please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wpsg philadelphia pennsylvania united states branding the cw philly 57 general eyewitness news on the cw philly newscasts slogan tv now channels digital 32 uhf virtual 57 psip affiliations .1 the cw owner cbs corporation philadelphia television station wpsg inc. first air date june 15 1981 ; 35 years ago 1981 06 15 call letters meaning paramount stations group former owner of wpsg and predecessor of cbs television stations sister station s kyw kyw tv wip fm wogl wpht wzmp wxtu former callsigns wwsg tv 1981 1985 wgbs tv 1985 1995 former channel number s analog 57 uhf 1981 2009 former affiliations independent 1981 1995 fnn 1981 1982 upn 1995 2006 transmitter power 250 kw height 400 m facility id 12499 transmitter coordinates 40 2 30 n 75 14 11 w 40.04167 n 75.23639 w 40.04167 ; 75.23639 coordinates 40 2 30 n 75 14 11 w 40.04167 n 75.23639 w 40.04167 ; 75.23639 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cwphilly.cbslocal.com wpsg channel 57 is a cw owned and operated television station located in philadelphia pennsylvania united states . the station is owned by the cbs television stations subsidiary of cbs corporation and is part of a duopoly with cbs owned and operated station kyw tv channel 3 . the two stations share a studio and office facilities located on hamilton street north of center city philadelphia wpsg s transmitter is located in the roxborough section of philadelphia . contents 1 history 1.1 wglv tv 1.2 rebirth 1.3 joining upn 1.4 the cw 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 newscasts 3.1 notable current on air staff 4 out of market coverage 5 references 6 external links history edit wglv tv edit the channel 57 frequency was originally assigned to easton pennsylvania where it was home to wglv tv a dual abc dumont affiliate owned by the easton express newspaper which first signed on the air june 26 1953 . unfortunately the station struggled to get an audience mainly because it was a uhf station at a time when television manufacturers were not required to offer uhf tuners . its fate was sealed in 1957 when the fcc collapsed the lehigh valley into the philadelphia television market . the philadelphia stations built tall towers in the city s hilly roxborough neighborhood adding easton and the rest of the lehigh valley to their city grade coverage . wglv went dark on november 1 of that year and several years later the fcc reassigned the channel 57 allocation to philadelphia . rebirth edit channel 57 as a philadelphia station first signed on the air on june 15 1981 as wwsg tv named for station founder william s. gross . the station aired business news programming from the financial news network during the day and subscription television programming from selectv at night . the station s original studio facilities were located on north 20th street in philadelphia . the station ultimately dropped the fnn feed when it decided to switch to a full time subscription format eighteen months later picking up the now defunct prism pay cable service a forerunner to comcast sportsnet philadelphia in 1983 . in march 1985 gross sold channel 57 to milton grant 1 who immediately purchased an inventory of strong programming . many of these shows were viacom syndicated programs that were formerly seen on wkbs tv channel 48 before that station ceased operations in august 1983 . on october 20 1985 grant relaunched channel 57 as wgbs tv a general entertainment independent station with a typical mix of cartoons sitcoms movies dramas and sports . westerns also aired for several hours a day on weekends . under grant wgbs adopted a very slick on air look even by major market independent standards . the station boldly branded itself as philly 57 and also used cgi graphics of near network quality . the station s announcer kim martin then an announcer at wpen radio now wkdn offered bold brash and entertaining voice overs . wgbs then sister stations wbfs tv in miami and wgbo tv in chicago adopted a similar look . early on the new channel 57 competed with vineland new jersey based wsjt channel 65 now wuvp dt to fill the void left by the departure of wkbs two years earlier . however channel 65 suffered from a poor signal in the northern portion of the market . at the same time channel 57 became the broadcast home of the nhl s philadelphia flyers remaining the hockey team s broadcast television home until the 2008 09 season except for a brief period from 1993 to 1998 when the flyers aired on wphl tv channel 17 . additionally wilmington delaware based wtgi channel 61 now wppx tv signed on in the summer of 1986 as a general entertainment independent station but its schedule was composed largely of low budget programs . at the end of 1986 wsjt s owners the asbury park press conceded and sold the station to the home shopping network while other stations picked up some of wsjt s syndicated shows . wtgi meanwhile switched to a format featuring paid programming and religious programs in january 1987 . by then wgbs had clearly established itself as the third independent in philadelphia . wgbs prospered even in the midst of a battle for its survival and that of its owner . milton grant had hoped to have his stations become regional or national superstations . in his bid to boost his stations status grant wound up overpaying for programming . he soon became so badly overextended that grant broadcasting was forced to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 1986 . 