WKAQ-TV

WKAQ-TV

San Juan, Puerto Rico
Branding Telemundo (general)
Telemundo Puerto Rico (website)
Telenoticias (newscasts)
Punto 2 (DT2)
NBC Puerto Rico (DT3)
Slogan Tu canal, Siempre
(Your channel, Always)
Channels Digital: 28 (UHF)
Virtual: 2 (PSIP)
Subchannels 2.1 Telemundo
2.2 Punto 2
2.3 NBC (WNBC simulcast)
Translators WORA-TV 5.1 Mayagüez
W09AT 9 Fajardo
W28EH-D 28 Adjuntas
W28EQ-D 28 Utuado
Affiliations Telemundo (O&O) (1987–present)
Owner NBCUniversal
(Telemundo of Puerto Rico)
First air date 28 March 1954 (1954-03-28)
Call letters' meaning Named after former sister station WKAQ (AM)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
2 (VHF, 1954–2009)
Former affiliations Independent (1954–1986)
NetSpan (1986–1987)
Transmitter power 924 kW
Height 854 m (2,802 ft)
Facility ID 64983
Transmitter coordinates 18°6′47.5″N 66°3′9.3″W / 18.113194°N 66.052583°W / 18.113194; -66.052583
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website telemundopr.com

WKAQ-TV, virtual channel 2 (UHF digital channel 28), is a Telemundo owned-and-operated television station licensed to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The station is owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal (itself a subsidiary of Comcast) as a sister station to New York City NBC flagship WNBC (WNBC is actually simulcast on WKAQ's third digital subchannel) and fellow Telemundo O&O stations WNJU and WSCV. WKAQ-TV maintains studios on Roosevelt Avenue in San Juan, and its transmitter is located near the Bosque Estatal de Carite mountain reserve.

WKAQ-TV operates a semi-satellite: WORA-TV (channel 5) in Mayagüez, which re-broadcasts over 95% of WKAQ-TV's programming under an affiliation agreement for the western region of Puerto Rico. 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 W28EQ-D in Utuado.

History

WKAQ-TV first signed on 28 March 1954 as the first television station in Puerto Rico. The station was founded by Ángel Ramos, founder of El Mundo (The World) and Puerto Rico's first licensed radio station,[1] WKAQ. Ramos wanted to maintain a consistent branding inter-proprietorially 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 (FCC), Ramos had to wait until 1954. WKAQ began broadcasting in color in 1968.

During the station's history, WKAQ-TV battled fiercely with WAPA-TV to become the highest-rated 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 a left-handed silhouette raising two fingers, replacing the negative space within the "2" numeral), which was used from 1976 to 1992. During this time, it called 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. Professional Wrestling also aired as well such as the World Wrestling Council in the early 1980s, Americas Wrestling Federation in the early 1990s, International Wrestling Association (Puerto Rico) Impacto Total and Zona Caliente and WWF Shotgun Saturday Night and Metal (1998–2001).

When Telemundo spun-off 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.

In 2005, WKAQ-TV became a superstation when NBCUniversal 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 9 October 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 21 December.

On 25 August 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 23 April 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

Channel PSIP short name Video Aspect Programming[2]
2.1WKAQ-DT720p16:9Main WKAQ-TV programming / Telemundo
2.2WKAQ .2480i4:3WKAQ-DT2 / Punto 2
2.3NBC PR720p16:9WKAQ-DT3 / NBC Puerto Rico (WNBC simulcast)[3][4]
4.1WAPA-HD720p16:9Main WAPA-TV programming / WAPA

Analog-to-digital conversion

WKAQ-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on 12 June 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.[5] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2.

News operation

WKAQ-TV currently broadcasts 16 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 3 hours each weekday except for Tuesdays with 2½ hours and 3 hours on weekends, 1½ hours each day). 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 29 May 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 31 May 2014 the weekend news debuted the newscast was titled as Telenoticias Fin de semana.[6]

Notable current on-air staff

Notable former on-air staff

Translator stations

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

City of license Callsign Channel
AdjuntasW28EH-D28.1
FajardoW09AT9
MayagüezWORA-TV5.1
UtuadoW28EQ-D28.1

Problems and possible Telemundo integration

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 programming.

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 franchise. The organization named Luisito Vigoreaux, Desiree Lowry and Telemundo Puerto Rico in charge of the pageant. Telemundo kept some elemental concepts, but a more direct approach is gained.

On 12 January 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. ↑ "Corporate Information". Telemundo.com. Archived from the original on January 23, 2009. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
  2. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WKAQ
  3. ↑ Por ahí viene... NBC Puerto Rico - Primera Hora (in Spanish)
  4. ↑ En el 2014: Lo que trae NBC Puerto Rico - TVBoricuaUSA (in Spanish)
  5. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  6. ↑ Telemundo Puerto Rico Launches weekend news
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