WFUT-TV
Encyclopedia
WFUT-DT, virtual channel 68, is a Spanish-language television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey
, which serves as an affiliate of the Telefutura
network for the New York City
market. Owned by the Univision Broadcast Group
along with WXTV (channel 41), the stations share studios in Secaucus, New Jersey
and transmitting facilities at the Empire State Building
.
WFUT's programming is rebroadcast on a satellite station, WFTY-DT (virtual channel 67) in Smithtown, New York
, which serves the eastern areas of Long Island
.
television station at the upper end of the dial.
However, in July 1975, financial adviser Eugene Inger and broadcaster Keith Houser teamed up to resurrect the station. The new WBTB-TV became the first "specialty station" as defined by the Federal Communications Commission
with niche programming -- daily reports and updates from the New York financial exchanges. Keith Houser was the G.M. Mr. Houser negotiated with the NY-SEC office to get the ticker tape to crawl across the bottom of the screen with a Two (2) hour delay, due to the SEC worrying that it might "destablize" the market. The ticker ran across the lower third of the screen, with stock prices on the top (white) band and index prices on the bottom (blue) band. After the first year of programming the SEC permitted just a twenty (20) minute delay.[1]When the stock market
s were closed, WBTB offered shows such as the Grand Ole Opry
during late afternoons, a locally-produced variety series called The Uncle Floyd Show hosted by Floyd Vivino, and Christian programming hosted by Keith Houser at night. Saturdays were ethnic programs from Bulgaria
and Spain
as well as religious programming during the day on Sunday and on weekday mornings before the stock market opened.
In late 1976 Wometco Enterprises
, the founding and longtime owners of WTVJ
in Miami
, purchased the station and initially changed its call letters to WTVG. In 1977 Wometco launched a nationwide, over-the-air subscription television service called Wometco Home Theater
, and opted to use WTVG as its flagship station. In 1978, the station's calls were changed to WWHT to match the program service. Viewers who subscribed to WHT were given set-top converter boxes (created by, ironically, Blonder-Tongue) which descrambled the channel 68 signal.
By 1980, WWHT was running religious shows from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., WHT Programming 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 8 p.m. through the overnight, more religious shows from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., general entertainment from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., and business news from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
On weekends the station ran children's programming early Saturday morning followed by brokered programming from late morning to about 4 p.m. Sundays consisted of religious shows until 4 p.m. WHT began after 4 p.m. on weekends at that point. Also, at that point, WSNL-TV (channel 67, now WFTY-DT) in Smithtown, New York, was purchased by Wometco and began simulcasting WWHT.
In the spring of 1981, WWHT dropped afternoon programming and began running Financial News Network
from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. In the spring of 1983, WHT began offering programming 24 hours a day. WWHT at this point only ran some religious programming from 7 to 10 a.m. weekdays and Sundays and WHT programming the rest of the time. FNN, brokered shows and the few entertainment shows were dropped, with Uncle Floyd moving to the New Jersey Network
. In 1984, a year after Wometco's founder Mitchell Wolfson died, WWHT/WSNL and the other Wometco stations were all sold to investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which also bought the Storer Broadcasting
group of stations.
By 1985, WHT folded, due to huge losses as a result of the expansion of cable television; as a result, the station switched to music videos as U68, programmed by Steve Leeds (later at MTV). KKR was looking to sell all of its broadcast properties. The Wometco stations were sold to separate buyers, with WTVJ eventually going to NBC. (The other Storer stations picked up by KKR went to Gillett Broadcasting.) However, in the fall of 1986, WWHT and WSNL were sold to the Home Shopping Network
and became WHSE and WHSI, respectively, and aired the HSN format full-time for the next sixteen years. When Barry Diller
bought the USA Network
, the company was renamed USA Broadcasting.
By the late 1990s, HSN's broadcasting arm, known as USA Broadcasting
, planned to switch their HSN stations to an independent format, with WHSE/WHSI slated to switch in 2000 as WORX "The Worx 68". Promos and station IDs were actually produced for the station, and classic series such as Taxi
and Cheers
were acquired for the station. Several sister stations did indeed switch. However, due to financial troubles in late 2000, USA Broadcasting, who owned HSN by that time, scrapped these plans, meaning that WHSE would switch to AIN
/UATV
, networks generally used by low-powered stations. USA planned to sell WHSE to The Walt Disney Company
, which would have made it a sister station to ABC
owned-and-operated WABC-TV
, but Univision Communications
outbid its competition in a close race. It later became a charter Telefutura
affiliate on January 14, 2002, re-called as WFUT-TV.
