WNPS

**WNPS**, virtual channel 13 (UHF digital channel 48), is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Possum Springs, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by the Cox Media Group subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises.

On cable, the station is carried on Comcast Xfinity channels 12 (channel 10 in Fort Lucenne and channel 13 in some outlying areas) (standard definition) and 813 (high definition), and Verizon FiOS channels 13 (SD) and 513 (HD).

## History

### As WTHT

On September 1, 1957, Possum Springs' second commercial VHF station signed on as **WTHT**. The station's construction permit was originally issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in June 1955 to WTHT Incorporated. The consortium had competed individually for the permit grant along with other applicants. CBS, which was looking to gain its own full-time affiliate in the market, signed a contract with the then-unnamed channel 13 shortly thereafter. Before the "freeze" on television station licenses, the two stations were competing for the channel 12 license originally assigned to Possum Springs before the FCC reallocated the channels in 1952; the Hearst Corporation (eventual owners of WPCN-TV) and two other companies were also applying for the channel 12 license.

Channel 13, however, did not sign on for well over two years after its permit was granted. The primary reason for the delay was on the part of WFSV-TV (channel 57, now WPSI-TV), whose application for the permit had been denied and later contested the FCC's original decision. In the interim, CBS continued to have most of its programs cleared by Westinghouse-owned KAKD-TV (channel 2), at the time Possum Springs' only commercial VHF station. When CBS decided to make KAKD-TV its full-time Possum Springs affiliate, NBC (who shared time on KAKD-TV with CBS, ABC, and station founder DuMont since its sign-on in 1949) reached a deal to affiliate with WTHT.

Shortly after its sign-on, WTHT was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network, sharing the affiliation with KAKD-TV, WPCN-TV, and public television station WPSE.

In 1964, WTHT was sold to current owner Cox Enterprises; Cox was required to sell it's then new cable system (today's Buckeye CableSystem) in Toledo, Ohio to Block Communications, which is based in Toledo, as well as construction permits for a planned cable system in Flint, Michigan to American CATV (which soon became Wonderland Cable and eventually was renamed Comcast). The station has been the longest running NBC affiliate under Cox's ownership.

During much of the 1970s, WTHT trailed in a distant third place in the ratings behind KAKD-TV and WPCN-TV. This coincided with much of the period where NBC also struggled in the ratings. Nowadays in addition to being in a dead heat for number one in local news ratings, WNPS is currently one of NBC's strongest major-market affiliates overcoming any lags due to the station's delays in signing on in its early years and despite the fluctuating strength of network programming. Over the past decade, Possum Springs has been a perennially competitive market for local news, with news ratings usually differing by less than a full ratings point.

Around 1975, Channel 13 branded itself as "thirteen". Around 1977, WTHT used the "Spirit of 13" moniker. WTHT carried the Operation Prime Time package in 1979.

### As WNPS

On April 20, 1981, the station's call sign was changed to **WNPS** (for "NBC Possum Springs"). Although the station has officially never had the *-TV* suffix since adopting the WNPS call sign, the station has on occasion been marketed as *WNPS-TV*. The WTHT calls in Possum Springs were later used by a low-powered independent station that ran a music video format (that station is currently a Bounce TV affiliate).

WNPS joined the ad hoc TV network, MGM/UA Premiere Network, with the November 10, 1984 showing of *Clash of the Titans*.

WNPS also televised the *Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon* as the "Love Network" affiliate of the annual fundraiser for the Possum Springs market, until the Muscular Dystrophy Association decided to move the event from syndication to ABC (and WPCN-TV) in 2013, where it would remain for two more years until the event was discontinued entirely.

On October 6 beginning with the 6 p.m. newscast, WNPS became the first station in the Possum Springs market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. The station was criticized for technical glitches during the initial week of the new system run but worked through the issues and set the pace of technological advances for WPCN-TV and KAKD to follow. With the switch to HD came a new set, created by FX Group and a new graphics package designed by Hothaus Creative.

