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WPVI-TV

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WPVI-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 6, branded on-air as 6 ABC, is an ABC owned-and-operated television station licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by the ABC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. WPVI-TV's studios are located on City Line Avenue in the Wynnefield Heights section of Philadelphia, and its transmitter is located in the city's Roxborough neighborhood.

WPVI-TV
8564937E-1E9B-4ACA-9D86-0B2BD8CB7DDE
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Branding

6ABC (general)

Channel 6 (secondary)

6ABC/Channel 6 Action News (newscasts)

Slogan The One and Only (general)

Delaware Valley's Leading News Program (newscast)

Channels Digital: 6 (VHF) Virtual: 6 (PSIP)
Subchannels (see article)
Affiliations ABC
Owner Disney/ABC (ABC, Inc.)
First air date September 13, 1947
Call letters' meaning PhiladelphiaVI (6 in Roman Numerals)
Former callsigns WFIL-TV (1947-1971)
Former channel number(s) Analog:

6 (VHF, 1947-2009)

Digital:

64 (UHF, 1997-2009)

Former affiliations DuMont (1947-1956, secondary from 1948)
Transmitter power 30 kW
Height 332 m
Facility ID 8616
Transmitter coordinates 40°2′39″N 75°14′26″W
Website www.6abc.com

History[]

WFIL-TVThe station first signed on the air on September 13, 1947, as WFIL-TV. It is Philadelphia's second-oldest television station, signing on six years after WPTZ (now KYW-TV). The first program broadcast on channel 6 was a live remote of a Philadelphia Eagles exhibition game against the Chicago Bears from Franklin Field, followed by an official inaugural program later that evening.

WFIL-TV was originally owned by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications, publishers of The Philadelphia Inquirer and owners of WFIL radio (560 AM, and 102.1 FM). The WFIL stations were the flagship of the growing communications empire of Triangle Publications, which owned two Philadelphia newspapers (the morning Inquirer and, later, the evening Daily News), periodicals including TV Guide, Seventeen and the Daily Racing Form, and a broadcasting group that would grow to ten radio and six television stations. WFIL radio had been an ABC radio affiliate dating back to the network's existence as the NBC Blue Network. However, WFIL-TV started out carrying programming from the DuMont Television Network, as ABC had not yet ventured into broadcast television. When the ABC television network debuted on April 19, 1948, WFIL-TV became its first affiliate. Channel 6 joined ABC before the network's first owned-and-operated station, WJZ-TV in New York City (now WABC-TV), signed on in August of that year. However, it retained a secondary affiliation with DuMont until that network shut down in 1956.

The WFIL radio stations originally broadcast from the Widener Building in downtown Philadelphia. With the anticipated arrival of WFIL-TV, Triangle secured a new facility for the stations, located at Market and 46th streets, which opened in 1947. In 1963, Triangle built one of the most advanced broadcast centers in the nation on City (or City Line) Avenue in the Wynnefield Heights community, in a circular building across from rival WCAU-TV (channel 10). The station still broadcasts from the facility today, even as a new digital media building was constructed that now houses production of the station's newscasts and other local programs, while the original studio was turned over to public broadcaster WHYY-FM-TV.

Channel 6 was the first station to sign on from the Roxborough neighborhood. It originally transmitted from a 600-foot (183 m) tower, but in 1957, it moved to a new 1,100-foot (335 m) tower, which it co-owned with NBC-owned WRCV-TV (channel 3, now CBS owned-and-operated station KYW-TV).The new tower added much of Delaware and the Lehigh Valley to the station's city-grade coverage. WFIL-TV was also one of the first TV stations in Philadelphia to broadcast local color.

WPVI-TVIn 1968, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) barred companies from owning newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same market -- the so-called "one to a market" rule. However, the FCC "grandfathered" several existing newspaper and broadcasting situations in several markets. Triangle approached the FCC for permission to grandfather its combination of the Inquirer, the Daily News and WFIL-AM-FM-TV, but was turned down. As a result, in 1969, one year after the new regulation was made official, Triangle sold the Inquirer and the Daily News to Knight (later Knight-Ridder) Newspapers.

WPVI 6abc97

WPVI's logo from its 1997 rebranding as "6ABC" to 2010 (when its current logo debuted). The stylized 6 in its logo has been used with only minor changes since 1967, when the station was still WFIL-TV.

In 1970, the FCC forced Triangle to sell off its broadcasting properties due to protests from then-Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp. Shapp complained that Triangle had used its three Pennsylvania television stations—WFIL-TV, WLYH-TV (now WXBU) in Lebanon and WFBG-TV (now WTAJ-TV) in Altoona—in a smear campaign against him. The WFIL stations, along with radio-television combinations in New Haven, Connecticut and Fresno, California, were sold to Capital Cities Communications. As a condition of the sale, Capital Cities had to spin off the radio stations to other entities – in Philadelphia, WFIL-FM (now WIOQ) was sold to its general manager John Richer, and WFIL radio went to LIN Broadcasting. On May 1, 1971,shortly after the sale was approved and Capital Cities took control of channel 6, WFIL-TV changed its call letters to the current WPVI-TV.

