WKAQ-TV

WKAQ-TV
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Branding Telemundo (general)
Telemundo Puerto Rico (website)
Telenoticias (newscasts)
Slogan Tu canal, Siempre ("Your channel, Always")
Channels Digital: 28 (UHF)
Virtual: 2 (PSIP)
Subchannels 2.1 Telemundo HD
2.2 Punto 2
2.3 WNBC simulcast
Translators WORA-TV 5.1 Mayagüez
W09AT 9 Fajardo
W28EH-D 28 Adjuntas
W32AJ 32 Utuado
Affiliations Telemundo (O&O) (1986-present)
Owner NBCUniversal
(Telemundo of Puerto Rico)
First air date March 28, 1954
Call letters' meaning Named after former sister station WKAQ (AM)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
2 (VHF, 1954–2009)
Former affiliations Independent (1954–1986)
Transmitter power 924 kW
Height 825.9 m
Facility ID 64983
Transmitter coordinates 18°6′47.5″N 66°3′9.1″W / 18.113194°N 66.052528°W / 18.113194; -66.052528
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.telemundopr.com

WKAQ-TV, virtual channel 2 (UHF digital channel 28), is a Telemundo owned-and-operated television station located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The station is owned by the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal. WKAQ-TV maintains studios in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and its transmitter is located near the Bosque Estatal de Carite mountain reserve.

WKAQ-TV operates a satellite station: WORA-TV (channel 5) in Mayagüez, which repeats over 95% of WKAQ-TV's programming under an affiliation agreement. The station formerly operated WOLE-TV (channel 12) in Aguadilla as another satellite station. The station also has three low-power translator facilities: W09AT in Fajardo, W28EH-D in Adjuntas and W32AJ in Utuado.

History

WKAQ-TV first signed on the air on March 28, 1954, as the first television station in Puerto Rico. The station was founded by Ángel Ramos, founder of Puerto Rico's main newspaper at the time, El Mundo (The World) and Puerto Rico's first radio station (and third licensed radio station in the world), WKAQ. Ramos wanted to maintain a consistent branding between its properties using the "mundo" theme, and decided to brand WKAQ-TV as "Telemundo" ("Tele-World"). Ramos had tried to obtain a television station license as early as the mid-1940s, but due to a licensing freeze for all new American television stations imposed by the Federal Communications Commission, Ramos had to wait until 1954 to obtain the license. WKAQ began broadcasting in color in 1968.

During the station's history, WKAQ-TV battled fiercely with WAPA-TV to become the highest-rated station in Puerto Rico, thanks, in great part, to none other than Ramón Rivero (better known as Diplo), the most famous and influential actor/comedian in the history of Puerto Rico, who was under an exclusive contract with Angel Ramos, and who, in 1954 produced the first comedy/variety show for WKAQ-TV, La Taberna India, followed by La Farándula Corona.

During the 1970s and 1980s, WKAQ-TV (then branded as Telemundo Canal 2), was a major producer of Puerto Rican Spanish soap operas. The station was also known by its "fingers" logo (a bold number 2 with the silhouette of two upright fingers inside the number), calling itself "El canal de los dedos" ("The channel of the fingers").

WKAQ-TV has produced and broadcast recognized local shows such as El Show de las 12, La Gente Joven de Menudo, En Casa de Juanma y Wiwi, Los Kakucomicos, Teatrimundo, Musicomedia, El Show de Chucho, Telecine de la Noche con Manolo Urquiza, Noche de Gala, Estudio Alegre, La Pension de Doña Tere, El Show de Nydia Caro, No te Duermas, Marcano El Show, "Con lo que Cuenta este País", "Videoteces", Super Sabados, Fantastico, El Tio Nobel, Telecómicas, Al Grano con Zervigón, Ahora Podemos Hablar and Dame un Break. It also produced famous telenovelas such as El Hijo de Angela Maria, Tomiko, Cristina Bazán, El Idolo, Viernes Social, La Verdadera Eva, Rojo Verano, Modelos S.A., Coralito and Tanairi.