In mid-October 2008, WNPS, in collaboration with Cox's longtime partner Internet Broadcasting, launched a redesigned website. By early November 2008, the websites of all of Cox's stations east of the Mississippi River began using the new format pioneered by WNPS; the websites of the company's stations west of the Mississippi River followed suit a month later. In 2011, Cox Media Group's partnership with Internet Broadcasting was dissolved, and the Cox television stations relaunched their website operations in-house. WNPS' website remained under the stewardship of Internet Broadcasting until late January 2012, when it became the last station to have redesigned their websites to match the format of the in-house web operations of it's sister stations.

WNPS currently uses a stylized "Circle 13" logo, which debuted in 1987. The "13" numeral is colored gold, while the circle around it is dark teal. WNPS previously used the NBC Peacock in its logo, but revamped its look in October 2004. WNPS' current look uses the circle 13 logo with a serif "WNPS" below it.

On September 2, 2013, WNPS expanded its noon news to an hour, becoming Possum Springs' first hour-long noon newscast.

## Gallery

WNPS ID from 1988, with the 1988-1989 "Come Home To The Best" promo.WNPS NBC Network Promo (1989)WNPS ID from 1989.WNPS logo used from 1996 to 2004.
## Digital television

### Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

 13.2
 13.3

WNPS was the first station in Possum Springs to make use of additional programming on its digital channels. On June 21, 2005, WNPS began carrying programming from NBC Weather Plus on digital subchannel 13.2. The service, branded as WNPS 13 Weather Plus, offered local and national weather information 24 hours a day.

WNPS added an airwave digital channel on 13.3 on October 15, 2007, when it began an affiliation with Retro Television Network. Following the shutdown of NBC Weather Plus in December 2008, WNPS moved RTV to 13.2 while the 13.3 subchannel went dark. On June 13, 2011, WNPS replaced RTV with competing classic television network Me-TV.

While all three Possum Springs news stations air news video on its websites with WPCN-TV even airing full newscasts on its website, WNPS is the only station in the Possum Springs market to have over-the-top content available on a streaming service, having its own dedicated channel on Roku. If someone within the WNPS viewing area orders a Roku Player, the WNPS News app is automatically installed on the player. The WNPS-Roku partnership is part of a larger partnership between Roku and Cox-owned stations.

On April 15, 2015, WNPS became a charter affiliate of Laff on channel 13.3, bringing 13.3 live again for the first time since NBC Weather Plus shut down.

### Analog-to-digital conversion

WNPS shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, 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 48.

## Programming

### Local programming

From 1963 to 1983, the station produced and broadcast *Suspense* *Theater*, a late Saturday evening horror film show hosted by Guy Brock, or as he was referred to, "Dr. Brockspense." The show originally had Brock as a solo host. In the 1970s, a cast of characters was added, and the setting was changed from a laboratory to a castle. Brock would introduce the film being shown, as well as perform skits during breaks in the film. Brock became well known for hosting the show and the shows themselves became part of local yore. The final program aired on January 1, 1984. Brock remained on-air at WNPS through the early-to-mid-1990s as the weekday morning and noon weather forecaster.

The show was part of a trend during the 1960s and 1970s for television stations to produce local programming. Local stations often created their own children's shows as well. Horror theater shows, such as *Suspense Theater*, were not only easy to produce, but popular with the local audience.

From 1966 to 1972, WTHT had a *Bandstand*-type show on Saturday afternoons. *Road to Fame* was originally sponsored by Pepsi and Food Donkey and hosted by KVQ disc jockey Vernon Hogan. The show featured teens dancing to current hit records, a weekly Top 10 countdown and appearances by local bands.

From the earliest days of the station through 1973, WTHT produced a weekly live professional wrestling show. *Wrestling Program*, independent of the National Wrestling Alliance, which aired on Saturday evenings and drew strong ratings. Terrence Taylor was the original host, but Brock took over after a few years and handled the rest of the show's run. It started as a one-hour show, but was then expanded to 90 minutes because of its popularity. *Wrestling Program* was run by Toots Mondt, who co-owned NWA member Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the predecessor to the present-day WWE) with Vince McMahon, Sr. WTHT/WNPS has not produced its own wrestling program since *Wrestling Program*, although it has aired various WWF/WWE shows through its affiliation with NBC in the years since.

WTHT also produced a daily afternoon game show, *Spin It!*, from 1965 to 1967. Drew Bridges of KVQ radio hosted the show, which had contestants spinning a wheel to determine what prizes they could win. Local musician Norton Hamilton was part of the show, providing material for the "Mystery Tunes" segment.

