WSFL-TV
Encyclopedia
WSFL-TV, channel 39, is a The CW Television Network
-affiliated television station
located in Miami
. Owned by the Tribune Company
, the station shares studios with co-owned newspaper the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale
, and has its transmitter based in Miramar, Florida
.
It is a television station in the South Florida metropolitan area
(also known as the Miami metropolitan area) market in the three counties: Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County.
, it aired a general entertainment format consisting of cartoons, off-network dramas, old movies, a few old off-network sitcoms, and religious shows. Odyssey Partners, a firm which would later become Renaissance Broadcasting
(and who owned WTXX (now WCCT-TV) in Waterbury, Connecticut
) owned an interest in WDZL.
In 1984, WBFS-TV
(owned by Grant Broadcasting System II
) signed on with a stronger general entertainment lineup and surpassed WDZL in the ratings immediately. Still, WDZL was profitable especially with the huge amount of barter cartoons available to the station. It was still running shows other stations passed up until the wave of affiliation switches in 1989. When WCIX (now WFOR-TV
) was sold to CBS
and dropped most of its syndicated shows, Fox programming moved to WSVN
. The rest of the programming dropped from WCIX moved to WDZL. By the early-1990s, WDZL had become a far stronger independent station. It acquired Fox Kids
programming from WSVN in 1993.
WDZL became a charter WB affiliate on January 11, 1995. In 1997, the Tribune Company
acquired the six television station group that was owned by Renaissance Communications. Kids' WB
programming on WDZL expanded to three hours on weekdays and the station dropped Fox Kids (which moved to Home Shopping Network
station WYHS (now WAMI-TV
). WDZL changed its call letters to WBZL in 1998 to emphasize its affiliation with The WB. Throughout this affiliation, the station was known on-air as "WB 39". By then, the station began airing more first-run talk and reality shows during the day along with children programming and off-network sitcoms in the evenings. By 2005, it was the only remaining station to run children shows weekday afternoons with Kids' WB (a practice which ended on January 6, 2006). On January 24, The WB and UPN
announced they would end broadcasting and merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its soon-to-be corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
unit of Time Warner
.
Tribune announced that most of its WB affiliates, including WBZL, would become affiliated with The CW. This was a result of Tribune signing a ten year affiliation agreement with the new network. It would not have been an upset had WBFS been chosen, however. The CW officials were on record as preferring the "strongest" WB and UPN stations for their new network and South Florida was one of the few markets where The WB and UPN stations were both relatively strong. Also, WBFS is owned by CBS who would own a 50 percent stake in The CW. Throughout the summer, WBZL started using their CW logo for local television ads and also began referring to itself as "CW South Florida". On September 17, WBZL changed its call letters to the current WSFL-TV to remove the reference to the no-longer-existent WB in its calls and generalize them to its geographic location. The next day, The CW debuted on WSFL. Starting in 2006, the station aired The Tube
, a 24-hour music video channel, on its second digital subchannel and Comcast
digital cable channel 224. It was dropped on October 1, 2007 when that network went off the air due to a multitude of factors.
On September 1, 2008, in a corporate move by Tribune to de-emphasize the references of "The CW" branding for their CW affiliates, channel 39 was rebranded as "SFL" and it debuted a logo featuring the capital "S" in the Sun-Sentinel nameplate
. Around the same time, WSFL moved its operations into the Fort Lauderdale offices of the Sun-Sentinel.
On June 12, 2009, WSFL-TV left channel 39 and continued broadcasting on channel 19 to complete its analog to digital conversion. However, through the use of PSIP
, digital television receivers display WSFL-TV's virtual channel
as "39".
affiliate WTVJ
and the Sun-Sentinel began to co-produce a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on WDZL known as WB 39 News at 10. When the station became a CW affiliate, the news title changed to CW News at 10. On March 5, 2008, WSFL began broadcasting the 10 o'clock newscast in high definition when WTVJ made the upgrade. For the duration of the 2008 Summer Olympics
, WSFL's newscast featured two anchors and closely mirrored news programs that air on WTVJ. The 10 p.m. news was broadcast from the same set WTVJ uses at Peacock Plaza in Miramar
. Only that the set's duratrans were changed nightly to reflect the 10 p.m. newscast. The WTVJ news on WSFL was a similar operation to Tribune-outsourced newscasts that air on sister stations WPHL-TV
and KRCW-TV
.