Despite the ownership change, channel 6 continued preempting ABC programming in favor of locally-produced and syndicated shows. In 1975, when ABC entered the morning news field withAM America, WPVI did not carry it. Nor would channel 6 pick up AM America's successor, Good Morning America, in its entirety for nearly three years, choosing instead to carry Captain Noah and His Magical Ark in place of the second hour of GMA. WPVI-TV also did not run other ABC daytime programming, notably The Edge of Night and numerous sitcom reruns. ABC was able to get most of its daytime schedule on the air in Philadelphia anyway, through contracts with independent stations WKBS-TV (channel 48) and WTAF-TV (channel 29).

WPVI Title Card

Former Action News title card (used February 6, 2006-December 4, 2010) 2009 In Memoriam 6abc

In March 1985, Capital Cities announced it was purchasing the American Broadcasting Company, a move that stunned the broadcast industry since ABC was some four times larger than CapCities at the time. Some have said that CapCities was only able to pull off the deal because WPVI-TV, the company's flagship property, had become very profitable in its own right. However, the merged company almost had to sell off channel 6 due to a large grade B signal overlap with WABC-TV. In the FCC's view, the merger gave the new company a duopoly prohibited by the regulations of the time—the same "one-to-a-market" rule that forced Triangle to split its newspaper/broadcast combination in Philadelphia many years earlier. Capital Cities sought a waiver of the rules to keep WPVI, citing CBS' then-ownership of WCBS-TV in New York and WCAU-TV in Philadelphia. The FCC granted the waiver, and when the transaction became final in early 1986, WPVI-TV became an ABC owned-and-operated station. The station was hitherto ABC's longest-tenured affiliate; this distinction went to Baltimore's WJZ-TV and then to Washington, DC's WJLA when WJZ dropped ABC in 1995. A decade later, the Walt Disney Company purchased Capital Cities/ABC.

Even in the years after WPVI became an ABC-owned station, it continued to pre-empt an hour of ABC daytime programs in favor of other programs. Wildwood, New Jersey-based NBC affiliate WMGM-TV picked up the pre-empted ABC shows until 1987, when it moved back to channel 29, which was now WTXF-TV. The pre-empted programs were usually magazine shows, game shows or reruns of ABC primetime sitcoms. Some leeway was made in the early 1990s, when WPVI was down to pre-empting only the first half-hour the Home Show.

It was also after the CapCities-ABC merger that WPVI encountered infamy: On January 22, 1987, the station partially rebroadcast the suicideof Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer on its noon newscast. Dwyer's suicide occurred at a press conference earlier that morning.

In 1997, in a directive from the new Disney ownership, WPVI-TV began carrying the entire ABC network schedule for the first time ever. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of its highly-rated local show, AM/Live(formerly AM Philadelphia), which was shifted to overnights to make room for ABC's then-new talk show The View. AM/Live was moved to 12:35 a.m. following Politically Incorrect and was renamed Philly After Midnight, where it lasted until 2001. Today, WPVI carries the entire ABC line-up as well as syndicated programming such as Live with Regis and Kelly and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, both of which are provided by corporate cousin Disney-ABC Domestic Television. It also carries both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. In fact, its entire weekday line-up, including syndicated shows, is identical to that of WABC-TV. Since 1977, WPVI has also been airing the Pennsylvania Lottery live nighttime television drawings which occurs at 6:59 p.m. ET every night. The Powerball drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the Mega Millions drawings Tuesday and Fridays air during the 11 PM editions of Action News on those days.

On January 28, 2010, WPVI entered into a multi-year agreement with Major League Soccer expansion team Philadelphia Union through which it will air every non-nationally televised game in HD, and show game rebroadcasts over their Live Well subchannel.

On December 4, 2010, WPVI updated its logo by placing a circle around the "6" logo (in a matter similar to other ABC O&Os) and replacing its red ABC logo with a black glossy network logo. The revised identity came with a brand new graphics package, but of course the classic "Move Closer to Your World" theme song remains the same as it has been for almost 40 years. [2][3]

Digital Television[]

Digital Channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP name Programming
6.1 720p 16:9 WPVI-DT Main WPVI-TV Programming/ABC
6.2 LCLSESD Localish
6.3 480i ThisTV This TV
6.4 LAFF Laff TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WPVI-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over UHF channel 64, but returned to channel 6 for its post-transition operations. Because of the nature of VHF-LO frequencies, WPVI-TV is difficult to tune without an outdoor VHF/UHF antenna. A temporary power increase to 30 kilowatts was granted, with WEDY in New Haven, Connecticut and WRGB in Schenectady, New York having to give their consent. Some viewers did notice an improvement in their signal.[4] Because of potential interference to other stations and to FM radio, there was doubt as to whether this increase could be granted.[5] Three months later, WPVI was still getting complaints.[6]

Reception issues

In an analog world, operations on VHF channels (those between 2 and 13) could operate at power levels significantly lower than UHF stations (saving electricity costs), and still cover greater areas. The All-Channel Receiver Act of 1964 guaranteed that all new TVs must be designed to receive UHF channels, but the major networks were already well established. For digital transmissions VHF channels are very noisy in particular Low-VHF (channels 2–6). It is difficult to receive the signals without the standardized 30' outdoor antenna. Fewer than 40 full power stations in the USA are using Low-VHF channels since the mandatory digital conversion in 2009, and major network affiliates are mostly in large sparsely populated direct marketing areas where outdoor antennas are common.

