WPMT
Encyclopedia
WPMT, also known as channel 43 or Fox 43, is a Fox
-affiliated television station
licensed to York, Pennsylvania
. Owned by the Tribune Company
, the station has studios in Spring Garden, Pennsylvania (although its mailing address is York), and its transmitter is located in Hallam, Pennsylvania
. Syndicated programming on WPMT includes: Seinfeld
, Family Guy
, The Steve Wilkos Show
, and America's Funniest Home Videos
.
along with WSBA
-AM 910. It was one of the first commercially-licensed UHF stations in the United States
, hitting the airwaves just over three months after KPTV
in Portland, Oregon
. However, that station moved to VHF
channel 12 a few years after taking to the air. This makes WPMT the second-oldest continuously broadcasting UHF station in the country only behind WSBT-TV
in South Bend, Indiana
(although WSBT moved from its original channel 34 to channel 22 in the late 1950s, making WPMT the oldest UHF station that broadcasts continuously on the same virtual channel number to this day).
WSBA was originally an ABC
affiliate. However, in 1961, the station switched to CBS
and joined the Keystone Network which comprised WHP-TV
in Harrisburg
and WLYH-TV
in Lebanon
. The three stations provided a strong combined signal with about 55% overlap. Initially, WHP-TV, WLYH and WSBA aired the same programming. By the late 60's, while all three stations ran most of the CBS Programming Schedule, WHP-TV ran different local programming during non-network hours, while WLYH and WSBA continued to simulcast nearly all the broadcast day. WHP ran CBS shows that WSBA and WLYH preempted. These two stations ran programming that WHP preempted. All three ran most of the CBS lineup duplicating over 3/4 of the network's programs. In May of 1983, Susquehanna sold WSBA-TV to Idaho
-based Mohawk Broadcasting, who changed its calls to the current WPMT. The station signed off in August and returned to the air in September as an independent station
--the first in the state outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It was a typical UHF independent airing cartoons, sitcoms, movies, dramas, sports, and westerns.
On October 6, 1986 after Mohawk sold the station to Renaissance Broadcasting
, it became one of the charter affiliates of the newly-launched Fox network. In the mid-1990s, WPMT featured original kids programming hosted by the station's mascot, a clown named Pete McTee (a play on the station's call letters). In 1997, Renaissance merged with Tribune Broadcasting, WPMT's present owner. WPMT ended programming on its analog signal, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States
, and remained on its current digital channel 47 using PSIP
to display their virtual channel
as 43. Beginning on January 1, 2011, WPMT Digital Subchannel DT-2 began running Antenna TV
running classic sitcoms and old movies from the Columbia Pictures library.
The station's newscasts were seen in a fictional sense in the 2010 film Unstoppable
, which is set in the station's market area.
affiliates.
On October 26, 2009, WPMT launched a 24-hour
cable news
television channel, known as "Fox 43 News 24/7", available on Blue Ridge
digital channel 126, Comcast
digital channel 244, and on their second digital sub-channel. Programming consists of simulcasts and rebroadcasts of local news from the main channel. The station launched a weeknight 11 o'clock show on January 11, 2010. With this addition, WPMT now programs 32 hours of local news per week.
On January 15, 2011, WPMT became the first station in Central Pennsylvania and the last Tribune-owned Fox-affiliated station to broadcast local news in high definition. In mid-December 2010, rival station, WGAL, had become the first station in the market to offer local newscasts in 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. Although not truly high definition, the broadcasts were matched to the wider aspect ratio of HD television screens. WGAL switched to full HD on August 29, 2011.
Fox 43 Weather Team
Sports team
Reporters
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
licensed to York, Pennsylvania
York, Pennsylvania
York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...
. Owned by the Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
, the station has studios in Spring Garden, Pennsylvania (although its mailing address is York), and its transmitter is located in Hallam, Pennsylvania
Hallam, Pennsylvania
Hallam is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,673 at the 2010 census.-History:Before 1736, all parts of Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna River, including present-day Hallam Borough and the surrounding Hellam Township, were land of the Iroquois.In October...