On August 26, 2008, WTVJ and WSFL agreed to end the 10 o'clock newscast, most likely due to WTVJ's now-aborted acquisition by Post-Newsweek Stations
who owns ABC
affiliate WPLG
, with the final broadcast airing on August 31. A weekday morning show began airing on April 13, 2009. It was broadcast out of the newspaper's former auditorium on the first floor of the Sun-Sentinel building on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale, and aired from 5 to 9 a.m. The Morning Show was canceled on August 4, 2010 due to low ratings. The station continues to produce the public affairs program South Florida Voices, on Sunday mornings at 6 a.m., that is hosted by Deborah Ally; this program was relaunched with a new host and under a new title in September 2010. WSFL also launched five nightly news updates in mid-August 2010.
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...
-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...
located in Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. 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 shares studios with co-owned newspaper the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
, and has its transmitter based in Miramar, Florida
Miramar, Florida
Miramar is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city was named after the Miramar district of Havana, Cuba. As of the 2010 census, the population was 122,041...
.
It is a television station in the South Florida metropolitan area
South Florida metropolitan area
The South Florida metropolitan area, also known as the Miami metropolitan area, and designated the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area by the U.S...
(also known as the Miami metropolitan area) market in the three counties: Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County.
History
Channel 39 signed on as WDZL on October 16, 1982. It was owned by Channel 39 Broadcasting Ltd. As an independent stationIndependent 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....
, it aired a general entertainment format consisting of cartoons, off-network dramas, old movies, a few old off-network sitcoms, and religious shows. Odyssey Partners, a firm which would later become 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...
(and who owned WTXX (now WCCT-TV) in Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City...
) owned an interest in WDZL.
In 1984, WBFS-TV
WBFS-TV
WBFS-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for South Florida that is licensed to Miami. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Miramar. Owned by the CBS Corporation, the station is sister to CBS affiliate WFOR-TV and the two share...
(owned by Grant Broadcasting System II
Grant Broadcasting System II
Based in Roanoke, Virginia, Grant Broadcasting System II is an owner of various television stations in the United States....
) signed on with a stronger general entertainment lineup and surpassed WDZL in the ratings immediately. Still, WDZL was profitable especially with the huge amount of barter cartoons available to the station. It was still running shows other stations passed up until the wave of affiliation switches in 1989. When WCIX (now WFOR-TV
WFOR-TV
WFOR-TV, virtual channel 4.1 , is the CBS owned-and-operated station in Miami, Florida. WFOR shares its TV studio facilities with sister station WBFS-TV in Doral, near Miami International Airport, and its transmitter is located in Miramar.WFOR-TV also previously had two translator stations in the...
) was sold 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 dropped most of its syndicated shows, Fox programming moved to WSVN
WSVN
WSVN, channel 7, is a television station located in Miami, Florida, USA. WSVN is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is an affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company. The station has its studio facilities located in North Bay Village and transmitter based in north Miami-Dade County.WSVN operates a Key...
. The rest of the programming dropped from WCIX moved to WDZL. By the early-1990s, WDZL had become a far stronger independent station. It acquired Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
programming from WSVN in 1993.
WDZL became a charter WB affiliate on January 11, 1995. In 1997, 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...
acquired the six television station group that was owned by Renaissance Communications. Kids' WB
Kids' WB
Kids' WB! was Warner Bros. American childrens programing division brand for The WB Television Network. In September 2006, the block moved to The CW Television Network. The CW is the result of The WB's merger with UPN in 2006...
programming on WDZL expanded to three hours on weekdays and the station dropped Fox Kids (which moved to 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...
station WYHS (now WAMI-TV
WAMI-TV
WAMI-DT is the TeleFutura Network-owned television station for the Miami/Fort Lauderdale market. This station is currently owned by Univision and transmits Spanish language programming on channel 69.- Channel 69, WCIX translator channel :...
). WDZL changed its call letters to WBZL in 1998 to emphasize its affiliation with The WB. Throughout this affiliation, the station was known on-air as "WB 39". By then, the station began airing more first-run talk and reality shows during the day along with children programming and off-network sitcoms in the evenings. By 2005, it was the only remaining station to run children shows weekday afternoons with Kids' WB (a practice which ended on January 6, 2006). On January 24, The WB and UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
announced they would end broadcasting and merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its soon-to-be corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
.
