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60-706: WPHL may refer to: WPHL-TV , a television station (channel 17 digital) licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Western Professional Hockey League , professional league from 1996 to 2001 Western Pennsylvania Hockey League , semi-professional league in the early 1900s See also [ edit ] [REDACTED] Search for "WPHL" , "WP-HL" , "W-PHL" , "WPH-L" , or "W-P-H-L" on Misplaced Pages. All pages with titles beginning with WPHL All pages with titles containing WPHL PWHL (disambiguation) WHL (disambiguation) PHL (disambiguation) Topics referred to by

120-699: A Christian Broadcasting Network (not to be confused with the Pat Robertson-owned network of the same name ) that eventually included six radio stations and one television station—although with mounting debts. Crawford and the Young People's Church of the Air also began operating the Philadelphia UHF television station WPCA (today WPHL ) on July 17, 1960, the world's first religious television station. Crawford died on October 31, 1960, of

180-612: A digital subchannel as a secondary. Throughout the station's three of its first four decades on the air, WPHL had a tremendous professional sports presence—at various points holding the broadcast rights to the Phillies (1971–82 and 1993–98, and through the production of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia–now NBC Sports Philadelphia –from 2009 to 2013; as of 2014 , WPHL airs overflow Phillies games when both NBC Sports Philadelphia and primary overflow outlet NBC Sports Philadelphia+ are carrying other games and present over-the-air carrier WCAU

240-519: A Christian liberal arts college. The institution began in Belmar, New Jersey , relocated to New Castle, Delaware in 1941, and then to Briarcliff Manor, New York in 1955. Crawford served as president for 23 years. Although he was very much the dominant personality, he was frequently absent conducting his other ministries, and his "autocratic style" limited the long-term effectiveness of the college. Crawford and his wife often traveled 40 to 50,000 miles

300-561: A consortium headed by attorney Aaron Jerome Katz and two real estate men. The station returned to the air on January 31, only to go dark again on June 14, when an application for the sale of channel 17 was finally filed with the Federal Communications Commission . The station's cameras were lent to WHYY-TV , the new public television station in Wilmington, Delaware , to allow that station to operate before

360-644: A different programming strategy geared towards adults, gradually dropping children's programming and cartoons . It focused more on movies, off-network drama series, recent off-network sitcoms and sports. The station also aired several hours of religious programming each day. Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, WPHL was known on-air as "The Great Entertainer," with voiceovers provided by announcer Sid Doherty. The station positioned itself as an alternative to both WTAF and WKBS, as it programmed more towards adults with movies and other syndicated programs, while its competitors were heavy on sitcoms and children's cartoons. WPHL

420-474: A morning news program concept by Tribune Broadcasting that originally debuted in May 2011 on Houston sister station KIAH , featuring a mix of news, lifestyle, entertainment and opinion segments. Local news, weather, and traffic segments are featured along with local reports presented by five multimedia journalists; however, much of EyeOpener (which was previously produced at Tribune Company's Chicago headquarters)

480-617: A musical entourage—vocal quartet, brass quartet, men's and women's ensembles, and later a full orchestra—that distinguished Crawford's evangelistic ministry from others of his era. The Crawfords had five children, four sons and a daughter. In 1929 Crawford began speaking on radio station WPEN , Philadelphia for the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission , a homeless shelter and soup kitchen, which recorded its Sunday morning service before hundreds of homeless men. In October 1931, he started his own radio ministry called

540-558: A newly created network, The CW . Concurrent with the announcement, it signed a ten-year affiliation agreement with 16 of Tribune's 19 WB-affiliated stations. However, in the case of Philadelphia, The CW's affiliation went to the city's UPN station, CBS-owned WPSG (which was part of an affiliation deal with 11 of CBS' UPN stations). It would not have been an upset had WPHL been chosen as the area's CW affiliate, however. The network's officials were on record as preferring The WB and UPN's "strongest" stations for their new network, and Philadelphia

