| Caguas / San Juan, Puerto Rico | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Univision Puerto Rico (general) Las Noticias Univision (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Aquí estás en casa (Here, you're at home) |
| Channels | Digital: 11 (VHF) |
| Subchannels | 11.1 Univision |
| Translators | WORA-TV 5.1 Mayagüez WSUR-DT 9.1 Ponce |
| Owner | Univision (WLII/WSUR License Partnership, GP) |
| First air date | 1960[1] |
| Call letters' meaning | Lorimar-Telepictures (former owner) II = two "I"'s representing the number "11" |
| Sister station(s) | WKAQ (AM) 580 WKAQ-FM 104.5 WSTE-DT 7.1 |
| Former callsigns | WKBM-TV (1960–1985) WLII (1985-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1960-1981 / 1986-2002) Silent from 1981 to 1986 |
| Transmitter power | 38 kW |
| Height | 355 m |
| Facility ID | 19777 |
| Website | Univision PR via Univision |
WLII-DT is a full-power television station licensed to Caguas, Puerto Rico. Transmitting its analog signal on channel 11 and digital signal on channel 56, the station is owned and operated by Univision and is branded as Univision Puerto Rico. WLII's studios are located in Guaynabo; until 2005, its studios were located in the Puerta de Tierra borough of San Juan.
WLII has one satellite station: WSUR-DT, channel 9.1 in Ponce. Another station, locally-owned WORA-TV channel 5.1 in Mayagüez, repeats over 95% of WLII's programming under an affiliation agreement.
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In 1960, Rafael Perez Perry received authorization from the government to start WKBM-TV, and broadcast through Channel 11, as part of his new Telecadena Perez-Perry chain of television stations. Some of the shows that WKBM-TV aired throughout those years include: Una Hora Contigo & Tira y Tapate with Myrta Silva, Yo Soy el Gallo with José Miguel Class, El Show de Carmita with Carmita Jiménez, El Show de Lissette, El Show de Iris Chacón, El Hit del Momento & El Super Show Goya with Enrique Maluenda, Lillian Hurst, and Luz Odilea Font, Una Chica llamada: Ivonne Coll, Cambia Cambia con Alfred D. Herger, Almorzando & Del Brazo con Ruth Fernández, and Mediodia Circular with Vilma Carbia, among others. At the time, Perez Perry owned one of the most successful radio stations on the island (WKVM AM). Unfortunately, Perez-Perry died of unknown causes in the late 1970s, his death eventually resulted in WKBM-TV declaring bankruptcy in 1981. Its former competition benefited from its demise—not only from a reduction in competition itself, but also from the availability of many of the stations' former entertainers. The station stopped its transmissions that same year.
In 1986, production company Lorimar-Telepictures (with the Telepictures division now part of Warner Bros. Television) acquired the station from Bankruptcy Court but not before changing its callsign to the current WLII on December 12, 1985. The revived WLII—with much hoopla and colorful advertising—was branded as "Tele Once" with a new slogan: "Tele Once… Vívelo!" (Tele Once… Live it!). Warner Communications (now part of Time Warner) would gain indirect ownership of the stations after it bought Lorimar-Telepictures in 1988. After a challenging past, it became a great success by airing famous American sitcoms translated to Spanish, especially The Simpsons, but it still trailed against the competition, WKAQ-TV and WAPA-TV, mainly because it had no repeating stations or marketing agreements in the western portion of the island. That all changed shortly after the Lorimar-Telepictures acquisition when WNJX-TV channel 22 in Mayagüez signed an affiliation agreement with the station in 1989. It was subsequently sold to Malrite Communications Group in 1991.
On January 1, 1995 at exactly 12:00 AM (Atlantic Time), Tele Once entered into its first marketing agreement with a western Puerto Rico broadcasting station, WORA-TV channel 5, which at that time had ended an affiliation agreement with WKAQ-TV. In turn, WKAQ-TV switched its affiliation agreement to WOLE-TV channel 12, which was WAPA-TV's repeating station at the time, leaving WAPA-TV out of the western Puerto Rico TV market for the first time in 30 years.
It was also believed that, at one point around the time of the switchover, WLII's on-air identification was written as "11-9-5-7-22", apparently meaning that channel 11's signal was also seen on WSTE channel 7 and its booster stations islandwide, as well as WNJX-TV channel 22 in Mayagüez. Programming was also seen on WORA's translator, W10BG channel 10, also in Mayagüez. This became a problem, because there were a total of 9 stations islandwide broadcasting the same signal and there were only 3 markets. In Caguas and San Juan, there WLII channel 11 and WSTE1 channel 7. In Ponce, there was WSUR channel 9 and WSTE's central signal on channel 7. Finally in Mayagüez, there WORA channel 5, W10BG channel 10, WNJX channel 22 and WSTE2 and WSTE3 in Arecibo, both on channel 7. So as ordered by the FCC, WLII had to drop WNJX and WSTE. WNJX would enter into an affiliation agreement with WAPA after having served as WLII's satellite station since 1986. Meanwhile, WSTE would once again become a standalone station, along with its three booster stations. It is unknown at this time if WSTE is still an independent station or has joined Univision's sister network, Telefutura.
