WPBF

WPBF is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Gold and Treasure Coasts of South Florida. Licensed to Tequesta, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 16 from a transmitter in Palm City southwest of I-95. Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios on RCA Boulevard in the Monet section of Palm Beach Gardens. Syndicated programming on WPBF includes: Wheel of Fortune, ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy! Jeopardy!], Inside Edition, and The Real Housewives of Atlanta''.

Digital programming
On WPBF-DT2, Comcast digital channels 208 and 616 is the Spanish network Estrella TV.[1] Previously, WPBF-DT2 was part of The Local AccuWeather Channel and known locally as "Weather First TV". There was also a live video stream of that channel on its website.

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 toNBC) bought Fox affiliate WCIX (now WFOR-TV). That station only provided a Grade B ("rimshot") signal to Fort Lauderdaleand Broward County bec because its transmitter was 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 Fall 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 as well as a few ABC and CBS affiliates. In 1997, Paxson sold their radio stations and network affiliates (including WPBF) in order to finance the acquisition of stations for PAX (now ION Television) with this channel going to the Hearst Corporation.[2] As soon as the transaction was finalized, Hearst handed over control of WPBF to its majority-owned subsidiary, Hearst Television (formerly Hearst-Argyle Television). All Hearst 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 shut down analog transmissions at 11:59 p.m. on June 12, 2009. [3] The station began broadcasting from its pre-transition channel 16.[4] [5]

News operation
 Initially, WPBF had a small news department. After being purchased by Paxson Communications, the station added additional newscasts to its schedule. For a long time they struggled with ratings in their own market. This can be attributed to WPLG's very strong over-the-air signal in Palm Beach County and its availability on Comcast throughout the area. In recent months however, WPBF has been making great strides in the ratings and, in the May sweeps period, came in second place for the early weeknight time slots.

NBC affiliate WPTV regularly beats WPBF and WPEC in Nielsen ratings as the most watched in West Palm Beach and South Florida. Following the May 2009 sweeps period, WPTV retained its title as the most-watched television station in the state of Florida based on sign-on to sign-off household ratings in metered markets.

On July 12, 2006, it started airing a half-hour newscast called Weather First at 4 on weekdays becoming the first station in West Palm Beach to do so. While the main intention of the 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 their website. On July 17, 2006, WPBF added thirty minutes to its weekday morning show which began airing at 5:30. It became a full two-hour broadcast on January 28, 2008. The station debuted a new traffic reporting system featuring data from Traffic.com on February 14 that included a new traffic segment, "Beat the Traffic", seen on weekdays.

Expansion of local news continued with the launch of a weekend morning show on March 8. On August 18, 2008, WPBF began broadcasting a broadcast at noon during the week which is also streamed live on its website. On September 14, 2009, the station premiered a new logo, set, and graphics package while expanding the 4 o'clock newscast to an hour. WPBF dropped weeknight newscasts in the 5 p.m. hour to make room for Dr. Phil which had moved to the station from WPTV. That change have since been reverted.

Until October 4, 2010, WPBF was the only channel in the West Palm Beach market that did not offer newscasts in high definition or even16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. However, WPBF was operating HD-ready studio and field cameras for its broadcasts. The shows were displayed in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition while showing the station's logo and "HD" in the left and right thirds of the screen. On October 4 starting with the weeknight 4 o'clock show, WPBF started broadcasting local news in high definition. Upon the upgrade, it began using an updated music package and slightly revised HD graphics previously used by sister station WESH in Orlando. However like another sister station, KSBW in Salinas, California, HD is not mentioned in the news openings. WPBF will also continue to display HD in the left and right thirds of the screen when video footage is shown in 4:3 standard definition. The station does not currently operate a sports department which is unusual for a big three network channel.

Newscast titles

 * NewsCenter 25 (1989–1995)
 * PBF News (1995–1999)
 * WPBF Eyewitness News 25 (1999–2004)
 * WPBF News 25 (2004–2009)
 * WPBF 25 News (2009–present)

Station slogans

 * "The Area's Most Honored News Team" (1989–1999)
 * "If It`s WPBF-TV, It Must Be ABC" (1992-1993; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Your Local News Source" (1999–2004)
 * "Where You Come First" (2004–2006)
 * "Weather First" (2006–2009)
 * "The Fastest Growing Local News Station" (2009–present)

News team
Anchors
 * Paul LaGrone - weekday mornings "WPBF 25 News Mornings" and noon
 * Felicia Rodriguez - weekday mornings and noon
 * Tiffany Kenney - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, and 11
 * Victor Blackwell - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, and 11
 * Erin Guy- weekend evenings
 * Chris Emma- weekend mornings
 * Shelli Lockhart- weekday mornings

WPBF 25 News First Alert Meteorologists


 * Mike Lyons (NWA Seals of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights (and Sunday nights)
 * Sandra Shaw - weekday mornings and noon
 * Eric Burris - (AMS seal) weekend mornings
 * vacant - weekend evenings

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Reporters


 * Kate Amara - weekday morning Washington Bureau
 * Laurel Sauer - "On Assignment" segment producer
 * Art Ginsburg - "Mr. Food" segment producer
 * Nikole Killion - Washington Bureau
 * Sally Kidd - Washington Bureau
 * Shelli Lockhart - weekday traffic (also 4:30 a.m. anchor)
 * Terri Parker - investigative
 * Cathleen O'Toole
 * Tory Dunnan
 * Stefan Holt
 * Jason Newton
 * Ted White

WPBF Alumni

 * Jon Shainman - Monday-Thursday 4pm, 6pm and 11pm and Sunday 6pm and 11pm anchor (Now at WPTV- Treasure Coast reporter)
 * Nathalie Pozo- Traffic reporter 2008-2010 - Now at WTVJ
 * Dave Bloom - Reporter/Anchor 1989-1995, Bloom PR 2002-Present
 * Lee Polowczuk News Director 1988-2003
 * Tom Donovan- Anchor (Now at WHP-TV)
 * Vince Kelly-Sports
 * Kristin Hoke - Anchor 2000-2010 (Deceased)
 * Jim Brosemer-Veteran Miami newsman was member of start-up team in 1989. 6 and 11 PM newscasts. Now a journalism professor.