Digital channels>
Channel
Name
Video
Aspect
Programming
68.1
WFUT-DT
1080i
16:9
Main WFUT/Telefutura programming
68.2
WFUT-DT2
480i
4:3
WXTV-DT
On June 12, 2009, WFUT discontinued regular analog programming on channel 68. The station moved its digital broadcasts to channel 30. using PSIP to display its virtual channel
as 68.
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, which serves as an affiliate of the Telefutura
TeleFutura
TeleFutura is a U.S. Spanish-language broadcast television network owned by Univision with headquarters in Miami, Florida.-Overview:TeleFutura Is America’s #2 Spanish-Language Network in prime time...
network for the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
market. Owned by the Univision Broadcast Group
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
along with WXTV (channel 41), the stations share studios in Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 16,264. Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and...
and transmitting facilities at the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
.
WFUT's programming is rebroadcast on a satellite station, WFTY-DT (virtual channel 67) in Smithtown, New York
Smithtown, New York
As of the census of 2000, there were 115,715 people, 38,487 households, and 31,482 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,159.9 people per square mile . There were 39,357 housing units at an average density of 734.6 per square mile...
, which serves the eastern areas of Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
.
History
WFUT first signed on September 29, 1974 as WBTB-TV (named for original owners Blonder-Tongue Broadcasting; its calls before that were WWRO-TV as a construction permit, but the calls were changed by the first transmission, a test card with a drawing of a shade tree with the WBTB calls). Unfortunately, the station went dark in February 1975 because many cable systems refused to carry the signal and few viewers were either aware of, or simply did not care much for a UHFUltra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
television station at the upper end of the dial.
However, in July 1975, financial adviser Eugene Inger and broadcaster Keith Houser teamed up to resurrect the station. The new WBTB-TV became the first "specialty station" as defined by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
with niche programming -- daily reports and updates from the New York financial exchanges. Keith Houser was the G.M. Mr. Houser negotiated with the NY-SEC office to get the ticker tape to crawl across the bottom of the screen with a Two (2) hour delay, due to the SEC worrying that it might "destablize" the market. The ticker ran across the lower third of the screen, with stock prices on the top (white) band and index prices on the bottom (blue) band. After the first year of programming the SEC permitted just a twenty (20) minute delay.[1]When the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
s were closed, WBTB offered shows such as the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
during late afternoons, a locally-produced variety series called The Uncle Floyd Show hosted by Floyd Vivino, and Christian programming hosted by Keith Houser at night. Saturdays were ethnic programs from Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
as well as religious programming during the day on Sunday and on weekday mornings before the stock market opened.
In late 1976 Wometco Enterprises
Wometco Enterprises
Wometco Enterprises is a company headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida; a suburb of Miami. It was a large media company but today it is known only as the owner of the Miami Seaquarium.- History :...
, the founding and longtime owners of WTVJ
WTVJ
WTVJ, virtual channel 6 , is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC television network, located in Broward County. WTVJ shares its TV studio and office facility with co-owned Telemundo station WSCV in Miramar, Florida, and its transmitter is located near Sun Life Stadium in north...
in Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, purchased the station and initially changed its call letters to WTVG. In 1977 Wometco launched a nationwide, over-the-air subscription television service called Wometco Home Theater
Wometco Home Theater
The Wometco Home Theater was an early pay television service in the New York City area, owned by Miami-based Wometco Enterprises, which owned several major network affiliates in medium markets and their flagship WTVJ in Miami...
, and opted to use WTVG as its flagship station. In 1978, the station's calls were changed to WWHT to match the program service. Viewers who subscribed to WHT were given set-top converter boxes (created by, ironically, Blonder-Tongue) which descrambled the channel 68 signal.
By 1980, WWHT was running religious shows from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., WHT Programming 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 8 p.m. through the overnight, more religious shows from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., general entertainment from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., and business news from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
On weekends the station ran children's programming early Saturday morning followed by brokered programming from late morning to about 4 p.m. Sundays consisted of religious shows until 4 p.m. WHT began after 4 p.m. on weekends at that point. Also, at that point, WSNL-TV (channel 67, now WFTY-DT) in Smithtown, New York, was purchased by Wometco and began simulcasting WWHT.
