WFTY-DT

WFTY-DT, virtual channel 67 (UHF digital channel 23), is a True Crime Network-affiliated television station licensed to Smithtown, New York, United States and serving Long Island. The station is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, as part of a de facto triopoly with Newark, New Jersey-licensed UniMás co-flagship WFUT-DT (channel 68) and Paterson, New Jersey-licensed Univision co-flagship WXTV-DT (channel 41), which WFTY simulcasts on its respective second and third digital subchannels. The three stations share studios on Frank W. Burr Boulevard in Teaneck, New Jersey; WFTY's transmitter is located in Middle Island, New York.

This article is about the Smithtown, New York television station. For the Washington, D.C. television station formerly called WFTY, see WDCW.
WFTY-DT
Smithtown, New York
United States
ChannelsDigital: 23 (UHF)
Virtual: 67 (PSIP)
Programming
SubchannelsSee § Digital channels
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerUnivision Communications
(Univision New York LLC)
Sister stationsTV: WFUT-DT, WXTV-DT
Radio: WADO, WQBU-FM, WXNY-FM
History
First air dateNovember 18, 1973 (1973-11-18)
Former call signsWSNL-TV (1973–1987)
WHSI (1987–2001)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
67 (UHF, 1973–2009)
Former affiliations
  • Analog/DT1:
  • Independent (1973–1975)
  • Dark (1975–1979)
  • Wometco Home Theater (1980–1985)
  • Music Videos (1985–1987)
  • HSN (1987–2001)
  • AIN (2001–2002)
  • TeleFutura (2002–2013)
  • UniMás (2013–2017; now on subchannel 67.2)
  • DT4:
  • GetTV (2014–2019)
Call sign meaningTeleFuTura New York
(former affiliation)
Technical information
Licensing authorityFCC
Facility ID60553
ClassDT
ERP655 kW
HAAT219 m (719 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°53′23″N 72°57′11″W
Links
Public license informationProfile
LMS

WFTY's programming is simulcast to New York City and northern New Jersey on WFUT's second digital subchannel (UHF channel 30.5 or virtual channel 68.2 via PSIP) from a transmitter (shared with WXTV) located at the Empire State Building in midtown Manhattan.

History

The station first signed on the air on November 18, 1973 as WSNL-TV, originally licensed to Patchogue, New York.[1] The station was founded on the premise of there being over three million people living on Long Island who were underserved by local television news coverage; with all the network affiliates based in Manhattan, it was rare to see more than one or two news stories a day focusing on Long Island.

WSNL went on the air with two daily newscasts: a half-hour early evening broadcast and an hour-long newscast at 10 p.m., in addition to coverage of high school sports; it also carried some off-network reruns and first-run syndicated programming. One of the more noteworthy series among this batch was Phil Donahue, which had been in national syndication since 1970, but had not been available in the crucial New York City market since WPIX (channel 11) dropped the show in the fall of 1970. After the station's demise, Donahue would not find another outlet until WOR-TV (channel 9) acquired the local rights to the program in 1976, followed by WNBC (channel 4) in 1977. The station also carried games from the short-lived New York Stars of the World Football League in 1974.

The station also produced several locally produced programs, among these offerings were: Chef Nicola (a cooking show hosted by Nicola Zanghi); Home Handyman (a home repair show hosted by future Assemblyman David McDonough); Captain Ahab (a weekday children's show hosted by George McCaskey, as the Captain); Ahab and Friends (a three-and-a-half-hour weekend children's show similar to WNEW-TV's Wonderama; also hosted by McCaskey, which featured cartoons, puppets, games, contests, and other assorted entertainment for its young audience);[2][3] Mary Kelly's Puppet Party (another children's program); Long Island Tonight with Richard Hall (a variety show); and The Fairchilds of Long Island (a rare locally produced soap opera which featured local actors).[4]

The news department of 18 people used the very earliest form of portable videotape equipment, which only ran off AC or inverters in cars, and not off batteries. This greatly restricted local video coverage to the length of a power cord. In that era, before satellites were used for television distribution, the station employed a courier who used a motorcycle nightly to race from Manhattan with a tape of national and international news stories for the late newscasts.

After a year of operation, inadequate revenue resulted in the cutback of its news programming to five-minute briefs that aired several times a day and the department shrunk to just a few employees before the station went bankrupt and signed off for the last time on June 13, 1975.[5]

Return to air

WSNL returned to the air again four-and-a-half years later, on December 4, 1979, with a broadcast day running from 7:00 p.m. to midnight weeknights and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.[6] The station ran some old movies, brokered programming, and religious shows. The following month on January 30, 1980, an electrical fire nearly destroyed the station's studios, forcing WSNL to shut down again, this time until July 1980.