. Syndicated programming on WPMT includes: Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, The Steve Wilkos Show
The Steve Wilkos Show
The Steve Wilkos Show is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Steve Wilkos. The show debuted on September 10, 2007, two months after Wilkos' departure as director of security on The Jerry Springer Show.-History:...
, and America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents and mishaps...
.
Digital programming
The station's signal is multiplexed.| Subchannel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 43.1 | Main WPMT programming / Fox |
| 43.2 | Antenna TV Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company... |
| 43.3 | Fox 43 News 24/7 |
History
The station began broadcasting in December 1952 as WSBA-TV. It was owned by Susquehanna Radio CorporationSusquehanna Radio Corporation
The Susquehanna Radio Corporation was a media corporation which operated from 1941 to 2006 that was headquartered in York, Pennsylvania. The company was a unit of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff, a conglomerate more widely known for the Pfaltzgraff kitchenware line than its broadcasting pursuits.Some of...
along with WSBA
WSBA (AM)
WSBA is a radio station in York, Pennsylvania. The station used to be owned by Susquehanna Radio until 2005, when it was purchased by Cumulus Media...
-AM 910. It was one of the first commercially-licensed UHF stations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, hitting the airwaves just over three months after KPTV
KPTV
KPTV is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Portland, Oregon market, which includes most of the state of Oregon and portions of Southwest Washington. KPTV is owned by the Meredith Corporation in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate KPDX , with its studios located in Beaverton and...
in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. However, that station moved to VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
channel 12 a few years after taking to the air. This makes WPMT the second-oldest continuously broadcasting UHF station in the country only behind WSBT-TV
WSBT-TV
WSBT-TV, channel 22 is a television station in South Bend, Indiana. WSBT is the flagship television station of Schurz Communications, and is an affiliate of the CBS television network. It's studios are located in Mishawaka. Its transmitter is located in South Bend.-Early broadcasting:WSBT-TV first...
in South Bend, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
(although WSBT moved from its original channel 34 to channel 22 in the late 1950s, making WPMT the oldest UHF station that broadcasts continuously on the same virtual channel number to this day).
WSBA was originally an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate. However, in 1961, the station switched to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and joined the Keystone Network which comprised WHP-TV
WHP-TV
WHP-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for South Central Pennsylvania licensed to Harrisburg. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 21. Its transmitter on a ridge north of Linglestown Road in Susquehanna Township...
in Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
and WLYH-TV
WLYH-TV
WLYH-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for South Central Pennsylvania licensed to Lancaster. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 23 from a transmitter on Butler Road in South Londonderry Township's Timber Hills section. The station can also be seen on Comcast...
in Lebanon
Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Lebanon, formerly known as Steitztown, is a city in and the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,477 at the 2010 census, a 4.2% increase from the 2000 count of 24,461...
. The three stations provided a strong combined signal with about 55% overlap. Initially, WHP-TV, WLYH and WSBA aired the same programming. By the late 60's, while all three stations ran most of the CBS Programming Schedule, WHP-TV ran different local programming during non-network hours, while WLYH and WSBA continued to simulcast nearly all the broadcast day. WHP ran CBS shows that WSBA and WLYH preempted. These two stations ran programming that WHP preempted. All three ran most of the CBS lineup duplicating over 3/4 of the network's programs. In May of 1983, Susquehanna sold WSBA-TV to Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
-based Mohawk Broadcasting, who changed its calls to the current WPMT. The station signed off in August and returned to the air in September as an independent station
Independent station
An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....
--the first in the state outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It was a typical UHF independent airing cartoons, sitcoms, movies, dramas, sports, and westerns.
On October 6, 1986 after Mohawk sold the station to Renaissance Broadcasting
Renaissance Broadcasting
Renaissance Broadcasting, founded in 1982 by Michael Finkelstien, was a company that owned several UHF television stations, it was sold to Tribune Broadcasting in 1997...
, it became one of the charter affiliates of the newly-launched Fox network. In the mid-1990s, WPMT featured original kids programming hosted by the station's mascot, a clown named Pete McTee (a play on the station's call letters). In 1997, Renaissance merged with Tribune Broadcasting, WPMT's present owner. WPMT ended programming on its analog signal, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
, and remained on its current digital channel 47 using PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
to display their virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 43. Beginning on January 1, 2011, WPMT Digital Subchannel DT-2 began running Antenna TV
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
running classic sitcoms and old movies from the Columbia Pictures library.