WPVI-TV had been broadcasting digital signals on channel UHF 64 from 1998 until 2009, but that channel was recovered by the FCC for resale in March 2008. WPVI-TV was by far the largest urban station to broadcast in the Low-VHF band after the mandatory digital transition in 2009. Next to Philadelphia, the next largest market area served by a major network affiliate with a Low-VHF channel was Las Vegas, served by NBC affiliate KSNV-DT (which shifted their intellectual unit to a new sister UHF station in 2014 when it came under new ownership to address major reception issues). WPVI-DT went back to channel 6, where they had been broadcasting analog signals since 1948. The WPVI-TV signal was difficult to receive with an indoor antenna, even within Philadelphia proper.

The FCC granted the station a temporary power increase to 30 kilowatts, following consent given from WEDY in New Haven, Connecticut and WRGB in Schenectady, New York. Because of potential interference with other stations and with FM radio, there was doubt as to whether this increase could be granted. Some viewers did notice an improvement in their signal;however, WPVI continued to receive complaints regarding the viewability of its digital signal. The problems have continued to this day. WPVI, along with Wilmington, Delaware-licensed stations PBS member station WHYY-TV (channel 12) and WDPN-TV (channel 2, a 2013 move-in from Jackson, Wyoming) are the only Philadelphia area stations whose digital signals operate on the VHF band, as all others physically broadcast on UHF. The FCC advises that a single antenna position will likely not pull both low- and high-band VHF signals (unlike the analog era).

Programming[]

Syndicated programming on WPVI-TV (as of December 2020) includes the talk shows Rachael Ray, Live with Kelly and Ryan (co-hosted by South Jersey native Kelly Ripa) and Tamron Hall (the latter two are distributed by corporate cousin Disney-ABC Domestic Television), as well as such game shows as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. In fact, the station's entire weekday lineup, including syndicated shows, is identical to that of sister station and ABC flagship WABC-TV.

Pennsylvania Lottery Drawings

From 1977 until 2015, WPVI aired the Pennsylvania Lottery live nighttime television drawings, which occur nightly at 6:59 p.m. ET; the Powerball drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the Tuesday and Friday Mega Millions drawings air during the 11 p.m. newscasts on those nights (those television drawing rights moved to WTXF-TV).

Past program preemptions and deferrals

Under Capital Cities ownership, channel 6 frequently preempted ABC programming in favor of locally produced and syndicated shows. In January 1975, when ABC entered the morning news field with AM America, WPVI chose not to carry the second hour of the program in favor of continuing Captain Noah and His Magical Ark at 8:00 am; in response to viewer complaints, the station later moved Captain Noah to 7:00 am, with the one hour of AM America shifting to a tape-delay at 8:30. When AM America's successor, Good Morning America premiered in November 1975, WPVI-TV aired only one hour at 9:00 am on tape. With the arrival of Donahue in January 1976, the station began clearing the first hour live at 7:00, with Captain Noahfollowing at 8:00. Channel 6 began carrying both hours of GMA live in September 1978; Captain Noah was moved to weekends and remained there for the remainder of its run. Even in the years after WPVI became an ABC-owned station, it continued to preempt an hour of ABC daytime programs in favor of other programs. Wildwood, New Jersey-based NBC affiliate WMGM-TV (channel 40) picked up the pre-empted ABC shows until 1987, when those programs returned to channel 29, which was now WTXF-TV. The preempted programs were usually magazine shows, game shows or reruns of ABC primetime sitcoms. By the early 1990s, WPVI preempted only the first half-hour of The Home Show. WPVI-TV also did not run other ABC daytime programs, notably The Edge of Night and numerous sitcom reruns. ABC was able to get most of its daytime schedule on the air in Philadelphia anyway through contracts with independent stations WKBS-TV (channel 48) and WTAF-TV (channel 29). In 1997, per a directive from the new Disney ownership, WPVI-TV began carrying the entire ABC network schedule for the first time in the station's history with the network. It came at the expense of its highly rated local talk show, AM/Live (formerly AM/Philadelphia), which was shifted to an overnight timeslot to make room for ABC's then-new talk show The View. AM/Livewas moved to 12:35 a.m. following Politically Incorrect and was renamed Philly After Midnight, where it lasted until 2001.