600-403: A scheduled donation of equipment could be transferred and the station's own equipment did not function properly. The Philadelphia Television Broadcasting Company, headed by Katz and advertising executive Len Stevens, was approved to purchase the station in mid-1964. After receiving approval to boost its effective radiated power from 12,000 to 626,000 watts, the new owners returned channel 17 to

660-534: A seminarian at Westminster Theological Seminary he started his own youth-oriented radio program on a single station in Philadelphia, calling it the "Young People’s Church of the Air." Within a decade he had built a radio ministry that aired on over 400 stations and included evangelistic "fishing clubs," a bookstore, and book clubs. After being ordained by the Presbyterian church, he also briefly pastored

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720-692: A teenager, he left home and completed high school at the YMCA school in Portland, Oregon . Preparing to enter the University of California at Los Angeles , he was converted to Christianity on September 23, 1923, at Reuben Torrey's Church of the Open Door , under the preaching of itinerant evangelist W. P. Nicholson. In 1924 he enrolled at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles ( BIOLA ), where he

780-457: A year with a quartet, and later their five children, conducting meetings and rallies mainly in the northeast but also on cross-country tours to the west coast. In 1953–54, the evangelistic team made an 18-week world tour that included three weeks in Korea preaching to American servicemen. The Crawfords typically used upbeat, easy-to-learn choruses in their services, and the Young People's Church of

840-538: Is available on Cablevision 's analog service on its systems in Ocean and Monmouth counties. On Comcast in Ocean and southern Middlesex counties, WPHL is available in standard definition on digital cable 255. Comcast had carried the station on analog channel 17 until February 2008, when it was moved to digital only to "preserve bandwidth". Comcast added WPHL's HD signal to its lineups in Ocean and Southern Middlesex counties,

900-483: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages WPHL-TV WPHL-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW . The station also maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV . Owned and operated by The CW's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group , WPHL-TV has studios in

960-548: Is pre-produced at the studios of Dallas – Fort Worth sister station KDAF and is also distributed on Tribune-owned stations in three other markets that provide their own localized content. The WCAU-produced 10 p.m. newscast ended on September 14, 2012, with WPHL entering into a new agreement with ABC owned-and-operated station WPVI-TV to produce Action News at 10 on PHL17 . The newscast's weekday editions are currently anchored by Sharrie Williams and Gray Hall. Williams became sole anchor on January 12, 2022, when her co-anchor of

1020-644: Is preoccupied by NBC network commitments), the Flyers (1991–98) and the 76ers (1982–95), as well as covering local college basketball and football , with games featuring teams from the Philadelphia Big 5 ( La Salle Explorers , Penn Quakers , Saint Joseph's Hawks , Temple Owls and Villanova Wildcats ). After the station joined The WB, it released many of its sports contracts in order to concentrate on its network programming obligations. The station aired syndicated college football and basketball games from

1080-493: Is the first in-house newscast since the closure of its former news department at the end of 2005. The station's news studio was rebuilt, and the tri-caster formerly used was replaced with switchers, along with other equipment. The team then began producing independent news reports for the Delaware Valley. On October 22, 2018, PHL17 Morning News expanded to a three-hour newscast from 5 to 8 a.m., when Eye Opener , which

1140-599: Is the third ABC owned-and-operated station involved in a news share agreement, following KGO-TV in San Francisco (which produces independent station KOFY-TV's 9 p.m. newscast) and WTVD in Durham (which produced CW affiliate WLFL 's 10 p.m. newscast until June 27, 2022 ) and was later joined in 2014 by KABC-TV in Los Angeles (which produces independent station KDOC-TV 's 7 p.m. newscast). On September 8, 2014,

1200-836: The 2022 season , WPHL and WPVI shared local broadcast rights to the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer , with WPVI producing the telecasts. The contract ended when MLS terminated all regional television deals, replacing them with one single Apple TV+ contract. As of the 2018–2019 season , WPHL covers the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League , carrying all home games and select away games. In 1994, WPHL entered into an agreement with local daily newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer to broadcast an Inquirer -branded prime time news program. The half-hour Inquirer News Tonight

