WPWR-TV
Encyclopedia
WPWR-TV, channel 50, is a MyNetworkTV
-affiliated television station licensed to Gary, Indiana
, and serving the Chicago, Illinois area. WPWR-TV is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation
, and is a sister station to Fox network
outlet WFLD-TV (channel 32). The two stations share studio facilities in the Chicago Loop
, and WPWR's transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower.
), which was the original applicant for the channel 60 license in 1978, launched WPWR-TV with a large percentage of its broadcast schedule dedicated to a new pay television service called Sportsvision
, which Eychaner had developed in a deal with Chicago White Sox
co-owners Jerry Reinsdorf
and Eddie Einhorn
. For the service, viewers had to pay for a set top converter and subscription fees to watch their favorite sports teams. However, Sportsvision was not a success and moved to cable in January 1983, eventually becoming SportsChannel Chicago
. With Sportsvision gone, Eychaner began running public domain movies and old sitcoms from the early to middle-1950s as well as old cartoons. In 1984, familiar classic sitcoms and newer barter cartoons were mixed in.
WPWR shared the channel 60 frequency with another station, Spanish-language WBBS-TV, owned by Chicago resident Marcelino Miyares, who assisted Eychaner in completing the construction of channel 60. WBBS featured an array of Spanish-language programs, including telenovela
s,movies, as well as locally-produced shows, such as, the popular music video show, Imagen, hosted by the Chicago Spanish-language television personality (and now media executive) Rey Mena and co-host Vivianne Plazas. One of WBBS's notable events occurred in 1984, when the station introduced the teen group Menudo
(which included a young Ricky Martin
), to Chicago's Spanish audiences. WBBS programmed channel 60 from 7:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. seven days a week, with WPWR broadcasting the rest of the time.
Another twist in this arrangement was that although WBBS broadcast from the same transmitter, WBBS-TV was actually licensed to West Chicago
while WPWR-TV, as per the FCC
's channel assignment table, was licensed to Aurora
.
The 1985 announcement of WSNS-TV
's affiliating with the Spanish International Network (the forerunner to today's Univision
) caused WBBS to end weekday programming at the end of 1985, with the exception on weekends when it ran Spanish movies into 1986.
Meanwhile, Eychaner spent $1.5 million for WGMI, a channel 56 construction permit licensed to Gary that had been held by a group of Indiana businessmen since 1976, but was never built. Then, in 1985, Eychaner acquired the license of WCAE, a non-commercial station on channel 50 in St. John, Indiana
. He successfully petitioned the FCC to move the non-commercial allocation from 50 to 56, and channel 56 became WYIN
(now licensed to Gary). The transmitter for channel 56 could not be moved to a downtown Chicago site because of the presence of channel 60 there; FCC anti-interference regulations for analog UHF stations effectively required stations broadcasting from nearby sites to be spaced at least six channels apart. Eychaner then proceeded to rebuild channel 50 as a commercial station, with plans to move WPWR's programming there.
In early 1986, Eychaner bought WBBS's share of channel 60 for $11 million, ending the split-channel arrangement. A year later, Eychaner sold channel 60 to the Home Shopping Network
for $25 million. The channel switch occurred on January 18, 1987: HSN changed channel 60's call letters to WEHS (it is now WXFT) and at the same time, WPWR moved to channel 50. WPWR's first program on its new frequency was an episode of the anthology series Night Gallery
.
As time went on, WPWR began acquiring many cartoons, more recent off-network sitcoms, drama shows, movies, and first-run syndicated shows, including Star Trek: The Next Generation
in 1987 and War of the Worlds
in 1988. At least one Star Trek
spinoff would air on WPWR from that time until June 2005, when the last network episode of Star Trek: Enterprise
was broadcast. In January 1995, WPWR became a charter UPN affiliate and continued adding syndicated programming to its lineup.
In July 2002, the Chicago Sun-Times
reported that Newsweb Corporation sold WPWR to the News Corporation for $425 million -- a handsome return on Eychaner's original investment. The sale closed on August 21, 2002. As a result of this transaction, Fox now owned UPN's three largest affiliates. It already owned WWOR-TV
in New York City
and KCOP-TV
in Los Angeles
as a result of buying most of the television holdings of Chris-Craft Industries
the previous year. Although rumors abounded that UPN's future was in jeopardy due to its three largest stations being effectively owned by another network, Fox quickly signed a new affiliation deal with UPN.