Local programming

Channel 6 has a long history of producing local programs. On March 26, 1948, it aired a production of "Parsifal" from the John Wanamaker Store that featured Bruno Walter conducting 50 players from the Philadelphia Orchestra, a chorus of 300, and the Wanamaker Organ. Perhaps its most notable local production was Bandstand, which began in 1952 and originated from WFIL-TV's newly constructed Studio B (located in the 1952 addition to the 46th and Market studio). In 1957, ABC added the program as part of its weekday afternoon network lineup and renamed it American Bandstand to reflect its more widespread broadcast scope.

Other well known locally produced shows included the children's programs Captain Noah and His Magical Ark; a cartoon show hosted by Sally Starr; and Chief Halftown (whose host, Traynor Ora Halftown, was a full-blooded member of the Seneca Nation), and two variety programs: The Al Alberts Showcase, a talent show emceed by the lead singer of The Four Aces; and The Larry Ferrari Show, on which the host played organ versions of both popular and religious music. WFIL-TV also produced an early, yet long-running, program on adult literacy, Operation Alphabet. One of its earliest local series was Let's Pop the Question, from 1947 to 1948.

Sports programming

As a result of ABC losing Monday Night Football to now-sister network ESPN in the 2000s, WPVI has aired the Philadelphia Eagles' preseason and Monday night games, as well as the team's coaches' show (those programs moved to WCAU-TV in 2015). However, in recent years, the Monday games have aired on news partner WPHL, while WPVI has opted to air the regularly-scheduled ABC programming, which includes the popular Dancing with the Stars. The Eagles' remaining games are split between KYW-TV (CBS), WCAU-TV (NBC) and WTXF-TV (Fox) through their respectively owned networks' NFL broadcast rights and NFL Network through its Thursday Night Football package. On January 28, 2010, WPVI entered into a multi-year agreement with Major League Soccer expansion team Philadelphia Union to broadcast selected games.

News operation[]

WPVI-TV presently airs 48 hours, 25 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 7 hours, 5 minutes each weekday and 6½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). Action News Sports Sunday airs Sunday nights at 11:30 after the 11 p.m. newscast. In addition, the station produces a public affairs program on Sunday mornings called Inside Story, which discusses local and national issues; as it does not have a regular host, members of WPVI's anchor staff rotate hosting duties for the program. Since New Jersey is split between the Philadelphia and New York City markets, WPVI cooperates with its New York City sister station, WABC-TV, in covering New Jersey events. The two stations share reporters, live trucks and helicopters in areas where their markets overlap. The two stations also cooperate in the production and broadcast of statewide New Jersey political debates. Whenever the two stations broadcast a statewide office debate, such as those involving gubernatorial or U.S. Senate races, WPVI and WABC will pool resources and have anchors or reporters from both stations participate in the debate.

ScreenHunter 51615 Jun. 30 15

WPVI Channel 6 Action News opening titles (June 26, 2017-present)

Pioneer of Action News The station is famous for pioneering the Action News format, which was used by many stations throughout the United States. When WFIL-TV premiered it on April 6, 1970, the format allowed the news program to have more stories than KYW-TV's Eyewitness News due to strict time limits on story packages. Within a few months, the station surged to first place for the first time in its history. It had previously been an also-ran behind KYW-TV and WCAU-TV, as was the case with most ABC affiliates. Despite channel 6's newspaper roots, it was hampered by the fact that ABC was not on par with CBS and NBC until the early 1970s.

WFIL-TV/WPVI-TV waged a spirited battle for first place with KYW-TV for most of the 1970s. However, in 1977, it won a sweeps period by a wide margin, and has been in first place more or less ever since. It is one of the most dominant major-market stations in the country, winning virtually every time slot. Its dominance has only been seriously challenged twice—in the 1980s, when WCAU briefly took the lead at 5 p.m.; and in 2001, when WCAU took first place at 11 p.m. for a few months for the first time in decades. Many top executives in ABC's television station group previously worked at WPVI. WPVI's longtime anchor Jim Gardner and weatherman Dave Roberts respectively joined the station in 1976 and 1978, after each had spent time at WPVI's then-sister station in Buffalo, New York, WKBW-TV. Gary Papa joined in 1981 from another Buffalo station, WGR-TV (now WGRZ), and stayed with the station until his death in 2009.

One factor in WPVI's long dominance is talent continuity. Most of WPVI's on-air staff has been at the station for over ten years, and several for 20 years or more. Gardner has been the station's main weeknight anchor since May 1977, the longest tenure for any main anchor in Philadelphia history. Rob Jennings served as longtime weekend anchor beginning in that same year and held that post until his retirement on July 21, 2013.