The Tube (TV channel)
The Tube Music Network was a music video network carried on free-to-air satellite television, select digital television subchannels and digital cable systems. The network's president and founder was Les Garland, a veteran of MTV and VH1. The Tube was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Tube Media Corp...
, a 24-hour music video channel, on its second digital subchannel and 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 cable channel 224. It was dropped on October 1, 2007 when that network went off the air due to a multitude of factors.
On September 1, 2008, in a corporate move by Tribune to de-emphasize the references of "The CW" branding for their CW affiliates, channel 39 was rebranded as "SFL" and it debuted a logo featuring the capital "S" in the Sun-Sentinel nameplate
Nameplate
A nameplate identifies and displays a person or product's name. Name plates are usually shaped as rectangles but are also seen in other shapes, sometimes taking on the shape of someone’s name...
. Around the same time, WSFL moved its operations into the Fort Lauderdale offices of the Sun-Sentinel.
Digital television
| Channel | Channel label |
Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39.1 | WSFL-DT | 1080i 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
Main WSFL programming / The CW |
| 39.2 | Azteca | 480i 480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC... |
4:3 | Azteca America Azteca América Azteca América is a broadcast television network marketed toward Spanish-speaking families residing in the United States. As a rapidly-growing Spanish language network, Azteca América now reaches 89% of the Hispanic households in the U.S., operating in sixty-two markets nationwide. Wholly owned by... |
| 39.3 | Ant TV | 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... |
||
| 39.4 | this-TV | This TV This TV This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies.... |
On June 12, 2009, WSFL-TV left channel 39 and continued broadcasting on channel 19 to complete its analog to digital conversion. However, through the use of 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...
, digital television receivers display WSFL-TV's 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 "39".
Newscasts
In 1997, NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WTVJ
WTVJ
WTVJ, virtual channel 6 , is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC television network, located in Broward County. WTVJ shares its TV studio and office facility with co-owned Telemundo station WSCV in Miramar, Florida, and its transmitter is located near Sun Life Stadium in north...
and the Sun-Sentinel began to co-produce a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on WDZL known as WB 39 News at 10. When the station became a CW affiliate, the news title changed to CW News at 10. On March 5, 2008, WSFL began broadcasting the 10 o'clock newscast in high definition when WTVJ made the upgrade. For the duration of the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, WSFL's newscast featured two anchors and closely mirrored news programs that air on WTVJ. The 10 p.m. news was broadcast from the same set WTVJ uses at Peacock Plaza in Miramar
Miramar, Florida
Miramar is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city was named after the Miramar district of Havana, Cuba. As of the 2010 census, the population was 122,041...
. Only that the set's duratrans were changed nightly to reflect the 10 p.m. newscast. The WTVJ news on WSFL was a similar operation to Tribune-outsourced newscasts that air on sister stations WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV, channel 17, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, owned by the Tribune Company and currently affiliated with the News Corporation-owned MyNetworkTV television network. This makes it the largest non-O&O station of the network...
and KRCW-TV
KRCW-TV
KRCW-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for Portland, Oregon that is licensed to Salem. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 33 from a transmitter in the Sylvan-Highlands section of Portland. Owned by the Tribune Company, KRCW has studios on Southwest Arctic Drive...
.
On August 26, 2008, WTVJ and WSFL agreed to end the 10 o'clock newscast, most likely due to WTVJ's now-aborted acquisition by Post-Newsweek Stations
Post-Newsweek Stations
Post-Newsweek Stations is the official name of the broadcasting division of the Washington Post Company and is a self-contained corporation within that company...
who owns 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 WPLG
WPLG
WPLG, channel 10, is an ABC network affiliated television station located in Miami, Florida. WPLG is owned and operated by Post-Newsweek Stations, a subsidiary of the Washington Post Company. The station's studios are located in Pembroke Park, and its transmitter is located at the massive broadcast...
, with the final broadcast airing on August 31. A weekday morning show began airing on April 13, 2009. It was broadcast out of the newspaper's former auditorium on the first floor of the Sun-Sentinel building on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale, and aired from 5 to 9 a.m. The Morning Show was canceled on August 4, 2010 due to low ratings. The station continues to produce the public affairs program South Florida Voices, on Sunday mornings at 6 a.m., that is hosted by Deborah Ally; this program was relaunched with a new host and under a new title in September 2010. WSFL also launched five nightly news updates in mid-August 2010.