WPXI

Last updated

WPXI
WPXI 11 logo.png

WPXI Subchannel MeTV.png

Logo of Pittsburgh Cable News Channel as of 2022.svg
Channels
Branding
  • Channel 11 (DT1)
  • MeTV Pittsburgh (DT2)
  • Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (DT4)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
FoundedJune 1955(68 years ago) (1955-06)
First air date
September 1, 1957(66 years ago) (1957-09-01)
Former call signs
  • WIIC (1957–1965)
  • WIIC-TV (1965–1981)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 11 (VHF, 1957–2009)
  • Digital: 48 (UHF, 1998–2019)
Call sign meaning
Pittsburgh XI (11 in Roman numerals)
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 73910
ERP 500 kW
HAAT 306 m (1,004 ft)
Transmitter coordinates 40°27′47.7″N80°0′15.5″W / 40.463250°N 80.004306°W / 40.463250; -80.004306
Translator(s) see § Translators
Links
Public license information
Website www.wpxi.com

WPXI (channel 11) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Cox Media Group. The station's offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Its transmitter is on Television Hill in the Fineview section of the city, at the site of the station's original studio location.

Contents

History

As WIIC (1957–1981)

The proposed logo for WIIC-TV showing the CBS affiliation. The logo was from 1955, two years before WIIC-TV went on the air and before becoming a primary affiliate with NBC. Wiiccbs.png
The proposed logo for WIIC-TV showing the CBS affiliation. The logo was from 1955, two years before WIIC-TV went on the air and before becoming a primary affiliate with NBC.

On September 1, 1957, Pittsburgh's second commercial VHF station signed on as WIIC. The station's construction permit was originally issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in June 1955, to WIIC Incorporated – a joint venture of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , which owned WWSW radio (970 AM, now WBGG), and Pittsburgh Radio Supply House, the then-owners of WJAS radio (1320 AM). [3] Both radio stations had competed individually for the permit grant along with other applicants. CBS, which was looking to gain its own full-time affiliate in the market, signed a contract with the then-unnamed channel 11 shortly thereafter. [4] Before the "freeze" on television station licenses, the two stations were competing for the channel 10 license originally assigned to Pittsburgh before the FCC reallocated the channels in 1952, with channel 10 going to Altoona; the Hearst Corporation (then-owners of WCAE and eventual owners of WTAE-TV) and two other companies were also applying for the channel 10 license. [5]

Channel 11, however, did not sign on for well over two years after its permit was granted. The primary reason for the delay was on the part of WENS-TV (channel 16, now WINP-TV), whose application for the permit had been denied and later contested the FCC's original decision. [6] In the interim, CBS continued to have most of its programs cleared by Westinghouse-owned KDKA-TV (channel 2), at the time Pittsburgh's only commercial VHF station. When CBS decided to make KDKA-TV its full-time Pittsburgh affiliate, NBC (which shared time on KDKA-TV with CBS, ABC, and station founder DuMont since its sign-on in 1949) reached a deal to affiliate with WIIC. [7] Also, as a condition of the license grant, WJAS radio had to be sold; NBC wound up purchasing that station in August 1957. [8] The WJAS interests later divested their 50 percent share of WIIC to another local broadcaster. [9]

Bill Cardille signed the station on the air. In addition to Cardille, five other announcers that were with the station when it launched in 1957 include Mal Alberts, Bob Cochran, Ed Conway, Len Johnson and Mark Schaefer. Some of the first original programming to air on WIIC included Studio Wrestling and Chiller Theatre , both hosted by Cardille. Shortly after its sign-on, WIIC was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network, sharing the affiliation with KDKA-TV, WTAE-TV, and public television station WQED. [10]

In 1964, WIIC was sold to Cox Enterprises; Cox subsequently traded its share in the then new cable system (today's Buckeye Broadband) in Toledo, Ohio, to the Post-Gazette's parent company Block Communications, which is based in Toledo. [11] [12] The station has been the longest running NBC affiliate under Cox's ownership, especially after sister stations WSOC-TV in Charlotte and WSB-TV in Atlanta switched their affiliations to ABC in 1978 and 1980, respectively. In 1970, WIIC made Pittsburgh broadcasting history when Eleanor Schano became the first woman to anchor a newscast solo. Schano also hosted a weekly 30-minute public affairs program called Face to Face.