On January 24, 2006, the UPN and WB
networks announced they would merge into a new network called the CW Television Network
. The new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with Tribune, which called for most of Tribune's WB affiliates including Chicago's WGN-TV
to join the new network. The new network's affiliate list didn't include any of Fox's UPN affiliates. In response, Fox stripped all UPN branding from its UPN affiliates and stopped promoting UPN programming. It was very unlikely that WPWR would have been selected as The CW's Chicago affiliate, however. Officials with The CW were on record as preferring the "strongest" UPN and WB affiliates for their network, and WGN-TV had been well ahead of WPWR in the ratings since WPWR's sign-on.
A month later, Fox announced the formation of its own network, MyNetworkTV
with WPWR and the other Fox-owned UPN affiliates as the nuclei. WPWR had reverted to its pre-UPN branding of "Power 50," and used it for most of the Summer of 2006. However, at the same time the station began to use the "My 50" moniker in some advertising to promote the change, particularly at sponsored events such as the Taste of Chicago
. In July 2006, WPWR officially rebranded itself as My 50. In 2008, My 50 was the only Fox-owned station to broadcast The Jerry Springer Show
.
Occasionally as time permits, WPWR may now air Fox network programming whenever WFLD cannot in the event of an emergency. Also, WPWR breaks into live programming when WFLD does to deliver breaking news coverage.
Starting in the 2008 season, WPWR now airs Chicago Fire Major League Soccer
games. The station aired 18 games in the 2008 season. In a homecoming of sorts, WWE SmackDown also returned to WPWR as it was picked up by MyNetworkTV from The CW in October 2008. WWE SmackDown was picked up by Syfy
from MyNetworkTV on October 1, 2010.
WPWR is the only station to have never broadcasted a local newscast of any kind in Chicago.
as 50.1. WPWR's former analog channel 50 frequency is now used by the post-DTV transition signal of TeleFutura
station WXFT-DT. On June 12, 2009, the "WPWR-TV" callsign was legally and officially transferred from the now-defunct analog channel 50 to digital channel 51, and the "WPWR-DT" callsign was retired.
WPWR-TV also has two Mobile DTV feeds, one of of subchannel 50.1, labelled "WPWR", and a feed of sister station WFLD-TV labelled "WFLD", broadcasting at 3.67 Mbps. This is the highest bitrate of any Chicago television station mobile feed.
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
-affiliated television station licensed to Gary, Indiana
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
, and serving the Chicago, Illinois area. WPWR-TV is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, and is a sister station to Fox network
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...
outlet WFLD-TV (channel 32). The two stations share studio facilities in the Chicago Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
, and WPWR's transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower.
History
The station began as a split, two-station operation on April 4, 1982 on channel 60. Fred Eychaner's Metrowest Corporation (later to become Newsweb CorporationNewsweb Corporation
Newsweb Corporation is a publisher of ethnic and alternative newspapers in the United States, based in Chicago, Illinois. The company also owns several radio stations in the Chicago area and a television station in Sterling, Colorado....
), which was the original applicant for the channel 60 license in 1978, launched WPWR-TV with a large percentage of its broadcast schedule dedicated to a new pay television service called Sportsvision
Sportsvision
Sportsvision was a subscription TV service founded by Chicago White Sox owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn, and media mogul Fred Eychaner. The service broadcast live sporting events....
, which Eychaner had developed in a deal with Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
co-owners Jerry Reinsdorf
Jerry Reinsdorf
Jerry M. Reinsdorf is a CPA, lawyer and an owner of the MLB's Chicago White Sox and the NBA's Chicago Bulls. He started his professional life as a tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service. He has been the head of the White Sox and Bulls for over 20 years.He made his initial fortune in real...
and Eddie Einhorn
Eddie Einhorn
Eddie Einhorn is minority owner and Vice Chairman of the Chicago White Sox.Einhorn produced the nationally syndicated radio broadcast of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in 1958...
