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WTCN-CD
CityPalm Beach, Florida
Channels
BrandingWTCN-TV My 15(cable channel)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WTVX,WWHB-CD,WPEC
History
First air date
October 1988(35 years ago)(1988-10)
Former call signs
  • W19AQ (1987–1996)
  • WINQ-LP (1996–2002)
  • WWHB-CA (2002–2003)
  • WTCN-CA (2003–2019)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:19 (UHF, 1988–1999), 43 (UHF, 1999–2012)
  • Digital:50 (UHF, 2009–2012), 43 (UHF, 2012–2019)
  • Translator:53 (UHF)
Call signmeaning
Treasure CoastNetwork
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID70865
ERP15kW
HAAT292.5 m (960 ft)
Transmitter coordinates27°1′32″N80°10′41.9″W/ 27.02556°N 80.178306°W/27.02556; -80.178306
Translator(s)WTVX-DT 34.3 (UHF)Fort Pierce
Links
Public license information
Websitemy15wtcn

WTCN-CD(channel 43) is alow-power,Class A television stationlicensed toPalm Beach, Florida,United States, serving theWest Palm Beacharea as an affiliate ofMyNetworkTV.It is owned bySinclair Broadcast GroupalongsideCBSaffiliateWPEC(channel 12),CWaffiliateWTVX(channel 34), and Class ATBDowned-and-operated stationWWHB-CD(channel 48). The stations share studios on Fairfield Drive inMangonia Park(with a West Palm Beachpostaladdress); WTCN-CD's transmitter is located southwest ofHobe Sound, Florida.

Due to WTCN's low-power status, the station's directional antenna pattern prevents it from reachingVero Beach(to the north) andBoca Raton(to the south). In order to expand the broadcasting radius, WTCN issimulcastinstandard definitionon WTVX's thirddigital subchannel(34.3) from a transmitter southwest ofPalm City.

WTCN-CD brands asMy 15after the cable channel position on most West Palm Beach areacableproviders.

History

[edit]

WTCN began as W19AQ (known on-air as "WAQ" ), a station that began broadcasting as channel 19 in West Palm Beach in October 1988.[2]The original owner was Palm Beach Broadcasting, led by William B. O'Donnell. WAQ had hoped to become anABCaffiliate whenWPECdropped ABC forCBSat the end of 1988,[3]but instead the affiliation went toWPBF.[4]According to theSun-Sentinel,WAQ's initial programming consisted of "morningcartoons(Beverly Hills Teens); old,public domain(and oftensilent)movies(Bachelor in Paradise,The Pickwick Papers); vintage TV series (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.); sports (Notre Dame football,Florida Marlinsbaseball); and music (Hit Video USA,which ran from 1 to 6 a.m.). "[5]The station later carriedHoward Stern's originalsyndicatedtelevision program, and tape-delayed races from the Palm Beach Kennel Club.[6]

The station struggled to pay its bills[7]and after declaringbankruptcyin 1991, thelicensewas transferred from the O'Donnell family's company, Palm Beach Broadcasting, to Main Street TV ofCarle Place, New York.[8]In 1996,Adelphia Cableremoved WAQ from its channel lineup because of "continuing problems with the picture quality", and once again the station filed for bankruptcy.[9][10]By this point the station was airing home shopping programming, old black and white movies, a localbowlingshow, andThe Cliff Dunn Show,which wassimulcaston local radio stationWPBR.[11]The loss of cable caused station revenue to drop from $303,315 in 1995 to only $24,995 in 1996. Station advertising rates dropped from $95 for a 30-second spot to as low as $5.

After losing nearly $7 million in 1996, the station changedcall lettersto WINQ-LP and its studios were moved to the suburb ofLake Park.The station was sold to William B. Turner in 1999 for $875,000 including $175,000 in debt.[12]Martin County businessman Bill Brothers purchased the station for an undisclosed price in 2001.[13]The station then changed its callsign to WWHB-CA and WTCN-CA on August 1, 2002, and January 15, 2003, respectively. In the fall of 2005, CBS/Viacombought WTCN and sister station WWHB-CA from Bill Brothers for $7.7 million.[14]Local operations were then integrated with WTVX at its facility at Beacon Circle in West Palm Beach.[15]However,master controloriginated from the studios ofWBFS-TVandWFOR-TVon Northwest 18th Terrace inDoral(WFOR served as the flagship of the network-owned cluster, dubbed the "CBS South Florida Television Station Group" ).[16]

At some point during the first six months of 2005, it began airingKids' WBprogramming when the area's primaryUPNand secondaryWBaffiliate WTVX stopped airing it. After its purchase by CBS/Viacom, WTCN became affiliated with The WB, its first full network affiliation.[17]Until that point, WTVX had aired programming from that network after UPN prime time.

On January 24, 2006,CBS Corporation(whichsplitfromViacomin December 2005) andTime Warner'sWarner Bros. Entertainment(the division that operated The WB) announced that they would dissolve UPN and The WB, and move some of their programs to a newly created network operated as a joint venture between the companies,The CW Television Network.On the same day, The CW signed a ten-year affiliation agreement with eleven CBS-owned UPN stations, including WTVX. Even without the affiliation deal, that station's full-powered status made it a foregone conclusion that the station would become the CW affiliate for the Gold and Treasure Coasts.