Around 1975, Channel 11 branded itself as "e11even". Around 1977, WIIC used the "11 Alive" moniker (which had become popularized by fellow NBC affiliate WXIA-TV in Atlanta and WPIX in New York City). WIIC carried the Operation Prime Time package in 1979. [13]

As WPXI (1981–present)

WPXI's current studios from Interstate 279 northbound. WPXIstudios.png
WPXI's current studios from Interstate 279 northbound.

On April 20, 1981, the station's call sign was changed to WPXI (for "Pittsburgh 11", with "XI" being the Roman numeral for 11). [14] Although the station has officially never had the "-TV" suffix since adopting the WPXI call sign, the station has on occasion been marketed as "WPXI-TV". The WIIC calls in Pittsburgh were later used by an unrelated low-power independent station that ran a music video format (that station is currently a Rev'n affiliate).

WPXI logo, 1996-2004. Former sister station WTOV-TV still uses a variation of this logo. WPXI Logo Pre-04.png
WPXI logo, 1996–2004. Former sister station WTOV-TV still uses a variation of this logo.

WPXI joined the syndicated MGM/UA Premiere Network, with the November 10, 1984, showing of Clash of the Titans . [15]

WPXI also televised the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon as the "Love Network" affiliate of the annual fundraiser for the Pittsburgh market, until the Muscular Dystrophy Association decided to move the event from syndication to ABC (and locally to WTAE) as the MDA Show of Strength in 2013; the show ended the next year. The local portion of the telethon continued to be hosted by Bill Cardille until 2012.

In 2000, Cox Enterprises purchased WTOV in Steubenville, Ohio, and WJAC-TV in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, from Sunrise Television. Those stations—which are also NBC affiliates—often appear in channel lineups for the same viewers that watch WPXI, either by over-the-air signal or via cable provider, and due to the proximity of the three stations to each other (as well as the common affiliation with NBC), were occasionally marketed together as a result. Cox changed the stations' on-air appearances to match WPXI's look, despite WPXI changing its own look in 2004. WTOV still used WPXI's former look until October 2010, and WJAC-TV adopted WPXI's current design in October 2011.

Over the Labor Day weekend of 2007, WPXI began relocating from its longtime studios at Television Hill in Pittsburgh's Fineview neighborhood after 50 years, to a new studio facility in the city's Summer Hill neighborhood near the Parkway North. The station's transmitter tower continues to be located in the Fineview neighborhood. [16] WPXI began broadcasting its newscasts from the Summer Hill studio on October 6 beginning with the 6 p.m. newscast. In turn, it also became the first station in the Pittsburgh market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. The station was criticized for technical glitches during the initial week of the new system run but worked through the issues and set the pace of technological advances for WTAE and KDKA to follow. [17] [18] With the switch to HD came a new set, created by FX Group and a new graphics package designed by Hothaus Creative.

In mid-October 2008, WPXI, in collaboration with Cox's longtime partner Internet Broadcasting, launched a redesigned website. By early November 2008, the websites of all of Cox's stations east of the Mississippi River began using the new format pioneered by WPXI; the websites of the company's stations west of the Mississippi River followed suit a month later. In 2011, Cox Media Group's partnership with Internet Broadcasting was dissolved, and the Cox television stations relaunched their website operations in-house. WPXI's and WSOC-TV's websites remained under the stewardship of Internet Broadcasting until late January 2012, when they became the last two stations to have redesigned their websites to match the format of the in-house web operations of their sister stations.

With Cox Media Group's February 23, 2013, sale of WJAC and WTOV (a sale which also included KFOX-TV in El Paso, Texas, and KRXI and KAME-TV in Reno, Nevada) to the Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of local Fox affiliate WPGH-TV and MyNetworkTV affiliate WPMY (which was completed on May 2 [19] ), WPXI became Cox's only NBC-affiliated station until 2019 when the company acquired Northwest Broadcasting stations KYMA-DT in Yuma, Arizona, KIEM-TV in Eureka, California, KPVI-DT in Pocatello, Idaho, and WNBD-LD in Grenada, Mississippi; these four stations were sold in 2022 to Imagicomm Communications, a company affiliated with the cable network INSP, at which time WPXI regained its status as the only Cox-owned NBC affiliate.

WPXI currently uses the number 11 drawn into a circle, which debuted in 1987. The "11" symbol is colored gold, while the box around it is dark blue. WPXI previously used the NBC Peacock in its logo, which was copied by sister stations WTOV and WJAC and is still used by WTOV, but revamped its own look in October 2004. WPXI's current look uses the circle 11 logo with a stylized "WPXI" below it.

