| San Juan, Puerto Rico | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Telemundo |
| Slogan | "Atrévete a más" ("dare for more") |
| Channels | Digital: 28 (UHF) Virtual: 2 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 2.1 Telemundo HD 2.2 Punto 2 2.3 Soi TV |
| Translators | W09AT 9 Fajardo W32AJ 32 Utuado W68BU 68 Adjuntas |
| Owner | NBCUniversal (Telemundo of Puerto Rico) |
| First air date | March 28, 1954 |
| Call letters' meaning | Named after former sister station WKAQ (AM) |
| Former channel number(s) | 2 (1954-2009, analog) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1954–1986) |
| Transmitter power | 924 kW |
| Height | 825.9 m |
| Facility ID | 64983 |
| Website | www.telemundopr.com |
WKAQ-TV is a full-power television station located in San Juan, Puerto Rico transmitting over digital 2.1. The station is owned and operated by NBCUniversal and is branded simply as Telemundo.
WKAQ-TV has one full-power repeater station: WOLE-TV, channel 12.1 in Aguadilla. WOLE-TV repeats over 95% of WKAQ-TV's programing under an affiliation agreement. In the past they had used WORA-TV, channel 5 in Mayagüez. The station also has three low-power translator facilities: W09AT in Fajardo, W68BU in Adjuntas and W32AJ in Utuado.
Contents |
WKAQ-TV became the first Puerto Rican TV station on March 28, 1954. The station was founded by Angel Ramos, founder of Puerto Rico's main newspaper at the time, El Mundo (The World) and Puerto Rico's first radio station (and third licensed radio station in the world), WKAQ. Ramos wanted to maintain a consistent branding between its properties using the "mundo" theme, and thus named WKAQ-TV Telemundo (Tele World). He had tried to obtain a TV license as early as the mid 1940s, but due to an FCC licensing freeze for all new American TV stations, Ramos had to wait until 1954 to obtain the license. WKAQ began broadcasting in color on NTSC in 1968.
During the station's history, WKAQ-TV battled fiercely with WAPA-TV to obtain the top position of Puerto Rican viewership, thanks, in great part, to none other than Ramón Rivero (better known as Diplo), the most famous and influential actor/comedian in the history of Puerto Rico, who was under an exclusive contract with Angel Ramos, and who, in 1954 produced the first comedy/variety show for WKAQ-TV, La Taberna India, followed by La Farándula Corona.
During the 1970s and 1980s, WKAQ-TV (then branded as Telemundo Canal 2), was a major producer of Puerto Rican Spanish soap operas. The channel was also known by its "fingers" logo (a bold number 2 with the silhouette of two upright fingers inside the number), calling itself "El canal de los dedos" (The channel of the fingers).
WKAQ-TV has produced and broadcast recognized local shows such as El Show de las 12, La Gente Joven de Menudo, En Casa de Juanma y Wiwi, Los Kakucomicos, Teatrimundo, Musicomedia, El Show de Chucho, Telecine de la Noche con Manolo Urquiza, Noche de Gala, Estudio Alegre, La Pension de Doña Tere, El Show de Nydia Caro, No te Duermas, Marcano El Show, "Con lo que Cuenta este País", "Videoteces", Super Sabados, Fantastico, El Tio Nobel, Telecómicas, Al Grano con Zervigón, Ahora Podemos Hablar, and Dame un Break, among others. It also produced famous telenovelas such as El Hijo de Angela Maria, Tomiko, Cristina Bazan, El Idolo, Viernes Social, La Verdadera Eva, Rojo Verano, Modelos S.A., Coralito, Tanairi, and others.
