| ATSC 3.0 station | |
|---|---|
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| Channels | |
| Branding | Philly 57 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| KYW-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | June 15, 1981 |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Forerunner owner Paramount Stations Group |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 12499 |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 386.7 m (1,269 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°2′33″N 75°14′32″W / 40.04250°N 75.24222°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WPSG (channel 57), branded Philly 57, is an independent television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS outlet KYW-TV (channel 3). The two stations share studios on Hamilton Street north of Center City Philadelphia; WPSG's transmitter is located in the city's Roxborough section.
Channel 57 was allocated for commercial use in Philadelphia at the start of the 1970s; it was fought over by two groups who sought to broadcast subscription television (STV) programming to paying customers in the metropolitan area. Radio Broadcasting Company prevailed and launched WWSG-TV on June 15, 1981. It offered limited financial news programming, which was abandoned after 18 months, and a subscription service utilizing programming from SelecTV. Two years later, the station switched to broadcasting PRISM, a premium regional sports and movies service seeking to reach potential subscribers in areas beyond cable coverage, such as the city of Philadelphia.
The Grant Broadcasting System acquired the station and relaunched it in 1985 as general-entertainment independent WGBS-TV, known on air as "Philly 57". The new owners spent millions of dollars on programming and the rights to Philadelphia Flyers hockey and Villanova Wildcats basketball; the station filled the third independent void left when WKBS-TV (channel 48) folded in 1983, and its entrance into the market clipped multiple separate efforts to establish such a station. However, Grant's strategy to build "full-grown" independents with expensive acquisitions drove the company into bankruptcy in December 1986. Grant's three stations were assumed by a consortium of creditors and bondholders known as Combined Broadcasting; management was controlled from Philadelphia. Combined Broadcasting solicited offers on its stations in 1993; a deal was reached to sell to the Fox network, but an objection caused the sale to be delayed and canceled.
In 1995, Paramount Stations Group acquired WGBS-TV, which then became an owned-and-operated station of the United Paramount Network (UPN) under new WPSG call letters. Paramount returned professional sports to the station after an absence of several years; from the late 1990s to the late 2000s, Flyers, Philadelphia 76ers basketball, and Philadelphia Phillies baseball games were broadcast on channel 57. Paramount's corporate parent, Viacom, merged with CBS in 2000, and WPSG's operations were merged with those of KYW-TV. Upon the merger of The WB and UPN into The CW in 2006, channel 57 began broadcasting that network's programming; after CBS sold most of its stake in the network to Nexstar Media Group in 2022, CBS disaffiliated its eight CW stations from the network effective September 1, 2023. Since the CBS merger, there have been several instances of local news programming on the station.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WPSG". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.