Wilmington, Delaware-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States |
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City | Wilmington, Delaware |
Branding | Ion Television |
Slogan | Positively Entertaining |
Channels |
Digital: 31 (UHF) Virtual: 61 () |
Subchannels | 61.1 - Ion HD (720p) 61.2 - qubo (480i) 61.3 - Ion Life (480i) 61.4 - Ion Shop (480i) 61.5 - QVC 61.6 - HSN |
Affiliations | Ion Television |
Owner |
Ion Media Networks (Ion Media Philadelphia License, Inc.) |
First air date | July 9, 1986 |
Call letters' meaning | Philadelphia PaX |
Former callsigns | WTGI-TV (1986–1998) WPPX (1998–2009) |
Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 61 (UHF, 1986–2009) |
Former affiliations |
Independent (1986–1987) Telemundo (1987–1995) inTV (1995–1998) |
Transmitter power | 200 kW |
Height | 374 m |
Facility ID | 51984 |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°2′30″N 75°14′11″W / 40.04167°N 75.23639°WCoordinates: 40°2′30″N 75°14′11″W / 40.04167°N 75.23639°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | www.iontelevision.com |
WPPX-TV, virtual channel 61 (UHF digital channel 31), is an Ion Television owned-and-operated television station serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States that is licensed to Wilmington, Delaware. The station is owned by Ion Media Networks. WPPX maintains offices located on Main Street in Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.
The UHF channel 61 allocation in eastern Pennsylvania was originally assigned to Reading, Pennsylvania in the 1950s, when WHUM-TV occupied the channel as a CBS affiliate. The allocation was eventually reassigned to Wilmington after the Reading station went dark in September 1956.
The current station occupying channel 61, now licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, signed on the air as WTGI-TV on July 9, 1986, originally operating as a general entertainment independent station. It mostly broadcast programs that the established Philadelphia stations did not desire, including drama series, old movies, reruns of old game shows, religious shows, and some ABC network shows that WPVI-TV (channel 6) chose to pre-empt. Reruns of Dynasty were WTGI's most prominent program, as well as an attempt at a local newscast entitled Delaware Valley Tonight. In addition, the station was scheduled to broadcast Philadelphia Big 5 basketball, but that idea was dropped before the season started. A lack of cable system carriage (partly because of the news program) and a transmitter located away from the heart of the Philadelphia market left the station with minimal viewership and an inability to sell advertising time at a profit.