Upon returning to the air, the station began running a mixed independent/subscription television format featuring programming from Wometco Home Theater. WSNL aired a morning movie from WHT between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., then ran encoded color bars until 3:45 p.m., followed by unencoded color bars until sign on at 4 p.m. for four hours of commercial programming. This lineup consisted primarily of old movies, film fillers, public affairs shows, and a local newscast that was anchored by Karl Grossman and Joan May.[7] At 8 p.m., WSNL ran WHT programming until sign-off, which was usually around 1:30 a.m. or later. On Saturdays, WSNL operated for four hours beginning at 1 p.m. (featuring old movies, public affairs shows and wrestling), followed by WHT programming from 5 p.m. until sign-off. Sunday was slightly different, as WSNL would sign on at 8 a.m. with two hours of religious shows, then sign off at 10 a.m., it resumed programming at 1 p.m. with general entertainment programming running until 5 p.m., followed by WHT programming running until sign-off. In January 1981, Wometco Enterprises bought WSNL and began simulcasting Newark's WWHT (now WFUT). However, WSNL would occasionally break away from WWHT-TV during its entertainment schedule to run a local public affairs show, then rejoin WWHT.

In a corporate deal, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts took over Wometco along with a couple of other broadcasting companies. In 1985, WSNL and WWHT discontinued the general entertainment and subscription programming in favor of music videos, with the parent station becoming known as "U-68". By the fall of 1986, when KKR sold its stations to a variety of owners, WWHT and WSNL were sold to the Home Shopping Network (HSN), WSNL-TV became WHSI and WWHT-TV became WHSE. HSN programming ran on both stations for the next fifteen years.

In the late 1990s, HSN's broadcasting arm Silver King Television planned to switch its stations to a general entertainment independent format, with WHSE/WHSI slated to switch in 2001. In the interim WHSE/WHSI ran programming from the AIN/UATV networks. Late in 2000, however, USA Broadcasting, which Silver King was renamed after Barry Diller had purchased HSN and its other holdings (merging it with USA Network), decided instead to sell its stations to Univision Communications. The Walt Disney Company, owners of ABC owned-and-operated station WABC-TV channel 7, had been the leading bidder for the USA stations but were outbid by Univision at the last minute. On January 14, 2002 WHSE/WHSI then became charter affiliates of Univision's new secondary network Telefutura (which rebranded as UniMás in January 2013) with WHSE's call letters being changed to WFUT and WHSI's call letters changed to WFTY. In November 2017, UniMás moved to 67.2 thus reverting to its English Channel 67.1 as the Justice Network affiliate.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[8]
67.1480i16:9JusticeMain WFTY-DT programming / Justice Network
67.2720pWFUT-DTSimulcast of WFUT-DT / UniMás
67.3WXTV-DTSimulcast of WXTV-DT / Univision
67.4480i4:3GRITGrit
67.5EscapeCourt TV Mystery

As of November 2014, WFTY changed the simulcast of WXTV-DT 41.1 from 480i to 1080i.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WFTY discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 67, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[9] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 23, using PSIP to display WFTY's virtual channel as 67 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

Subchannels

Grit

As of 2019, Grit airs on channel 67.4, featuring action/adventure television series and westerns.

Court TV Mystery

Court TV Mystery was added on 67.4 in August 2014 as Escape, adding both movies and original TV series to the station's lineup. Escape was the first sub-channel targeted specifically at women, and the first general entertainment network since music videos were added in 1985. In November 2017, Escape moved to 67.5. The network was renamed Court TV Mystery on September 29, 2019.

Justice Network

The Justice Network, previously airing on WJLP, was added on 67.5 in October 2017, airing crime dramas and documentary programming. In November 2017, Justice Network moved to 67.1. This is the first primary English-language network to air on 67.1 since 2002.

Former subchannel

GetTV

GetTV was launched in February 2014 on the station's 67.3 digital sub-channel, becoming the first free over-the-air English-language movie network to air on the station since the demise of Wometco Home Theater in 1985. In November 2017, GetTV moved to 67.4. As of 2019, Grit airs on 67.4 while GetTV is available on WFUT-DT channel 68.3.

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See also

References
  1. "New Television Station Begins Ll-Oriented Telecasts In Color" (PDF). The Long Island Advance. Patchogue New York. December 13, 1973. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  2. "Captain Ahab: Who is he?". Newsday. Long Island New York. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  3. Capt. Ahab WSNL Ch. 67
  4. "Channel 67 to Go on Air Next Sunday". The New York Times. New York New York. November 11, 1973. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  5. Abrams, John (June 22, 1975). "Channel 67 Suspends Televising Indefinitely". The New York Times. New York New York. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  6. "WSNL‐TV Returns to Air On L.I. After 41/2 Years". The New York Times. New York New York. December 30, 1979. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  7. "L.I. no longer ignored by New York City News" (PDF). Suffolk County News. Sayville New York. June 19, 1986. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  8. RabbitEars TV Query for WFTY
  9. List of Digital Full-Power Stations
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