WAPA-TV

WAPA-TV

San Juan, Puerto Rico
Branding	WAPA (general) WAPA America (superstation feed) Noticentro (newscasts)
Slogan	Pensando en Ti (Thinking of You)
Channels	Digital: 27 (UHF) Virtual: 4 (PSIP)
Subchannels	4.1 Independent 4.2 WAPA 2 Deportes
Translators	WNJX-TV 4.1 Mayagüez WTIN-TV 4.1 Ponce
Affiliations	Independent (1954–1988, 1991–1994 & 2002–present)
Owner	Hemisphere Media Group (InterMedia Partners, 83.8%) (Televicentro of Puerto Rico, LLC)
First air date	May 1, 1954 (1954-05-01)
Call letters' meaning	Asociación de Productores de Azúcar (Puerto Rico Sugar Grower's Association)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 4 (VHF, 1954–2009)
Former affiliations	Univision (1988–1991, 1994–2002)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	794 m
Facility ID	52073
Transmitter coordinates	18°6′33.8″N 66°3′2.5″W / 18.109389°N 66.050694°W / 18.109389; -66.050694
Licensing authority	Federal Communications Commission
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.wapa.tv

WAPA-TV, virtual channel 4 (UHF digital channel 27), is an independent television station located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The station is owned by Hemisphere Media Group (NASDAQ: HMTV), which is 83.8% owned by InterMedia Partners. WAPA-TV maintains studios at Avenida Luis Vigoreaux in Guaynabo, and its transmitter is located near the Bosque Estatal de Carite mountain reserve.

The station's signal is relayed throughout Puerto Rico through two full-power satellite stations: WTIN-TV (channel 14) in Ponce and WNJX-TV (channel 22) in Mayagüez.

History

WAPA-TV began broadcasting on May 1, 1954, as the second television station to be licensed to Puerto Rico. Its call letters are a partial abbreviation of the station's original owners, the now-defunct Asociación de Productores de Azúcar, or Puerto Rico Sugar Grower's Association. During its earliest years, the station was affiliated with NBC, ABC, DuMont, and the CMQ Television Network.^[1]

The station was the first in the U.S. territory to transition to color unceremoniously in 1966, followed by WKAQ-TV in 1968. Popularly known in Puerto Rico by its assigned channel number, Canal Cuatro, the station was also known by its animated cartoon mascot during the 1970s and 1980s, a bongo-playing cat (known commonly as el gato de WAPA in Spanish) and therefore its slogan was Por el cuatro como el gato (colloquially "on four (legs) like the cat"), which rhymes in its original Spanish. Similarly, another station promo used the phrase, Hasta el gato, te-ve el cuatro and the cat itself was alternately known as el Gato de Cuatro.

WAPA-TV's "Open 4" logo in a 1980 newspaper advertisement for Decisión '80. The "Open 4" logo in this ad was used from 1968 to 1986, and again from 1996 to 1998.

Like other mascots, El Gato was seen in different situations in different on-air promos. Besides playing the bongos, he would also play the drums and was seen in one station ID as a matador. Another promo had him interacting with a cat seen in a Telemundo ad. El Gato would also sometimes be accompanied by his wife and children (one boy and one girl), where they appeared flying in a helicopter shaped like the channel's "4" logo and celebrated the holidays while playing musical instruments.