. For the service, viewers had to pay for a set top converter and subscription fees to watch their favorite sports teams. However, Sportsvision was not a success and moved to cable in January 1983, eventually becoming SportsChannel Chicago
FSN Chicago
Fox Sports Net Chicago was a regional sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The network carried the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Chicago Bulls, the Chicago Fire, the Arena Football League's Chicago Rush, local and national collegiate sports, including those...
. With Sportsvision gone, Eychaner began running public domain movies and old sitcoms from the early to middle-1950s as well as old cartoons. In 1984, familiar classic sitcoms and newer barter cartoons were mixed in.
WPWR shared the channel 60 frequency with another station, Spanish-language WBBS-TV, owned by Chicago resident Marcelino Miyares, who assisted Eychaner in completing the construction of channel 60. WBBS featured an array of Spanish-language programs, including telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
s,movies, as well as locally-produced shows, such as, the popular music video show, Imagen, hosted by the Chicago Spanish-language television personality (and now media executive) Rey Mena and co-host Vivianne Plazas. One of WBBS's notable events occurred in 1984, when the station introduced the teen group Menudo
Menudo (band)
Menudo was a Puerto Rican boy band that was formed in the 1970s by producer Edgardo Díaz, releasing their first album in 1977. The band achieved much success, especially during the 1980s, becoming the most popular Latin American teen musical group of the era....
(which included a young Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...
), to Chicago's Spanish audiences. WBBS programmed channel 60 from 7:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. seven days a week, with WPWR broadcasting the rest of the time.
Another twist in this arrangement was that although WBBS broadcast from the same transmitter, WBBS-TV was actually licensed to West Chicago
West Chicago, Illinois
West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,469 at the 2000 census. It was formerly named Turner Junction after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad in 1855...
while WPWR-TV, as per the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
's channel assignment table, was licensed to Aurora
Aurora, Illinois
Aurora is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the 112th largest city in the United States. A suburb of Chicago, located west of the Loop, its population in 2010 was 197,899. Originally founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits have expanded greatly over the past...
.
The 1985 announcement of WSNS-TV
WSNS-TV
WSNS-TV, channel 44, is an owned-and-operated station of the Spanish-language Telemundo network, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This station is owned by NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of Telemundo...
's affiliating with the Spanish International Network (the forerunner to today's Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
) caused WBBS to end weekday programming at the end of 1985, with the exception on weekends when it ran Spanish movies into 1986.
Meanwhile, Eychaner spent $1.5 million for WGMI, a channel 56 construction permit licensed to Gary that had been held by a group of Indiana businessmen since 1976, but was never built. Then, in 1985, Eychaner acquired the license of WCAE, a non-commercial station on channel 50 in St. John, Indiana
St. John, Indiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 14,850 people and 5,047 households in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 93.50% White, 1.30% African American, 0.10% Native American, 1.30% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 2.40% from other races, and 1.20% from two or more races...
. He successfully petitioned the FCC to move the non-commercial allocation from 50 to 56, and channel 56 became WYIN
WYIN
WYIN, virtual channel 56, is a public television station in Gary, Indiana, serving the Indiana side of the Chicago, Illinois market on channel 17 as a Public Broadcasting Service member television station. Transmitting from Cedar Lake, Indiana, and with studios and offices in Merrillville,...
(now licensed to Gary). The transmitter for channel 56 could not be moved to a downtown Chicago site because of the presence of channel 60 there; FCC anti-interference regulations for analog UHF stations effectively required stations broadcasting from nearby sites to be spaced at least six channels apart. Eychaner then proceeded to rebuild channel 50 as a commercial station, with plans to move WPWR's programming there.
In early 1986, Eychaner bought WBBS's share of channel 60 for $11 million, ending the split-channel arrangement. A year later, Eychaner sold channel 60 to the Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network or HSN began in 1977 as a 24-hour/7 day a week home shopping television network televised via cable, satellite, and some terrestrial channels in the Philippines. HSN can also be shopped online at hsn.com...
for $25 million. The channel switch occurred on January 18, 1987: HSN changed channel 60's call letters to WEHS (it is now WXFT) and at the same time, WPWR moved to channel 50. WPWR's first program on its new frequency was an episode of the anthology series Night Gallery
Night Gallery
Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...
