WXFT-TV
Encyclopedia
WXFT-DT is a TeleFutura
-affiliated television station
, offering Spanish language
entertainment programming such as movies, serials, comedies, children's shows, and sports. Owned by Univision Communications
, the station is licensed to Aurora, Illinois
, but serves the Greater Chicago market.
football on tape delay and Mickey Mouse
cartoons; both of these, as well as all other WLXT programming, were transmitted in black-and-white
. One part-time WLXT employee was Jeff Skilling (then a high school student, and brother of WGN-TV
's Tom Skilling
), who later became well known as a member of Enron Corporation's management team. WLXT signed off for good in 1970.
Fred Eychaner's Metrowest Corporation
originally applied for a new channel 60 license in 1978, but soon attracted competition from Marcelino Miyares, doing business as Hatco-60. Ultimately, the two sides would reach a compromise, in which Metrowest's station would be licensed to Aurora and broadcast from 2:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily, while Hatco-60's station would be licensed to West Chicago
(located in western DuPage County, near the Kane County
border) and broadcast from 7:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. daily. This made channel 60 something of an oddity, especially for a major market, in that it was a split-licensed station.
With the compromise reached, in April 1982, Eychaner signed on WPWR-TV
, with a large percentage of its broadcast schedule dedicated to a new subscription television service called Sportsvision
that was part of ONTV, which Eychaner had developed in a deal with Chicago White Sox
owners Jerry Reinsdorf
and Eddie Einhorn
. To access the service, viewers had to pay for a set top converter and subscription fees to watch their favorite baseball team. However, Sportsvision achieved little success on WPWR, and moved to cable in January 1984. With Sportsvision gone, WPWR ran public domain movies and old sitcoms from the early to mid 1950s as well as old cartoons. In 1984, more familiar classic sitcoms and newer barter cartoons were mixed in.
During the hours in which Hatco-60 ran channel 60, it operated as WBBS-TV, broadcasting a Spanish language entertainment format. However, at this point in Chicago's television history, the market could only handle two Spanish language stations. Three were on the air, including WCIU
, WSNS, and WBBS. Though ratings were good for WBBS, the 1985 announcement that WSNS was affiliating with the Spanish International Network
caused WBBS to end weekday programming at the end of 1985; the station would continue to broadcast Spanish movies on weekends into 1986.
Eychaner had spent $1.5 million for WGMI (later WDAI), a channel 56 construction permit that had been held by a group of Indiana businessmen since 1976, but was never built; in 1982, Eychaner opted to build channel 60 with Marcelino Miyares. However, in 1985, Eychaner acquired the educational broadcast license for WCAE channel 50 (licensed to Gary, Indiana
), which had belonged to Lake Central School Corporation of St. John
, who had not been unable to sustain WCAE's operations and had shut the station down a year earlier. Eychaner then swapped the licenses for channels 50 and 56, resulting in channel 56 becoming WYIN
and channel 50 becoming a commercial license, with plans to use WPWR's assets (including the call letters) to put that station on the air. The primary reason for swapping the licenses for channels 50 and 56 was that the channel 50 allocation was able to go on to the Sears Tower
; this was not the case for channel 56.
In early 1986, Eychaner bought WBBS's share of channel 60 for $11 million. When channel 50 was ready to sign on, he sold channel 60 to the Home Shopping Network
for $25 million. HSN, which owned the station through its Silver King Television arm, changed the calls to WEHS, and on January 17, 1987, switched channel 60 to HSN programming right in the middle of a sale. At the same time, WPWR moved to channel 50. Ironically, WXFT-DT's signal is now on channel 50 after the DTV transition was completed in 2009.
Barry Diller
, who owned USA Network
, acquired Silver King in the mid 1990s. By 1997, the company was known as USA Broadcasting
. There were plans to convert WEHS to a general entertainment programming schedule, and USA almost sold to Disney (which would have made the station a sister to ABC
-owned WLS-TV
). However, the station was sold to Univision in a group deal. As a result, channel 60 became WXFT, and switched to Univision's new network, Telefutura.
WXFT's 5,000,000 watt transmitter malfunctioned in the early hours of December 6, 2006, causing an alarm which forced action by the Chicago Fire Department
to extinguish the smoldering equipment http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-061206sears-tower-fire,1,732720.story?coll=chi-news-hed. The transmitter was destroyed, leaving only one-half power available. The station also remained available via cable, which were fed via a direct connection from the station. A new transmitter was commissioned on January 11, 2007, restoring normal operation.
In December 2009, WXFT and sister station WGBO, along with most other Univision-owned stations, upgraded their main channels to transmit in 16:9
1080i
high definition
in preparation for the arrival of HD programming from Univision and TeleFutura, which occurred in 2010.
Currently this station is experiencing closed captioning display problems, as many viewers (especially those subscribed to comcast cable) have complained that the networks captions are not being displayed or displayed properly.
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...
-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...
, offering Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
entertainment programming such as movies, serials, comedies, children's shows, and sports. Owned by Univision Communications
Univision Communications
Univision Communications is an American Spanish language media company in the United States. Its headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Prior to 2007, the headquarters were in Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA.- History :...
, the station is licensed to Aurora, Illinois
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...
, but serves the Greater Chicago market.
History
The original station to transmit on channel 60 was WLXT-TV, which signed on in 1969 and operated on evenings and weekends. WLXT broadcast Northern Illinois HuskiesNorthern Illinois Huskies
The Northern Illinois Huskies are the athletic teams that represent Northern Illinois University. The Huskies are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Mid-American Conference...
football on tape delay and Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
cartoons; both of these, as well as all other WLXT programming, were transmitted in black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
. One part-time WLXT employee was Jeff Skilling (then a high school student, and brother of 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...