WAPA-TV's competitors include WKAQ-TV (Telemundo), WLII (Univision Puerto Rico) and former PBS station WIPR-TV (now the independent public-broadcasting Puerto Rico TV). WAPA-TV and WKAQ-TV have battled for the title of Puerto Rico's most-watched television station since the 1950s, with WLII entering the battle in the mid-1980s.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, the station became very successful by mixing American shows translated to Spanish with locally produced sitcoms such as Cuqui, Cara o Cruz, Entrando por la Cocina, Carmelo y Punto and Barrio Cuatro Calles. But it still trailed behind WKAQ-TV as the second most-watched Puerto Rican station. In the early 1990s, WAPA rebranded itself with the slogans "WAPA'lla!" (a catchy slang variation of "Vamos pa'lla", or "Let's go!") and "WAPA, aqui con la gente" ("WAPA, here with the people"). These slogans were accompanied by a catchy musical score and vivid, colorful graphics depicting the channel's logo. In 1994, WAPA was the first television station in Puerto Rico to use high-end graphic animations to animate a new logo, created and animated by Pixel Light Studios in New York City. This gave the station a very "American" on-air appearance. The logo, although graphically pleasing, was slowly dropped in favor of the classical number 4 logo. High end graphics were later altogether dropped for cheaper, in-house graphics.

In 1997, under the helm of former Univision executive Miguel Banojian, WAPA-TV achieved its biggest increases in viewership ever. During Mr. Banojian's tenure, the network produced more local programming than ever before, increasing its local news programming, and broadcasting several sporting events including "Serie Del Caribe" (the Caribe edition of the U.S. baseball World Series) and World Boxing Championship events produced in partnership with Don King.

In 1998, WAPA again rebranded itself with a new name and logo; "Televicentro" (a brand that was used previously during the 1970s and 1980s). It has also regained its position as a major Puerto Rican television station, mainly due to its new focus on locally produced programming. Its new slogan, "Como tú, boricua" ("Like you, Puerto Rican"—a nod to the longtime colloquial nickname for Puerto Ricans) highlighted the fact that it was the only local commercial station remaining in Puerto Rico that was programmed locally. Despite the new name, local residents still referred to the station as either "el cuatro" or simply "WAPA". That same year, former WKAQ-TV general manager Joe Ramos was named president of WAPA-TV.

In September 2004, WAPA-TV became the first Puerto Rican station, and the seventh television station in the U.S. (including territories) to become a satellite-distributed superstation. WAPA America can be seen in the U.S. mainland through DirecTV, and on various cable television providers including Comcast, RCN, Qwest and Cablevision. On October 19, 2006. LIN TV announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell its Puerto Rico television operations to InterMedia Partners for $130 million in cash. The sale was completed on March 30, 2007.

On December 17, 2007, the station changed its branding from Televicentro to wapa, in lowercase letters. Following the rebrand, the station began a developing a new format, changing its jingle and redesigning their website.^[2][3] WAPA-TV signed an agreement with Miss Puerto Rico Universe to produce a reality show titled Por la corona, which debuted on August 15, 2008, in which the public is able to select which five of the participants moving directly to the pageant's semifinal via text messaging votes.^[4]

On January 23, 2013, InterMedia Partners announced that it would merge WAPA-TV and WAPA America, along with its stake in Cinelatino, with the shell corporation Azteca Acquisition Corporation (which is not associated with the Mexican-based Azteca group or the Azteca América network) to form Hemisphere Media Group. 73% of the new company will be owned by InterMedia.^[5]

On December 3, 2015, WAPA-TV, along with WIPR-TV went off-air, due to its transmitter outage at Cerro La Santa in Cayey. This station is still watchable on Liberty Channel 4, Choice Channel 4, Dish Network Channel 4, DIRECTV Channel 164 & Claro TV Channel 4. Station was repaired and placed back on air on Thursday December 10, 2015. Repairs were made by WAPA's Engineering Department.

Programming

Noticentro

Noticentro is the name of WAPA-TV's news division; the station presently broadcasts 40 hours of locally-produced newscasts each week (with seven hours on weekdays, and two hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The news operation began in 1967 with Cuban-born Evelio Otero as the sole anchorman for the 10 p.m. newscast. Soon thereafter, Carlos Ruben Ortiz joined the news staff for the 6 p.m. broadcast. Evelio Otero remained by himself on camera, until his departure from WAPA in 1980 to take the senior editor position at the Voice of America in Washington. Carlos Ruben Ortiz shared the anchor slot at 6 p.m. with then newcomer Guillermo José Torres, a former radio announcer born in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico who has since become the longest standing news anchor in the island, with a career spanning 43 years (Torres retired on August 5, 2013). The format predated the NewsCenter format which become popular in NBC-owned stations in the 1970s.