1260-475: The DuMont network for 1952–53. In 1956 Crawford organized a novel youth rally format in Philadelphia's Town Hall, which he called "Youtharama." The program emphasized large-scale musical productions with chorus and orchestra, humorous skits, and high-profile youth-oriented guest speakers who gave Christian testimonies before Crawford closed the meeting with an invitation and altar call . In 1958 Crawford organized

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1320-733: The NFL 's Philadelphia Eagles . Also, it usually wins the rights to air one or two regular season Eagles games on Monday or Thursday nights due to the NFL's anti-siphoning rule requiring games airing on cable to be available on an over-the-air station in each team's home market; by rule, the NFL sells syndication rights of local teams' games. The station's news partner, WPVI-TV, has the right of first refusal on Monday night games due to its parent company ( Disney ) being majority owner in ESPN, but generally defers to standard ABC programming. From 2018 season until

1380-648: The Rhawnhurst Presbyterian Church in northeast Philadelphia. Siding with J. Gresham Machen and the fundamentalists in the Presbyterian church, he resigned from the Presbytery of Philadelphia—but "without fanfare or publicity." In 1931, he met and, two years later, married a very young but gifted pianist and arranger from Collingswood, New Jersey , Ruth Duvall, who became his lifelong partner in evangelism. Ruth Crawford assembled

1440-593: The Tribune Company . On November 2, 1993, Tribune and the Warner Bros. Television division of Time Warner announced the formation of The WB Television Network . Due to the company's minority interest in the network (initially 12.5%, before expanding to 22%), Tribune chose to affiliate the majority of its independent stations with the upstart network, resulting in WPHL-TV becoming a network affiliate for

1500-533: The USA Network called Dance Party USA , whose host, Dave Raymond, was better known as the Phillie Phanatic mascot seen during Phillies games. Those shows marked the on-air debut of a young girl from nearby Voorhees, New Jersey , named Kelly Ripa . In the summer of 1982, WKBS went on the market after its owner, Field Communications , decided to exit broadcasting. The Providence Journal Company

1560-469: The WB 17 News at Ten in late 1996. Even after WPHL took its newscast in-house, it still remained far behind WTXF in the ratings. In the fall of 2005, WPHL announced that its news department would be shut down; the final 10 p.m. newscast produced by WPHL aired on December 9, 2005. The following day, production of the 10 p.m. newscast was turned over to NBC O&O WCAU through a news share agreement. This newscast

1620-546: The Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia ; it maintains a channel sharing agreement with Vineland, New Jersey –licensed Univision station WUVP-DT (channel 65), under which the two stations transmit using WPHL-TV's spectrum from a tower in the Roxborough antenna farm . Radio station WKDN of Camden, New Jersey , received a construction permit for channel 17 as WKDN-TV on January 27, 1954. After not building

1680-510: The Young People's Church of the Air , and within a decade the program was broadcast on four hundred stations. In 1933 Crawford founded Pinebrook Bible Conference for young people and brought to it the nation's leading fundamentalist Bible teachers and musicians. A few years later he added Shadowbrook camp for boys and Mountainbrook camp for girls. Crawford directed Pinebrook for nearly 28 years. In 1936, he founded The King's College ,

1740-552: The syndication arm of ESPN involving the Mid-American Conference (football, owing to Temple being a football-only member of the league) and Big East Conference (basketball) until 2009, when WPVI took over rights. WPHL also aired Big Ten Conference games (owing to Penn State 's large fan base in the area) until the creation of the Big Ten Network on cable in 2007. WPHL has aired preseason games of

1800-515: The "Great Entertainer" slogan and related logo for a new identity as "PHL 17", in an apparent attempt to counter WGBS-TV's (channel 57, now WPSG ) "Philly 57" branding (the Antenna TV subchannel the station currently carries is branded with a modified version of their 1970s/80s "Great Entertainer" logo). The new owners restored some cartoons to the schedule. In 1991, the Taft group sold channel 17 to