With the creation of the Telemundo network in 1987, the station started branding itself as "Telemundo Puerto Rico". (Before, WKAQ-TV had branded itself as either Telemundo or just "Canal 2".) Since then, WKAQ-TV has since then become one of Telemundo's flagship stations, as well as the recognized original "Telemundo". It has been highly critiziced that because of the station's affiliation to the Telemundo network, locally produced programming has been traded for "enlatados", or foreign Spanish programming such as Mexican and Venezuelan telenovelas. To avoid this criticism, in 2006, WKAQ-TV aired the first Puerto Rican written and produced telenovela in 15 years: Dueña y Señora. To the general population, WKAQ-TV is still known simply as "Telemundo", and it is branded as such to this day.
WKAQ-TV's main slogans have been: Y como el dos no hay dos! (There's no two like channel two and Telemundo: tu canal, siempre (Telemundo: your channel, always). At the end of 2006, Telemundo's slogan in 2006 to 2008 is: Eres Tú (It's You) and now come back slogan Telemundo: tu canal (Telemundo: your channel) the Telemundo Network used this slogan.
In 2005, WKAQ-TV became a superstation when NBC Universal created the Telemundo Puerto Rico cable channel. The channel aired programs created by WKAQ-TV such as No te Duermas and TVO, as well as the station's news program, Telenoticias. Telemundo Puerto Rico was aimed at Puerto Ricans and other Caribbean communities living in the mainland United States. The superstation feed, however, was discontinued in early 2008.
On October 9, 2007, NBC Universal announced that they had put WKAQ-TV up for sale, following its acquisition of Oxygen Media. ([1]) However, NBC Universal took the station off the market on December 21.
On August 25, 2008, WKAQ-TV, in co-production with the Telemundo network, launched the new morning show Levantate from its San Juan studios. The station also began to air a local teen drama, Zona Y, which achieved success in the Puerto Rican teen market in Puerto Rico and is presently airing its third season.
Some of the local shows which WKAQ-TV has produced and broadcasted include:
Some of the famous telenovelas which WKAQ-TV has produced include:
Telenoticias is the name of WKAQ-TV's newscast created by Evelio Otero its first television news anchor and original voice when telemundo went on the air. Evelio Otero proposed the name to Angel Ramos who approved it on the spot The show was started in 1954 and it was the first local television program in Puerto Rico. It was first anchored by Evelio Otero. In the 1960s, a renewed edition of Telenoticias started with different anchors.
Over the years, many people have worked on Telenoticas including: Bobby Anglero, Charito Fraticelli, Silvia Gómez, Aníbal González Irizarry, Ramón Enrique Torres, Jorge Rivera Nieves, Grenda Rivera, Ivonne Solla, Ramón Enrique Torres, Bruni Velez, Hector Vazquez Muniz, Luis Guardiola, Johanna Rosaly, Ivette Sosa, Zoraida Nelly Torres,Miguel Ramos,Siverio Pérez, Raúl Camilo Torres, Junior Abrams, Jose Esteves, Raul Quiñones, Roberto Cortes, and Madelyn Vega.
For more than twenty years, Telenoticias only had 2 editions: the 5 o'clock edition and the 11 o'clock edition. However, in 2002, a weekend edition was introduced, which (like its weekday counterparts) aired at 5 and 11 o'clock. In 2003, Telemundo por la Mañana started with Charito Fraticelli, Silverio Perez, Lourdes Collazo,Miguel Ramos and panel experts.
In the 1990s, Telenoticias used Telemundo 1992 News Theme as the main theme music for its newscasts. This was replaced later by Telemundo News Theme. In 2005, the newscasts began to use the production theme Raw Power from Network Music. Currently, Telenoticias uses an original theme from Manolo Mongil.
In 2006, as part of the NBC Universal 2.0 restructuring, WKAQ-TV cut 60 to 80 staffers, including some Telenoticias anchors and reporters. In addition, the morning, midday, and weekend editions of Telenoticias were canceled. On January 8, 2007, Telenoticias debuted a new set, new graphics and new music. On April 23, 2009, WKAQ-TV one became the first commercial station in transmitting programming in High Definition in Puerto Rico with Billboard Latin Music Awards.
