WWSI

WWSI (channel 62) is a television station licensed to Mount Laurel, New Jersey, United States, serving as the Philadelphia-area outlet for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside NBC outlet WCAU (channel 10); it is also sister to regional sports network NBC Sports Philadelphia. The stations share studios at the Comcast Technology Center on Arch Street in Center City, and broadcast from the same transmitter in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.

Channel 62 was assigned to Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1984 as part of a proceeding to improve local television service throughout the state. Garden State Communications obtained the construction permit in 1987, but construction activity only progressed in 2000, after Council Tree Communications bought a majority stake. The station signed on the air in January 2001 as a Telemundo affiliate, the first in the Philadelphia market in over a year, and aired little local programming first under Council Tree and later ZGS Communications ownership.

History

Prehistory and construction

In 1980, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed assigning channel 62 to Atlantic City, New Jersey, as part of a proposal to improve television service in the state.[1] The proceeding and channel addition were finalized in 1984,[2] and in August 1986, the FCC designated a group of five applications for the channel for comparative hearing.[3] A settlement agreement was registered with the FCC in 1987, though Garden State Communications was not immediately granted the permit on the issue of short-spacing with other stations.[4] The permit remained dormant for the next decade. In 1990, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued a Philadelphia company for illegally raising funds on behalf of Garden State to build the proposed WACI-TV.[5]

Council Tree Communications filed to acquire a majority stake in the construction permit in 1999.[6] Council Tree was a Longmont, Colorado–based firm in which one of the investors was an Alaska Native–owned corporation.[7] During this time, construction on the station started and faced considerable difficulty. In May 2000, work on the tower along County Route 539 in Little Egg Harbor Township briefly came to a halt as opponents objecting on radiation concerns claimed they had an injunction to stop it.[8] Opponents also decried its proximity to homes and claimed it did not receive proper zoning approval.[9] The dispute was in part resolved when Little Egg Harbor Township agreed to assume ownership of the tower when completed.[10] This was key because it allowed for the exemption from planning board approval, though objectors continued to fight construction.[11] Other objections concerned the potential danger to birds posed by the mast.

NBCU ownership

ZGS retained the station until agreeing to sell it to NBCUniversal for $20 million in a sale completed in July 2013. The deal created a duopoly with NBC's Philadelphia station, WCAU.[21][22] Following the acquisition, NBC announced its intent to expand WCAU's news department to serve WWSI.[23] It hired a total of 15 new employees,[24] including bilingual reporters who filed stories for WCAU; Ramón Luis Zayas, former news anchor of Telemundo's morning program Un Nuevo Día, was named anchor of the evening newscasts.[25] Noticiero Telemundo 62 began airing at 6 and 11 p.m. on January 13, 2014, from WCAU's studios in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.[26]

callsign	WWSI
city	Mount Laurel, New Jersey
branding	Telemundo 62; Noticiero Telemundo 62
digital	28 (UHF), shared with WCAU
virtual	62
affiliations	62.1: Telemundo 62.2: TeleXitos
owner	Telemundo Station Group
licensee	NBC Telemundo License LLC
location	Mount Laurel, New Jersey Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
country	United States
airdate	January 17, 2001
sister stations	WCAU NBC Sports Philadelphia
former callsigns	WDKZ (1987–1989) WACI (1989–2000) WPHA (2000–2001)
former channel numbers	Analog: 62 (UHF, 2001–2009) Digital: 49 (UHF, 2002–2018), 34 (UHF, 2018–2019)
erp	745 kW
haat	399.8 m
facility id	23142
coordinates	40.04169°N, -75.23614°W
licensing authority	FCC
website	https://www.telemundo62.com/

History

Prehistory and construction

NBCU ownership

Technical information and subchannels

External links

References