The station's newscasts were seen in a fictional sense in the 2010 film Unstoppable
Unstoppable (2010 film)
Unstoppable is a 2010 American action thriller film directed by Tony Scott, written by Mark Bomback, and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The film tells the story of a runaway freight train, and the two men who attempt to stop it.The film was released in the United States and Canada on...
, which is set in the station's market area.
News operation
As a CBS affiliate, WSBA-TV simulcast WLYH's local newscasts. This arrangement ended in 1983, when the station became WPMT. Local newscasts would not be found on the station until the debut of Fox 43 News at 10 in 1994. Eventually, this was joined by weekend evening news followed by the addition of a weekday morning show. The weeknight 10 o'clock broadcast competes with CW affiliate WLYH who airs a prime time newscast that is produced by CBS affiliate WHP. On September 4, 2009, WPMT began airing a local sports highlight program called High School Football Frenzy that airs Friday nights at 6:00 during the high school football season. On September 21, 2009, they began airing a weeknight newscast at 6:30 against the national news on the big threeBig Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
affiliates.
On October 26, 2009, WPMT launched a 24-hour
24-hour news cycle
The 24-hour news cycle arrived with the advent of television channels dedicated to news, and brought about a much faster pace of news production with increased demand for stories that can be presented as news, as opposed to the day-by-day pace of the news cycle of printed daily newspapers...
cable news
United States cable news
Cable news refers to television channels devoted to television news broadcasts, with the name deriving from the proliferation of such networks during the 1980s with the advent of cable television. In the United States, early networks included CNN in 1980, Financial News Network in 1981, and CNN2 ...
television channel, known as "Fox 43 News 24/7", available on Blue Ridge
Blue Ridge Communications
Blue Ridge Communications is a regional cable television, Internet and VoIP provider that serves much of the Poconos area and central Pennsylvania. Products available include analog and digital cable television, HD television programming, PenTeleData Broadband Internet service, and Blue Ridge...
digital channel 126, Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
digital channel 244, and on their second digital sub-channel. Programming consists of simulcasts and rebroadcasts of local news from the main channel. The station launched a weeknight 11 o'clock show on January 11, 2010. With this addition, WPMT now programs 32 hours of local news per week.
On January 15, 2011, WPMT became the first station in Central Pennsylvania and the last Tribune-owned Fox-affiliated station to broadcast local news in high definition. In mid-December 2010, rival station, WGAL, had become the first station in the market to offer local newscasts in 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. Although not truly high definition, the broadcasts were matched to the wider aspect ratio of HD television screens. WGAL switched to full HD on August 29, 2011.
Newscast titles
- Newswatch 43 (1970s)
- TeleJournal News (early 1980s-1983)
- Fox 43 News (1994-present)
Station slogans
- It's on Fox 43! (1990–1992; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
- The Early Advantage (1994–1999)
- At Ten It's News. At Eleven It's History. (1999–2007)
- Central Pennsylvania's Fox Station (2010–present)
News team
Anchors- Evan Forrester - weeknights at 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m.; also assistant news director
- Heather Warner - weeknights at 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m.
- Jaime Garland - weekends at 10 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
- Kiersten Mathieu - weekday mornings (5-9 a.m.)
- Courtney Laydon - weekday mornings (5-9 a.m.)
Fox 43 Weather Team
- Jim Buchanan (NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m. - Jeff Robbins - meteorologist; weekday mornings (5-9 a.m.)
- MaryEllen Pann - meteorologist; weekends at 10 p.m.
- Susan Schrack - Fill-in Meteorologist (previously anchor and reporter from 1995-2004)
Sports team
- Todd Sadowski - sports director; weeknights at 10 and 11 p.m.
- Bill Toth - sports anchor; weekends at 10 p.m.
Reporters
- Melanie Gardner - general assignment reporter; also host of PA Marketplace
- Nava Ghalili - multimedia journalist
- Mike Gorsegner - general assignment reporter
- Eric Gemmill - general assignment reporter
- Ashley Palutis - multimedia journalist
- Ashley Singh - multimedia journalist