WPBF

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WPBF
city =
station_
station_slogan = Where You Come First
station_branding = WPBF 25 (general)
WPBF News 25 (newscasts)
analog = 25 (UHF)
digital = 16 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = ABC
AccuWX (on DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = January 1, 1989
location = Tequesta / West Palm Beach, Florida
callsign_meaning = West Palm
Beach, Florida
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Hearst Corporation
(operated by Hearst-Argyle Television)
licensee = WPBF-TV Company
sister_stations =
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = 5,000 kW (analog)
1,000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 455 m (analog)
454 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 51988
coordinates = coord|27|7|18.5|N|80|23|41.3|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wpbf.com/ wpbf.com]

WPBF, channel 25, is the ABC-affiliated television station for West Palm Beach, Florida that is licensed to Tequesta. Its transmitter is located south of Fort Pierce and I-95 in Martin County. Owned by the Hearst Corporation and operated by its publicly-traded television division Hearst-Argyle Television, the station has studios on RCA Boulevard in the Monet section of Palm Beach Gardens. Syndicated programming on WPBF includes "Wheel of Fortune", "Jeopardy!", "Inside Edition", and "Tyra".

History

WPBF first went on the air January 1, 1989 owned by Brenda Skipper and Sylvia Salinas. The original plans called for the station to be an independent. However, in mid-1988, CBS (which was due to lose its longtime Miami affiliate WTVJ to NBC) bought Fox affiliate WCIX (now WFOR-TV). WCIX only provided a Grade B ("rimshot") signal to Fort Lauderdale and Broward County because its transmitter was located farther south than the other Miami stations. CBS persuaded the longtime ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach WPEC to switch to CBS in order to get a city-grade signal in Fort Lauderdale. In the Fall of 1988, ABC made the decision to affiliate with WPBF rather than with former CBS affiliate WTVX. These changes occurred on the day of WPBF's sign on. The station had bought a large inventory of classic sitcoms and cartoons but now had no time to air them. It sold this programming to WTVX a couple of months after signing on when that station shut down its news department.

In 1993, WPBF was sold to Paxson Communications which at the time owned several FM radio stations and a few ABC and CBS affiliates. In 1997, Paxson sold their radio stations and network affiliates (including WPBF) in order to finance their acquisition of stations for the PAX network (now ION Television) with channel 25 going to Hearst Corporation, its current owner. As soon as the transaction was finalized, Hearst handed over control of WPBF to its majority-owned subsidiary, Hearst-Argyle Television. All Hearst-Argyle ABC affiliates, including WPBF, preempted "Saving Private Ryan" in 2004. The station was one of three ABC affiliates in the state of Florida that preempted the movie. WPBF remains the lowest rated network affiliated television station in the West Palm Beach market behind WFLX, WPEC, and WPTV. This can be attributed to WPLG's very strong over the air signal in Palm Beach County and its availability on Comcast cable systems throughout the area.

News operation

Initially, WPBF had a small news department. After being purchased by Paxson Communications, the station added additional newscasts to its schedule. On July 12, 2006, WPBF started airing a weeknight 4 o'clock newscast called "Weather First at 4". While the main intention of this new broadcast was to cover West Palm Beach area weather, news updates and headlines were added after a short time. This production is streamed live on the station's website. WPBF is the only West Palm Beach station to air news weekdnights at 4. On July 17, WPBF added 30 minutes to its weekday morning newscast which then began airing at 5:30. It became a full, two-hour broadcast on January 28, 2008. WPBF debuted a new traffic reporting system on February 14. This included a new traffic segment, "Beat the Traffic". The station launched weekend morning news on March 8. On August 25, WPBF began broadcasting local news at Noon during the week which is also streamed live on its website. The station does not maintain a sports department. WPBF's weather radar is known as "Weather First True View" and is located near its studios. The station offers The AccuWeather Channel on its second digital subchannel and Comcast digital cable channel 208. Known as "Weather First TV", it is also streamed live on the station's website.

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Post-analog shutdown

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf] , WPBF will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 16. [http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101256521&formid=387&fac_num=51998 CDBS Print ] ] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WPBF's virtual channel as 25.

News team

Anchors
*J.P. Hervis - weekday mornings
*Kristin Hoke - weekday mornings
*Lisa Hayward - weekdays at Noon, 4, 5, and 5:30
*Jon Shainman - weeknights at 4, 6, and 11
*Tiffany Kenney - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, and 11
**health reporter
*Bob Kaple - weekend mornings and reporter
*Meredith McDonough - weekend mornings and reporter
*Angela Rozier - weekend evenings and reporter three days a week
*Jim Abath - Sunday evenings and reporter

"WPBF News 25 Weather First Specialists"
*Mike Lyons - Chief seen on weeknights
*Felicia Rodriguez - weekday mornings and Noon
*Eric Burris (AMS Seals of Approval) - weekend mornings
*Kate Wentzel (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - weekend evenings and weather reporter

Reporters
*Marianne Milano - website
*Terri Parker - investigative
*Nathalie Pozo - weekday traffic
*Amanda Salinas
*Lesley Dale
*Rosheka Norman
*Brian Albert
*Cathleen O'Toole

References

External links

* [http://www.wpbf.com/ WPBF-TV/DT]
* [http://www.abc.com/ ABC]
*TVQ|WPBF