WAMI-TV

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WAMI-TV
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida
City of license	Hollywood, Florida
Branding	Telefutura 69
Channels	69 (UHF) analog, 47 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	Telefutura (Since 2002)
Owner	Univision
Founded	March 14, 1988
Call letters meaning	W MiAMI or "Whammy"
Former callsigns	WYHS-TV (1988-98)
Former affiliations	Home Shopping Network (1988-98) Independent (1998-2002)
Website	www.univision.com/

WAMI-TV is the Telefutura Network-Owned station for the Miami / Fort Lauderdale market, licensed to Hollywood, Florida. Thie station is owned by Univision and transmits on channel 69.

[edit] History

WAMI-TV signed on March 14, 1988 as WYHS-TV, airing Home Shopping Network programming, owned by HSN's broadcasting arm, Silver King Television. Silver King would eventually own interest in the USA Network and later became USA Broadcasting.

In the fall of 1997, WBZL (then known as WDZL) dropped Fox Kids from its line-up and so channel 69 picked it up.

On June 1, 1998, the station changed to WAMI-TV, and began running a general entertainment format with a strong focus on locally produced shows aimed at the age 15-24 demographic. The Fox Kids programming was supplemented with some first run syndicated reality and talk shows, off network sitcoms and other cartoons. They also aired locally-produced Florida Marlins telecasts and Miami Heat telecasts.

By late 1999, WAMI had evolved into a traditional independent station. The station's format was spread by USA to Dallas' KSTR-TV, Boston's WHUB-TV (now WUTF-TV), and Atlanta's WHOT-TV (now WUVG-TV. ABC/Disney nearly bought the company in 2000, but ended up being outbid by Univision.

More on WAMI-TV and it's original programming lineup can be viewed at http://ke4qpf.com/wami

Under Univision, as of January 14, 2002, WAMI-TV became a Telefutura affiliate. WPXM and sister station WPXP in West Palm Beach picked up the Marlins telecasts (currently produced by Fox Sports), which are aired on the Florida Marlins Television Network, eventually dropping them in 2005 after the PAX network's rebranding as i. Sun Sports (formerly Sunshine Network) and FSN Florida currently air the Marlins telecasts. The Miami Heat telecasts are now primarily cable-only on Sun Sports and carried over-the-air on local CBS affiliate WFOR.

There were rumors that Tribune Company would buy WAMI-TV from Univision, essentially creating a duopoly in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale market with The CW affiliate WSFL-TV. As of 2006, this has not occurred, nor has it been confirmed.

[edit] External links

• Univision
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WAMI

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Broadcast television in the South Florida (Miami / Fort Lauderdale / Key West) market (Nielsen DMA #16)

Miami-Dade / Fort Lauderdale, Florida stations WPBT 2 (PBS) - WFOR 4 (CBS) - WTVJ 6 (NBC, WX+ on DT2) - WSVN 7 (FOX, AccuWeather Channel on DT2) - WPLG 10 (ABC) - WLRN 17 (PBS) - WLTV 23 (UNI) - WIMP-CA 25 (HSN) - WBFS 33 (MNTV) - WPXM 35 (ION) - WPMF-LP 38 (Ind) - WSFL 39 (The CW, The Tube on DT2) - WJAN-CA 41 (Ind) - WHFT 45 (TBN) - WSBS-CA 50 (Ind) - WFUN-LP 48 (HSN) - WSCV 51 (TEL) - WLMF-LP 53 (SCOLA) - WGEN-LP 55 (Ind) - WEYS-LP 56 (ALMA) - WPPB 63 (Ind/Edu.) - WAMI 69 (TFU)

Local television stations In Key West (These stations either serve Miami proper, or are repeaters of Miami stations.) WGEN 8 (Ind) - WSBS 22 (Ind) - W38AA 38 / W39AC 39 (CBS) - W44AC 44 / W52BB 52 / W58BU 58 (NBC) - W47AC 47 (ABC) - WKIZ-LP 49 (FOX)

Local digital television channels WHDT-LP 44 (Ind) See also: Broadcast television stations in West Palm Beach and Bahamas