's Tom Skilling
Tom Skilling
Thomas Ethelbert Skilling, III , known on-air as Tom Skilling, is a popular meteorologist in Chicago, Illinois. He is the chief meteorologist for the weekday midday, 5 and 9 p.m. newscasts at CW affiliate and national cable superstation WGN-TV .-Early beginnings:Skilling began his career in...
), who later became well known as a member of Enron Corporation's management team. WLXT signed off for good in 1970.
Fred Eychaner's Metrowest Corporation
Newsweb 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....
originally applied for a new channel 60 license in 1978, but soon attracted competition from Marcelino Miyares, doing business as Hatco-60. Ultimately, the two sides would reach a compromise, in which Metrowest's station would be licensed to Aurora and broadcast from 2:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily, while Hatco-60's station would be 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...
(located in western DuPage County, near the Kane County
Kane County, Illinois
Kane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 515,269, which is an increase of 27.5% from 404,119 in 2000. Its county seat is Geneva, and its largest city is Aurora.- Geography :...
border) and broadcast from 7:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. daily. This made channel 60 something of an oddity, especially for a major market, in that it was a split-licensed station.
With the compromise reached, in April 1982, Eychaner signed on WPWR-TV
WPWR-TV
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...
, with a large percentage of its broadcast schedule dedicated to a new subscription 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....
that was part of ONTV, 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...
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...
. To access the service, viewers had to pay for a set top converter and subscription fees to watch their favorite baseball team. However, Sportsvision achieved little success on WPWR, and moved to cable in January 1984. With Sportsvision gone, WPWR ran public domain movies and old sitcoms from the early to mid 1950s as well as old cartoons. In 1984, more familiar classic sitcoms and newer barter cartoons were mixed in.
During the hours in which Hatco-60 ran channel 60, it operated as WBBS-TV, broadcasting a Spanish language entertainment format. However, at this point in Chicago's television history, the market could only handle two Spanish language stations. Three were on the air, including WCIU
WCIU-TV
WCIU-TV is an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois. It operates on UHF digital channel 27 and is Chicago's oldest UHF station, signing on the air in 1964. WCIU-TV is the flagship station of Weigel Broadcasting, a locally-based broadcaster which has owned the station since...
, WSNS, and WBBS. Though ratings were good for WBBS, the 1985 announcement that WSNS was affiliating with the Spanish International Network
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; the station would continue to broadcast Spanish movies on weekends into 1986.
Eychaner had spent $1.5 million for WGMI (later WDAI), a channel 56 construction permit that had been held by a group of Indiana businessmen since 1976, but was never built; in 1982, Eychaner opted to build channel 60 with Marcelino Miyares. However, in 1985, Eychaner acquired the educational broadcast license for WCAE channel 50 (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...
), which had belonged to Lake Central School Corporation of St. John
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...
, who had not been unable to sustain WCAE's operations and had shut the station down a year earlier. Eychaner then swapped the licenses for channels 50 and 56, resulting in channel 56 becoming 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,...
and channel 50 becoming a commercial license, with plans to use WPWR's assets (including the call letters) to put that station on the air. The primary reason for swapping the licenses for channels 50 and 56 was that the channel 50 allocation was able to go on to the Sears Tower
Sears Tower
Sears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...
; this was not the case for channel 56.
In early 1986, Eychaner bought WBBS's share of channel 60 for $11 million. When channel 50 was ready to sign on, he 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. HSN, which owned the station through its Silver King Television arm, changed the calls to WEHS, and on January 17, 1987, switched channel 60 to HSN programming right in the middle of a sale. At the same time, WPWR moved to channel 50. Ironically, WXFT-DT's signal is now on channel 50 after the DTV transition was completed in 2009.
Barry Diller
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
, who owned USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
, acquired Silver King in the mid 1990s. By 1997, the company was known as USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting was an American media company owned by veteran entertainment industry executive Barry Diller. This network was the over-the-air broadcasting arm of USA Network....
. There were plans to convert WEHS to a general entertainment programming schedule, and USA almost sold to Disney (which would have made the station a sister to 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...
-owned WLS-TV
WLS-TV
WLS-TV, virtual channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The station operates their full power digital operations on UHF channel 44, with their digital fill-in translator on VHF channel...
). However, the station was sold to Univision in a group deal. As a result, channel 60 became WXFT, and switched to Univision's new network, Telefutura.
WXFT's 5,000,000 watt transmitter malfunctioned in the early hours of December 6, 2006, causing an alarm which forced action by the Chicago Fire Department
Chicago Fire Department
The Chicago Fire Department, also known as the CFD, is the principal fire suppression, prevention, and rescue agency of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the mayor of Chicago. The Chicago Fire Department is the second largest fire department in the United States after the New York City...
to extinguish the smoldering equipment http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-061206sears-tower-fire,1,732720.story?coll=chi-news-hed. The transmitter was destroyed, leaving only one-half power available. The station also remained available via cable, which were fed via a direct connection from the station. A new transmitter was commissioned on January 11, 2007, restoring normal operation.
Digital television
| Channel | Video Display resolution The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection... |
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,... |
Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60.1 | 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 | WXFT-HD | Main WXFT Programming / 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... |
| 60.2 | 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 | WXFT-SD |
In December 2009, WXFT and sister station WGBO, along with most other Univision-owned stations, upgraded their main channels to transmit in 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 ...
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...
high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
in preparation for the arrival of HD programming from Univision and TeleFutura, which occurred in 2010.
Currently this station is experiencing closed captioning display problems, as many viewers (especially those subscribed to comcast cable) have complained that the networks captions are not being displayed or displayed properly.