPBF includes Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Inside Edition, and Tyra.
Contents |
[edit] Digital television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed.
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 16.1 | main WPBF programming / ABC HD |
| 16.2 | WPBF-DT2 "Weather First TV" (The AccuWeather Channel) |
[edit] History
WPBF first went on-the-air January 1, 1989 owned by Brenda Skipper and Sylvia Salinas. The original plans called for the station to be an independent. However in mid-1988, CBS (which was due to lose its longtime Miami affiliate WTVJ to NBC) bought FOX affiliate WCIX (now WFOR-TV). WCIX only provided a Grade B ("rimshot") signal to Fort Lauderdale and Broward County because its transmitter was located farther south than the other Miami stations. CBS persuaded the longtime ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, WPEC, to switch to CBS in order to get a city-grade signal in Fort Lauderdale.
In Fall 1988, ABC made the decision to affiliate with WPBF rather than with former CBS affiliate WTVX. These changes occurred on the day of WPBF's sign-on. The station had bought a large inventory of classic sitcoms and cartoons but now had no time to air them. It sold this programming to WTVX a couple of months after signing on when that station shut down its news department. In 1993, WPBF was sold to Paxson Communications which at the time owned several FM radio stations and a few ABC and CBS affiliates. In 1997, Paxson sold their radio stations and network affiliates (including WPBF) in order to finance their acquisition of stations for the PAX network (now ION Television) with channel 25 going to Hearst Corporation, its current owner. As soon as the transaction was finalized, Hearst handed over control of WPBF to its majority-owned subsidiary, Hearst-Argyle Television. All Hearst-Argyle ABC affiliates, including WPBF, preempted Saving Private Ryan in 2004. The station was one of three ABC affiliates in the state of Florida that preempted the movie. After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion took place at at 11:59 P.M. on June 12, 2009, [1] WPBF began broadcasting from its current pre-transition channel number, 16. [2][3]
[edit] News operation
Initially, WPBF had a small news department. After being purchased by Paxson Communications, the station added additional newscasts to its schedule. On July 12, 2006, WPBF started airing a weeknight 4 o'clock newscast called Weather First at 4. While the main intention of this new broadcast was to cover West Palm Beach area weather, news updates and headlines were added after a short time. This production is streamed live on the station's website. WPBF is the only West Palm Beach station to air news weeknights at 4. On July 17, 2007, WPBF added 30 minutes to its weekday morning newscast which then began airing at 5:30. It became a full, two-hour broadcast on January 28, 2008.
WPBF debuted a new traffic reporting system on February 14. This included a new traffic segment, "Beat the Traffic". The station launched weekend morning news on March 8. On August 25, 2008, WPBF began broadcasting local news at Noon during the week which is also streamed live on its website. The station does not maintain a sports department. WPBF's weather radar is known as "Weather First True View" and is located near its studios. The station offers The AccuWeather Channel on its second digital subchannel and Comcast digital cable channel 208 (in Palm Beach, Martin, and southern St. Lucie Counties) and channel 194 (in northern St. Lucie and Indian River Counties). Known as "Weather First TV", it is also streamed live on the station's website. WPBF has been making great strides in the ratings, and after the May sweeps period, came in 2nd place for the early weeknight timeslot.
[edit] News team
Anchors
- Tiffany Kenney - weekdays at 4pm, 5pm-6:30pm and 11pm
- Kristin Hoke - weekdays 5am-7am and noon
- Nathalie Pozo - weekday traffic 5am-7am, 4pm and 5pm-6pm
- Angela Rozier - weekends 6pm and 11pm and weekday reporter
- Jim Abath - Sundays 6pm and 11pm and weekday reporter
- Bob Kaple - weekends 5am-9am and weekday reporter
- Meredith McDonough - weekends 5am-9am and weekday reporter
WPBF News 25 Weather First Specialists
- Mike Lyons - Chief seen weekdays at 4pm, 5pm-6:30pm and 11pm
- Felicia Rodriguez - weekdays 5am-7am and noon (also news anchor 5am-7am)
- Kate Wentzel (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - weekends 6pm and 11pm
- Eric Burris (AMS Seals of Approval) - weekends 5am-9am
Reporters
- Terri Parker (investigative reporter)
- Ted White
- Alexis Rivera
- Cathleen O'Toole
- Stefan Holt
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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