WPCN-TV

**WPCN-TV**, virtual channel 9 (UHF digital channel 51), is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Possum Springs, Pennsylvania. It has been owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation since the station's inception, making this one of a few stations that have been built and signed on by Hearst. On cable, WPCN-TV is carried on Comcast Xfinity channels 8 (channel 6 in Fort Lucenne, and channel 9 in some outlying areas) (standard definition) and 809 (high definition), and Verizon FiOS channels 9 (SD) and 509 (HD).

## History

WPCN-TV began broadcasting on September 14, 1958; the station has been Possum Springs' ABC affiliate since its sign-on. From the beginning, the Hearst Corporation has been involved in the station's ownership. How the station came to be was the result of a long and complicated drama surrounding the awarding of the station's construction permit and ultimate broadcast license.

Although it was one of the largest markets in the country for most of the early television era, Possum Springs had only one major commercial television station for close to a decade—DuMont-owned WDPS (channel 2, now KAKD-TV), which signed on in 1949 and carried programs from all four television networks (DuMont, ABC, NBC and CBS). Further development of stations in Possum Springs was halted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s freeze on license awards, which ran from 1948 until 1952. Even after the freeze was lifted by the FCC's *Sixth Report and Order*, the FCC held off on allocating new VHF stations to Possum Springs in order to give cities elsewhere in Western Pennsylvania, as well as the Upper Ohio Valley, a chance to get on the air. These cities are close enough together that they must share the VHF band.

Several months after the freeze was lifted two UHF stations in Possum Springs, WRGB-TV (channel 23, now WPOS-TV) and WFSV-TV (channel 57, now WPSI-TV), went on the air. For reasons that were both technical and financial, both stations were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, revisions to the VHF allocation table had given the Possum Springs area three additional channels—4, 9, and 13, the former reserved for non-commercial educational purposes. The channel 9 frequency on which WPCN-TV began operations during the analog television era was originally allocated to suburban Fort Lucenne; other official documents have listed the community of license as Bright Harbor.

Hearings on the channel 9 permit opened in 1955. Hearst and the other three applicants that lost later petitioned the FCC to re-open the permit hearings. The subsequent reconsideration awarded channel 9 to Hearst. As such, WPCN-TV is the only Possum Springs television station affiliated with a major network to have not changed ownership.

Shortly before the station signed on, the FCC moved the channel 9 assignment to Possum Springs proper. However, the FCC had recently changed its rules so that channel 9 could have based its main studio in Possum Springs, even if it had been licensed in Fort Lucenne or Bright Harbor. Shortly after signing on, WPCN-TV was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network, sharing the affiliation with KAKD-TV, WTHT-TV (now WNPS), and WPSE.

In the early years, Channel 9 was best known in the market for its locally originated entertainment programming, including popular early program late night movie show *Thrill Theatre*, which was hosted by former Possum Springs radio disc jockey Steve Hill, who portrayed Sir Brown. *Thrill Theatre* featured monster movies such as *The Invisible Man* and *Frankenstein* in-between live-action comedic skits. By the 1970s, WPCN-TV began it's broadcast day with a mix of cartoons and sitcoms from 6:30 to 9 a.m., followed by a local talk show, a few ABC shows, additional cartoons and off-network sitcoms in the afternoon, news and some first run shows in the evening, and ABC prime time programming.

On April 24, 1980, after the Pennsylvania Lottery's daily numbers drawing was fixed so that it would come up as "6-6-6" (resulting in lotteries now being audited and monitored with "witnesses" from the government and/or accounting firms, and also inspiring the movie *Lucky Numbers*), KAKD-TV aired the Lottery drawings in the Possum Springs market until 2009, when they moved back to WPCN-TV.

In 1986, WPCN-TV partnered with the Salvation Army and started *Project Bundle Up*, an operation to make sure that children and seniors receive warm clothing. WPCN-TV has run the *Project Bundle Up Auction* where local businesses donate products to be auctioned off, and the *Project Bundle Up Telethon*, where viewers call in to donate money, businesses donate money and all of the proceeds from the auction and telethon benefit the Salvation Army. In 2007, WPCN-TV moved the auction to the Internet.

