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WWSI (channel 62) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...
licensed to
Mount Laurel, New Jersey Mount Laurel is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia and part of the South Jersey region. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 41,864, reflecting an increase of 1 ...
, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language
Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...
network to the
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
area. It is owned and operated by
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primar ...
's Telemundo Station Group alongside
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
outlet
WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...
(channel 10); it is also sister to
regional sports network In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region ...
NBC Sports Philadelphia. WWSI and WCAU share studios within the Comcast Technology Center on Arch Street in Center City, with some operations remaining at their former main studio at the corner of
City Avenue U.S. Route 1 (US 1) is a major north–south U.S. Highway, extending from Key West, Florida, in the south to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border in the north. In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, US 1 runs for from the Maryland state lin ...
and Monument Road in Bala Cynwyd, along the
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
Montgomery county line. Through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WCAU's spectrum from a tower in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.


History

Prior to the station's formal sign-on, channel 62's original owners held a
construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
under the WDKZ call letters beginning on September 9, 1987, which subsequently changed to WACI that same year. In 2000, the callsign on the license was changed to WPHA. The station formally signed on the air as WWSI on January 17, 2001, originally licensed to
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
, with transmitter in Waterford Township. It acquired the Telemundo affiliation for the Philadelphia market (originally seen on
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Unami language, Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North ...
-based WTGI—channel 61, now
Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented en ...
owned-and-operated station WPPX-TV—until 1998, then
WTVE WTVE (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Philadelphia area and primarily airing paid programming. It is owned by WRNN-TV Associates alongside Princeton, New Jersey–licensed ...
—channel 51—in
Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...
from 1998 to 2000). WWSI launched its website in 2007. In January 2008, Hispanic Broadcasters Corporation agreed to sell WWSI to ZGS Communications for $10 million. The sale to ZGS was finalized on March 11 of that year. On March 21, 2013,
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primar ...
entered into an agreement to acquire WWSI from ZGS Communications for $20 million. Prior to the sale agreement, WWSI had been the largest station (in terms of market size) aligned with Telemundo that was not an owned-and-operated station of the network. The deal created a duopoly with NBC-owned Philadelphia station WCAU. The sale was completed on July 2.


News operation

Following the acquisition of WWSI, NBCUniversal announced plans to develop a news department for the station, with plans to debut half-hour newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. starting January 6, 2014. The newscasts, titled ''Noticiero Telemundo 62'' began on January 13, 2014, one week from the original planned start date. The newscast name was later changed to ''WWSI Telemundo News'' for unknown reasons in late January. WWSI maintains its own control room, which then runs through
WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...
's main Digital Operations Center. The station hired 15 staff members for its news operation (including journalists, reporters, producers, anchors and photographers). On October 21, 2013, WWSI announced the hirings of Claribel Collazo (previously with
Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...
Telemundo affiliate WTMO) as its assistant
news director A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, ...
and Ramón Luis Zayas, former news anchor of Telemundo's morning program '' Un Nuevo Día,'' as anchor of the evening newscasts. On November 3, 2014, the 14 Telemundo O&O's, including WWSI, launched a 5:30 p.m. newscast. This makes WWSI the first Spanish-language station in Philadelphia to have an hour-long evening newscast. The station launched additional 6 a.m. and noon newscasts to lead into Telemundo's national morning and mid-day news programs on April 2, 2018. On October 21, 2018, Telemundo 62 debuted its new studio in the new Comcast Technology Center, the same day that NBC 10 debuted its new studio.


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:


Analog-to-digital conversion

WWSI discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 62, 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 remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 49. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as its former UHF analog channel 62, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition. Until 2018, 49.3 (virtual 10.3) was utilized as a simulcast of WCAU. The sub-channel was signed on in order to keep NBC programming available in areas channel 10's main signal does not reach over the air after the network terminated their affiliation with Wildwood-licensed WMGM-TV.


Spectrum reallocation

On April 13, 2017, it was revealed that WWSI's over-the-air spectrum had been sold in the FCC's spectrum reallocation auction, fetching $125.9 million. WWSI did not sign off, but is sharing broadcast spectrum with sister station WCAU.All Purpose Exhibit for WWSI CP Application to Channel Share
/ref> NBC stated that WCAU had a better signal than that of WWSI. Because WCAU's signal does not sufficiently cover Atlantic City proper, WWSI changed its
city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American b ...
from Atlantic City to Mount Laurel.


References


External links


Official website

Telemundo

TeleXitos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wwsi Television channels and stations established in 2001 Television stations in Philadelphia Telemundo Station Group WSI 2001 establishments in New Jersey Mount Laurel, New Jersey TeleXitos affiliates