WGTW-TV
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WGTW-TV Channel 48 is a Trinity Broadcasting Network-owned and operated television station serving the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area and licensed to Burlington, New Jersey. The station's transmitter is in Roxborough and its signal covers Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Delaware.
History
Channel 48 first signed on the air in the Philadelphia DMA on September 1, 1965, as an independent station under the call letters WKBS-TV, owned by Kaiser Broadcasting. The station was licensed to Burlington, NJ, part of the Philadelphia DMA. It was one of three independent stations in the area, with WPHL-TV Channel 17 and WIBF-TV Channel 29 being the other two.
Channel 48 offered many great children's programs, including a dance show hosted by a local personality named Hy-Lit. The show also aired on two of Kaiser's other stations, WKBD-TV Channel 50 in Detroit and WKBG-TV Channel 56 in Boston.
The station also aired ABC shows that WPVI preempted in favor of their own local programming, thus serving as the alternate affiliate to ABC.
In 1977, Kaiser left the television business and sold all of their stations to Field Communications, who at the time co-owned WFLD-TV Chicago with Kaiser. Channel 48 continued to be competitive with the other stations in the area.
Sadly, WKBS-TV would not last forever. In 1982, Field put all of their stations up for sale following an internal dispute. All of their stations were purchased successfully, with the exception of Channel 48 in Philadelphia. There was a lot of speculation in Philadelphia as to what would become of the station. Finally, on July 15, 1983, Field announced that the station would sign off the air for good. On August 29, 1983, following the Penn State-Nebraska College Football Kickoff Classic, a video of the employees saying farewell aired. This was followed by an editiorial by Vincent F. Baressi, General Manager of the station, and the usual sign-off film (usually played with The Star-Spangled Banner) was instead accompanied by Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence. The station then went dark.
In 1984, the FCC put Channel 48's license up for auction. Bidding on the license were Dorothy Brunson, Cornerstone Television (who purchased the transmitter sometime during the auction period), a former CBS president, and several other minor companies. After about two years, the auction ended with Brunson winning the license. Cornerstone moved the transmitter to Altoona and used it to sign on a religious station, ironically enough under the WKBS call letters.
Channel 48 signed back on the air on August 15, 1992, quietly under the call letters WGTW. The station also aired NBC shows that KYW preempted in favor of their own local programming, thus serving as the alternate affiliate.
From the day it signed back on until October 1, 2004, WGTW was once again an independent television station. Brunson sold the station to TBN, and on the above mentioned date, the station switched to TBN programming. TBN is known for purchacing independent television stations and replacing their programs with TBN's religious infomercials, so they can get cable television must carry status, despite offering no local programs. This was the case in Philadelphia.
WGTW operates under the same allocation, but not the same exact license, as WKBS-TV did.
It has been argued about the link between the license for WKBS-TV and WGTW. Newspaper reports state that Brunson did indeed purchase the same license that WKBS-TV vacated from the FCC.
News operation
Back in the 1970s, Channel 48 attempted to do a 10 PM newscast. Some say that this newscast was better than what WTXF and WPHL would later air. However, the experiment failed because Philadelphia was not ready for a primetime newscast. From then until the station went dark, they would air news updates with Pat Farnack. Marty Jacobs hosted a public affairs show.
In 2002, the station launched their first and only public affairs show under the WGTW call letters, known as 48 Update, which aired in the 7 PM hour.
External Links
- WGTW website (Currently down, no word if this is permanent)
- Broadcast Pioneer's Website page describing the history of WKBS and the reason for going dark, with audio of Vincent Barresi's farewell speech