WORA-TV

Last updated

WORA-TV
WORA-TV ABC5.png
WORA-TV Vive.jpg
City Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Channels
Branding
  • WORA 5 / ABC Puerto Rico (general)
  • ABC News Extra (newscasts)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
  • Telecinco Media Holdings
  • (Telecinco, Inc.)
WRFB
History
FoundedJanuary 27, 1955;69 years ago (1955-01-27)
First air date
October 12, 1955(68 years ago) (1955-10-12) [1]
Former channel number(s)
Analog: 5 (VHF, 1955–2009)
Call sign meaning
Named after former sister station WORA (AM)
Technical information [2]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 64865
ERP 1,000 kW
HAAT 634.2 m (2,081 ft)
Transmitter coordinates 18°8′56″N66°59′20″W / 18.14889°N 66.98889°W / 18.14889; -66.98889
Translator(s)
  • W05CY-D 5.5 Mayagüez
  • W10BG-D 10.1 Mayagüez
Links
Public license information
Website www.abc.pr

WORA-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, affiliated with ABC and owned by Telecinco Media Holdings. WORA-TV's studios are located on Ponce de León Avenue in Santurce, with additional studios at the Guanajibo Building in Mayagüez. The station's transmitter is located at Monte del Estado in Maricao.

Contents

WRFB (channel 5) in Carolina operates as a full-time satellite of WORA-TV, serving San Juan and eastern Puerto Rico.

History

Former WORA-TV logo from 1998 to 2011. WORA-TV.jpg
Former WORA-TV logo from 1998 to 2011.

Founded by Alfredo Ramírez de Arellano y Bártoli in 1955, WORA-TV was the first television station on Puerto Rico's west coast and the third station islandwide after WKAQ-TV and WAPA-TV (established in the same year earlier). [3] The station was named for then-sister station WORA radio (760 AM), which one year later was joined by WORA-FM (97.5 FM, now WIOB), the first FM broadcaster on the west coast. [3] During its early years, the station produced its own programming, but its schedule eventually shifted toward infomercials, possibly due to the lack of interest from local businesses in advertising on television. In 1969, WORA-TV became a repeater station for WRIK-TV, airing their programming on the west coast of the island.

In 1979, WORA-TV entered into an affiliation agreement with San Juan-based WAPA-TV, ending its run as a locally-run independent station. After that, most television stations on the island's western coast followed suit. By joining economically stronger stations from the San Juan market, market divisions on the island ended.

In 1985, WORA-TV changed its affiliation agreement to WKAQ-TV, and on January 1, 1995, it began a new affiliation agreement with WLII.

On September 19, 2014, it was announced that WORA would become an ABC affiliate on November 1, 2014, replacing low-power station WPRU-LP, carrying the network on a subchannel branded as ABC 5. [4]

On January 1, 2015, WORA-TV again become a semi-satellite of WKAQ-TV on channel 5.1. Univision programming moved to WOLE-DT channel 12, on the same date. On March 9, 2015, WORA's third digital subchannel added a new channel, Vive, which broadcast series from Televisión Española. Vive later switched to a simulcast of the 24H news channel from TVE on July 1, 2019. [5]

On June 27, 2019, WORA-TV announced that it would end its affiliation with WKAQ-TV by December 31, leaving Telemundo without a western affiliate after more than four years; later, Hemisphere Media Group, the owners of WAPA-TV, announced that Telemundo would air on a subchannel of WAPA-owned WNJX-TV on January 1, 2020. On December 18, WORA-TV announced that ABC programming would move the station's primary channel on January 1, 2020. [6]

On December 1, 2020, WORA-TV, WRFB and its translator stations launched Telecinco (subchannel 5.4), a new independent station combining news programming from RT and horse racing from Hipodromo Camarero. It was the second major change on the multiplex; earlier that year, the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico began offering online classes as "Inter Online TV" on subchannel 5.2. On March 1, 2022, the station removed RT programming after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, replacing it with Deutsche Welle.

Programming

In addition to ABC network programming, WORA-TV airs some local programming in Spanish, mostly on Sunday afternoons.

News operation

WORA-TV had a small news division branded WORA-TV Noticias, which aired during WKAQ-TV's Telenoticias news broadcasts on the Telemundo subchannel. These 15- to 30-minute news segments focus on events happening in and around Mayagüez and Puerto Rico's west coast. On June 28, 2019, the day after the end of the WKAQ rebroadcast agreement was announced, WORA-TV laid off 19 employees and closed its entire news department.

Currently, WORA-TV airs a simulcast of WABC-TV's Eyewitness News. Unlike most ABC affiliates, which produce their local newscasts in English, WORA-TV produces their local newscasts in Spanish. The local programs, Directo y Sin Filtro (hosted by Limarys Suarez, Carmen Jovet, and Jonathan Lebrón Ayala) and Primetime (hosted by Nicole Marie Colón), are broadcast in the evening.

On April 14, 2021, after nearly two years without a regional news operation, WORA-TV announced its return to news programming with the launch of ABC News Extra, a local 7 p.m. weeknight newscast anchored by Veronique Abreu Tañon and Yarimar Marrero.

Local programs produced by WORA-TV

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WORA-TV and repeaters [7]
Channel Res. Aspect Short nameProgramming
WORA-TVW05CY-DW10BG-D
5.15.510.1 720p 16:9 ABC-PR ABC
5.25.610.2UIA-TVInter Online TV
5.35.710.3 480i VIVEVIVE Television / 24h
5.45.810.4 720p Tele5.4 Telecinco / Camarero TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WORA-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal over VHF channel 5, on June 12, 2009, the official date when full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 29, using virtual channel 5. [8]

As part of the SAFER Act, WORA-TV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters. [9]

Translator stations

WORA-TV and its subchannels can be seen across Puerto Rico on the following stations:

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References

  1. ↑ FCC History Cards for WORA-TV. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WORA-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. 1 2 "Muere el pionero de la radio y la televisión mayagüezana: el filántropo Alfredo Ramírez de Arellano Bártoli". Mayagüez sabe a Mangó (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 10, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
  4. ↑ "ABC Switching Puerto Rico Affiliation". TVNewsCheck. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  5. ↑ "¡VIVE! modifica abruptamente su programación ¡Ahora tendrá un enfoque noticioso!". TVboricuaUSA. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Telemundo to stop airing signal via WORA-TV in Mayaguez by year's end". News is My Business. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  7. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for WORA". RabbitEars.info . Archived from the original on November 1, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  8. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
  9. ↑ "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
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