On September 2, 2013, WPXI expanded its noon news to an hour, becoming Pittsburgh's first hour-long noon newscast. [20]

Sale to Apollo Global Management

On July 24, 2018, WPXI parent Cox Enterprises announced that it was "exploring strategic options" for Cox Media Group's television stations, which the company said could involve "partnering or merging these stations into a larger TV company." [21] Cox Media Group's president, Kim Guthrie, subsequently clarified to trade publication Radio & Television Business Report that the company was solely seeking "a merger or partnership" and not an outright sale of the television stations. [22] [21]

In February 2019, it was announced that Apollo Global Management would acquire Cox Media Group and Northwest Broadcasting's stations. [23] [24] Although the group planned to operate under the name Terrier Media, it was later announced in June 2019 that Apollo would also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses, and retain the Cox Media Group name. [25] The sale was completed on December 17, 2019. [26]

In January 2024, it was reported that Apollo may purchase Paramount Global, parent of KDKA-TV & WPKD-TV. It is not known if Cox as a whole would be divested in such a deal or if WPXI would be divested; Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group are the most likely buyers due to existing deals involving WPXI (though the latter would require either WPGH-TV or WPNT to be divested, likely to one of Sinclair's sidecars such as Cunningham Broadcasting and Deerfield Media with their intellectual property moved to a digital subchannel of WPXI), with E. W. Scripps Company (owners of WINP-TV) or Gray Television also likely possibilities. [27]

Programming

Local programming

From 1963 to 1983, the station produced and broadcast Chiller Theater, a late Saturday evening horror film show hosted by Bill Cardille, or as he was referred to, "Chilly Billy." The show originally had Cardille as a solo host. In the 1970s, a cast of characters was added, and the setting was changed from a laboratory to a castle. Cardille would introduce the film being shown, as well as perform skits during breaks in the film. Cardille became well known for hosting the show and the shows themselves became part of local yore. The final program aired on January 1, 1984. Cardille remained on-air at WPXI through the early-to-mid-1990s as the weekday morning and noon weather forecaster. Cardille remained in Pittsburgh as midday personality on WJAS radio until the station format changed to talk radio in 2014; Cardille died in 2016.

The show was part of a trend during the 1960s and 1970s for television stations to produce local programming. Local stations often created their own children's shows as well. Horror theater shows, such as Shock Theatre, hosted by Ghoulardi and Big Chuck & Little John in Cleveland, as well as Chiller Theater, were not only easy to produce, but popular with the local audience.

From 1966 to 1972, WIIC had a Bandstand -type show on Saturday afternoons. Come Alive was originally sponsored by Pepsi and hosted by KQV disc jockey Chuck Brinkman. Later, WIXZ DJ Terry Lee would take over as host. The show featured teens dancing to current hit records, a weekly Top 10 countdown and appearances by local bands.

From the earliest days of the station through 1973, WIIC produced a weekly live professional wrestling show. Studio Wrestling, independent of the National Wrestling Alliance, which aired on Saturday evenings and drew strong ratings. Mal Alberts was the original host, but Cardille took over after a few years and handled the rest of the show's run. It started as a one-hour show, but was then expanded to 90 minutes because of its popularity. The show marked the earliest appearances of Bruno Sammartino, who moved to Pittsburgh from Italy as a teenager and resided in the area until his death in 2018. Studio Wrestling was run by Toots Mondt, who co-owned NWA member Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the predecessor to the present-day WWE) with Vince McMahon Sr. McMahon promptly signed Sammartino to the CWC and where Sammartino would eventually become a two-time WWWF Champion for a combined record of 11 years. WIIC/WPXI has not produced its own wrestling program since Studio Wrestling, although it has aired various WWF/WWE shows through its affiliation with NBC in the years since.

WIIC also produced a daily afternoon game show, Give It a Whirl, from 1965 to 1967. Steve Rizen of KQV radio hosted the show, which had contestants spinning a wheel to determine what prizes they could win. Local musician Dom Trimarkie was part of the show, providing material for the "Mystery Tunes" segment.