Action News of Philly

The station's newscasts have used the same theme music, "Move Closer to Your World", composed by Al Ham, since October 1, 1972. The theme had become such an iconic aspect of Action News that news director Dave Davis considered it to be the station's "national anthem". The theme has remained relatively unchanged (aside from remasters) since it was first introduced; when WPVI attempted to introduce a slower, modernized version of the theme performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra on September 20, 1996, the station immediately received complaints from viewers and reverted to the old theme only three days later. The intro has traditionally been accompanied by seasonal footage of various Philadelphia/Delaware Valley residents and landmarks. Later the intro format was adopted by sister stations KGO-TV and WLS-TV with the News Series 2000 Plus theme music. For over 30 years starting in the late 1970s, Jefferson "Jeff" Kaye (also a WKBW alumnus, and one who would later become known nationally for his work on NFL Films) announced the familiar open: "Action News, Delaware Valley's leading news program", as well as rejoins and closings. Even through staff announcing changes for the station in general, Kaye remained the constant voice of Action News. His voice started to show signs of decaying in the mid-2000s, reaching a point to where Kaye's newly recorded opens in late January 2010 were pulled in less than a week. On June 21, 2010, Kaye was replaced with veteran announcer Charlie Van Dyke, who had become WPVI's station announcer in 2006. Kaye died on November 16, 2012.

For many years, WPVI's dominance fostered an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. Its logo, a simple stylized "6", has been used with only minor changes since 1967 when it was still WFIL-TV. In June 1995, the "6" was placed in a blue box, the station was later re-branded as 6ABC in September 1996 with the red ABC logo augmented on the bottom right of the 6. The red ABC logo was later replaced with a 2007-era glossy logo on December 4, 2010. Well into the 1990s, it still used chromakey graphics, and weather forecasts utilized a magnet board. In recent years, attempts have been made to modernize the newscasts. In 1998, it began downplaying its use of chromakey. The magnet board gave way to a video screen in 2000 and a chromakey wall in 2005. On February 13, 2006, a revamped and fully modernized set debuted which included a glass etching background of several historical landmarks in Philadelphia positioned behind the anchor desk, shiftable lighting effects and a computerized AccuWeather center. WPVI introduced a new HD-capable helicopter in February 2006. Live shots from the helicopter, officially named "Chopper6 HD", were shown in high-definition. Furthermore, on July 23, 2006, starting with the 6:00 p.m. newscast (the official announcement was made on July 24), Action News began broadcasting in full 720p high-definition; all field video shown during WPVI's newscasts is shot in high-definition. On September 12, 2009, WPVI debuted another new revamped and fully modernized set, wider than the last set at the original round building, with a bigger news desk, AccuWeather center and a revised glass-etched background which added the Comcast Center to the featured landmarks. It also added a touch-screen video wall, the first for any station in the country, which the station dubs the "Action News Big Board." The set was updated once again on March 31, 2014, with the addition of a large, 12-screen HD video wall behind the main anchor desk. On June 26, 2017, Action News debuted a new set for its newscasts, which now features 3 large HD video walls, including one used for the weather segments and special modifications to allow the use of augmented reality (AR) graphics on set.

After the 2009 death of Gary Papa, Channel 6 took eighteen months to name a replacement for the position of Sports Director. In January 2011, Keith Russell was named as the 6 and 11 p.m. sports anchor, while Jamie Apody was named sports anchor for the 5 p.m. newscast, a position vacant since the departure of longtime 5 p.m. sports anchor Scott Palmer. Russell left in 2012, and was replaced by Ducis Rodgers who was officially named Sports Director.

Extended Newscast

On May 26, 2011, WPVI debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast to replace The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ended its 25-year syndication run one day prior; this edition was broadcast from a smaller news desk located next to the main anchor desk that only housed the anchors of that newscast and allowed the team to utilize the Big Board more frequently. This changed on June 26, 2017, when the entire news set was redone in a more modernized style and the smaller desk was removed, moving the anchors to the new main desk. The station also introduced "Mobile 6", a news vehicle used for reports during the station's early evening newscasts. In the spring of 2012, the station expanded its weekend 11 p.m. newscasts to one hour. On September 8, 2014, the station's noon newscast also expanded to one full hour as a new daytime schedule was implemented.

On September 15, 2012, WPVI-TV took over production of MyNetworkTV affiliate WPHL-TV (channel 17)'s 10 p.m. newscast from NBC-owned WCAU (which began producing the 10 p.m. newscast in December 2005, after WPHL shut down its own in-house news department). The newscast, Action News at 10pm on PHL 17, respectively utilizes most of the same anchors as WPVI's weekday 5 p.m. and weekend evening newscasts with a few notable differences. Features anchor Alicia Vitarelli does not appear on the weeknight edition of the broadcast, while Sports Director Ducis Rogers and weekend sports anchor Jeff Skversky join their respective anchor teams. Additionally, weeknight anchors Rick Williams and Sharrie Williams (no relation) and weekend anchors Walter Perez and Sarah Bloomquist (who also anchors the Noon edition alongside Brian Taff and as the features anchor on the 4 p.m. edition) operate from the main anchor desk. Perez and Bloomquist remain at the desk at the end of the 10 p.m. newscast to anchor the 11 p.m. show on WPVI. Bloomquist only anchors with Perez on the Sunday edition of the newscast. With this, WPVI became the third ABC owned-and-operated station to be involved in a news share agreement, after KGO-TV in San Francisco (which produces a 9 p.m. newscast for independent station KOFY-TV) and WTVD in Raleigh(which produces a 10 p.m. newscast for CW affiliate WLFL), and was later joined in 2014 by KABC-TV in Los Angeles (which produces a 7 p.m. newscast for independent station KDOC-TV). On September 15, 2014, the newscast was expanded to a full hour-long broadcast, making WPHL the second station in the Philadelphia area (along with competitor WTXF) to carry an hour-long newscast at 10 p.m. Competitor station WPSG is the only one that broadcasts a half-hour newscast in the time slot, Eyewitness News at 10 on The CW Philly (produced by sister station KYW).

