San Juan, Puerto Rico | |
---|---|
Branding | WAPA (general) WAPA America (superstation feed) Noticentro (newscasts) |
Slogan |
Pensando en Ti (Thinking of You) |
Channels |
Digital: 27 (UHF) Virtual: 4 () |
Subchannels | 4.1 Independent 4.2 WAPA 2 Deportes |
Translators |
WNJX-TV 4.1 Mayagüez WTIN-TV 4.1 Ponce |
Affiliations | Independent (1954–1988, 1991–1994 & 2002–present) |
Owner | Hemisphere Media Group (InterMedia Partners, 83.8% (Televicentro of Puerto Rico, LLC) |
First air date | May 1, 1954 |
Call letters' meaning |
Asociación de Productores de Azúcar (Puerto Rico Sugar Grower's Association) |
Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 4 (VHF, 1954–2009) |
Former affiliations | Univision (1988–1991, 1994–2002) |
Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
Height | 794 m |
Facility ID | 52073 |
Transmitter coordinates | 18°6′33.8″N 66°3′2.5″W / 18.109389°N 66.050694°W |
Licensing authority | Federal Communications Commission |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | www |
WAPA-TV, virtual channel 4 (UHF digital channel 27), is an independent television station located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The station is owned by Hemisphere Media Group (NASDAQ: HMTV), which is 83.8% owned by InterMedia Partners. WAPA-TV maintains studios at Avenida Luis Vigoreaux in Guaynabo, and its transmitter is located near the Bosque Estatal de Carite mountain reserve.
The station's signal is relayed throughout Puerto Rico through two full-power satellite stations: WTIN-TV (channel 14) in Ponce and WNJX-TV (channel 22) in Mayagüez.
WAPA-TV began broadcasting on May 1, 1954, as the second television station to be licensed to Puerto Rico. Its call letters are a partial abbreviation of the station's original owners, the now-defunct Asociación de Productores de Azúcar, or Puerto Rico Sugar Grower's Association. During its earliest years, the station was affiliated with NBC, ABC, DuMont, and the CMQ Television Network.
The station was the first in the U.S. territory to transition to color unceremoniously in 1966, followed by WKAQ-TV in 1968. Popularly known in Puerto Rico by its assigned channel number, Canal Cuatro, the station was also known by its animated cartoon mascot during the 1970s and 1980s, a bongo-playing cat (known commonly as el gato de WAPA in Spanish) and therefore its slogan was Por el cuatro como el gato (colloquially "on four (legs) like the cat"), which rhymes in its original Spanish. Similarly, another station promo used the phrase, Hasta el gato, te-ve el cuatro and the cat itself was alternately known as el Gato de Cuatro.