WBFS-TV
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| WBFS-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Miami / Fort Lauderdale, Florida | |
| Branding | My 33 |
| Slogan | South Florida's TV! |
| Channels | 33 (UHF) analog, 32 (UHF) digital |
| Affiliations | MyNetworkTV & 4Kids TV |
| Owner | CBS Corporation |
| Founded | December 1, 1984 |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1984-1995), UPN (1995-2006) |
| Website | 33mytv.com/ |
WBFS-TV "My 33" is the MyNetworkTV affiliate in the Miami / Fort Lauderdale, Florida area, owned by the CBS Corporation. Its programming lineup consists of first-run syndicated talk shows, court shows, reality shows, local news, off-network sitcoms, My Network TV programming and movies. It also runs children's programming on weekends.
The station also airs CBS programs for Miami if sister station WFOR-TV needs to pre-empt for breaking news coverage and has been known to air Miami Dolphins games that air on CBS if the game is postponed due to weather (usually hurricanes). Along with WFOR, WBFS is the sister station of two of West Palm Beach's stations: CW affiliate WTVX and MyNetworkTV affiliate WTCN-CA.
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[edit] History
WBFS-TV debuted on December 1, 1984 as an independent station under the ownership of Grant Broadcasting. Before then, the channel 33 frequency had been occupied by a low-power translator for independent station WCIX, whose main signal on channel 6 could not be received very well in Broward County.
The station ran numerous off-network classic TV sitcoms from the 1950s, 60s and 70s along with a number of cartoons. It also ran some off-network drama shows and classic western and martial arts movies were shown on Saturday afternoons.
WBFS soon made a name for itself in South Florida for its slick on-air look. It billed itself "Florida's Super Station" (a moniker that Tampa Bay's WTOG-now sister to WBFS-also gave itself around the same time) and frequently used CGI graphics of near-network quality. WBFS' sister stations, WGBS-TV in Philadelphia and WGBO-TV in Chicago, adopted a similar look.
Unfortunately, while the station was profitable, Grant overextended himself buying programming for his stations. After Christmas in 1986, he filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The pressure came from his debt with Viacom, which owned the distribution rights for half of Grant's shows.
In January 1987, a deal was made to cut back the runs of each of the shows the stations own and pay some reduced prices. The station continued to do well considering its problems and scored a major coup by becoming the on-air home of the brand-new Miami Heat of the NBA in 1988 as well as the first on-air home of the Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball and the Florida Panthers of the NHL in 1993. Still, in 1989, Grant Broadcasting was put into receivership due to the fact it could not get out of debt. Combined Broadcasting, a company consisting of executives from the program distributors that Grant owed, took over WBFS and its sister stations.
The company pumped a lot of money into WBFS and WGBS, but ran primarily barter programming on WGBO. In 1994, Combined sold WBFS and WGBS (now WPSG) to Paramount Stations Group-who sold its original Philadelphia station, WTXF-TV, to FOX Broadcasting. (WGBO went to Univision, who entered the deal after its then-affiliate in Chicago, WCIU-TV, refused to drop non-Spanish shows, thus angering Univision).
Under Paramount ownership, WBFS became a UPN affiliate at the network's sign-on in January 1995. The station was then known as 'UPN 33'. It had acquired more recent off-network sitcoms over the years. It began to add more first-run syndicated talk and reality shows. It began to cut back on children's programming from 1998 on. By 2002 it was only running a morning kids block.
In 2000, Paramount's parent company, Viacom merged with CBS, making WBFS a sister station to CBS O&O WFOR -- which (in ironic fashion) is the former "WCIX", and had (at one point) used channel 33 as a repeater before WBFS signed on. In another ironic twist, Viacom had been one of Grant's former creditors -- and was actually once the syndication arm of CBS. Soon after the merger, WBFS began to air newscasts produced by WFOR. When WAMI submitted to Telefutura, WBFS picked up a few shows including Fox Kids (which by then was only offered on Saturdays). Today WBFS still runs Fox's 4Kids TV which WSVN doesn't run. UPN also ended the kids block in the Fall of 2003.
Today, WBFS is owned and operated by CBS Corporation, which was the result of the Viacom/CBS split.
[edit] Becoming a My Network TV affiliate
On January 24, 2006, CBS and Time Warner announced that UPN and The WB will be merging into one network to be called The CW Television Network. This new network, which features the best programming from UPN and The WB, will begin operations in September 2006. WBZL will become the CW affiliate for the Miami market when the network launches after its owners, Tribune Broadcasting announced a new ten-year affiliation deal. On May 1, 2006, CBS initially announced that WBFS, along with its Boston sister station WSBK-TV, would not seek the affiliation for My Network TV, the new network formed by Fox's parent company, News Corporation, in response to The CW's formation. It is believed that CBS's initial decision to deny its larger UPN stations the MNTV affiliation was in retaliation against Fox for refusing to affiliate any of their UPN affiliates with The CW. However, on July 12, it was announced that WBFS would become South Florida's affiliate of MNTV. The official switchover took place on September 4, 2006.
[edit] Logos
 WBFS's first logo, used from 1984 to 1995. |
 WBFS's first UPN33 logo, used from 1995 to 2002. |
 UPN33 logo used in early 2002. |
 WBFS's last UPN33 logo, used from 2002 to 2006. |
 Current WBFS logo under the My Network TV affiliation. |
[edit] Newscasts
WBFS began airing a morning newscast in the time slot formerly filled with children's programming in 2004. The weekday morning and daily 10 p.m. newscasts are produced by WFOR-TV. WBFS uses WFOR's news helicopter known as "Chopper 4", but rebranded as "Chopper 33".
[edit] Weekdays
- My 33 News On the Move 7:00 to 9:00 a.m.
- with Danielle Knox, Jorge Estevez, Pamela Wright (weather)
- My 33 News at 10 10:00 to 11:00 p.m.
- with Beatriz Canals, Jennifer Santiago, Craig Setzer (weather), Jim Berry (sports)
[edit] Weekends
- Focus on South Florida Sundays 1:00 to 1:30 p.m. (public affairs)
- airs on WTVX Sundays 7:00 to 7:30 a.m.
- with Jennifer Santiago
- My 33 News at 10 10:00 to 10:30 p.m.
- with Marybel Rodriguez, Jawan Strader, fill-in (weather), Kim Bokamper (sports)
[edit] Current Reporters (Same as WFOR-TV)
- Brian Andrews
- Evan Bacon
- Art Barron
- Carey Codd
- Liv Davalos
- Jim DeFede
- Michele Gillen
- Nefertiti Jáquez
- Dr. Sean Kenniff
- Mike Kirsch
- Dave Malkoff
- Joan Murray
- Gary Nelson
- Lisa Petrillo
- Yusila Ramirez
- Ted Scouten
- Laurie Stein
- Shomari Stone
- Al Sunshine
[edit] External links
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Miami-Dade / Fort Lauderdale, Florida stations |
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| Local television stations In Key West (These stations either serve Miami proper, or are repeaters of Miami stations.) WGEN 8 (Ind) - WSBS 22 (Ind) - W38AA 38 / W39AC 39 (CBS) - W44AC 44 / W52BB 52 / W58BU 58 (NBC) - W47AC 47 (ABC) - WKIZ-LP 49 (FOX) |
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| Local digital television channels | ||
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WCTV-DT 6.2 (Tallahassee) - WJHG-DT 7.3 (Panama City) - "WNFM" 8 / WBSP-CA 9 (Naples / Ft. Myers) - |
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| See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, NBC, PBS, Religious, Spanish and Other stations in Florida | |