In December 2013, WPVI entered into a news share agreement with Univision-owned WUVP-DT, Channel 65; the agreement allows WPVI to expand its coverage of stories involving the Hispanic community, while permitting WUVP to utilize such of WPVI's resources as helicopter video. The arrangement follows other partnerships between ABC and Univision (including the Fusion cable channel, as well as similar agreements in other markets), as well as a similar agreement in Philadelphia between WCAU and Telemundo station WWSI (Channel 62) established after NBCUniversal acquired the latter station.

In 2016, WPVI lost the rights to televise the Wawa Welcome America festivities to WCAU. The station had televised the 4th of July event since at least 1983.

In September 2018, WPVI became the third station in the Philadelphia area to start its weekday morning newscast at 4 a.m., following WTXF and WCAU. Only KYW-TV currently starts its morning newscast at 4:30 a.m. while WPHL-TV starts its newscast at 5 a.m.; however, WPHL's program is not produced by WPVI.

News/station presentation[]

Newscast titles[]

  • The RCA Color Newsreel (1958-1960s)
  • WFIL-TV News (1970-1971)
  • Channel 6 Action News (1970-1971 as WFIL-TV; 1971–present as WPVI-TV)

Station slogans[]

  • The Philadelphia Inquirer Station (1950s; as WFIL-TV)
  • Move Closer to Your World (1970s; music still used by its Action News branded newscasts)
  • Delaware Valley's Leading News Program (1975–present)
  • Channel 6 is Still The One (1977-1980; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • We're The One You Can Turn To, Channel 6 (1978-1979; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Hello Philly/Say Hello (1980s; used during period station used Frank Gari's "Hello News" as image campaign)
  • You and Me and Channel 6 (1980-1981; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Now is The Time, Channel 6 is the Place (1981-1982; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Come on Along with Channel 6 (1982-1983; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • That Special Feeling on Channel 6 (1983-1984; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • We're With You on Channel 6 (1984-1985; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • You'll Love It, on Channel 6 (1985-1986; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Together on Channel 6 (1986-1987; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Something's Happening on Channel 6 (1988-1990; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Philadelphia's Watching Channel 6 (1990–1992; localized version of "America's Watching ABC" campaign)
  • If It's Philadelphia, It Must Be Channel 6 (1992-1993; localized version of "It Must Be ABC" campaign)
  • Nobody Does It Like 6ABC (1996-1997; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • TV is Good, on 6ABC (1997-1998; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • We Love TV, on 6ABC (1998-1999; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • More Stories... From More Places. That's Channel 6 Action News. (2009–present)

Newscast music[]

The theme during this period was an original composition by Tom Sellers; commissioned by Mel Kampmann while he was a student at Temple University. (Sellers was later an arranger on such hits as "Rock the Boat" by the Hues Corporation); it was also used by such stations as KTLA in Los Angeles (during anchor George Putnam's second stint there in the early 1970s), WBNG-TV in Binghamton, New York (dating back from its days as Triangle-owned WNBF-TV), WNHC-TV / WTNH-TV in New Haven, Connecticut, and KSTP-TV inMinneapolis / St. Paul, Minnesota. [1]

On-air staff[]

(Year joined WPVI indicated through parenthesis)

Current on-air staff[]

  • Sharrie Williams - weeknights at 5pm (2014)
  • Rick Williams - weeknights at 5pm and 11pm (1988)
  • Brian Taff - weekdays at 12 pm, 4pm, and 6pm (2009)
  • Sarah Bloomquist - weekdays at 12 pm and 4pm (2002)
  • Alicia Vitarelli - weekdays at 4-6pm (2010)
  • Tamala Edwards - weekday mornings (4-7AM) (2005)
  • Matt O’Donnell - weekday mornings (4-7AM) (1996)
  • Gray Hall - weeknights at 10pm; also weekday reporter (2015); Sunday mornings at 6-8AM and 9-10:30AM; Sundays at Noon; also general assignment reporter (2002)
  • Walter Perez - Saturday evenings from 5, 6, and 11pm; Sunday evenings at 5, 6, and 11pm; also weekday reporter (2003)

AccuWeather team

  • Cecily Tynan - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6, and 11pm (1995)
  • Adam Joesph - meteorologist; weekdays at 4pm, 5:30pm, and weeknights at 10pm on WPHL-TV (2005)
  • Karen Rogers - meteorologist; weekday mornings (4-7AM); also a traffic reporter (1995)
  • Chris Sowers - meteorologist; Saturday mornings from 5-8AM and 9-10AM; Sunday mornings at 6-8AM and 9-10:30AM; Sundays at Noon (2011; though, previously worked as a weather producer from 2000-2005)
  • Brittany Boyer - weekends at 5, 6, and 11pm (2021)