In regards to children's programming, WIIC produced Cartoon Colorama, which aired older cartoons produced in color (hence the name), hosted by Willie the Duck, a hand-puppet with a Donald Duck type of voice who spoke to off-camera announcer Don Riggs (who served as Willie's comedy foil) in between the cartoons. The show had been previously hosted by a character called "Captain Jim", who had hosted one of WIIC's best-remembered children's programs: Cap'n Jim's Popeye Club, built around Popeye cartoons. The Captain was briefly played at the beginning by the little-known Jim Saunders, and from 1959 on by Ted Eckman. The station also aired a local version of The Mickey Mouse Club during the 1960s, which was hosted by By Williams.

Since 2022, WPXI has partnered with Nexstar Media Group on state governmental public affairs programming airing throughout the state, with programming airing on WPXI and (outside of Pittsburgh) on Nexstar owned or operated stations within Pennsylvania. As the Pittsburgh DMA is both the only market in Pennsylvania where Cox owns a station as well as the only market where Nexstar does not own or operate a station, the deal has no overlap between the two companies. [28]

Current

  • A Star Spangled Salute – Annual coverage of Pittsburgh's July 4 fireworks ceremony launched to the west from Ohio River barges, sponsored by the City of Pittsburgh, with a soundtrack compiled by KDKA (AM).
  • The Black and Gold Zone – extended Steelers coverage during NFL season
  • Our Region's Business – public-affairs program
  • The Final Word – sports talk show
  • Chiller Theater – late-night horror and science fiction movie program [29]

Past/former

Sports programming

In 1970, when the Pittsburgh Steelers moved to the American Football Conference after the AFL-NFL merger, channel 11 became the station of record for the team (as NBC held the broadcast rights to AFC games then); this partnership continued through 1997 (after that season, CBS took over the AFC broadcast rights, and most games moved to CBS O&O KDKA-TV; channel 2 had previously served as the default home station from 1962 to 1969). Even though it aired most of the games from the Steelers' glory years of the 1970s—typically the highest-rated television programs in the market during that time—channel 11 stayed in the ratings basement. Today, Steelers games are shown on WPXI when they are featured on NBC's Sunday Night Football ; in addition, the station has aired three of its Super Bowl victories (IX, XIII and XLIII) and its appearance in Super Bowl XXX.

Channel 11 also aired most Pittsburgh Pirates games that were part of NBC's Major League Baseball broadcast contract from its sign-on until 1989; this included the team's 1960 and 1971 World Series victories.

In addition, WPXI served as the secondary station for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they had carried games that were part of NBC's National Hockey League broadcast contract from the 2005–06 NHL season to the 2020–21 season; this included the team's 2009, 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup championship victories.

Syndicated programming

Since its sign-on in 1957, WIIC, and later WPXI, has aired a mix of syndicated first-run shows, off-network reruns, and afternoon movies throughout its history, although by the 1980s the schedule would become less dependent on most of this product in favor of more talk fare and an expanding newscast. WPXI acquired the rights to then-King World (now CBS Media Ventures)-distributed syndicated game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune from CBS-owned KDKA-TV in 1988. In the late 1990s, WPXI was known as one of the "Big 3" stations in the Pittsburgh area to air popular tabloid talk shows Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones in their late morning and afternoon daytime lineup. Today, WPXI's syndicated programming focuses on hard-hitting news and lifestyle platforms.

In September 2018, WPXI acquired The Wendy Williams Show from WPGH-TV after going back and forth at its 10 a.m. time slot on the station since its 2009 debut. The show aired at 11 a.m. until its 2022 cancellation and being replaced in the timeslot by the new syndicated talk show Sherri , serving as a lead-in to the midday newscast.

Newscasts

WPXI broadcasts 42 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6+1⁄2 hours each weekday, four hours on Saturdays and 5+1⁄2 hours on Sundays).

Despite its early newspaper heritage with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (which would later partner with KDKA-TV), channel 11 struggled in the local ratings due to the dominance of KDKA-TV, which unlike channel 11 and WTAE-TV was locally owned by Westinghouse as well as channel 2's eight-year head start on the market before channel 11 signed on. WTAE-TV would become competitive with KDKA-TV during the 1970s due to an investment in its news department by owner Hearst Television, leaving WIIC-TV in a distant third place in the ratings behind KDKA-TV and WTAE-TV during much of the decade. This coincided with much of the period where NBC also struggled in the ratings. The station's ratings were so bad that Cox was unable to switch the station's affiliation to ABC like it did with sister stations WSB-TV and WSOC-TV in 1978, as Hearst Television had developed a solid affiliate relationship with ABC, thus WTAE-TV was one of its strongest affiliates and unwilling to exchange networks. It could also be argued that if not for sports coverage like the Steeler dynasty of the 1970s and the Pirates in the playoffs airing via NBC, WIIC-TV's ratings could have even been below PBS member station WQED (during the peak era of locally recorded Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ) and lowly independent WPGH-TV, years before Fox's existence.