In its beginnings, Noticentro 4 ran for only fifteen minutes in the afternoon, with a half-hour edition at 10 p.m.; there was also a weekend edition. Gradually, the program's running time was increased to a full hour. After Otero's departure, New York City-born William "Bill" Pérez became WAPA's news director (Torres held the post for a while, but eventually asked to serve only as a news anchor). In the late 1970s, Enrique Cruz, Luz Nereida Vélez, Sylvia Gómez, Luis Rigual, Cyd Marie Fleming, Jose Esteves, Luis Francisco Ojeda and others joined the news department.

In 1980, Noticentro 4 inaugurated a new studio. In 1981, Pedro Rosa Nales joined the team. In 1982, Enrique Cruz Díaz, also known as Kike Cruz, substituted Torres as show director. In 1983, Rigual died, being substituted as main sports anchor by Rafael Bracero. Bobby Angleró joined the team of reporters as Bracero's main helper in 1983, the same year that the Coquí Satellite was inaugurated by the station. Coquí Satellite helped the station deliver breaking news quicker, and helped deliver the news on occasions such as the Challenger explosion, when Torres interrupted Ángela Meyer on her Chanita Gobernadora comedy section to break the news to the public only minutes after it had happened.

In the early 2000s, WAPA-TV began using, a helicopter for newsgathering called SuperCóptero ("SuperChopper"). The SuperCóptero had mostly been used to report on traffic conditions in the metropolitan area on the 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. newscasts. WAPA-TV was the only local station to have a helicopter, but the SuperCóptero was soon discontinued from regular use due to budget cuts; WAPA now only uses the helicopter for special events such as elections and breaking news coverage.

Noticentro runs a local cable channel, WAPA Tiempo, which features weather forecasts for Puerto Rico 24 hours a day. Originally named El Canal del Tiempo (its name changed in order to avoid confusion with The Weather Channel cable network), it can be seen on all three cable companies serving Puerto Rico and was formerly broadcast on WAPA-TV digital subchannel 4.3, until September 1, 2012, when the subchannel was discontinued due to MLB postseason games broadcasting in HD on channel 4.2.

WAPA-TV uses the same logo for Noticentro (formerly Noticentro 4), changing the word WAPA to Noticentro, but with the same red strips at the right. The music package previously used for the newscast was News Authority by 615 Music and has been used since 2004. In the past, the station used Newswatch 24, News One, Impact among others. Noticentro now uses the same music for all its segments and bumpers except for its news résumé "En Una Semana" ("In One Week"), which used the Noticentro 4 graphics and music package from 1999, but now uses the current graphics and music package.

WAPA Tiempo, for a time, used the old Noticentro 4 graphics and logo, but recently the channel received new graphics and logo to go with the "New WAPA" upbringing. In the next months to come, the station's newscasts will receive new graphics and a studio redesign along with the "New WAPA" initiative.

Notable current on-air news staff

• Pedro Rosa Nales – anchor & reporter
• Rafael Bracero – sports anchor
• Luz Nereida Velez – general assignment reporter

Local program hosts

• Angelique Burgos – Pegate Al Mediodia
• Melwin Cedeño – Pegate Al Mediodia
• Guillermo Jose Torres – Ahí Esta la Verdad (voice over)

Broadcasting

Digital television

This station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

WAPA-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, 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 27.^[7] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4.

Satellite stations

WAPA-TV can be seen across Puerto Rico on the following stations:

References

External links and sources

• Official website
• The Museum of Broadcasting - Puerto Rico TV Profile
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WAPA-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTIN
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WAPA-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WTIN-TV