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WPVI-TV

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WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an ABC owned-and-operated television station located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by the ABC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. WPVI's studios are located on the border between Philadelphia's West Park (ZIP code 19131) and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the Roxborough neighborhood.

History

As WFIL-TV

Philadelphia's second-oldest television station signed on the air on September 10, 1947 as WFIL-TV. It was owned originally by Triangle Publications, publishers of The Philadelphia Inquirer, along with WFIL radio (560 AM) and WFIL-FM (102.1 FM, now WIOQ). WFIL radio had been an ABC radio affiliate dating back to ABC's days as the NBC Blue Network. However, WFIL-TV started out as a DuMont affiliate, as ABC had not yet ventured into broadcast television. When the ABC television network debuted on April 19, 1948, WFIL-TV became the fledgling network's first affiliate. Channel 6 joined ABC before the network's first owned-and-operated station, WJZ-TV in New York City (now WABC-TV), signed on in August. However, it retained a secondary affiliation with DuMont until that network shut down in 1956.

File:Wfil57.jpg
WFIL-TV logo card, circa 1957.

The WFIL stations were the flagship of the growing communications empire of Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications, which owned two Philadelphia newspapers (the morning Inquirer and, later, the evening Philadelphia Daily News), periodicals including TV Guide, Seventeen and the Daily Racing Form, and a broadcasting group that would grow to ten radio and six television stations.

The WFIL radio stations originally broadcast from the Widener Building in downtown Philadelphia. With the anticipated arrival of WFIL-TV, Triangle secured a new facility for WFIL, located at Market and 46th streets. In 1963, Triangle built one of the most advanced broadcast centers in the nation on City (or City Line) Avenue in the Wynnefield Heights community, in a circular building across from rival WCAU-TV. The station still broadcasts from there today even as a new digital media building is finally in use for the station's newscasts and other local productions, while the original studio was turned over to public broadcaster WHYY-FM-TV.

Channel 6 has a long history of producing local shows. On Good Friday of 1948, it transmitted a production of "Parsifal" from the John Wanamaker Store that featured Bruno Walter conducting 50 players from the Philadelphia Orchestra, a Chorus of 300, and the Wanamaker Organ. Perhaps its most notable local production was Bandstand, which began in 1952 and originated from WFIL-TV's newly-constructed Studio B (located in the 1952 addition to the original 1947 46th and Market Street studio). In 1957, ABC included the program as part of its weekday afternoon network lineup and renamed it American Bandstand to reflect its more widespread broadcast scope.

Other well-known locally-produced shows included the children's programs Captain Noah and His Magical Ark; a cartoon show hosted by Sally Starr; and Chief Halftown (whose host, Traynor Ora Halftown, was a full-blooded member of the Seneca Nation), and two variety programs: The Al Alberts Showcase, a talent show emceed by the lead singer of the Four Aces; and The Larry Ferrari Show, on which the host played organ versions of both popular and religious music. WFIL-TV also produced an early, yet long-running, program on adult literacy, Operation Alphabet.

Channel 6 was the first station to sign on from the Roxborough neighborhood. It originally used a 600-foot (180 m) tower, but in 1957 it moved to a new 1,100-foot (340 m) tower which it co-owned with NBC-owned WRCV-TV (channel 3, now KYW-TV). The new tower added much of Delaware and the Lehigh Valley to the station's city-grade coverage.

As WPVI-TV

File:Wpvi70s.jpg
WPVI-TV's first ID card, c. 1971. This was the first appearance of the station's current "6" logo. The callsign was rendered with a pipe rather than a hyphen well into the 1980s.

In 1968, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) barred companies from owning newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same market – the so-called "one to a market" rule. However, the FCC "grandfathered" several existing newspaper and broadcasting situations in several markets. Triangle approached the FCC for permission to grandfather its combination of the Inquirer, the Daily News and WFIL-AM-FM-TV, but was turned down. As a result, in 1969, one year after the new regulation was made official, Triangle sold the Inquirer and the Daily News to Knight (later Knight-Ridder) Newspapers.