Following the change in callsigns to WPXI in 1981, Cox began to follow WTAE-TV's lead and invest heavily in its news department. Upon adopting its current logo in 1987, WPXI started using the famous "Move Closer to Your World" theme by Al Ham that was popularized by ABC O&O WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, even adopting that station's fast-paced video montage (but not the Action News branding, due to it being used by WTAE-TV), eventually commissioning a modernized version of the theme used during the 1990s. The changes, combined with Westinghouse absorbing CBS and standardizing KDKA-TV along the lines of its new CBS O&O sister stations (and subsequent less emphasis on local programming), finally saw WPXI reach parity with KDKA-TV and WTAE-TV during the 1990s. Nowadays in addition to being in a dead heat for number one in local news ratings, WPXI is currently one of NBC's strongest major-market affiliates overcoming any lags due to the station's delays in signing on in its early years and despite the fluctuating strength of network programming. Over the past decade, Pittsburgh has been a perennially competitive market for local news, with news ratings usually differing by less than a full ratings point.

WPXI was the first station to offer a 5:30 p.m. newscast in Pittsburgh from 1981 to 1984 (titled 5:30 Live); it was then revived in 1987 with the name Channel 11 News First Edition. It was also the first station to offer a 5 p.m. newscast in the early 1990s, titled Channel 11 News First at 5. WPXI dropped NBC's Saturday morning cartoons in September 1990 in favor of a running a newscast airing from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The success of the weekend morning newscast prompted NBC network officials to extend the Today show to weekends. WPXI, however, has since scaled back the length of its weekend morning newscasts. Pittsburgh native Jodi Applegate co-anchored NBC's Weekend Today , but was never seen locally due to WPXI's weekend morning newscasts. WPXI added Weekend Today in September 2012.

On January 12, 2006, Sinclair Broadcast Group (owner of Fox affiliate WPGH-TV) and WPXI entered into a news share agreement allowing channel 11 to take over production of WPGH's 10 p.m. newscast. WPXI began producing a 10 p.m. newscast for that station (titled Channel 11 News on Fox 53 at Ten) on January 30, 2006, two weeks after WPGH shut down its in-house news department due to corporate cutbacks made by Sinclair at its news-producing stations. All of WPGH's news staff, except for sportscaster Alby Oxenreiter, were laid off. The program runs for 45 minutes on Sunday through Friday nights, and for 30 minutes on Saturdays; a sports highlight show titled Ox on Fox Sports Extra (hosted by Oxenreiter) fills the remaining 15 minutes of the newscast Sunday through Fridays. As part of WPXI's contract with Sinclair, WPGH is permitted to air Sinclair's must-run programming, but must air them after the WPXI-produced newscast with a brief disclaimer stating that the editorials are from Sinclair and not WPXI; as a result, WPGH does not air Sinclair's must-runs, though it does air other political programming from Sinclair in prime time during election years. [30] WPXI also produces a 6:30 p.m. newscast for WPGH, which launched on March 14, 2022. [31]

Since dropping "Move Closer to Your World" in the late 1990s, WPXI is known to commission its own theme music from various composers. It has commissioned "Total Coverage" (its previous package), and after WPXI moved to its new Summer Hill television building, it started using "The Tower V.2", ending the "NBC Collection" altogether. WPXI dropped "The Tower V.2" in 2014 and replaced it with a new special news theme, which lasted until January 2024.

Pittsburgh Cable News Channel

The station went into cable television on January 1, 1994, with the launch of the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC). PCNC produced the first 10 p.m. newscast in the Pittsburgh market. The final installment of PCNC's 10 p.m. newscast aired on January 26, 2006, as WPXI took over production of WPGH-TV's 10 p.m. newscast. Comcast (Xfinity) announced in early 2020 that it would drop PCNC from its line up, greatly reducing the viewing audience. WPXI added PCNC to its digital subchannel lineup in early March 2023. [32]