The switchover of channels during New Year celebrations was widely criticized, as many Puerto Ricans had to scramble over different channels at the last minute to continue watching New Year celebrations. However, with this new agreement WLII expanded its coverage to almost all of the island's population, acquiring equal or better share and ratings than the competition in several time periods. Around 1996, it was sold to Raycom Media, which acquired Malrite Communications outright in 1998.
Some of the shows that aired throughout the Tele Once years were: En Un Dia, R con R, El Show de Awilda, Dime la Verdad, Ellas al Mediodía, La Noche es Nuestra, Fiesta, A Fuego, Lio, El Super Show, Que Suerte que es Domingo, Anda Pa'l Cará, Entrando por la Cocina, Atácate, El Kiosko Budweiser, among others.
In the late 80s, actresses Ángela Meyer and Camille Carrión founded a production company named Empresas Meca which produced some of the last telenovelas (soap operas) in Puerto Rico: La Isla, Ave De Paso starring Yolandita Monge, Yara Prohibida and La Otra.
In 2002, Univision entered into a local marketing agreement with Raycom Media to operate WLII and WSUR-TV. At the time, WLII had a longtime local marketing agreement with another Puerto Rican station, WSTE, which Univision honored. Both WLII and WSUR-TV were sold to Univision in 2005. Univision bought WSTE at the end of 2007. It is unclear that WSTE will be a standalone station or a repeater for WLII. Univision said that Telefutura has some plans for WSTE in the years to come.
Channel 9 began its broadcasting operations in 1958. The "-TV" suffix was added and the station became WSUR-TV on October 16, 1978. At this time, very little is known on whether or not channel 9 was affected by the shutdown of channel 11 in 1981. There are videos available on YouTube. However, they don't give any clues whatsoever if the station was using these call letters at the time or not.[2]
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Virtual Channel |
Physical RF Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11.1 | 11.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WLII programming / Univision HD |
WLII's digital broadcast are on UHF channel 56, also on the UHF dial. As mandated, the station will have to shut off their analog signal for the very last time. Their analog dial positions will serve as their new homes for their signals. WLII will be on channel 11—this due to channels 52 through 69 being auctioned for other uses. WSUR went all-digital on January 23, 2009, broadcasting on channel 9 (or virtual channel 9.1). Originally scheduled for February 17, the digital transition will now be completed on June 12, 2009.
The newscast started in 1986 with Ramón Enrique Torres and Jennifer Wolff as anchors of the 5:00 p.m. edition. In 1990, a noon edition premiered with Torres and Margarita Aponte as its anchors, followed after by the 10:30 p.m. edition with Torres.
On March 11, 1991, a morning news show, Tu Mañana, began airing. Tu Mañana was anchored by Carlos Ochoteco and Cyd Marie Fleming and featured segments such as panel experts on different topics.
Over the years, many people have worked on Tu Mañana and Las Noticias. Famous reporters such as Carmen Dominicci, Elwood Cruz, Susan Soltero, Bruni Torres, Nuria Sebazco, Rommy Segarra, Felipe Gómez, Ada Monzón, Liza Lugo and many others have been featured.
In 1996, an investigative news show began airing monthly called Las Noticias Xtra, which offered reports considered to be shocking by many. Taboo themes in Puerto Rican society such as homosexuality were featured. Las Noticias Xtra eventually was reduced to a weekly section in the 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. editions.
During WLII's Tele Once years, the station's slogan was "Tele Once: 24 horas el canal de Las Noticias" (Tele Once: the 24-hour news channel), priding itself for being the first Puerto Rican channel on air 24 hours a day, with 4 newscasts a day (5:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 6:00 PM and 11:00 PM), and with news headlines every hour all night live.
Over the years, Las Noticias has used various music packages such as Prime News by Newsmusic Central. Currently, Las Noticias uses a new updated 2010 Turning Point by Lattitude Music, later edited by Univision for the 2010 version, which is shared by many Univision stations. It premiered along with a new graphics package in HD in 2010.
Due to budget cuts that came over from Miami, Univision reduced its news department by between 20-50 employees, and Las Noticias a las 6 was reduced from 1 hour to 30 minutes.
WLII can be seen across Puerto Rico on the following stations:
| Station | City of license | Channels |
First air date | ERP |
HAAT |
Facility ID | Transmitter coordinates |
| WORA-TV | Mayagüez | 29 (UHF) (PSIP: 5.1) |
October 1, 1955 | 1000 kW | 634.2 m | 64865 | |
| WSUR-DT | Ponce | 9 (VHF) (PSIP: 9.1) |
February 20, 1958 | 21.6 kW | 857 m | 19776 | |
| W10BG (analog only) |
Mayagüez | 10 (VHF) | Unknown | 3 kW | 21 m | 64864 |
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