With the creation of the Telemundo network in 1987, the station started branding itself as "Telemundo Puerto Rico" (before, WKAQ-TV had branded itself as either "Telemundo" or just "Canal 2"). Since then, WKAQ-TV has since then become one of Telemundo's flagship stations, as well as the recognized original "Telemundo". It has been highly criticized that because of the station's affiliation to the Telemundo network, locally produced programming has been traded for "enlatados", or foreign Spanish programming such as Mexican and Venezuelan telenovelas. To avoid this criticism, in 2006, WKAQ-TV aired the first Puerto Rican written and produced telenovela in 15 years: Dueña y Señora. To the general population, WKAQ-TV is still known simply as "Telemundo", and it is branded as such to this day.

WKAQ-TV's slogans have included Y como el dos no hay dos! (There's no two like channel two) and Telemundo: tu canal, siempre (Telemundo: your channel, always). At the end of 2006, WKAQ's slogan was changed to Eres Tú (It's You) and was changed again in 2008 to Telemundo: tu canal (Telemundo: your channel), a slogan that was also used by the Telemundo network.

In 2005, WKAQ-TV became a superstation when NBC Universal reformatted its entertainment-based cable channel Telemundo Internacional into Telemundo Puerto Rico. The channel aired WKAQ-produced programs such as No te Duermas and TVO, as well as the station's news program, Telenoticias. Telemundo Puerto Rico was aimed at Puerto Ricans and other Caribbean communities living in the mainland United States. The superstation feed, however, was discontinued in early 2008. On October 9, 2007, NBC Universal announced that they had put WKAQ-TV up for sale, following its acquisition of Oxygen Media. However, NBC Universal took the station off the market on December 21.

On August 25, 2008, WKAQ-TV, in co-production with the Telemundo network, launched the morning news and lifestyle show Levantate from its San Juan studios. The station also began to air a local teen drama series, Zona Y, which achieved success in the Puerto Rican teen market. On April 23, 2009, WKAQ-TV became the first commercial station in Puerto Rico to begin broadcasting its programming in high definition with its telecast of the Billboard Latin Music Awards.

Digital television

Digital channels

Digital channels

Channel PSIP Short Name Video Aspect Programming[1]
2.1 WKAQ-DT 1080i 16:9 Main WKAQ-TV programming / Telemundo HD
2.2 WKAQ .2 480i 4:3 Punto 2 (Dot 2)
2.3 NBC PR 720p 16:9 WNBC simulcast (NBC Puerto Rico)[2][3]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WKAQ-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, 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 28.[4] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2.

Programming

Programs currently broadcast by WKAQ include:

Current weekday programs:

Weekend programs:

News Operation

WKAQ-TV presently broadcasts 7½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 1½ hours each weekday) consisting 1/2 on the weekends totaling 2 1/2 hours of news. Telenoticias is the name of WKAQ-TV's newscasts created by Evelio Otero, its first news anchor and original announcer when Telemundo went on the air. Otero proposed the name to Angel Ramos, who approved it on the spot. The newscast began in 1954 and it was the first local television program in Puerto Rico. In the 1960s, a renewed edition of Telenoticias began with different anchors.

For more than twenty years, Telenoticias only had two editions: an early evening newscast at 5 p.m. and a late evening newscast at 11 p.m. However, in 2002, a weekend edition was introduced, which (like its weekday counterparts) aired at 5 and 11 p.m. In 2003, the station debuted a weekday morning newscast called Telemundo por la Mañana with Charito Fraticelli, Silverio Perez, Lourdes Collazo, Miguel Ramos and panel experts.

In the 1990s, Telenoticias used "Telemundo 1992 News Theme" as the main theme music for its newscasts; this was replaced later by "Telemundo News Theme". In 2005, the newscasts began to use the production theme "Raw Power" from Network Music. Currently, Telenoticias uses an original theme from Manolo Mongil.

