WWSI

WWSI
Atlantic City, New Jersey/
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States
City Atlantic City, New Jersey
Branding Telemundo 62 (general)
Noticiero Telemundo 62 (newscasts)
Channels Digital: 49 (UHF)
Virtual: 62 (PSIP)
Subchannels 62.1 Telemundo
62.2 TeleXitos
Affiliations Telemundo
Owner NBCUniversal
(NBC Telemundo License LLC)
First air date January 17, 2001 (2001-01-17)
Sister station(s) WCAU
Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
Former channel number(s) Analog:
62 (UHF, 2001–2009)
Transmitter power 860 kW
Height 296.3 meters (972 ft)
Facility ID 23142
Transmitter coordinates 39°44′4″N 74°50′28″W / 39.73444°N 74.84111°W / 39.73444; -74.84111
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website http://www.telemundo62.com/

WWSI, channel 62, is a Telemundo-owned television station licensed to Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA and serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania television market. WWSI is owned by the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal, and operates as part of a duopoly with NBC owned-and-operated station WCAU (channel 10). The two stations share a studio facility in Bala Cynwyd Pennsylvania, and WWSI's transmitter is located in Waterford Township, New Jersey.[1]

History

Former WWSI logo, used from 2004 to 2012.

Prior to the station's formal sign-on, channel 62's original owners held a construction permit under the WDKZ call letters beginning in 1989, which subsequently changed to WACI that same year. In 2000, the callsign on the license was changed to WPHA. The station formally signed on the air as WWSI on January 17, 2001,[2] and acquired the Telemundo affiliation (originally seen on WTGI – channel 61, now WPPX – until 1998, then WTVE – channel 51 – in Reading, Pennsylvania from 1998 to 2000). WWSI launched its website in 2007.

In January 2008, Hispanic Broadcasters Corporation agreed to sell WWSI to ZGS Communications for $10 million.[3] The sale to ZGS was finalized on March 11 of that year.

On March 21, 2013, NBCUniversal entered into an agreement to acquire WWSI from ZGS Communications for $20 million. Prior to the sale agreement, WWSI had been the largest station (in terms of market size) aligned with Telemundo that was not an owned-and-operated station of the network. The deal created a duopoly with NBC-owned Philadelphia station WCAU.[4] The sale was completed on July 2.[5]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[6]
62.1 1080i 16:9 WWSI-DT Main WWSI programming / Telemundo
62.2 480 4:3 T-Xitos TeleXitos[7]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WWSI discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 62, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 49.[8] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 62, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

News operation

Following the acquisition of WWSI, NBCUniversal announced plans to develop a news department for the station, with plans to debut half-hour newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. starting January 6, 2014.[9]

The newscasts, titled Noticiero Telemundo 62 began on January 13, 2014, one week from the original planned start date. The newscast name was later changed to WWSI Telemundo News for unknown reasons in late January. WWSI maintains its own control room, which then runs through WCAU's main Digital Operations Center.[10]

The station hired 15 staff members for its news operation (including journalists, reporters, producers, anchors and photographers).[11] On October 21, 2013, WWSI announced the hirings of Claribel Collazo (previously with Orlando Telemundo affiliate WTMO) as its assistant news director and Ramón Luis Zayas, former news anchor of Telemundo's morning program Un Nuevo Día, as anchor of the evening newscasts.[12] On November 3, 2014, the 14 Telemundo O&O's, including WWSI, launched a 5:30 p.m. newscast. This makes WWSI the first Spanish-language station in Philadelphia to have an hour-long evening newscast.

References

  1. ↑ http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WWSI
  2. ↑ "Local Spanish TV channel on air". Courier-Post. 2 February 2001. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Deals". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
  4. ↑ NBCUniversal doubles in Philadelphia with Telemundo outlet, Radio & Television Business Report, March 21, 2013.
  5. ↑ Telemundo Closes On Purchase of WWSI TVNewsCheck, July 2, 2013
  6. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WWSI
  7. ↑ Malone, Michael. "Telemundo Station Group Launches Telexitos Multicast Net". http://www.broadcastingcable.com. NewBay Media, LLC. Retrieved 13 December 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  8. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  9. ↑ "Telemundo's WWSI Gets Ready To Make News". TVNewsCheck. December 10, 2013.
  10. ↑ http://articles.philly.com/2014-01-14/entertainment/46153137_1_news-programming-newscast-stations
  11. ↑ "WWSI Philly Hiring 15 To Launch Local News". TVNewsCheck. September 11, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Zayas to anchor upcoming Telemundo Philly newscast". Media Moves. October 21, 2013.

External links

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