1860-420: The 5 p.m. newscast on WPVI, Rick Williams (no relation), was promoted to anchor of the 11 p.m. newscast, replacing long-time anchor Jim Gardner . Gardner stepped down from the broadcast after 45 years to begin a semi-retirement in which he would only anchor the 6 p.m. newscast, fully retiring from WPVI on December 21 after anchoring his final 6 p.m. newscast and handing over to his successor Brian Taff, who started

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1920-510: The Air eventually published thirteen books of gospel songs. Although Crawford remained a staunch foe of religious Modernism and the social gospel , he also increased his audience appeal by avoiding controversy in his preaching and rarely making personal attacks. In 1949, Crawford began the first coast-to-coast religious program, Youth on the March . This show aired on the ABC network, moving to

1980-596: The Providence Journal Company sold WPHL-TV to a consortium headed by Dudley S. Taft, a third-generation broadcaster from Cincinnati . Dudley Taft had left his family's namesake company following a corporate restructuring which resulted in the firm changing its name to Great American Broadcasting. He also brought along key personnel from Taft's former Philadelphia station, WTAF-TV (which Taft had sold to TVX Broadcast Group in early 1987), including general manager Randy Smith. The new ownership scrapped

2040-843: The air on September 17, 1965, as independent station WPHL-TV. It was the third UHF independent to sign-on in Philadelphia that year, two and a half weeks after WKBS-TV (channel 48) and four months after WIBF-TV (channel 29, later WTAF and now WTXF-TV ). After merging with U.S. Communications Corporation in 1967 WPHL-TV became the flagship station for their station group. U.S. Communications also operated WATL in Atlanta , WPGH-TV in Pittsburgh , WXIX-TV in Cincinnati and KEMO-TV (now KOFY-TV ) in San Francisco . The station produced and aired numerous local television shows over

2100-670: The assumption of $ 2.7 billion in Tribune debt. The deal received significant scrutiny over Sinclair's forthrightness in its applications to sell certain conflict properties, prompting the FCC to designate it for hearing and leading Tribune to terminate the deal and sue Sinclair for breach of contract . Following the Sinclair deal's collapse, Nexstar Media Group of Irving, Texas , announced its purchase of Tribune Media on December 3, 2018, for $ 6.4 billion in cash and debt. The sale

2160-774: The borough of Roosevelt in Monmouth County and Lambertville in Hunterdon County on August 22, 2012, on digital channel 907. The station was removed from Comcast's Central New Jersey systems altogether on June 26, 2019, due to Fox invoking exclusivity, only allowing MyNetworkTV O&O WWOR-TV to be carried on those systems. After the station swtched to The CW in 2023, it returned to the Central Jersey Comcast lineups. WPHL's Antenna TV, This TV (both were already carried as subchannels of WPIX) and Tango Traffic (now GeoTraffic) subchannels were added to

2220-429: The day that the new service was launched, September 5, 2006. As a result, it did not air the final two weeks of The WB's programming. On October 4, 2010, the station removed the "My" portion of the branding as many affiliates of the network began dropping references to MyNetworkTV due to it becoming more of a prime time programming service than a true television network. WPHL retains the multi-shaded 'blue TV' component of

2280-465: The facility, the station sold the permit to the Young People's Church of the Air, owned by Percy Crawford , for $ 40,000 in February 1959. The call letters were changed to WPCA-TV, reflecting both his initials and the name of his long-running broadcast ministry; the city of license was changed from Camden to Philadelphia in March 1960. Promising a lineup of religious programs and family entertainment,

2340-557: The first time in its history upon The WB's January 11, 1995, debut. In September of that year, the station changed its on-air identity to "WB 17". For most of The WB's run, WPHL was one of the network's strongest affiliates. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation (which split from Viacom in December 2005) and Time Warner's Warner Bros. Entertainment (the division that operated The WB) announced that they would dissolve UPN and The WB and merge both networks' stronger programming onto