In 1971, the FCC forced Triangle to sell off its broadcasting properties due to protests from then-Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp. Shapp complained that Triangle had used its three Pennsylvania television stations – WFIL-TV, WLYH-TV in Lebanon and WFBG-TV (now WTAJ-TV) in Altoona – in a smear campaign against him.[1] The WFIL stations, along with radio and television station outlets in New Haven, Connecticut and Fresno, California, were sold to Capital Cities Communications.[2] As a condition of the sale, Capital Cities had to spin off the radio stations to other entities – in Philadelphia, WFIL-FM (now WIOQ) was sold to its general manager John Richer,[3] and WFIL radio went to LIN Broadcasting.[4] On April 27, 1971, shortly after the sale was approved[5] and Capital Cities took control of channel 6, the station changed its call letters to the current WPVI-TV.

File:WPVI Title Card.jpg
Former Action News title card (used from February 6, 2006-December 4, 2010).

Despite the ownership change, channel 6 continued preempting ABC programming in favor of locally-produced and syndicated shows. In 1975, when ABC entered the morning news field with AM America, WPVI did not carry it. Nor would channel 6 pick up AM America's successor, Good Morning America, in its entirety for nearly three years, choosing instead to carry Captain Noah and His Magical Ark in place of the second hour of GMA. WPVI-TV also did not run other ABC daytime programming, notably The Edge of Night and numerous sitcom reruns. ABC was able to get most of its daytime schedule on the air in Philadelphia anyway, through contracts with independent stations WKBS-TV (channel 48) and WTAF-TV (channel 29).

In March 1985, Capital Cities Communications announced it was purchasing the American Broadcasting Company, a move that stunned the broadcast industry since ABC was some four times larger than Capital Cities at the time. Some have said that Capital Cities was only able to pull off the deal because WPVI-TV, the company's flagship property, had become very profitable in its own right. However, the merged company almost had to sell off channel 6 due to a large grade B signal overlap with WABC-TV. In the FCC's view, the merger gave the new company a duopoly prohibited by the regulations of the time – the same "one-to-a-market" rule that forced Triangle to split its newspaper/broadcast combination in Philadelphia many years earlier. Capital Cities sought a waiver of the rules to keep WPVI, citing CBS' then-ownership of WCBS-TV in New York City and WCAU-TV in Philadelphia. The FCC granted the waiver, and when the transaction was finalized in early 1986, WPVI-TV became an ABC owned-and-operated station. Until then, the station had been ABC's longest-tenured affiliate not owned by the network; this distinction later went to Baltimore's WJZ-TV and then to Washington, DC's WJLA when WJZ dropped ABC in 1995. A decade later in 1996, The Walt Disney Company purchased Capital Cities/ABC.

Even in the years after WPVI became an ABC-owned station, it continued to preempt an hour of ABC daytime programs in favor of other programs. Wildwood, New Jersey-based NBC affiliate WMGM-TV picked up the pre-empted ABC shows until 1987, when those programs moved back to channel 29, which was now WTXF-TV. The preempted programs were usually magazine shows, game shows or reruns of ABC primetime sitcoms. By the early 1990s, WPVI preempted only the first half-hour of The Home Show.

WPVI's former 6ABC logo with a red ABC logomark, used until December 4, 2010.

On January 22, 1987, the station partially rebroadcast the suicide of Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer – which had occurred at a press conference earlier that morning – during its noon newscast. In 1997, in a directive from the new Disney ownership, WPVI-TV began carrying the entire ABC network schedule for the first time ever. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of its highly-rated local show, AM/Live (formerly AM Philadelphia), which was shifted to overnights to make room for ABC's then-new talk show The View. AM/Live was moved to 12:35 a.m. following Politically Incorrect and was renamed Philly After Midnight, where it lasted until 2001.

Today, WPVI carries the entire ABC lineup as well as syndicated programming such as Live! with Kelly and Michael, Katie and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, all three of which are distributed by corporate cousin Disney-ABC Domestic Television. It also carries both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. In fact, its entire weekday lineup, including syndicated shows, is identical to that of WABC-TV. Since 1977, WPVI has also been airing the Pennsylvania Lottery live nighttime television drawings, which occur at 6:59 p.m. ET every night; the Powerball drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the Tuesday and Friday Mega Millions drawings air during the 11 p.m. newscasts on those nights.

On January 28, 2010, WPVI entered into a multi-year agreement with Major League Soccer expansion team Philadelphia Union, through which it will air every game that is not televised nationally in high definition, the games are then rebroadcast over their second (and third) digital subchannel.

