WPBF

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WPBF-TV

Tequesta / West Palm Beach, Florida
Branding	WPBF-TV 25 / WPBF News 25
Slogan	Where You Come First
Channels	25 (UHF) analog, 16 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Hearst Corporation (operated by Hearst-Argyle Television) (WPBF-TV Company)
Founded	January 1, 1989
Call letters meaning	West Palm Beach, Florida
Website	wpbf.com

WPBF is the ABC affiliate for West Palm Beach, Florida. It is licensed to the nearby village of Tequesta, with studios in Palm Beach Gardens. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation, and is operated by Hearst-Argyle Television. It broadcasts on UHF channel 25, with a digital signal on channel 16. The station's radar is called "Weather First True View".

1 History
2 Newscasts
- 2.1 Weekdays
- 2.2 Weekends
3 News Team
4 Reference
5 External links

[edit] History

WPBF first went on the air January 1, 1989. The original plans called for the station to be an independent. However, in mid-1988, CBS, which was due to lose its longtime Miami affiliate, WTVJ to NBC, bought FOX affiliate WCIX (now WFOR). WCIX only provided a grade B ("rimshot") signal to Fort Lauderdale because its transmitter was located farther south than the other Miami stations. CBS persuaded the longtime ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, WPEC to switch to CBS in order to get a city-grade signal in Fort Lauderdale. In the fall of 1988, ABC made the decision to affiliate with WPBF rather than with the former CBS affiliate, WTVX. These changes occurred on the day of WPBF's sign on.

WPBF had bought a large inventory of classic sitcoms and cartoons, but now didn't have any time in its broadcast day to air them. It sold this programming to WTVX a couple of months later when that station shut down its news department. WPBF's original owners were Brenda Skipper and Sylvia Salinas.

Initially, WPBF had a small news department. In 1993, WPBF was sold to Paxson Communications (which at the time owned several FM radio stations and a few ABC and CBS affiliates), who added additional newscasts to the schedule. In 1997, Paxson sold their radio stations and network affiliates (including WPBF) in order to finance their acquisition of stations for the Pax TV network (now ION), with channel 25 going to Hearst Corporation, its current owner. As soon as the transaction was finalized, Hearst handed over control of WPBF to its majority-owned subsidiary, Hearst-Argyle Television.

All Hearst-Argyle ABC affiliates including WPBF preempted Saving Private Ryan in 2004; WPBF was one of three ABC affiliates in Florida that preempted the movie.

On July 12, 2006, WPBF started a 30 minute 4 PM weekday newscast called Weather First at 4. While the main intention of this new broadcast is to cover West Palm Beach area weather, news updates and headlines are also provided. The weather portions are anchored by chief meteorologist Mike Lyons and meteorologist Felicia Rodriguez. The news portions are anchored by the 6 PM weekday anchors Jon Shainman and Tiffany Kenney. This newscast is offered live online to watch. WPBF is the only West Palm Beach TV station to air a 4 PM weekday newscast.

Also, on July 17, WPBF added 30 minutes to it weekday morning newscast WPBF News 25 Mornings, which will now start at 5:30 AM. [1]

Unlike many other network affiliates in the area, WPBF does not air a weekday Noon newscast.

WPBF offers The AccuWeather Channel on its DT2 digital subchannel.

[edit] Newscasts

[edit] Weekdays

WPBF News 25 Mornings - 5:30 to 7 AM
Weather First at 4 - 4 to 4:30 PM
WPBF News 25 at 5 - 5 to 5:30 PM
WPBF News at 5:30 - 5:30 to 6 PM
WPBF News at 6 - 6 to 6:30 PM
WPBF News 25 - 11 to 11:35 PM

(no Noon news)

[edit] Weekends

WPBF News 25 - 6 to 6:30 PM & 11 to 11:35 PM

(no morning news on weekends)

[edit] News Team

Amanda Burden - reporter
Jim Abath - sports anchor
Brian Albert - reporter
Bonny Ghosh - reporter
Lisa Hayward - 5 and 11 p.m. anchor
Kristin Hoke - 5 and 11 p.m. anchor
Tiffany Kenney - 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m. anchor
Bryce Daniels - morning anchor
Amanda Salinas - reporter/fill-in anchor
Cathleen O'Toole - reporter
Terri Parker - investigative reporter
Angela Rozier - reporter
Corey Saban - weekend anchor/reporter
Jon Shainman - 4 and 6 p.m. anchor
Traci Mitchell - national correspondent
Laurie Kinney - national correspondent
Sally Kidd - national correspondent
Joseph J. Coscia - news director
Steve Boyer - assistant news director
Mike Lyons - chief meteorologist seen at 5, 6, and 11 p.m.
Felicia Rodriguez - 4 p.m. meteorologist
Eric Burris - weekend meteorologist
Kate Wentzel - morning meteorologist

[edit] Reference

WPBF Makes Big Moves In Short Time: ABC Affiliate Sets Trend In Local News. History of WPBF. TheWPBFChannel.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-21.

[edit] External links

v • d • e

Broadcast television in the West Palm Beach market (Nielsen DMA #38)

WPTV 5 (NBC) - WFPI-LP 8 (Ind) - WPEC 12 (CBS) - WTCE 21 (TBN) - WPBF 25 (ABC, The AccuWeather Channel on DT2) - WFLX 29 (Fox, The Tube on DT2) - WWCI-CA 32 (S@H) - WTVX 34 (The CW) - WXEL 42 (PBS) - WTCN-CA 43 (MNTV) - WWHB-CA 48 (AZA) - WFGC 61 (CTN) - WPPB 63 (Ind/Edu.) - WPXP 67 (i)

Local digital television channels

WHDT 59 (DW/Ind)

See also: Broadcast television stations in Miami - Fort Lauderdale

ABC Network Affiliates in the state of Florida

WEAR 3 (Pensacola) - WFTV 9 (Orlando) - WPLG 10 (Miami) - WMBB 13 (Panama City) - WCJB 20 (Gainesville) - WPBF 25 (Tequesta / West Palm Beach) - WJXX 25 (Orange Park / Jacksonville) - WZVN 26 (Naples) - WTXL 27 (Tallahassee) - WFTS 28 (Tampa) - WWSB 40 (Sarasota)
See also: CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, Religious, Spanish and Other stations in the state of Florida

Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.

v • d • e

Radio Stations: WBAL¹ | WIYY¹

CBS Network Affiliates: KCCI | WLKY

The CW Network Affiliates: KCWE¹ | WKCF

MyNetwork TV Affiliate: KQCA

Independent Television Station: WMOR¹

¹Hearst-Argyle operates these stations owned by Hearst Corporation.

Annual Revenue: $785.4 million USD (2006) | Employees: Approx. 3,000 (full-time) | Stock Symbol: NYSE: HTV | Website: www.hearstargyle.com