| Wilmington, Delaware-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
|---|---|
| Branding | ION Television |
| Channels | Digital: 31 (UHF) Virtual: 61 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | Ion Television (since 1998, formerly Pax until 2005 and i until 2007) |
| Owner | Ion Media Networks, Inc. (Ion Media Philadelphia License, Inc.) |
| First air date | July 9, 1986 |
| Call letters' meaning | Philadelphia PaX |
| Former callsigns | WTGI-TV (1986-1998) WPPX (1998-2009) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 61 (UHF, 1986-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1986-1987) Telemundo (1987-1995) inTV (1995-1998) Pax TV (1998-2005) i (2005-2007) |
| Transmitter power | 200 kW |
| Height | 374 m |
| Facility ID | 51984 |
| Website | www.iontelevision.com |
WPPX-TV is the Ion Television network affiliate for the Philadelphia area, broadcasting on digital channel 31. It is owned and operated by ION Media Networks, formerly Paxson Communications. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.
Licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, the station began operating as WTGI-TV on July 9, 1986, originally as a general entertainment independent station. It mostly broadcast shows that the established Philadelphia stations did not desire, including drama shows, old movies, reruns of old game shows, religious shows, and some network shows that WPVI pre-empted. Reruns of Dynasty were WTGI's most prominent feature, as well as an attempt at a local newscast entitled "Delaware Valley Tonight". In addition, the station was scheduled to broadcast Philadelphia Big 5 basketball, but that idea was dropped before the season started. A lack of cable system carriage (partly because of the local newscast) and a transmitter located away from the heart of the Philadelphia market left the station with minimal viewership and an inability to sell ad time at a profit.
That November, all the entertainment shows were dropped and WTGI took home shopping programming from services other than Home Shopping Network which bought its own station at that time as well. They continued to run some rejected ABC shows, infomercials, and religious programs part of the day.
A few years later WTGI became an ethnic channel airing Telemundo programming part of the day and religious shows part of the day. In 1994 Trinity Broadcasting Network made an attempt to buy the station but the sale fell through. In 1995 the station was sold to Paxson Communications; it then became an all-infomercial channel ("inTV") until the launch of the Pax TV network on August 31, 1998, at which time it became WPPX.
Channel 61 was originally allocated to Reading, Pennsylvania in the 1950s, when WHUM-TV occupied the channel as a CBS affiliate. The allocation was eventually reassigned to Wilmington after the Reading station went dark. WPPX-TV also has plans for a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 61.1.[1][2]
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