On December 4, 2010, WPVI updated its logo by placing a circle around the "6" logo (in a manner similar to other ABC-owned stations) and replacing its red ABC logo with the "gloss ball" version that the network began using three years prior, becoming the last ABC O&O to add the new version to its logo. The revised identity came with a new graphics package.[6][7]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

File:WPVI-TV2 ID.jpg
WPVI-DT 6.2 ID, 2012.
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming
6.1 720p 16:9 WPVI-HD Main WPVI-TV programming / ABC
6.2 Live Well Live Well Network
(Letterbox on 6.3)
6.3 480i 4:3

Digital signal problems persist

WPVI-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on June 12, 2009, as part of the transition from analog to digital television. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over UHF channel 64, but returned to channel 6 for its post-transition operations. Because of the nature of low-band VHF frequencies, the WPVI-TV signal was difficult to receive without an outdoor VHF/UHF antenna, even within the City of Philadelphia from which it broadcasts. A temporary power increase to 30 kilowatts was granted, with WEDY in New Haven, Connecticut and WRGB in Schenectady, New York having to give their consent. Because of potential interference with other stations and with FM radio, there was doubt as to whether this increase could be granted.[8] Some viewers did notice an improvement in their signal.[9] However, WPVI continued to receive complaints regarding the viewability of its digital signal.[10] The problems have continued to this day. [11] [12] The Philadelphia DTV market is a mix of low VHF (WPVI-TV, channel 6, ABC), high VHF (WHYY-TV, channel 12, PBS), and UHF (all the rest). The FCC advises that a single antenna position will likely not pull both low VHF and high VHF (unlike the pre-DTV era). [13]

News operation

File:6ABC Action News Title Card.jpg
The current Action News title card.

WPVI-TV presently broadcasts 39½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with six hours on weekdays, 4½ hours on Saturdays and five hours on Sundays). In addition, the station produces a public affairs program on Sunday mornings called Inside Story, which discusses local and national issues; the program does not have a regular host, although members of WPVI's anchor staff rotate hosting duties for the program. As there is no ABC affiliate or local station based in New Jersey, WPVI cooperates with its New York City sister station WABC-TV in the production and broadcast of statewide New Jersey political debates. When the two stations broadcast a state-wide office debate, such as Governor or U.S. Senate, they will pool resources and have anchors or reporters from both stations participate in the debate. Additionally, the two stations cooperate in the gathering of news in New Jersey where their markets overlap, sharing reporters, live trucks, and helicopters.

The station is famous for pioneering the Action News format, which was used by many stations throughout the United States. When WFIL-TV premiered it on April 6, 1970, the format allowed the news program to have more stories than KYW-TV's Eyewitness News due to strict time limits on story packages. Within a few months, the station surged to first place for the first time in its history. It had previously been an also-ran behind KYW-TV and WCAU-TV, as was the case with most ABC affiliates. Despite channel 6's newspaper roots, it was hampered by the fact that ABC was not on par with CBS and NBC until the early 1970s.

In 1970, Channel 6 stole first place in the Philadelphia news ratings. It has dominated the ratings for most of the time ever since, winning virtually every time slot. Its dominance has only been seriously challenged twice – in the 1980s, when WCAU-TV briefly took the lead at 5 p.m.; and in 2001, when WCAU took first place at 11 p.m. for a few months for the first time in decades. Many top executives in ABC's television station group worked at WPVI. WPVI's longtime anchor Jim Gardner and weatherman Dave Roberts respectively joined the station in 1976 and 1978, after each had spent time at WPVI's sister station WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York. Sports anchor Gary Papa joined in 1981 from another Buffalo station, WGR-TV. Most of WPVI's on-air staff has been at the station for over ten years, and several for twenty years or more. Gardner has been the station's main anchor since May 1977, making his the longest tenure as a main anchor in Philadelphia history. Rob Jennings has also been the station's weekend anchor since 1977, Jennings announced his retirement from WPVI in May 2013 and will leave the station at the end of July.[14]

The station's newscasts have used the same theme music, "Move Closer to Your World" by Al Ham, since 1972. The composition has become as much a part of the Philadelphia consciousness as the Rocky theme and has helped WPVI stay at the #1 position in the Delaware Valley for 30 years. The station tried to switch to a fuller, thunderous and authoritative version of the song by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in September 1996, but switched back to the old version after four days of viewer complaints.[15] Also, for over 30 years starting in the late 1970s, Jeff Kaye (also a WKBW alumnus, and one who would later become known nationally for his work on NFL Films) announced the familiar open: "Action News, Delaware Valley's leading news program", as well as rejoins and closings. Even through staff announcing changes for the station in general, Kaye remained the constant voice of Action News. However, in the mid-2000s, his voice started to show signs of decaying; it got to the point where his newly-recorded opens in late January 2010 were pulled in less than a week. On June 21, 2010, Kaye was replaced with veteran announcer Charlie Van Dyke, who had become WPVI's station announcer in 2006. Kaye died on November 16, 2012.

