| Portland, Maine | |
|---|---|
| Branding | WPXT The CW NewsCenter Me-TV Portland (on DT2) |
| Slogan | TV to Talk About |
| Channels | Digital: 43 (UHF) Virtual: 51 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 51.1 The CW 51.2 Me-TV |
| Owner | New Age Media, LLC (New Age Media of Maine License, LLC) |
| First air date | September 14, 1986 |
| Call letters' meaning | We're Portland's EXciting Television |
| Sister station(s) | WPME |
| Former channel number(s) | 51 (UHF analog, 1986-2008) |
| Former affiliations | Fox (1986-2001) The WB (2001-2006) |
| Transmitter power | 137.4 kW |
| Height | 254 m |
| Class | DT |
| Facility ID | 53065 |
| Website | ourmaine.com |
WPXT is the CW-affiliated television station for Southern Maine and Northern New Hampshire licensed to Portland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 43 (or virtual channel 51.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in South Gray along I-95/Maine Turnpike/Gold Star Memorial Highway. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable and Comcast channel 12 with a high definition feed offered through both systems on digital channel 512. Owned by New Age Media, WPXT operates MyNetworkTV affiliate WPME (owned by MPS Media, LLC) through a local marketing agreement (LMA). The two outlets share studios on Ledgeview Drive in Westbrook. Syndicated programming on this station includes How I Met Your Mother, Friends, Scrubs and Divorce Court among others.
Contents |
On WPXT-DT2 is Me-TV that is currently not carried on any digital cable systems.
| Channels | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51.1 | WPXT-DT | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WPXT programming / The CW |
| 51.2 | WPXT DT | 480i | 4:3 | Me-TV |
The station signed-on September 14, 1986 as Maine's first Independent outlet and the first new commercial station to launch in the Portland market in 32 years. After a few months as an Independent, it became a charter affiliate with Fox on October 6. In the mid-1990s, the station's original local owners sold it to Pegasus Broadcasting. In 2001, WPXT switched to The WB due to a monetary dispute between Pegasus and Fox. This left Portland with no over-the-air affiliate until early-2003 when Pax station WPFO took the affiliation.
During the period when the area lacked a local affiliate, programming from the network was provided exclusively on cable through Foxnet. Pegasus declared bankruptcy in June 2004 over a dispute with DirecTV (co-owned with Fox by News Corporation) over marketing of the direct broadcast satellite service in rural areas. The Pegasus station group was sold in August 2006 to private investment firm CP Media, LLC of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for $55.5 million. Eventually, CP Media formed a new broadcast company, New Age Media. As a WB affiliate WPXT was originally branded on-air as "Maine's WB 51", but in 2004, changed to "Maine's WB" to reflect its status as the only off-air WB affiliate in the state.
Although Bangor and Presque Isle also had affiliates, they were only provided on cable through The WB 100+ (a similar operation to Foxnet). On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS (the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On February 22, News Corporation announced it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW. On March 9, it was announced WPXT would become Portland's CW affiliate. Later on May 1, it was made public sister station WPME would affiliate with MyNetworkTV.
The latter joined the News Corporation-owned service on September 5 and WPXT began airing The CW on September 18, 2006. With the new affiliation, its branding became "The CW Portland". In 2007, WPXT changed its on-air branding to reflect its call letters rather than a city. The website of WPXT had been out-of-date and was inaccessible for long periods of time but it was finally updated with a shared site for WPXT and WPME by early-October 2007. It ceased analog transmission August 12, 2008 (more than seven months prior to the original Federal Communications Commission (FCC) digital switchover deadline February 17, 2009) due to transmitter failure. On May 2, 2011, WPXT signed-on a new second digital subchannel to become the area's Me-TV affiliate. Throughout its history, the station has also produced and aired several local programs.
For many years, WPXT operated a news department and produced its own local newscasts. For a time, the station's nightly prime time news at 10 was simulcasted on sister station WPME. WPXT even produced a weeknight broadcast at 7 on that station at one point but the show was eventually canceled due to poor ratings and inconsistent viewership. It made national headlines a week before the 2000 Presidential election when reporter Erin Fehlau (now at ABC affiliate WMUR-TV) revealed Republican candidate George W. Bush had been convicted for driving under the influence of alcohol 24 years earlier.
On June 15, 2002 after shuttering its own news operation, WPXT entered into a news share agreement with Maine's two NBC affiliates, WCSH and WLBZ (both owned by the Gannett Company). This arrangement resulted in a nightly half-hour prime time show at 10 to debut on this station known as NewsCenter at 10 on Maine's WB 51. On weeknights, the news and sports segments originated from WCSH's studios at Congress Square in Downtown Portland while weather forecast segments came from WLBZ's facility on Mount Hope Avenue in Bangor.
Weekend broadcasts aired entirely from Portland (sister station WDSI currently operates a similar production in Chattanooga, Tennessee). As was the case with WLBZ (which largely serves as a semi-satellite of WCSH), the prime time newscasts on WPXT took on a regional feel with coverage from Portland, Bangor or wherever news occurred from across the state. However since WPXT is a Portland/Auburn market station, there was ultimately a focus on southern areas. With the affiliation switch to The CW in 2006, WPXT's news became known as NewsCenter at 10 on The CW, Portland. The station would not face any competition in the time slot until February 5, 2007 when current Fox affiliate WPFO entered into a similar arrangement with CBS affiliate WGME-TV allowing the latter to produce nightly thirty minute news at 10 on the former.
On November 6, 2008, WCSH moved the WPXT show to its second digital subchannel affiliated with NBC Weather Plus. As a result, WLBZ's production involvement in the newscast was dropped and refocused to Portland. After a six year run, the production was eventually canceled altogether. On October 31, 2011, WPXT and WCSH established another news share agreement and debuted an hour-long extension of the big three outlet's weekday morning show. Known on WPXT as NewsCenter Morning Report Xtra, this airs in full high definition from 7 until 8 and competes with WGME's morning newscast on WPFO that airs for two hours from 7 until 9. It remains to be seen if WLBZ will contribute to WPXT's new broadcast since the 4:30 to 7 a.m. edition of NewsCenter Morning Report is simulcasted statewide on WCSH and WLBZ. [1] [2]
Anchors
Reporters
Multimedia journalists
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