Ratings

Pittsburgh is one of the most competitive markets in the country for local news and viewers benefit by getting quality newscasts from three strong stations. [33] More recently, however, WPXI has had an increase in most dayparts, although it continues to maintain a tie with KDKA-TV in the market for daytime news, as of the May 2009 Nielsen ratings period. Also during this period, WPXI had in increase during the morning hours and the WPXI-produced 10 p.m. news remained in first place. From 1997 to 1999, WPXI led #1 ahead of WTAE-TV and KDKA-TV in viewership for the 5 p.m. newscast due to lead-in by early fringe talk show, The Jerry Springer Show at 4 p.m. As of May 2010, WPXI has a strong lead with viewers in the 5–6 a.m. and 10 p.m. timeslots. However, WPXI had the least-watched newscasts in Pittsburgh at noon, 4, 5, 6, and 11 p.m. (with KDKA-TV being the highest watched during those timeslots, except for WTAE-TV which was the leader at 11 p.m. as of the February 2013 ratings period). [34]

Notable current on-air staff

Notable former on-air staff

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WPXI [35]
Channel Res. Aspect Short nameProgramming
11.1 1080i 16:9 WPXI-HD NBC
11.2 480i Me-TV MeTV
11.3LAFF TV Laff
11.4PCNC PCNC
11.5Blank
11.6Blank

WPXI was the first station in Pittsburgh to make use of additional programming on its digital channels. On June 21, 2007, WPXI began carrying programming from NBC Weather Plus on digital subchannel 11.2. [36] The service, branded as WPXI 11 Weather Plus, offered local and national weather information 24 hours a day. Locally, WPXI's Scott Harbaugh served as the main meteorologist on the station's Weather Plus service.

WPXI added an airwave digital channel on 11.3 on October 15, 2007, when it began an affiliation with Retro Television Network. [37] Sister stations WJAC-TV and WTOV-TV also began offering RTV programming on their subchannels. Following the shutdown of NBC Weather Plus in December 2008, WPXI moved RTV to 11.2 while the 11.3 subchannel went dark. On June 13, 2011, WPXI replaced RTV with competing classic television network Me-TV. [38]

While all three Pittsburgh news stations air news video on its websites with WTAE even airing full newscasts on its website, WPXI was the first station in the Pittsburgh market to have over-the-top content available on a streaming service, having its own dedicated channel on Roku since 2014. If someone within the WPXI viewing area orders a Roku Player, the WPXI News app is automatically installed on the player. The WPXI-Roku partnership is part of a larger partnership between Roku and Cox-owned stations. WPXI was the only station in Pittsburgh with such a service until KDKA-TV launched CBSN Pittsburgh as part of CBS News on March 5, 2020. [39]

On April 15, 2015, WPXI became a charter affiliate of Laff on channel 11.3, bringing 11.3 live again for the first time since NBC Weather Plus shut down. [40]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WPXI shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 11, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 48. [41] One of the station's last programs it aired on its analog signal was Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, which saw the Pittsburgh Penguins clinch their third Stanley Cup less than an hour and a half before WPXI shut down its analog signal. WPKD-TV currently operates its digital signal on WPXI's former analog position.

Translators

In July 2009, the station applied with the FCC to operate three repeater signals: channel 21 in Derry Township (which was not used and the permit has expired), channel 23 in Uniontown, and channel 33 in New Castle. [42] The signal in Derry Township was expected to cover all of Westmoreland County, while the Uniontown signal could penetrate into the Pittsburgh suburb of McKeesport. The New Castle signal partially goes into Youngstown, Ohio (to which New Castle is much closer despite being part of the Pittsburgh DMA), and serves as a secondary NBC affiliate for the Youngstown television market, which is primarily served by WFMJ-TV (and in some parts with Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC), while giving the Youngstown market an outlet for MeTV and a secondary outlet for Laff alongside that market's primary affiliate WYFX-LD. Digital television receivers display the virtual channels of its main signal and its three repeaters as its former VHF analog channel 11.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPGH-TV</span> Fox affiliate in Pittsburgh

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPHL-TV</span> CW TV station in Philadelphia

WPHL-TV is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW Television Network. The station also maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV. Owned and operated by The CW's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, WPHL-TV has studios in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia; it maintains a channel sharing agreement with Vineland, New Jersey–licensed Univision station WUVP-DT, under which the two stations transmit using WPHL-TV's spectrum from a tower in the Roxborough antenna farm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WTOV-TV</span> NBC/Fox affiliate in Steubenville, Ohio

WTOV-TV is a television station licensed to Steubenville, Ohio, United States, serving the Wheeling, West Virginia–Steubenville, Ohio market as an affiliate of NBC and Fox. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Burr Avenue in Mingo Junction, Ohio.