Years of being in the lead have led WPVI to maintain an "if it isn’t broken, don't fix it" mentality. For instance, it has had the same "6" logo since becoming WPVI, although the logo has been treated differently over the years. For instance, in the early 1990s, WPVI began placing its stylized 6 on top of a blue box, which lasted until 1997 when the station rebranded itself to "6ABC" and began placing a red ABC logo inside the 6. In December 2010, WPVI debuted a revised identity, including an updated logo. The 6 is now placed inside a blue circle, with a black, glossy ABC logo. Grayscale versions of the previous logo remain in use. WPVI has frequently remastered "Move Closer to Your World" to make it sound less dated.

File:6abc Big Board.png
6abc's Brian Taff at the Action News Big Board.
File:Easton Flooding WPVI 2006.jpg
Action News coverage of flooding in Easton, Pennsylvania on June 28, 2006.

In recent years, attempts have been made to modernize the newscasts. In 1998, it began downplaying its use of chromakey graphics. The magnet board used for weather forecasts gave way to a video screen in 2000 and a chromakey wall in 2005. On February 13, 2006, a revamped and fully modernized set debuted which included a glass etching background of several historical landmarks in Philadelphia positioned behind the anchor desk, shiftable lighting effects and a computerized AccuWeather center. WPVI introduced a new HD-capable helicopter in February 2006. Live shots from the helicopter, officially named Chopper6 HD, were shown in high definition. Furthermore, on July 23, 2006, starting with the 6:00 p.m. broadcast (the official announcement was made on July 24), Action News began broadcasting in full 720p high definition; all field video shown during WPVI's newscasts are shot in high definition. On September 12, 2009, WPVI debuted another new revamped and fully modernized set, wider than the last set at the original round building, with a bigger news desk, AccuWeather center and a revised background of glass sketches of the several historic landmarks in Philadelphia (now adding one of the Comcast Center). It also added a touch-screen video wall, the first for any station in the country.

After the death of longtime sports director Gary Papa, Channel 6 took eighteen months to name a replacement. In January 2011, Keith Russell was named as the 6 and 11 p.m. sports anchor, while Jamie Apody was named sports anchor for the 5 p.m. newscast, a position vacant since the departure of longtime 5 p.m. anchor Scott Palmer. Russell and Apody split responsibility for the weekday evening sports report during the interim.

In the 2011-13 ABC series Body of Proof, which was set around the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office and produced by ABC's television production division, WPVI live trucks and microphones with the station's microphone flags were seen in a fictional sense, along with fictional press conference news graphics from the station, though none of the station's actual staff appeared during the course of the series, and retained the graphics and live truck look used before the introduction of the "circle 6".

On May 26, 2011, WPVI debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast (replacing The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ended its 25-year syndication run one day prior), which broadcasts from a smaller news desk located next to the main anchor desk that only houses the main anchors of the 4 p.m. newscast and allowing the team to utilize the big board more frequently. The station also introduced "Mobile 6", a news vehicle used for reports during the station's early evening newscasts. In the spring of 2012, the station expanded its weekend evening 11 p.m. newscasts to one hour.

On September 15, 2012, WPVI took over production of Tribune Broadcasting-owned MyNetworkTV affiliate WPHL-TV's 10 p.m. newscast from NBC-owned WCAU (which had produced the 10 p.m. newscast starting in December 2005, after WPHL shut down its own in-house news department). The half-hour newscast is anchored weeknights by the current 4 p.m. news team of Brian Taff and Shirleen Allicot, meteorologist Adam Joseph and sports anchor Ducis Rodgers. The weekend newscasts are anchored by Rob Jennings, meteorologist Melissa Magee and sports anchor Jeff Skversky.[16] WPVI-TV became the third ABC owned-and-operated station to be involved in a news share agreement, the others being KGO-TV/San Francisco (which produces a 9 p.m. newscast for independent station KOFY-TV) and WTVD/Raleigh (which produces a 10 p.m. newscast for CW affiliate WLFL).