2 under the bankruptcy deal wgbs cut back on the number of runs it had on each show causing programs to be seen at less duration . still in 1989 grant broadcasting was forced into receivership after the company failed to meet the terms of its bankruptcy agreement . combined broadcasting a creditor controlled holding company took control of the former grant stations . combined put the stations up for sale in 1993 but it would be two years before combined found a buyer and only then in a roundabout way . joining upn edit combined s first attempt to sell wgbs tv came in august 1993 when fox television stations announced that it would purchase channel 57 and make it philadelphia s new fox station . the deal would have left existing fox affiliate wtxf tv channel 29 without an affiliation . 3 wtxf s owner paramount stations group a subsidiary of paramount pictures strongly criticized fox s plans to pull its affiliation fueling existing speculation that paramount was planning to join with chris craft industries to create a new network ; 3 when what eventually became the united paramount network upn was announced that october as a joint venture of the two companies with paramount holding only a programming partnership until it purchased 50 % of the network in 1996 wtxf was named as its philadelphia affiliate . 4 however on november 19 1993 ; the new york city chapters of national association for the advancement of colored people filed a formal objection to fox s planned purchase of wgbs due to concerns about fox s ownership structure . the naacp contended that fox s then owner news corporation based in australia at the time was the de facto parent company of fox television stations holding company twentieth holdings corporation thc . newscorp s chairman rupert murdoch owned 76 percent of thc s stock in his own name ; he had become an american citizen in 1985 so he could buy u.s. television stations . fcc regulations limit foreign ownership of broadcast stations to 25 % and the naacp contended that newscorp owned at least 36 % of thc s stock including all of the common stock . 5 as fcc approval did not come before the planned january 30 1994 completion of the deal combined walked away from the 57 million sale a few weeks later preserving wtxf s fox affiliation and opening the door for upn to affiliate with wgbs . 6 later that year westinghouse broadcasting owners of then nbc affiliate kyw tv reached an agreement with cbs to switch channel 3 and two of westinghouse s other stations to cbs . new world communications had recently partnered with fox in most of the markets where the company owned stations and emerged as a candidate to purchase cbs longtime owned and operated station wcau tv channel 10 . fox also entered into the bidding for wcau just in case new world s offer either fell through or in case new world chose to affiliate wcau with nbc . however on august 31 1994 viacom which had acquired paramount several months earlier announced that it would sell wtxf to fox for over 200 million ; 7 nbc and cbs then opted to make a complicated multi market station swap which gave wcau to nbc . using the cash received from fox for channel 29 viacom then bought wgbs and its miami sister station wbfs tv . 8 as soon as the deal was announced viacom announced that both stations would join upn . the purchase effectively resulted in viacom buying out its partners stakes in combined broadcasting ; as the owner of the majority of the programs seen on channel 57 s schedule back in 1985 viacom was one of grant s former creditors and a part owner of combined . grant had been under particularly strong pressure to repay his debt to viacom prior to filing bankruptcy . wgbs became philadelphia s upn station when the network launched on january 16 1995 . after upn debuted the station s image was changed to fit its new status as a network station . the on air branding changed to upn philly 57 and finally upn 57 the graphics got simpler and martin was replaced by the more staid larry van nuys . the upn 57 branding was kept for the remainder of the network s run with the exception of a short lived branding change to simply upn in september 2002 when the upn network debuted a new logo and on air identity . this lasted exactly one season and by the fall of 2003 the station s branding reverted to upn 57 . viacom officially became the sole owner of wgbs on august 25 1995 the same day fox closed on its purchase of wtxf . on december 11 of that year viacom changed the station s call letters to wpsg reflecting its operation by the paramount stations group subsidiary . viacom bought cbs in 2000 creating a duopoly with kyw tv ; wpsg s operations later migrated into kyw tv s studios at independence mall . that same year viacom also purchased chris craft s 50 % share of upn for 5.5 billion 9 this resulted in wpsg becoming upn s largest owned and operated station taking that distinction away from secaucus new jersey licensed new york city station wwor tv it and chris craft s other upn stations were stripped of their statuses as o & os due to the viacom buyout and were eventually sold to fox television stations one of which was subsequently traded to paramount . in recent years wpsg has tried to reposition itself as more of a local station using the slogan so philly so you spelled as so philly so u during the waning days of its upn run . weekend movie marathons usually hosted by local personalities or kyw wpsg staff like sean murphy have become commonplace and during the late 2000s the station broadcast the philadelphia version of gim me