WLTV

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WLTV
Image:Wltv.jpg
Miami / Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Branding Univision 23
Channels 23 (UHF) analog,
24 (UHF) digital
Affiliations Univision
Owner Univision
Founded December 24, 1954 (first incarnation);
November 14, 1967 (for the present-day WLTV)
Call letters meaning W Latin-American TeleVision
Former callsigns WFTL-TV (1954-1956?)
WGBS-TV (1956?-1957)
WAJA (1967-ca.1971)
Former affiliations NBC (1954 - 1956)
DuMont (1954 - 1956)
Independent (1956-1957, 1967-1971)
SIN (1971 - 1988)
Website www.univision.com/

WLTV is a Univision owned and operated station serving Hispanic viewers in South Florida. The station is located in Doral, where Univision's production facilities are also located. The transmitter is located in Miami Gardens, Florida.

[edit] History

Channel 23 signed on initially on December 24, 1954 as WFTL-TV and licensed to Fort Lauderdale [1], originally affiliated with the NBC and DuMont networks. In 1956, WFTL became an independent station after DuMont ceased operations and after it lost the NBC affiliation to the new WCKT-TV channel 7 (now WSVN). At some point between 1954 and 1956, Storer Broadcasting bought the station and renamed it WGBS-TV (which stood for George B. Storer). Its new programming initiative was unsuccessful; it went dark April 13, 1957. Apparently, Storer held on to channel 23's construction permit, which was used to launch the present-day channel 23 after Storer was granted a new license. (The WGBS-TV calls were later used on Philadelphia's channel 57, now CBS-owned CW affiliate WPSG; the two stations are unrelated.)

Today's WLTV signed on November 14, 1967 as WAJA; a part-English, part-Spanish independent station. Shortly afterward, Storer sold the station to an Al Lapin, Jr., who, in January 1971 sold the station to Spanish International Communications Corporation. The station would be re-called WLTV as the station concentrated more on Spanish-language programming, especially those from the Spanish International Network (SIN, later to be renamed Univision in 1987-1988).

The WLTV calls were previously used by Atlanta's WXIA-TV from 1951 to 1953, then by Bowling Green, Kentucky's WBKO-TV from 1962-1971.

[edit] External links