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

WPVI-TV's primary news anchors are Shirleen Allicot (weekdays at 4 and weeknights at 10 p.m. (WPHL)); Sarah Bloomquist (weekdays at noon; also Mobile 6 reporter for weeknights at 4, 5, and 6 p.m.); Tamala Edwards (weekday mornings from 4:30-7 a.m.); Jim Gardner (weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.); Nydia Han (weekend mornings and Sundays at noon; also consumer reporter); Rob Jennings (weekends at 6, 10 (WPHL) and 11 p.m.); Monica Malpass (weeknights at 5 p.m.); Matt O'Donnell (weekday mornings from 4:30-7 a.m.); Walter Perez (weekend mornings and Sundays at noon; also Lehigh Valley correspondent); Brian Taff (weekdays at 4 and weeknights at 10 p.m. (WPHL)); Alicia Vitarelli (weekdays at 4 p.m.; also co-host of FYI Philly); and Rick Williams (weekdays at noon and weeknights at 5 p.m.).[17]

The AccuWeather team includes meteorologists Adam Joseph (AMS Seal of Approval; weekdays at 4 and weeknights at 10 p.m. (WPHL)), Melissa Magee (AMS Seal of Approval; weekends at 6, 10 (WPHL) and 11 p.m.; also co-host of FYI Philly), David Murphy (AMS Seal of Approval; weekday mornings from 4:30-7 a.m.) and weekdays at noon), Karen Rogers (AMS Seal of Approval; weekday mornings from 4:30-7 a.m.; also co-host of FYI Philly), Chris Sowers (NWA Seal of Approval; weekend mornings and Sundays at noon) and Cecily Tynan (AMS Seal of Approval; weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.).[17]

The station's sports team includes sports anchors Jamie Apody (weeknights at 5 p.m.), Ducis Rodgers (weeknights at 6, 10 (WPHL) and 11 p.m.) and Jeff Skversky (weekends at 6, 10 (WPHL) and 11 p.m.; also sports reporter).[17]

The station's general assignment reporters are Dann Cuellar; David Henry; Jennifer Joyce; Annie McCormick; Kenneth Moton; Nora Muchanic (New Jersey bureau correspondent); Vernon Odom; Eva Pilgrim; Chad Pradelli; John Rawlins; and Katherine Scott. Specialty reporters are Amy Buckman ("Saving with 6ABC" reporter/producer); Ali Gorman ("HealthCheck" reporter); Lisa Thomas-Laury (feature reporter and fill-in anchor; also host of New Visions); Erin O'Hearn (features reporter); and Wendy Saltzman (investigative reporter). Traffic reporters are Matt Pellman (Traffic.com reporter; weekdays at 4 and weeknights at 5 and 5:30 p.m.) and Karen Rogers (weekday mornings from 4:30-7 a.m.).[17]

The local public affairs program Inside Story includes hosts Tamala Edwards, Monica Malpass and Matt O'Donnell (all of whom host on a rotating basis);[17] and panelists Renee Amoore R.N. (health care advocate/Pennsylvania GOP official), Christine Flowers (attorney/columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer), Dom Giordano (talk show host for WPHT-AM 1210), Farah Jiminez (president/CEO of People's Emergency Center), G. Terry Madonna (professor/pollster at Franklin and Marshall College), Marjorie Margolies (former congresswomen), Nia Meeks (political consultant), Jerry Mondesire (president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP), Ajay Raju (attorney/partner at ReedSmith) and Sharmain Matlock-Turner (president/CEO of Urban Affairs Coalition).

