WPXT

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WPXT-TV
Portland, Maine
Branding	The CW Portland
Slogan	Free To Be Together
Channels	51 (UHF) analog, 43 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	The CW
Owner	CP Media, LLC (pending)
Founded	1986
Call letters meaning	Portland's EXciting Television
Former affiliations	FOX (1986-2001) The WB (2001-2006)
Website	thecwportland.com

WPXT-TV "The CW Portland" is the local affiliate of The CW, based in Portland, Maine. It, as well as sister station WPME a MyNetworkTV affiliate, share studio facilities in Westbrook, Maine. Broadcasting on analog channel 51 and digital channel 43, WPXT's transmitter is located in Gray, Maine.

Contents 1 History 2 The CW 3 Newscast 4 Logos 5 External links

[edit] History

The station went on the air as an independent, then became an affiliate of the FOX network. In 2001, when Pegasus had a monetary dispute with FOX, WPXT switched to The WB, leaving Portland with no over-the-air FOX affiliate until early 2003 when WPFO took the affiliation. Pegasus declared bankruptcy in June of 2004 over a dispute with DirecTV, which is co-owned with FOX by News Corporation, over marketing of the direct broadcast satellite service in rural areas. The Pegasus station group was sold in August of 2006 to private investment firm CP Media, LLC of Wilkes-Barre, PA for $55.5M. The sale is subject to FCC approval.

Both WPXT and WPME cross promote ourmaine.com, an advertising and promotional website for the two broadcast channels. For many years WPXT produced its own newscast, which ended on June 15, 2002. Until 2001, when WPXT lost the FOX affiliation, the newscast was known as FOX 51 News at 10. The newscast made national headlines a week before the 2000 presidential election when reporter Erin Fehlau revealed that Republican candidate George W. Bush had been convicted for DUI 24 years earlier. One of the more well known members of the news team, meteorologist Pete Bouchard, relocated to WHDH in Boston soon after, where he currently serves as chief meteorologist. Jamie Kenneally, the sports anchor for WPXT, also relocated to Boston to work at WLVI. J.C. Monahan, the weekend meteorologist for WPXT, is now the weekday morning and midday meteorologist for WCVB in Boston.

A few months later, the station began airing a newscast co-produced by NBC affiliates WCSH and WLBZ, called News Center At 10 on Maine's WB. On September 18, 2006, the newscast was renamed News Center at 10 on The CW Portland to correspond with WPXT's affiliation switch to The CW. During the weekdays, the newscast is hosted by WCSH anchor Shannon Moss and WLBZ meteorologist Steve McKay. On the weekends, Jennifer Rooks anchors and meteorologist Todd Gutner provides weather forcasts. Other WLBZ and WCSH news staff are also used. During the week, the newscast is live from the WCSH studios in Portland with weather originating from WLBZ in Bangor. During the weekends, the program is broadcasted from Portland. The look of the newscasts on WPXT is similar to the regular News Center programs on WCSH and WLBZ, with the exception being that transitions are flashier. As seen in the news ad below, WPXT claims to have the only 10 PM news in Maine. This is not true as WFVX, WABI DT2, and WAGM DT1 offer newscasts at 10 PM as well.

[edit] The CW

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 took effect on-air on September 18, 2006.

On March 9, 2006, it was announced that WPXT would become Portland's CW affiliate and, on May 1, it was announced sister station WPME will affiliate with another broadcast television network, MyNetworkTV. With CW affiliation, WPXT's web address has changed to "thecwportland.com", and the station branding has become The CW Portland.

WPXT, as a WB affiliate, was branded on-air as Maine's WB as the old WB logo shows. The station's coverage area includes the area from southern Maine to Portland. Bangor did have a WB affiliate of its own, "WBAN", although it was only offered on cable. The Presque Isle area also had a cable-only WB affiliate, "WBPQ". Therefore, WPXT was the only WB affiliate in Maine to broadcast over analog television. Like WPME's current logo with MyNetworkTV, the new logo for WPXT under The CW affiliation has "Portland" in it, which is referring to the Portland-Auburn market that the station covers. For Bangor, the CW affiliation has gone to WABI's DT2 digital subchannel, and is offered on cable station WBAN as well.

[edit] Newscast

Portland's WCSH and Bangor's WLBZ co-produce WPXT's daily 10 PM newscast.

News Center at 10 on The CW Portland (10-10:30 PM)

Weekdays

• Anchor:
  • Shannon Moss
• Meteorologist:
  • Steve McKay (based at WLBZ in Bangor)

Weekends

• Anchor:
  • Jennifer Rooks
• Meteorologist:
  • Todd Gutner

[edit] Logos

Secondary WPXT WB logo, used 2003 to September 2006. The original included the #51 to the right of the WB logo.

Current WPXT CW logo, introduced after the announcement of the network merge and is currently used on-air.

[edit] External links

• Station Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WPXT