.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
in 1987 and War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds (TV series)
War of the Worlds is a television program that ran for two seasons, from 1988 to 1990. The series is an extension of the original 1953 film The War of the Worlds, using the same War Machine, often incorporating aspects from the film, radio adaptation, and original novel into its mythology.Though...
in 1988. At least one Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
spinoff would air on WPWR from that time until June 2005, when the last network episode of Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...
was broadcast. In January 1995, WPWR became a charter UPN affiliate and continued adding syndicated programming to its lineup.
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
reported that Newsweb Corporation sold WPWR to the News Corporation for $425 million -- a handsome return on Eychaner's original investment. The sale closed on August 21, 2002. As a result of this transaction, Fox now owned UPN's three largest affiliates. It already owned WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and KCOP-TV
KCOP-TV
KCOP-TV, channel 13, is a television station in Los Angeles, California. Owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, KCOP is a sister station to Fox network outlet KTTV , and is affiliated with the MyNetworkTV programming service...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
as a result of buying most of the television holdings of Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly-held American corporation traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It later took on the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris-Craft Boats...
the previous year. Although rumors abounded that UPN's future was in jeopardy due to its three largest stations being effectively owned by another network, Fox quickly signed a new affiliation deal with UPN.
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
networks announced they would merge into a new network called the CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
. The new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with Tribune, which called for most of Tribune's WB affiliates including Chicago's WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
to join the new network. The new network's affiliate list didn't include any of Fox's UPN affiliates. In response, Fox stripped all UPN branding from its UPN affiliates and stopped promoting UPN programming. It was very unlikely that WPWR would have been selected as The CW's Chicago affiliate, however. Officials with The CW were on record as preferring the "strongest" UPN and WB affiliates for their network, and WGN-TV had been well ahead of WPWR in the ratings since WPWR's sign-on.
A month later, Fox announced the formation of its own network, MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
with WPWR and the other Fox-owned UPN affiliates as the nuclei. WPWR had reverted to its pre-UPN branding of "Power 50," and used it for most of the Summer of 2006. However, at the same time the station began to use the "My 50" moniker in some advertising to promote the change, particularly at sponsored events such as the Taste of Chicago
Taste of Chicago
The Taste of Chicago is the world's largest food festival, held annually for ten days in Grant Park, in Chicago starting the Friday before the 4th of July and ending the Sunday after . The event is the largest festival in Chicago...
. In July 2006, WPWR officially rebranded itself as My 50. In 2008, My 50 was the only Fox-owned station to broadcast The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
.
Occasionally as time permits, WPWR may now air Fox network programming whenever WFLD cannot in the event of an emergency. Also, WPWR breaks into live programming when WFLD does to deliver breaking news coverage.
Starting in the 2008 season, WPWR now airs Chicago Fire Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
games. The station aired 18 games in the 2008 season. In a homecoming of sorts, WWE SmackDown also returned to WPWR as it was picked up by MyNetworkTV from The CW in October 2008. WWE SmackDown was picked up by Syfy
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
from MyNetworkTV on October 1, 2010.
WPWR is the only station to have never broadcasted a local newscast of any kind in Chicago.
Digital television
WPWR is now digital-only. WPWR-TV is also broadcasting digitally on its current digital channel, 51, and digital television receivers are displaying WPWR-TV's virtual channelVirtual 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 50.1. WPWR's former analog channel 50 frequency is now used by the post-DTV transition signal of TeleFutura
TeleFutura
TeleFutura is a U.S. Spanish-language broadcast television network owned by Univision with headquarters in Miami, Florida.-Overview:TeleFutura Is America’s #2 Spanish-Language Network in prime time...
station WXFT-DT. On June 12, 2009, the "WPWR-TV" callsign was legally and officially transferred from the now-defunct analog channel 50 to digital channel 51, and the "WPWR-DT" callsign was retired.
WPWR-TV also has two Mobile DTV feeds, one of of subchannel 50.1, labelled "WPWR", and a feed of sister station WFLD-TV labelled "WFLD", broadcasting at 3.67 Mbps. This is the highest bitrate of any Chicago television station mobile feed.