Notable former staff

Cable and satellite carriage

Outside of the Philadelphia market in central New Jersey, WPVI is carried in southern Middlesex County on Comcast in the municipalities of Plainsboro, South Brunswick, Monroe, Cranbury, Jamesburg, Helmetta, Spotswood and East Brunswick as well as the Monmouth County borough of Roosevelt on Channel 6. WPVI was moved to channel 38 in the late 1980s (by what was then Storer Cable) and later moved back to channel 6 by Comcast in the late 1990s. WPVI is also available on channel 6 on all Comcast systems in Ocean County as well as in Lambertville. Comcast added WPVI's HD feed to its lineups in Ocean and Southern Middlesex counties, Roosevelt and Lambertville on August 22, 2012 on digital channel 906.[31] WPVI's Live Well Network subchannel (both in high definition and standard definition) were added to the Comcast's Southern Middlesex County system on November 27, 2012 (Live Well had previously been carried on that system through feeds from WPVI's New York City sister station WABC-TV), but have not been mapped into the Comcast digital boxes or DTAs.

Cablevision also carries WPVI on channel 6 on its systems in Monmouth County. Both Comcast and Cablevision carry WPVI throughout Ocean County. Due to a contract dispute with ABC, WPVI was pulled from Cablevision systems in Monmouth, Ocean and Mercer counties on March 8, 2010. Verizon FiOS carries WPVI on channel 16 in Ocean County and extreme southern Monmouth County. WPVI is also carried by Comcast in New Castle County and portions of Kent County in Delaware. As such, WPVI is classified as a significantly viewed station in Warren, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties.

In the Lehigh Valley, WPVI is carried by Service Electric, RCN and Blue Ridge Communications. It can also be seen in Reading and much of Berks County. In fact, the station can be seen in Lancaster County as far west as Elizabethtown.

See also

References

  1. ^ Obituary of Walter Annenberg from Slate
  2. ^ "Capcities buys 9 Triangle outlets." Broadcasting, February 16, 1970, pg. 9. [1]
  3. ^ "WFIL-AM-FM sold." Broadcasting, April 20, 1970, pg. 9. [2]
  4. ^ "WFIL is sold for $11.5 million." Broadcasting, September 21, 1970, pg. 40. [3]
  5. ^ "Last minute clearance for Capcities." Broadcasting, March 1, 1971, pp. 19-20. [4][5]
  6. ^ Philadelphia Union To Air on 6ABC - Regional Broadcast Leader Partners with MLS Expansion Club
  7. ^ Union sign local TV deal with Channel 6
  8. ^ Grotticelli, Michael (2009-06-22). "DTV Transition Not So Smooth in Some Markets". Broadcast Engineering. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  9. ^ Dickson, Glen (2009-06-22). "WPVI Gets Power Boost From FCC". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  10. ^ Svensson, Peter (2009-09-18). "Don't change that channel: DTV woes still abound". MSNBC. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  11. ^ http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/forum/center-city/19636-cant-get-channel-6-center-city.html
  12. ^ http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/technology&id=6876502
  13. ^ http://www.dtv.gov/consumertips.pdf
  14. ^ 6abc weekend anchor Rob Jennings to retire, The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2013.
  15. ^ Shister, Gail (October 2, 1996). "For Angry Ch. 6 News Viewers, The Theme Was: `Drop The Music'". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  16. ^ Action News Moves to Prime Time on PHL17!
  17. ^ a b c d e Meet the Team
  18. ^ "Former 6abc host Al Alberts has died". WPVI. 27 November 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  19. ^ "TV legend Dick Clark dies at age 82". WPVI. 18 April 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  20. ^ Wilkinson, Gerry (2002). "Larry Ferrari". The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  21. ^ "Chief Halftown, a Broadcast Pioneer". Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  22. ^ a b c d e f "WPVI-TV NEWS ALUMNI". Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  23. ^ "Bob Horn". Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  24. ^ "Jeff Kaye dies at 75; a voice for NFL Films". Los Angeles Times. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  25. ^ Matt, Liz. "Wally Kennedy". Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  26. ^ a b "Pat & Carter Merbreier". Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  27. ^ a b c Nachman, Laura. "Laura Nachman's TV Poll". Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  28. ^ Wilkinson, Gerry. "Sally Starr, a Broadcast Pioneer". Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  29. ^ http://articles.philly.com/2010-05-23/news/24959797_1_cartoon-show-channels-tv. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  30. ^ "Lucy Yang". WABC-TV. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  31. ^ http://www.dslreports.com/speak/slideshow/27366485?c=2020602&ret=L2ZvcnVtL3IyNzM2NjQ4NS1Db21jYXN0LUNlbnRyYWwtTkotTWlkZGxlc2V4LUxpbmV1cC13aXRoLVBoaWxseS1IRC1XTE5Z
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