In 2006, as part of the "NBC Universal 2.0" restructuring, WKAQ-TV laid off 60 to 80 staffers, including some Telenoticias anchors and reporters. In addition, the morning, midday and weekend editions of Telenoticias were cancelled. On January 8, 2007, Telenoticias debuted a new set, new graphics and new music. In September 2011, NBCUniversal announced that it would relaunch the 11 a.m. and weekend evening editions of Telenoticias in early 2012, as a condition by the Federal Communications Commission to approve the sale of a controlling stake in the company to Philadelphia-based cable provider and telecommunications company Comcast, requiring NBCUniversal's NBC and Telemundo owned-and-operated stations to increase the amount of locally produced programming. On May 29, 2014 just months after cancellation of Univision Puerto Rico newscast on the weekends. It announced it was going to bring back the weekend newscast. Then on May 31,2014 the weekend news debuted the newscast was Tited as Telenoticias Fin de semana.[5] Also air a sports special Saturdays and Sundays called Deportes Xtra, after the 10:30 p.m. newscast the sports show produced by Telemundo

Notable current on-air staff

Notable former on-air staff

Junior Abrams

Doris Torres Torregrosa

Translator stations

WKAQ-TV can be seen across Puerto Rico on the following stations:

City of license Callsign Channel
Adjuntas W28EH-D 28.1
Fajardo W09AT 9
Utuado W32AJ 32
Mayagüez WORA-TV 5.1

Problems and possible integration into the Telemundo network

Since the beginning of the Telemundo network, WKAQ had been operated semi-independently from the network. This allowed the station to continue to focus on local productions, with network programing utilized as filler. This had often led to Telemundo network programs not airing on the same timeframe as on the mainland, with telenovelas often falling months behind. However, years of declining ratings and local cancellations have led to unconfirmed rumors and speculation that WKAQ may become a standard Telemundo station, dropping all local programing except for Telenoticias.

WKAQ's problems began during the early 2000s, when its ratings declined significantly, mostly due to the entrance of Univision into the Puerto Rican market through WLII. Since then, local shows produced by WKAQ, such as El Gran Bejuco and Dame Un Break, that competed against Univision network offerings have slipped in the ratings, as viewers turned away from WKAQ in favor of Univision. As WKAQ's ratings continued to decline, the station began laying off staff, including Paquito Cordero, one of the most prominent producers on Puerto Rican television. His layoff led to the cancellation of El Show de las Doce, the oldest program in Puerto Rican television outside of local news programming. Many other local programs have also been canceled since then, replaced with Telemundo network programing.

Currently, WKAQ has very few non-news local programming remaining. The most recent local program to be canceled was No te Duermas, the second longest-running local program after El Show de las Doce. The few attempts made at new, locally produced programming have achieved little success, often being canceled after only a few months. Nevertheless, the station has recently become the leading station on the island in terms of viewership against WLII and WAPA, with its telenovela block dominating in the 7 to 10 p.m. time period. Additionally, since January 2009, WKAQ has aired Lost on weeknights at 10:00 p.m., leading that time slot. Also, Dia a Dia has seen an increase in viewership in its 11:00 a.m. time slot and a local teen drama Zona Y that has been a great success in the teen market in Puerto Rico.

WKAQ also regained the rights to the local Miss Universe pageant, after the Miss Universe organization, dismissed Magaly Febles as the owner to the Puerto Rico franchise. The organization named Luisito Vigoreaux, Desiree Lowry and Telemundo Puerto Rico, in charge of the pageant. Telemundo kept some of the elements of the reality concept, but a more direct approach is gained.

On January 12, 2010, begin a new gossip show named Dando Candela, with some of WLII's former Anda Pal cara section "El Avispero". Alexandra Fuentes, Saudi, Papo Brenes and Harold Rivera along with the producer Soraya Sanchéz moved to Telemundo after being fired by Univision. In the premiere show, Pedro Juan Figueroa, formerly of Hector Marcano's Que Suerte joined the show. It has had some controversy, but the program helped WKAQ compete with WAPA-TV's gossip show La Comay, and former Telemundo talent Kobbo Santarosa.

References

  1. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WKAQ
  2. ↑ Por ahí viene... NBC Puerto Rico - Primera Hora (Spanish)
  3. ↑ En el 2014: Lo que trae NBC Puerto Rico - TVBoricuaUSA (Spanish)
  4. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  5. ↑ http://www.mediamoves.com/2014/05/telemundo-puerto-rico-launches-weekend-newscasts.html/5/

http://www.mediamoves.com/2014/05/telemundo-puerto-rico-launches-weekend-newscasts.html Telemundo Puerto Rico Launches weekend news.

External links

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