KRXI-TV is a television station in Reno, Nevada, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to primary sports-formatted independent station and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate KNSN-TV and NBC affiliate KRNV-DT through separate joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA). However, Sinclair effectively owns KRNV as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. The three stations share studios on Vassar Street in Reno; KRXI-TV's transmitter is located on Peavine Peak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WFMJ-TV</span> NBC affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio

WFMJ-TV is a television station in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW. The station is locally owned by the Maag family. WFMJ-TV's studios are located on West Boardman Street in downtown Youngstown, and its transmitter is based in the city's Lansingville neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WYTV</span> ABC/MyNetworkTV affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio

WYTV is a television station in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Vaughan Media, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of CBS affiliate WKBN-TV and low-power Fox affiliate WYFX-LD, for the provision of certain services. The three stations share studios on Sunset Boulevard in Youngstown's Pleasant Grove neighborhood, where WYTV's transmitter is also located.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WSYX</span> ABC/MyNetworkTV/Fox affiliate in Columbus, Ohio

WSYX is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to TBD station WTTE and Chillicothe-licensed CW affiliate WWHO under separate local marketing agreements (LMAs). However, Sinclair effectively owns WTTE as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. The three stations share studios on Dublin Road in Grandview Heights ; WSYX's transmitter is located in the Franklinton section of Columbus.

WJAC-TV is a television station licensed to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Johnstown–Altoona–State College market as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Johnstown-licensed Fox affiliate WWCP-TV, channel 8 and Altoona-licensed ABC affiliate WATM-TV, channel 23 under a time brokerage agreement (TBA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWCP-TV</span> Fox affiliate in Johnstown, Pennsylvania

WWCP-TV is a television station licensed to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Johnstown–Altoona–State College market. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which provides certain services to Altoona-licensed ABC affiliate WATM-TV under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Palm Television, L.P. Both stations, in turn, are operated under a time brokerage agreement (TBA) by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of Johnstown-licensed dual NBC/CW+ affiliate WJAC-TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WATM-TV</span> ABC affiliate in Altoona, Pennsylvania

WATM-TV is a television station licensed to Altoona, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Johnstown–Altoona–State College market. It is owned by Palm Television, L.P., which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Cunningham Broadcasting, owner of Johnstown-licensed Fox affiliate WWCP-TV, for the provision of certain services. Both stations, in turn, are operated under a time brokerage agreement (TBA) by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of Johnstown-licensed dual NBC/CW+ affiliate WJAC-TV.

William Robert Cardille, also known as "Chilly Billy", was an American broadcast personality from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was well known to regional viewers as a late-night horror host, but is perhaps more widely remembered for his appearance in George A. Romero's landmark zombie film Night of the Living Dead (1968), portraying a fictional version of himself; he also appeared as himself in the 1990 remake.