Sports team

  • Ducis Rogers - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 11pm; weeknights at 10pm on PHL17 (2012)
  • Jamie Apody - weekday evenings 5:30-6PM; also general assignment reporter (2006)

Traffic team

  • Karen Rogers - traffic reporter and meteorologist; weekday mornings 4-7AM (1995)
  • Matt Pellman - traffic reporter; weekdays evening 4 & 5PM (2005)
  • Chris Sowers - traffic reporter and meteorologist; Saturday mornings from 5-8AM and 9-10AM; Sunday mornings at 6-8AM and 9-10:30AM; Sundays at Noon (2011)

Reporters

  • Nydia Han consumer reporter (2002)
  • Chad Pradelli - general assignment reporter (2004)
  • Jamie Apody - general assignment reporter; also weekday evening sports anchor (2006)
  • Katherine Scott - general assignment reporter (2009)
  • Annie McCormick - general assignment reporter (2012)
  • Gray Hall - general assignment reporter; also weekend morning anchor; also Sunday morning & noon anchor (2015)
  • Trish Hartman - general assignment reporter (2015)
  • Christie Ileto - general assignment reporter (2015)
  • Bob Brooks - general assignment reporter (2016)
  • Gina Gannon - general assignment reporter (2016)
  • Maggie Kent - general assignment reporter (2018)
  • Katie Katro - general assignment reporter (2018)
  • TaRhonda Thomas - general assignment reporter/race and culture reporter (2019)
  • George Solis - general assignment reporter (2019)
  • Corey Davis - general assignment reporter (2019)
  • Jessica Boyington - general assignment reporter (2019)
  • Beccah Hendrickson - general assignment reporter (2019)
  • Eric Moody - general assignment reporter (2020)
  • Bryanna Gallagher - general assignment reporter (2021)
  • Jillian Mele - general assignment reporter (2022)
  • Alyana Gomez - general assignment reporter (2022)
  • John Paul - multimedia journalist (2022)

Notable former staff[]