Although it was the only ABC affiliate in the region when it signed on at the time, WPCN-TV also pre-empted and/or delayed a handful of ABC programs, most notably some of its daytime lineup from the 1960s to the late 1990s. WPCN-TV did not begin running *Good Morning America* until December 1978, and only aired an hour of the program until 1980. *One Life to Live* did not run on WPCN-TV from its 1968 debut up until 1978, when the soap opera expanded to an hour-long format. From 1969 to 1971, and again from 1974 to 1979, ABC shows that were not broadcast on channel 9 ended up airing instead on WPOS-TV. After 1980, some of these shows ran on WFEP (channel 48). WPCN-TV also preempted the Sunday morning ABC children's programming block the entire time ABC offered it, as well as a couple of hours of ABC's Saturday morning cartoons until 1979. WPCN-TV ran syndicated cartoons in place of the network-supplied children's programs, while the pre-empted Saturday morning network programs (including *American Bandstand*) aired on WPOS during that time.

By the 1980s, WPCN-TV was running many of the top rated off-network syndicated sitcoms from 4 to 6 p.m. By 1990, WPCN-TV was beginning to focus more on news, and in 1992 dropped the entire ABC Saturday morning cartoon lineup for a 4½ hour newscast (which WNPS was also doing, beginning in 1990). The displaced ABC Saturday morning cartoon lineup instead aired, intertwined with NBC's own Saturday morning block, which materialized into TNBC, on WFSV-TV, which continued to air pre-empted programs from both blocks until WFSV-TV converted into an America's Store affiliate in 2004. WPCN-TV also expanded its midday newscast to an hour and dropped *The Home Show* during 1991. *Loving* was dropped from the daytime lineup in January 1991 and moved to overnights, then dropped from the schedule altogether in 1992. Later in the decade, WPCN-TV also did not carry *Mike and Maty* or *The City*. WPCN-TV began carrying *Port Charles* in January 1998, but dropped the show entirely in September 2000, three years shy of its cancellation by ABC, and replaced it with *Judge Hatchett*, which itself was replaced by *Access Hollywood* in 2004. Beginning in 1996, WPCN-TV began running two hours of the ABC Saturday cartoon lineup on Sunday mornings, a half-hour on Saturday mornings, and a half-hour at 12:30 p.m. In 1997, the station cut back its Saturday morning newscast to three hours at 7 to 10 a.m. and began running three hours of the ABC children's lineup from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Today, though it still offers a news-intensive schedule, WPCN-TV clears the entire ABC lineup.

WPCN-TV was one of many ABC stations that pre-empted the special showing of *Saving Private Ryan* in late 2004 due to concerns that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would impose a fine on them if they had aired the World War II-set movie due to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy earlier that year. The station, along with other Hearst-owned ABC affiliated stations, aired the 1992 film *Far and Away* instead. It was later determined that the movie's broadcast was not a violation of FCC regulations.

## Gallery

WPCN-TV1978.jpgWPCN-TV ID from 1978, using the 1978-1979 ABC ID.WPCN-TV1981.jpgWPCN-TV ID from 1981, using the 1981-1982 ABC ID.WPCN-TV Come on Along.jpgWPCN-TV "Come On Along" ID from 1982.WPCN-TVMay1985.jpgWPCN-TV ID from May 1985, using the 1984-1985 ABC ID.WPCN-TV Youll Love It.jpgWPCN-TV "You'll Love It" ID from 1985.WPCN-TV 1986.jpgWPCN-TV ID from 1986, using the 1986-1987 ABC ID.WPCN-TV1989.jpgWPCN-TV station ID from 1989.Current secondary WPCN-TV logo, used since 1995.WPCN-TV Drew Carey Show.jpgWPCN-TV bug from September 13, 1995 from the network debut of The Drew Carey ShowWPCN-TV's primary logo from 1995 to 2008.WPCN-TV's primary logo from 2008 to 2013.
## Digital television

### Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

 9.2

On August 3, 2009, WPCN-TV converted its traffic/weather subchannel into a This TV affiliate.

Until January 2014, WPCN-TV was one of a handful of ABC-affiliated stations and one of a few Hearst-owned ABC affiliates that broadcast their HDTV signals in 1080i rather than the 720p format of most other ABC stations. WPCN-TV announced that will convert to the 1080i format in January 2014.

On January 1, 2018, WPCN-TV replaced This on WPCN-TV-DT2 with Cozi TV upon the end of Hearst's carriage agreement with parent Tribune Broadcasting for that network.

### Analog-to-digital conversion

WPCN-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 9, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 51. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 9.

## Programming

### Local programming

* *Project Bundle-Up Telethon*, seasonal partnership with Salvation Army
* *Chronicle*

### Syndicated/first-run programming

WPCN-TV airs the entire ABC lineup. Aside from this and news programming, WPCN-TV's other offerings include *Live with Kelly and Ryan*, *The Ellen DeGeneres Show*, *Inside Edition*, *Entertainment Tonight*, and *Steve*, among others. Channel 9 has carried *Live!* (and its predecessors) since its national debut in 1988 and *Entertainment Tonight* since 1989. For an ABC affiliate that is owned by a company that does not own a network, WPCN-TV has the local rights to CBS Television Distribution's programs (*ET* and *Inside Edition*), instead of CBS-owned KAKD-TV, which is rare in several television markets where a network O&O would air shows produced by its sister company, since WPCN-TV's parent company had made long-term contract deals for these programs before CBS took over syndication rights.

