WPGH-TV
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WPGH-TV Fox 53 is the Fox television affiliate broadcasting in Pittsburgh. It broadcasts on analog channel 53 and digital channel 43. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group[1]. Its transmitter is located in Pittsburgh.
History
1950s-1960s
The station originally signed on the air on July 14, 1953, as WKJF-TV. However, financial woes and the fact that it was a UHF station competing against the more established VHF station WDTV-TV (now KDKA-TV) forced the station to sign off in August 1954.
The station returned to air under new owners U.S. Communications in February 1969 as WPGH-TV. However, despite a well-programmed lineup, financial problems continued to plague the station again, forcing it off the air on August 16, 1971.
1970s-1980s
Under the technical leadership of Chief Engineer Robert Boyd, Broadcast Engineer James G. Miller and others, the station was repaired and updated in 1973. WPGH was finally back on air for good on January 14, 1974, after being sold again in 1973. The deep base and melodious voice of William C. Trushel II was often heard during station identification and other audio spots. The station offered cartoons, some off-network dramas (i.e. The Untouchables), old movies, religious programming like The 700 Club, and low-budget off-network sitcoms. A locally-produced Polka Dance Show was filmed in-house in the studio. The station also served as a secondary affiliate for CBS, ABC and NBC when it came to picking up shows that KDKA-TV, WTAE-TV, and WIIC-TV (now WPXI) passed on.
Meredith Corporation purchased WPGH-TV in 1978 and added some first-run syndicated talk shows to the station. It also gradually added more recent off-network sitcoms. With WPTT now in the competition, WPGH put in very high bids for programming, and even overpaid for it, in order to prevent it from ending up on WPTT. That practice, however, caused the station to become unprofitable despite its high ratings. As a result, Meredith put WPGH up for sale in 1985. Sinclair, the owner of WPTT, put in a bid so it could combine assets and sell WPTT to the Home Shopping Network. However, it was outbid by Lorimar-Telepictures, which took over the station in 1986. WPGH became Pittsburgh's FOX affiliate in 1986, and was sold to Renaissance Broadcasting in 1987, after Lorimar-Telepictures reduced the purchase price from $35 million to $21.5 million.[2].
1990s-2000s
As a FOX affiliate, WPGH continued to receive very high ratings, but its practice of overpaying for programming also continued to keep the station unprofitable. It was put up for sale again in 1990, and this time Sinclair successfully acquired the station. However, the group struggled to obtain financing, so it worked out a deal to sell WPTT to its general manager and longtime employee Eddie Edwards.
Sinclair took over WPGH in the fall of 1991, and moved the best programming on WPTT's schedule to WPGH. WPGH added more first-run syndicated talk and reality shows, and added a 10 p.m. newscast, Fox 53 Ten O'Clock News, in 1996 to compete with the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel.
WPGH and WPTT (the latter having changed its call letters to WCWB) moved into the same building in 1997, and the two became officially co-owned by Sinclair in 2000 after the FCC relaxed its rule, allowing one company to own two television stations in the same market.
By 2002, WPGH was no longer running cartoons, with Fox Kids being removed from the weekday lineup around the country. WPGH focused now on court shows, talk shows, reality shows and off-network sitcoms, along with FOX programming.
In 2003, WPGH's parent company, Sinclair Broadcasting, converted the newscast to the News Central format. This included the loss of the station's local weather operations, replaced with meteorologists stationed near Baltimore, Maryland. National news and some sports highlights also originated from News Central.
Sinclair and FOX cut a six-year affiliation contract extension for Sinclair's 19 FOX affiliates; thus, FOX will remain on WPGH at least through March 2012.
Analog-to-digital conversion
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009, [3] WPGH will continue broadcasts on its current digital signal (channel 43) [4] using PSIP to display WPGH's virtual channel as 53 on digital television receivers. This is because WUAB in Cleveland will continue broadcasts on digital channel 28 using channel 43 as its virtual channel number.
Present newscast
On January 12, 2006, Sinclair and Cox Broadcasting (owner of WPXI) entered into an agreement where WPXI would produce newscasts specifically for WPGH. This agreement, called a "news share", began on January 30, 2006. All of WPGH's former news staff, except for sportscaster Alby Oxenreiter were laid off.
News/Station Presentation
Newscast Titles
- TV-53 News (1971-1981)
- News 53 (1981-1986)
- FOX 53 News (1997-2006)
- Channel 11 News on Fox 53 (2006-present)
Station Slogans
- PGH Belongs to Pittsburgh (1974-1981)
- Pittsburgh's Very Own TV-53 (1981-1986)
- Fox 53, The Team to Watch (1986-present)
Notable Alumni
- Kurt Angle, worked as a sportscaster in 1997.
External links
References
- ^ "OWNERSHIP REPORT FOR COMMERCIAL BROADCAST STATIONS". fcc.gov. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
- ^ "The New York Times - COMPANY NEWS; Lorimar Cuts TV Deal Price". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-138A2.pdf
- ^ http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101233474&formid=387&fac_num=73875
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