2400-483: The location of an A&P supermarket. The station offered a schedule of off-network drama series , sitcoms , old movies , sports and religious programs. It also ran NBC and ABC programs that KYW-TV (channel 3, now a CBS owned-and-operated station) and WPVI-TV (channel 6) had respectively preempted until the fall of 1976, and again from the fall of 1977 to the summer of 1983. The Providence Journal Company bought channel 17 in 1979. At that point, WPHL sought

2460-468: The network that was not owned by its then-parent company News Corporation (which became 21st Century Fox in June 2013 after spinning off most of its non-entertainment properties). It is also the only major station in Philadelphia that is not owned by its respective network. In July, WPHL rebranded itself as "MyPHL17", reviving the station's former "PHL 17" moniker. WPHL began airing MyNetworkTV programming on

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2520-473: The network's logo as part of the station's own logo. Before the move of the broadcast rights of the Phillies in 2014 to WCAU-TV , another version of the logo was used where the "p" in "phl" was replaced with the hat insignia "P" from the logo of the Philadelphia Phillies. Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into an agreement to acquire Tribune Media on May 8, 2017, for $ 3.9 billion, plus

2580-525: The newscast was expanded to an hour, making it only the second hour-long 10 p.m. newscast in Philadelphia other than that of competitor WTXF. Competitor station WPSG also had an hour-long newscast, CBS News Philadelphia NOW on The CW Philly from July 2022 until August 2023; however, it was a hybrid local/national news program and not fully produced locally like Action News at 10 on PHL17 . On March 9, 2015, WPHL launched an independently-produced half-hour 5:30 a.m. newscast titled PHL17 Morning News . It

2640-400: The next evening. Hall was the weekend morning anchor on WPVI until March 2022 when he was chosen to become Sharrie Williams' co-anchor for the 10 p.m. newscast in addition to his solo anchoring a 6:30 p.m. streaming-only edition. The weekend editions use the same staff (anchor Walter Perez , sports anchor Gabriella Galati and meteorologist Brittany Boyer) as WPVI's weekend evening newscasts. It

2700-462: The program. Another blow occurred in October 1995 when weekend weatherman Bill Elias was fired following the revelation of his involvement with a local crime family (he had given mob boss John Stanta's bodyguards a videotape of a mob funeral in 1993, to pick targets from another crime family to kill); he had previously lost his job at WTXF over this. WPHL took full control of the newscast, changing to

2760-557: The provider's Southern Middlesex County system on November 27, 2012 (found with a rescan of a digital tuner) but have not been mapped into the Comcast digital boxes or DTAs. There is no satellite coverage of WPHL outside of the Philadelphia market. During the 1970s and 1980s, WPHL was a regional superstation available in New York City and portions of Long Island , as well as the large majority of New Jersey. In New Jersey, WPHL

2820-453: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title WPHL . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WPHL&oldid=1193110078 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Broadcast call sign disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

2880-494: The station signed on July 17, 1960, making it Philadelphia's first commercial UHF station. WPCA-TV struggled amid the low penetration of UHF tuners prior to the 1964 passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act and Crawford's unexpected death in an October 1960 car accident. The station went silent August 1, 1962, having operated just two years. When channel 17 went silent, its sale was immediately announced to

2940-615: The years, including kids' favorite the Wee Willie Webber Colorful Cartoon Club and Dr. Shock 's back-to-back shows Mad Theater and Horror Theater . In the summer of 1975, WPHL-TV moved from its original studio facility at 1230 East Mermaid Lane in the suburb of Wyndmoor , which had been the station's base since its 1960 debut, to its current studio on Wynnefield Avenue in the Wynnefield suburb of West Philadelphia . The building had once been