  • Al Alberts (deceased)
  • Phil Andrews - sports anchor (1990-2005)
  • Gunnar Back - anchor/reporter (1956-1971; died in 1983)
  • Jack Brayboy (1982-2005; now the Owner of Brayboy Communications Inc.)
  • Anita Brikman - health reporter (1994-2007; later at WUSA in Washington, D.C. Now, the senior vice-preisdent of the CHPA Educational Foundation)
  • Jessica Borg
  • Amy Buckman - former longtime reporter/producer (1989-2014; now the Director of School and Community Relations in the Lower Marion School District)
  • Phyllis Burke (1983-86)
  • Jeff Chirico - former general assignment reporter (2015-2021; now a Realtor in Philadelphia)
  • Dick Clark (1952-1957) (deceased)
  • Dann Cuellar - former longtime general assignment reporter (1988-2022; retired)
  • Janet Davies
  • Dr. Francis Davis - weatherman (1947-1971)
  • Larry Ferrari
  • Dave Frankel (1984-1997; later at KYW-TV in Philadelphia; and at ESPN) (now an attorney)
  • Karen Friedman
  • Irving Fryar - Former NFL Player; Sports Reporter (1997-1998)
  • Mariellen Gallagher (1973-1983)
  • Cathy Gandolfo - Reporter (1975-2011; retired)
  • Ana Garcia
  • Jim Gardner - legendary anchor on weeknights at 6pm and 11pm (1976-2022; retired)
  • Robin Garrison - weatherman (1981-84)
  • Ali Gorman - former longtime medical/health reporter (2008-2021)
  • Erica Grow - meteorologist (2007-2010; now to PIX 11 New)
  • Traynor (Chief) Halftown - Children's show host (1950-1999)
  • Frank Hall (1951-1959)
  • David Henry - former longtime reporter (1986-2015; retired)
  • Bob Hite - anchor (circa 1977; left to anchor at WFLA-TV in Tampa, FL, where he retired after 30 years there).
  • Bob Horn
  • Marc Howard (1977-2002; later at KYW-TV in Philadelphia) (now retired)
  • Dwayne Jackson
  • Denise James - reporter; 1987-2010 (now retired)
  • Peter Jaroff - former longtime news producer (1982-2007; now a Journalism professor at Temple University)
  • Rob Jennings (weekend anchor/weekday reporter; 1977-2013) (now retired)
  • Jennifer Joyce - reporter (2012-2013; left to join competitor WTXF-TV)
  • Larry Kane (1965-1977; later at WCAU & KYW-TV in Philadelphia)
  • Jeff Kaye - longtime voiceover (late 1970s-2010) (deceased)
  • Les Keiter
  • Wally Kennedy (1984-2004)
  • Susanne LaFrankie
  • Lisa Thomas-Laury (anchor/reporter; 1978-2016) (now retired)
  • Steve Levy (1975-1981; later at WCAU in Philadelphia) (now retired)
  • Gary Majors
  • Monica Malpass (1988-2019; now business anchor at the NASDAQ MarketSite)
  • Harry Martin (later anchor/reporter at WABC-TV, WNYW & WWOR-TV New York City)
  • Lorne Matalon - reporter (1984-87)
  • Liz Matt - AM Philadelphia host (1984-1995)
  • Melissa McGee - meteorologist (2009-2020; now at KNBC in Los Angeles)
  • Michelle McCormack - reporter (1997-2005; now anchor/reporter at WFRV
  • Tug McGraw (1988-1994) (now deceased)
  • W. Carter Merbreier ("Captain Noah") (1967-1994)
  • Patricia Merbreier ("Mrs. Noah") (1967-1994)
  • Kenneth Moton - general assignment reporter (2011-2015; left to join ABC News)
  • SallyAnn Mosey (1998-2006; now with News 12 in New Jersey)
  • Nora Muchanic - reporter (1986-2017; retired)
  • David Murphy - meteorologist (1990-2021; now retired)
  • Jim O'Brien (1971-1973 & 1974-1983) (now deceased)
  • Erin O’Hearn - general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor (2006-circa 2021)
  • Vernon Odom - former longtime reporter (1976-2018; now retired)
  • Scott Palmer - sportscaster (1981-2005)
  • Gary Papa(deceased) (1981-2009) (now deceased)
  • Joe Pellegrino (1970s; later at WCAU in Philadelphia)
  • Eva Pilgrim - anchor/reporter (2012-2015; left to join ABC News
  • Don Polec - former longtime feature reporter (1982-2009; retired)
  • Flora Posteraro - former anchor (1990-1997)
  • Harry Powell
  • Lisa Quintana
  • John Rawlins - reporter (1981-2019) (now retired)
  • Dave Roberts - meteorologist (1978-2009; retired)
  • John Roberts - former longtime weekend anchor (1948-1972; died in 2012)
  • Elliot Rodriguez - now at WFOR-TV in Miami
  • Keith Russell - sports anchor (2005-2012; left to head to WRC in Washington; was last at WTXF-TV in Philadelphia)
  • Joe Sanchez (1978-1983)
  • Jeff Skversky - former longtime sportscaster (2009-2022; now at WWJ-TV in Detroit, MI)
  • Sally Starr (1950s-1971)
  • Kristen Sze - now at KGO-TV in San Francisco
  • Mike Strug - reporter (1966-1978)
  • Rose Tibayan
  • Don Tollefson - sportscaster (1975-1990)
  • Joe Torres - now at WABC-TV in New York
  • Abby Van Pelt
  • Chris Wagner (1979-1990)
  • Pat Warren
  • Richard K. Williams - former longtime producer/executive producer (1982-2021; retired, passed away in 2022)
  • Lauren Wilson - former longtime reporter (1986-2010; now with the Colonial School District)
  • Lucy Yang - reporter (1989-1993; left to join WABC in New York)

Gallery[]

Cable and satellite carriage[]

Outside of the Philadelphia market in central New Jersey, WPVI is carried in southern Middlesex County on Comcast in the municipalities of Plainsboro, South Brunswick, Monroe, Cranbury, Jamesburg, Helmetta, Spotswood, and East Brunswick on Channel 6. Cablevision Monmouth County also carries WPVI on Channel 6 on Cablevision Monmouth and Monmouth/Wall outlets. All of Ocean County carries WPVI on Comcast and Cablevision outlets. Due to a contract dispute with ABC, WPVI was blacked out on March 8, 2010 to Cablevision customers in Monmouth, Ocean and Mercer counties. Verizon FiOS carries WPVI on Channel 16 in Ocean County and extreme Southern Monmouth county. WPVI is also carried by Comcast in all of New Castle County, Delaware, and some of Kent County. As such, WPVI is significantly viewed in Warren, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties.

In the Lehigh Valley, WPVI is carried by Service Electric, RCN, and Blue Ridge Communications, which altogether encompasses nearly 1 million people. It can also be seen in Reading and most parts of Berks County.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Obituary of Walter Annenberg from Slate
  2. ^ Philadelphia Union To Air on 6ABC - Regional Broadcast Leader Partners with MLS Expansion Club
  3. ^ Union sign local TV deal with Channel 6
  4. ^ Dickson, Glen (2009-06-22). "WPVI Gets Power Boost From FCC". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  5. ^ Grotticelli, Michael (2009-06-22). "DTV Transition Not So Smooth in Some Markets". Broadcast Engineering. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  6. ^ Svensson, Peter (2009-09-18). "Don't change that channel: DTV woes still abound". MSNBC. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  7. ^ a b Shister, Gail (October 2, 1996). "For Angry Ch. 6 News Viewers, The Theme Was: `Drop The Music'". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved February 28, 2011.

External links[]

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