Chiller Theatre, or Chiller Theater, was a late-night horror and science fiction movie program on WIIC/WPXI, Channel 11, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It aired from September 14, 1963 to January 1, 1984. It was hosted by Bill Cardille, known to fans as "Chilly Billy". It was a Saturday night tradition for two generations of Pittsburghers. Two films were shown, one starting at 11:30 p.m. and the second starting at about 1:00 a.m. In between films, and at random times during the films, breaks were taken for skits such as reports from the "PSS"; in these skits, Bill Cardille would go into another part of the WIIC studios and pretend he was broadcasting from the (nonexistent) Pittsburgh Subway System. Other characters included Captain Bad, Maurice the Matchmaker, and Mr. Magnificent. Cardille and WIIC publicist Robert Willis wrote the skits, followed by staff director/producer Michael Styer and sometimes Channel 11 staffers were enlisted to play bit parts. At the end of the show, Cardille would sit on a stool and banter with the studio crew.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WPXI". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ "History Tidbit". February 27, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Pittsburgh Ch. 11 Applicants Merge" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. June 6, 1955. p. 54.
  4. ↑ "Pittsburgh Ch. 11 Grantee To Be CBS-TV Primary Outlet" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. June 20, 1955. pp. 89, 90.
  5. ↑ "Original Pittsburgh Allocations". February 6, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Hearing Examiner Backs FCC On Pittsburgh Ch. 11 Grant" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. July 9, 1956. p. 56.
  7. ↑ "WIIC-TV Pittsburgh Joins NBC-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. April 1, 1957. p. 7.
  8. ↑ "NBC buys WJAS Pittsburgh" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. August 12, 1957. p. 9.
  9. ↑ "Changing Hands: WIIC (TV) Pittsburgh, PA" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. November 4, 1957. p. 80.
  10. ↑ Indiana Evening Gazette (Indiana, Pennsylvania): p. 12. November 1, 1957.
  11. ↑ "A banner week in station sales." Broadcasting, September 7, 1964, pg. 54. [ permanent dead link ]
  12. ↑ "Cox buy of WIIC (TV) approved." Broadcasting, November 23, 1964, pp. 64-65. [ permanent dead link ] [ permanent dead link ]
  13. ↑ "'Rebels' Continues Kent Family Saga". The Pittsburgh Press. May 13, 1979. p. TV5. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  14. ↑ ""In Brief." Broadcasting, April 20, 1981, pg. 129" (PDF).
  15. ↑ Farber, Stephen (October 23, 1984). "Film Studio's New Approach to TV". New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  16. ↑ LaRussa, Tony (July 26, 2007). "WPXI tunes in to Summer Hill folks". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  17. ↑ Owen, Rob (September 28, 2007). "Tuned In: WPXI moves to sleek, new digs". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  18. ↑ "TUNED IN JOURNAL: WPXI's major malfunctions". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. October 9, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Sinclair Broadcast Group". Archived from the original on June 10, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  20. ↑ Eck, Kevin (August 29, 2013). "WPXI Expands Noon News". AdWeek. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  21. 1 2 Simon, Mollie (July 24, 2018). "Cox Enterprises looks to sell its TV stations". Atlanta Business Chronicle . Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  22. ↑ Jacobson, Adam (July 24, 2018). "Cox On The Block: TV 'Merger or Partnership' Confirmed". Radio & Television Business Report. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  23. ↑ "Apollo Global Management Acquires Cox's Television Stations Plus Radio & Newspapers In Dayton". RadioInsight. February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  24. ↑ Jessell, Harry A. (March 6, 2019). "Cox TV Valued At $3.1 Billion In Apollo Acquisition". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  25. ↑ Jacobson, Adam (June 26, 2019). "It's Official: Cox Radio, Gamut, CoxReps Going To Apollo". Radio & Television Business Report. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  26. ↑ Venta, Lance (December 17, 2019). "Apollo Global Management Closes On Its Acquisition Of Cox Media Group". RadioInsight. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  27. ↑ "Apollo is Among Private Equity Firms Considering a Redstone Buyout". Bloomberg. January 19, 2024.
  28. ↑ "Nexstar Media Inc. To Host Exclusive Statewide Live Telecast of Debate Between the Candidates for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania on October 25 at 8 P.M. ET". October 11, 2022.
  29. ↑ Owen, Rob (September 5, 2023). "TV Talk: WPXI-TV revives 'Chiller Theater'". TribLIVE.com.
  30. ↑ Farhi, Paul (April 3, 2018). "Sinclair's sound-alike anchors draw criticism for their 'fake news' promos". Post-Gazette . Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  31. ↑ "TV Talk: WPGH to add evening newscast produced by WPXI". March 1, 2022.
  32. ↑ Owen, Rob (March 14, 2023). "TV Talk". TribLive.com. Trib Total Media. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  33. ↑ Marszalek, Diana (February 12, 2013). "Pittsburgh TV News Is A Tight 3-Way Race". TVNewsCheck . Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  34. ↑ Owen, Rob (March 5, 2010). "Sweeps show how stations evolved". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Archived from the original on August 4, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  35. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for WPXI". www.rabbitears.info.
  36. ↑ Owen, Rob (June 17, 2005). "Tuned In: TV news pranksters try to 'bust' WPXI". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  37. ↑ "WPXI to air old shows as Retro TV affiliate". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. August 19, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  38. ↑ "ME-TV to be on WPXI digital channel". Archived from the original on April 8, 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  39. ↑ Sciullo, Maria (March 5, 2020). "You can now watch KDKA news live on your phone, computer or streaming TV". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  40. ↑ Lafayette, Jon (March 13, 2015). "Exclusive: Cox Gets Joke And Gives Viewers LAFF". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  41. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  42. ↑ "TV Query Results -- Video Division (FCC) USA".
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