3000-514: Was a hybrid newscast that integrated the conventions of a typical television news program with contributions from the newspaper's personnel. However, the format failed to make any headway against WTXF's established prime time newscast; behind-the-scenes issues with Knight-Ridder (the Inquirer ' s owner at that point), including newspaper staffers' wariness of being on TV and compensation and contract issues, as well as general mismanagement, doomed

3060-547: Was also a station heavy on local sports, as it aired games featuring Major League Baseball 's Philadelphia Phillies until 1982, the NBA 's Philadelphia 76ers from 1982 to 1995 and the NHL 's Philadelphia Flyers in the 1990s. From October 1981 to August 1987, the WPHL studios hosted a weekday afternoon dance show called Dancin' On Air , hosted by Eddie Bruce, as well as a spin-off on

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3120-479: Was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog era UHF channel 17. In Pennsylvania, WPHL was carried on Comcast cable systems in Harrisburg, York and Lancaster ; however, it was not available in high definition . It was available on South Central Pennsylvania cable systems for four decades; indeed, for most of The WB's run, it

3180-694: Was among those who were bidding for channel 48's license. Had it won, Journal would have merged WPHL's and WKBS' schedules under the WKBS license and channel allocation, while selling the channel 17 license to either a religious or educational broadcaster. However, the Journal Company's bid was still far below Field's asking price. With no takers willing to give Field what it wanted for the station, WKBS-TV ceased operations one year later on August 29, 1983, and WPHL picked up various syndicated programs, cartoons, movies and production equipment from WKBS. In 1987,

3240-575: Was carried on alongside competitors WTAF, and until it shut down in 1983, WKBS. The station was also carried on Comcast on the former Adelphia system in the suburbs of Scranton until replaced with a local affiliate . Percy Crawford Crawford was born in Minnedosa, Manitoba , Canada, and was reared in Vancouver, British Columbia . He dropped out of school to help support the family after his father left his mother and their three children. As

3300-541: Was completed on September 19, 2019. In May 2023, CBS News and Stations announced that its CW affiliates, including Philadelphia station WPSG, would cease their affiliation with the network in September 2023 and become independent stations. A month later, Nexstar Media Group announced that WPHL would take over the CW affiliation for the Philadelphia market on September 1. The station continues airing MyNetworkTV programming on

3360-531: Was later replaced by Morning Dose , was canceled. In September 2019, PHL17 Morning News expanded again by an additional hour to run from 5 to 9 a.m. WPHL-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 17, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 54, which

3420-554: Was mentored by Thomas Corwin Horton and Reuben Torrey. At BIOLA Crawford discovered his gift for evangelism and committed himself to full-time Christian service. After briefly studying at UCLA, Crawford earned a bachelor's degree at Wheaton College . During summer months of his student years, he made successful evangelistic tours with a gospel quartet, in one summer recording eight hundred professions of faith in Christ. In 1931, while

3480-401: Was one of the few markets where the affiliates of both networks were both relatively strong. WPHL was slated to revert to its previous independent status, but on May 15, 2006, Tribune announced that it would affiliate channel 17 (and two other WB affiliates that were not included in the CW affiliation deal) with MyNetworkTV, making WPHL the largest station in terms of market size affiliated with

3540-549: Was partially renamed to WB 17 News at 10, Powered by NBC 10 . On July 25, 2006, the program was renamed My PHL 17 News, Powered by NBC 10 to correspond with WPHL's upcoming switch to MyNetworkTV. On December 10, 2008, WCAU began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition , and the WPHL newscast was also included in the HD upgrade. The newscast was renamed once again on October 4, 2010, as phl17 News at 10, Powered by NBC 10 . On October 31, 2011, WPHL began airing Eye Opener ,

3600-639: Was that market's default WB affiliate (the network's programming aired in off-hours on local station WPMT). On June 26, 2019, it was discontinued on those Comcast systems. It is also carried in Milford , Pike County (which is part of the New York City television market). In Maryland , WPHL is carried on cable in Cecil County . In New Jersey, WPHL is carried in parts of Hunterdon , Middlesex , Monmouth, Ocean , Somerset and Warren counties. It

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