In the spring of 1981, WWHT dropped afternoon programming and began running Financial News Network
Financial News Network
The Financial News Network was a television network that operated throughout the United States during the 1980s.-Founding:Financial News Network was founded in 1981 by two men: Rodney Buchser, who had been general manager of KWHY, Channel 22 in Los Angeles and Glenn Taylor. The concept originated...
from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. In the spring of 1983, WHT began offering programming 24 hours a day. WWHT at this point only ran some religious programming from 7 to 10 a.m. weekdays and Sundays and WHT programming the rest of the time. FNN, brokered shows and the few entertainment shows were dropped, with Uncle Floyd moving to the New Jersey Network
New Jersey Network
The New Jersey Network, or NJN, was a network of public television and radio stations serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. NJN was a member of the Public Broadcasting Service for television and the National Public Radio for radio, broadcasting their programming as well as producing and...
. In 1984, a year after Wometco's founder Mitchell Wolfson died, WWHT/WSNL and the other Wometco stations were all sold to investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which also bought the Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting, Inc. was an American company which owned several television and radio stations in the northeast United States. It was incorporated in Ohio in 1927, and sold its broadcasting properties in 1983.-1920s—1940s:...
group of stations.
By 1985, WHT folded, due to huge losses as a result of the expansion of cable television; as a result, the station switched to music videos as U68, programmed by Steve Leeds (later at MTV). KKR was looking to sell all of its broadcast properties. The Wometco stations were sold to separate buyers, with WTVJ eventually going to NBC. (The other Storer stations picked up by KKR went to Gillett Broadcasting.) However, in the fall of 1986, WWHT and WSNL were sold to the Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network or HSN began in 1977 as a 24-hour/7 day a week home shopping television network televised via cable, satellite, and some terrestrial channels in the Philippines. HSN can also be shopped online at hsn.com...
and became WHSE and WHSI, respectively, and aired the HSN format full-time for the next sixteen years. When Barry Diller
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
bought the USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
, the company was renamed USA Broadcasting.
By the late 1990s, HSN's broadcasting arm, known as USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting was an American media company owned by veteran entertainment industry executive Barry Diller. This network was the over-the-air broadcasting arm of USA Network....
, planned to switch their HSN stations to an independent format, with WHSE/WHSI slated to switch in 2000 as WORX "The Worx 68". Promos and station IDs were actually produced for the station, and classic series such as Taxi
Taxi (TV series)
Taxi was an American sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982 on ABC and from 1982 to 1983 on NBC. The series, which won 18 Emmy Awards, including three for "Outstanding Comedy Series", focuses on the everyday lives of a handful of New York City taxi drivers and their abusive dispatcher...
and Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
were acquired for the station. Several sister stations did indeed switch. However, due to financial troubles in late 2000, USA Broadcasting, who owned HSN by that time, scrapped these plans, meaning that WHSE would switch to AIN
American Independent Network
The American Independent Network was one of the first major attempts at building a television network, consisting of low-powered television stations. Started by Don Shelton, Randy Moseley, and Lynn Synder, it was similar to the older Channel America , and was the foundation for Urban America TV...
/UATV
Urban America Television
Urban America Television was an over-the-air television broadcast network in the United States. According to the company's website, the network had 70 affiliate stations. UATV had a reach of 22 million households in the United States. It was a successor to the earlier American Independent...
, networks generally used by low-powered stations. USA planned to sell WHSE to The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, which would have made it a sister station to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
owned-and-operated WABC-TV
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
, but Univision Communications
Univision Communications
Univision Communications is an American Spanish language media company in the United States. Its headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Prior to 2007, the headquarters were in Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA.- History :...
outbid its competition in a close race. It later became a charter Telefutura
TeleFutura
TeleFutura is a U.S. Spanish-language broadcast television network owned by Univision with headquarters in Miami, Florida.-Overview:TeleFutura Is America’s #2 Spanish-Language Network in prime time...
affiliate on January 14, 2002, re-called as WFUT-TV.
Digital television
WFUT-DT broadcasts on digital channel 30.Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
WXTV
WXTV-DT channel 41 is a Univisión owned-and-operated television station, licensed to Paterson, New Jersey and serving the New York metropolitan area. WXTV's studios are located in Teaneck, New Jersey, and its transmitter in on the Empire State Building in Manhattan...
On June 12, 2009, WFUT discontinued regular analog programming on channel 68. The station moved its digital broadcasts to channel 30. using PSIP to display its virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 68.