On February 22,News Corporationannounced that it would start up another new broadcast television network called MyNetworkTV. This new network, which would be sister toFox,would be operated byFox Television Stationsand its syndication division20th Television.WTCN would subsequently become one of only two MyNetworkTV affiliates owned by CBS. In 2006, WTCN placed sixth in theNielsen ratingsin the Palm Beachmarketwith 0.4% of the audience.[18]

On February 7, 2007, CBS agreed to sell seven of its smaller-market stations toCerberus Capital Managementfor $185 million. Cerberus formed a new holding company for the stations,Four Points Media Group,which took over the operation of the stations through local marketing agreements in late-June 2007 until the group deal closed on January 10, 2008. At this point in time, local operations of WTVX, WTCN, and WWHB moved to offices on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard.[19]Master control was eventually moved to Four Points' hub facility atKUTVinSalt Lake City, Utah,on February 25, 2008.

On March 20, 2009,Nexstar Broadcasting Grouptook over the management of Four Points under a three-year outsourcing agreement.[20][21]After thedigital transitiondate on June 12, 2009, WTCN began airing on WTVX's previous digital channel (50). At this point, the station's transmitter was relocated to its current location southwest of Hobe Sound.

On September 8, 2011, the Sinclair Broadcast Group announced its intent to purchase Four Points from Cerberus Capital Management for $200 million; Sinclair began managing the stations, including WTCN, under local marketing agreements following antitrust approval.[22]Sinclair subsequently announced its purchase of the entire broadcasting division ofFreedom Communications,including WPEC. As a result, Sinclair would now control three of the six largestEnglish-language network affiliations in West Palm Beach. The deal with Sinclair acquiring Four Points was completed on January 3, 2012.[23]

Although WTVX, WTCN, and WWHB initially retained separate operations from WPEC, they would eventually move into WPEC's studios. On May 24, 2012, the FCC granted WTCN aconstruction permitto air a low-power digital signal on UHF channel 43 (one of its former analog allotments) and become WTCN-CD (with "CD" referring to digital Class A status).[24][25]It is unclear when this will actually sign-on but its proposed 15kWpower will offer market-wide coverage as opposed to the limited broadcast radius of the current analog signal.

The station began airing sports programming from theAmerican Sports Networkpackage of syndicated sports on August 30, 2014.[26]

Subchannels

[edit]

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of WTCN-CD[27]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
43.1 1080i 16:9 WTCN Main WTCN-CD programming /MyNetworkTV
43.2 480i 4:3 WTCNCA2 Antenna TV
43.3 WTCNCA3 TBD(WWHB-CD)
43.4 16:9 WTCNCA4 Dabl
Simulcast of subchannels of another station

See also

[edit]

References

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  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for WTCN-CD".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^"2 South Florida Media Markets Are Heading In Opposite Directions", by David Altaner,Ft. LauderdaleSun-Sentinel,October 30, 1988
  3. ^"Fledgling Television Station Looks To Link With Network" by Ken Bohannon,Miami Herald,August 13, 1988
  4. ^"ABC Shocks Stations Network To Affiliate With Unproven Ch. 25".sun-sentinel.RetrievedOctober 26,2018.
  5. ^"With Nervy Resolve, Tiny New TV Station Hits The Air Monday", by Bill Kelley,Sun-Sentinel,September 15, 1988
  6. ^Never On Sunday No Longer Applies,byCraig Dolch,The Palm Beach Post,July 16, 1990
  7. ^"Troubled Channel 19 Struggling To Find Its Niche" by Amy Driscoll,The Palm Beach Post,January 7, 1990
  8. ^"WAQ-TV Buyers Sue Over Licence Transfer",The Palm Beach Post,January 23, 1991
  9. ^"WAQ is History on Cable", by Bob Betcher,Stuart News,February 29, 1996
  10. ^"WINQ: Low Power, High Hope To Restore Small TV Station", by Marguerite M. Plunkett,The Palm Beach Post,July 19, 1998
  11. ^"WAQ-TV Hanging in There", by Bob Betcher,Stuart News,May 29, 1996
  12. ^"Lake Park Television Station Sold",The Palm Beach Post,May 14, 1999
  13. ^Channel 15 Expanding Signal Reach Into Broward County,by Bob Betcher,Stuart News,July 3, 2001
  14. ^WTCN's Brothers Cashes Out As Viacom Beefs Up Station,by Bob Betcher,Stuart News,April 17, 2005
  15. ^"Tvx34: General Sales Manager".upn34.Archived fromthe originalon October 12, 2003.RetrievedJanuary 12,2022.
  16. ^WTCN Moving To West Palm, Likely Will Become WB Station,by Bob Betcher,Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News,June 26, 2005
  17. ^WTCN To Become Latest WB Affiliate,Fort Pierce (FL) Tribune,August 9, 1999
  18. ^WPTV Wins Ratings Goldby Tom Jicha,South Florida Sun-Sentinel(Fort Lauderdale, FL), March 3, 2006
  19. ^"Contact Us - the CW West Palm | News, Weather and Entertainment".34cwtv.Archived fromthe originalon November 5, 2008.RetrievedJanuary 12,2022.
  20. ^"KUTV Channel 2 under new management - Salt Lake Tribune".Archived fromthe originalon April 7, 2009.RetrievedSeptember 28,2014.
  21. ^"WeAreWestPalm Home Page".wearewestpalm.Archived fromthe originalon August 30, 2009.RetrievedJanuary 12,2022.
  22. ^Sinclair Buys Four Points Media For $200M,TVNewsCheck,September 8, 2011.
  23. ^"Sinclair Closes Four Points Media Acquisition".TVNewsCheck.January 3, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 3,2012.
  24. ^"CDBS Print".
  25. ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 28, 2020.RetrievedMay 24,2012.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  26. ^Minium, Harry (August 27, 2014)."ODU's opener with Hampton to be televised in 66 markets".HamptonRoads.The Virginian-Pilot.RetrievedSeptember 8,2014.
  27. ^RabbitEars TV Query for WTCN-CD
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