In September, officials from these three stations made presentations to ABC executives in New York. The contenders were WTVX, the outgoing CBS affiliate with an existing news department WFLX (channel 29), a successful Fox affiliate and independent station and WPBF, a station that was not even on the air. That put ABC on the hunt for a new affiliate and started a three-way battle. ĬBS rectified its Broward County problem by poaching WPEC (channel 12) in West Palm Beach from ABC. However, Phipps and Potamkin began buying programming with an eye to making the new WPBF the second independent station in the West Palm Beach market. Rumors began to emerge that WPBF would be involved in a swap that could affect up to six stations. CBS's existing affiliate for Palm Beach County and points north, WTVX in Fort Pierce, had only added significant coverage in Palm Beach County in 1980, when it made a major facility upgrade, and it was a UHF station. Because channel 6 was also assigned in the Orlando area, WCIX's antenna had to be located further south than the other Miami stations, with the result being that key areas of Broward County were poorly served without translator stations or cable. CBS, in shopping for a new station in Miami, acquired WCIX, which broadcast on channel 6. In 1987, NBC had bought WTVJ, the CBS affiliate in Miami its existing contract with WSVN (channel 7) did not end until the end of 1988. This caught the attention of local broadcasters because of impending turmoil in the Miami area. īy the summer of 1988, negotiations were nearly being concluded on the former RCA site in Palm Beach Gardens, but no programming plans had been made public, nor had the tower been constructed.

Phipps, who had built WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach in 1956 and owned Tallahassee-area CBS affiliate WCTV, and Alan Potamkin, an owner of car dealerships in Miami. The two additional investors that would own 98 percent of the company were John C.

Several of the competing applicants appealed the award to Martin Telecommunications, and during that time, another firm, Tequesta Television secured additional investors and paid Martin and the other groups, anxious to avoid years of legal challenges, to drop their bids, clearing the way for Tequesta to be awarded the construction permit. Martin Telecommunications's entirely Hispanic ownership beat out a bid from Triple J Properties, a group of three women and Tequesta residents. The field thinned to six before an administrative law judge gave the initial nod to Martin Telecommunications in July 1986, citing its ownership by a Hispanic woman, Betty Heisler, and its proposal to air closed captioning on all of its news programs. In 1985, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated 13 applications for a new television station on channel 25 in Tequesta for comparative hearing. Further information: 1989 South Florida television affiliation switch

Wctv image viewer