### Lifestyle and Entertainment Digital Channel

On June 1, 2015, WPCN-TV launched a new Lifestyle & Entertainment channel on its Digital Platforms. Known as '9 for Deep Hollow County', the team of video creators and social media commentators are devoted to covering all things fun across the Possum Springs region including entertainment, food, music, sports, business, start-ups, community events, neighborhood/town cultural identity, and more. They are heavily focused on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and emerging mobile apps. The team has produced an interactive show called '9 for Deep Hollow County Live' which incorporates celebrity guests, seasonal events, and a viewer engagement segment over social media.

## News operation

WPCN-TV presently broadcasts 37½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5½ hours on weekdays and five hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among the Possum Springs market's television stations. This number is considered even more impressive when considering that KAKD-TV airs some news programming on sister station WPSW while WNPS airs news on WPOS-TV through a news-sharing agreement; WPCN-TV doesn't have *any* sister station in the Possum Springs market to air additional news. WPCN-TV has the highest-rated morning (4:30, 5 and 6 a.m.) and late evening newscasts (at 11 p.m.) in the market. It is the dominant news department in Possum Springs focusing on local news.

Like its NBC rival, WNPS, Channel 9 was not a major player in terms of news coverage in its early years, as the Possum Springs market was dominated by KAKD-TV.

Sports has also been a major division at WPCN-TV.

In June 1992, the station expanded its news production, adding a Saturday morning newscast from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (matching WNPS' Saturday morning newscast of the then-same length, which began in 1990) and a three-hour Sunday morning newscast. The station also extended its weekday early evening newscast to begin at 5 p.m., and began to air a weekday morning newscast from 5 to 7 a.m. In 1997, the station expanded its Sunday morning newscast by an hour and began to air its Saturday morning newscast from 6 to 10 a.m.

WPCN-TV unveiled a new set designed by FX Group during the 5 p.m. newscast on September 4, 2007. That year, WPCN-TV debuted a YouTube channel, which features stories featured on channel 9's newscasts. On September 15, 2008, WPCN-TV became the second station in the market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. Field reports continued to be broadcast in 4:3 standard-definition until September 2011, when field reports began to be broadcast in 16:9 SD.

At the end of 2011, WPCN-TV on-air talent took to both Twitter and Facebook to voice their opinions about unfair treatment by management. Local newspapers reported that WPCN-TV's on-air staff claimed it was being denied severance benefits for employees fired without cause, a minimum salary scale, overtime pay for work hours totaling more than eight hours a day, retirement benefits equalling those of other employees at the station, and consideration for unscheduled call-outs, split shifts and work on the sixth consecutive day and thereafter. An online petition was launched in support of the anchors, reporters, meteorologists, and sportscasters.

### New studio set for newscasts

On April 28, 2016, WPCN-TV became the third television station in the Possum Springs DMA to launch a new studio set in Studio B of the WPCN-TV Studios. The design focuses heavily on the use of video monitors, Possum Springs culture, and HD lighting.

### *Action News 9 at 7 on Cozi TV Possum Springs*

On January 6, 2016, WPCN-TV announced that the station will add a 7 p.m. newscast on subchannel 9.2 beginning February 1.

### *Chronicle*

*Chronicle* debuted on WPCN-TV in March 2013, with a report from Vatican City on the election of Pope Francis.

### Ratings

WPCN-TV is #1 in morning news, while WNPS is #2 and KAKD is ranked third. At 10 p.m., WNPS' 10 p.m. News on WPOS is #1, and KAKD 10 p.m. news on WPSW is second. At 11 p.m., KAKD is #1, WPCN-TV is #2, and WNPS is third. KAKD is the top station in the market, while WPCN-TV is second and WNPS is third.

### Newscast themes

* Hello News (1982-1987)

**KAKD-TV** 2 (CBS)
WPSE 4 (PBS)
**WPCN-TV** 9 (ABC)
WNPS 13 (NBC)
WPOS-TV 23 (FOX)
**WTYN-TV** 29 (RDN)
WTHT-LD 31 (Bounce)
**WPSW** 40 (CW)
WFEP 48 (MNTV)
**WPSI-TV** 57 (ION)
WVDO-CD 69 (HSN)