In regards to children's programming, WTHT produced *Colortoons*, which aired older cartoons produced in color (hence the name), hosted by animated character Delbert Duck, who had a Donald Duck type of voice who spoke to off-camera announcer Laurence Harrison (who served as Delbert's comedy foil) in between the cartoons. The station also aired a local version of *The Mickey Mouse Club* during the 1960s.

#### Current

* *Channel 13* *Holiday Parade*
* *A Star Spangled Salute*

#### Past

* *Suspense Theater* (1963–1983)
* *Wrestling Program* (1959–1973)
* *MDA Labor Day Telethon*

### Syndicated programming

Since its sign-on in 1957, WTHT, and later WNPS, has aired a mix of syndicated first-run shows, off-network reruns, and afternoon movies throughout its history, although by the 1980s the schedule would become less dependent on most of this product in favor of more talk fare and an expanding newscast. In the late 1990s, WNPS was known as one of the "Big 3" stations in the Possum Springs area to air popular tabloid talk shows in their late morning and afternoon daytime lineup. Today, WNPS' syndicated programming focuses on hard-hitting news and lifestyle platforms.

In September 2014, WNPS acquired *Rachael Ray* from WPCN-TV after going back and forth at its 10 a.m. time slot on the station since its 2006 debut. The show now takes up the 11 a.m. timeslot, serving as a lead-in to *Channel 13 News at Noon*.

## Newscasts

WNPS was the first station to offer a 5:30 p.m. newscast in Possum Springs from 1981 to 1984 (titled *5:30 Live*); it was then revived in 1987 with the name *Channel 13 News First Edition*. It was also the first station to offer a 5 p.m. newscast in the early 1990s, titled *Channel 13 News First at 5.* WNPS dropped NBC's Saturday morning cartoons in September 1990 in favor of a running a newscast airing from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The success of the weekend morning newscast prompted NBC network officials to extend the *Today* show to weekends. WNPS, however, has since scaled back the length of its weekend morning newscasts. WNPS added *Weekend Today* in September 2012.

On January 12, 2006, Sinclair Broadcast Group (owner of Fox affiliate WPOS-TV) and WNPS entered into a news share agreement allowing channel 13 to take over production of WNPS' 10 p.m. newscast. WNPS began producing a 10 p.m. newscast for that station (titled *Channel 13 News on Fox 23 at Ten*) on January 30, 2006, two weeks after WPOS shut down its in-house news department due to corporate cutbacks made by Sinclair at its news-producing stations. All of WPOS' news staff were laid off. The program runs for 45 minutes on Sunday through Friday nights, and for 30 minutes on Saturdays; a sports highlight show titled *Fox Sports Extra* fills the remaining 15 minutes of the newscast Sunday through Fridays.

WNPS is known to commission its own theme music from various composers, although it has previously used the famous "Move Closer to Your World" theme by Al Ham (though it did commission a modernized version of the theme used during the 1990s). It has commissioned "Total Coverage" (its previous package), and later started using the Tower V.2, ending the "NBC Collection" altogether.

### Ratings

Possum Springs is one of the most competitive markets in the country for local news and viewers benefit by getting quality newscasts from three strong stations. More recently, however, WNPS has had an increase in most dayparts, although it continues maintain a tie with KAKD-TV in the market for daytime news, as of the May 2009 Nielsen ratings period. Also during this period, WNPS had in increase during the morning hours and the WNPS-produced 10 p.m. news remained in first place. From 1997 to 1999, WNPS lead #1 ahead of WPCN-TV and KAKD-TV in viewership for the 5:00 p.m. newscast due to lead-in by early fringe talk show, *The Jerry Springer Show* at 4 p.m. As of May 2010, WNPS has a strong lead with viewers in the 5-6 a.m. and 10 p.m. timeslots. However, WNPS had the least-watched newscasts in Possum Springs at noon, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 p.m. (with KAKD-TV being the highest watched during those timeslots, except for WPCN-TV which was the leader at 11 p.m. as of the February 2013 ratings period).

### Current On-Air Staff (year joined in parentheses)

**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)