In September 2011, NBCUniversal announced that it would relaunch the 11 a.m. and weekend evening editions of Telenoticias in early 2012, as a condition by the Federal Communications Commission to approve the sale of a controlling stake in the company to Philadelphia-based cable provider and telecommunications company Comcast, requiring NBCUniversal's NBC and Telemundo owned-and-operated stations to increase the amount of locally-produced programming.
Since the beginning of the Telemundo network, WKAQ had been operated semi-independently from the network. This allowed the station to continue to focus on local productions, with network programing utilized as filler. This had often led to Telemundo network programs not being on the same time as on the mainland, with soap operas often falling months behind. However, years of declining ratings and local cancellations have led to unconfirmed rumors and speculation that WKAQ may become a standard Telemundo station, dropping all local programing except for Telenoticias.
WKAQ's problems began during the early 2000s, when its ratings declined significantly, mostly due to the entrance of Univision into the Puerto Rican market through WLII. Since then, local shows produced by WKAQ, such as El Gran Bejuco and Dame Un Break, that competed against Univision network offerings have slipped in the ratings, as viewers turned away in favor of Univision.
As WKAQ's numbers continued to decline, the station began laying off staff, including Paquito Cordero, one of the most prominent producers on Puerto Rican television. His layoff led to the cancellation of El Show de las Doce, the oldest program in Puerto Rican television outside of the local news. Many other local programs have also been canceled since then, replaced with Telemundo network programing.
Currently, WKAQ has very few non-news local programming remaining. The most recent local program to be canceled was No te Duermas, the second longest-running local program after El Show de las Doce. The few attempts made at new, locally-produced programming have achieved little success, often being canceled after only a few months. The newest batch of local programs such as El Resuelve, Dia a Dia, and Esto Esta K-non, are all rumored to be canceled in 2009. The 11:00 p.m. edition of Telenoticias is also expected to be canceled, leaving the 5:00 news as the sole remaining edition. Nevertheless, the station has recently returned to leading the ratings against WLII and WAPA, with its soap opera block dominating in the 7 to 10 p.m. time period. Additionally, since January 2009, WKAQ has aired Lost on weeknights at 10:00 p.m., leading that time slot. Also, Dia a Dia has seen an increase in viewership in its 11:00 a.m. time slot and a local teen drama Zona Y that has been a great suscess in the teen market in Puerto Rico.
Alan Tacher, the host of Levantate, has told El Nuevo Día that he is proposing a variety show, to also be broadcast on the Telemundo network, to air in the second half of this year. Also, a Puerto Rican culture-variety program, Tenderete has been promoted to begin soon, probably to be broadcast on the Telemundo network. Also WKAQ regained the right's to the local Miss Universe pageant, after the Miss Universe organization, dismiss Magaly Febles as the owner to the Puerto Rico Franshaidese. They named Luisito Vigoreaux, Desiree Lowry and Telemundo Puerto Rico, the one in charge with the pageant. Telemundo kept some of the elements of the reality concept, but a more direct approach is gained.
On January 12, 2010, begin a new gossip show named Dando Candela, with some of former's Univision Puerto Rico Anda Pal cara section "El Avispero". Alexandra Fuentes, Saudi, Papo Brenes and Harold Rivera along with the Producer Soraya Sanchéz moved to Telemundo after being fired by Univision. In the premier show Pedro Juan Figueroa, from former Hector Marcano's Que Suerte join the show. It has some controversy, but finally Telemudo has the show to face to face Wapa Tv La Comay, another gossip show and former Telemundo talent Kobbo Santarosa. They made two road tours in Ponce and Hatillo, very successful.
Digital channels
| Channel | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | WKAQ-TV | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WKAQ programming / Telemundo HD |
| 2.2 | WKAQ .2 | 480i | 4:3 | Punto 2 |
| 2.3 | WKAQ .3 | 480i | 4:3 | Soi TV |
WKAQ-TV can be seen across Puerto Rico on the following stations:
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||