city york pennsylvania branding fox 43 general fox 43 news newscasts channels digital 47 uhf virtual 43 psip affiliations .1 fox .2 antenna tv .3 this tv owner tribune broadcasting wpmt llc first air date december 21 1952 ; 63 years ago 1952 12 21 call letters meaning pennsylvania movie time in reference to its movie heavy format as independent former callsigns wsba tv 1952 1983 former channel number s analog 43 uhf 1952 2009 former affiliations primary abc 1952 1961 cbs 1961 1983 independent 1983 1986 secondary the wb 1995 2006 transmitter power 933 kw height 385 m facility id 10213 transmitter coordinates 40 1 41 n 76 36 0 w 40.02806 n 76.60000 w 40.02806 ; 76.60000 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website fox43.com wpmt virtual channel 43 uhf digital channel 47 is the fox affiliated television station serving south central pennsylvania . licensed to york the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of the tribune media company . wpmt maintains studio facilities located on south queen street in spring garden township with a york mailing address and its transmitter is located in hallam . the station is available on comcast cable channel 5 and in high definition on digital channel 804 . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 4 references 5 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on december 21 1952 as wsba tv originally operating as an abc affiliate . it was owned by the susquehanna radio corporation a subsidiary of the susquehanna pfaltzgraff conglomerate along with radio station wsba 910 am . it was one of the first commercially licensed uhf television stations in the united states signing on the air just over three months after kptv in portland oregon which originally broadcast on channel 27 when it signed on in 1952 before moving to vhf channel 12 five years later . this makes wpmt the second oldest continuously broadcasting uhf station in the country only behind wsbt tv in south bend indiana although wsbt moved from its original channel 34 to channel 22 in the late 1950s making wpmt the oldest uhf station that broadcasts continuously on the same virtual channel number to this day . in 1961 the station became a cbs affiliate and joined whp tv channel 21 in harrisburg and wlyh tv channel 15 in lebanon to form the keystone network . the three stations provided a strong combined signal with about 55 % overlap . initially whp tv wlyh and wsba aired the same programming despite separate ownership . by the late 1960s while all three stations ran most of the cbs programming schedule whp tv ran different local programming during non network hours while wlyh and wsba continued to simulcast for nearly the entire broadcast day . whp ran cbs shows that wsba and wlyh preempted while the latter two stations ran programming that whp preempted allowing most of the market to view the entire cbs schedule . all three ran most of the cbs lineup duplicating over three quarters of the network s programs . this arrangement was necessary in the days before cable gained significant penetration . former logo of the television station between 2007 and 2009 in may 1983 susquehanna sold wsba tv to idaho based mohawk broadcasting who changed its call letters to the current wpmt . the station signed off in august and returned to the air the following month as the susquehanna valley s first general entertainment independent station . until then the only over the air source of non network programming in south central pennsylvania was wgcb tv channel 49 in red lion a religious station that had been on the air since 1979 . wpmt was a typical uhf independent with a schedule heavy on cartoons sitcoms movies dramas sports and westerns . in 1986 mohawk sold the station to renaissance broadcasting . on october 6 1986 wpmt became one of the charter affiliates of the newly launched fox network . from 1990 to 2004 wpmt featured original children s programming hosted by the station s mascot a clown named pete mctee a play on the station s call letters . the station was acquired by tribune broadcasting following the company s purchase of renaissance in 1996 . 1 a year earlier wpmt had added programming from the wb half owned by tribune in off hours . however cable customers could watch the full wb schedule on wphl tv in philadelphia . the station s newscasts were seen in a fictional sense in the 2010 film unstoppable which is set in the station s market area . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 43.1 720p 16 9 wpmt dt main wpmt programming fox 43.2 480i 4 3 antenna antenna tv 43.3 thistv this tv on october 26 2009 wpmt launched a 24 hour news channel known as fox 43 news 24 7 which is available on its second digital subchannel and on blue ridge communications digital channel 126 and comcast digital channel 244 . programming consists of simulcasts and rebroadcasts of local news programming from the station s main channel . 3 beginning on january 1 2011 wpmt began carrying the tribune owned network antenna tv on digital subchannel 43.2 . on july 18 2015 wpmt began carrying this tv on digital subchannel 43.3 replacing the 24 hour news channel known as fox 43 news 24 7 . fox 43 news 24 7 can still be viewed through a livestream link on their webpage . 4 analog to digital conversion edit wpmt discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 43 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 5 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 47 6 7 using psip to display wpmt s virtual channel as 43 on digital television receivers . news operation edit wpmt presently broadcasts 42 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with eight hours on weekdays and one hour each on saturdays and sundays ; in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming it is the highest local newscast output of any television station in the harrisburg lancaster lebanon york market . as a cbs affiliate wsba tv ran a small news department branded as newswatch 43 . in 1980 a much larger news department relaunched as telejournal news . the station s signal prevented the competitive newscast from being seen throughout the market . it was discontinued in 1983 . local newscasts did not return to the station until the formation of wpmt s current news department in 1994 with the debut of an hour long 10 00 p.m. newscast on weeknights . eventually the 10 p.m. newscast was expanded to weekend evenings later followed by the addition of a weekday morning news program by 2000 . the weeknight 10 00 broadcast competes with cw affiliate wlyh which runs a primetime newscast produced by cbs affiliated sister station whp tv . on september 4 2009 wpmt began airing a local sports highlight program called high school football frenzy that airs friday nights at 6 00 during the high school football season . on september 21 2009 the station debuted a half hour weeknight newscast at 6 30 that competed against the national network newscasts on whp wgal channel 8 and whtm tv channel 27 . 8 the station launched a weeknight 11 00 p.m. newscast on january 11 2010 . 9 on january 15 2011 wpmt became the first station in central pennsylvania and the last tribune owned fox affiliate to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition rival wgal was the first station in the market to offer local newscasts in the 16 9 format albeit in enhanced definition widescreen in mid december 2010 ; wgal switched to full hd on august 29 2011 . 10 wpmt was the first television station in the market to provide news video from the field in true high definition as it upgraded its eng vehicles satellite truck studio and field cameras and other equipment in order to broadcast news footage from the field in high definition in addition to segments broadcast from the main studio . on january 9 2012 wpmt expanded its early evening newscast to one hour with the addition of a half hour at 6 00 p.m. 11 on february 13 2013 wpmt expanded its weekday morning newscast to five hours with its start time moving one hour early to 4 00 a.m. becoming the first and only station in the market and the fifth tribune owned station to begin its morning newscast at 4 00 a.m. wgal and whtm start their morning newscasts at 4 30 while whp s continues to start at 5 00 a.m. 12 wpmt debuted two hour long newscasts at 4 and 5 p.m. weekdays on august 5 2013 while discontinuing its hour long 6 00 p.m. newscast . the station s 11 00 p.m. newscast was discontinued the following month on september 6 and was replaced by the second incarnation of the arsenio hall show which was produced by tribune three days later . 13 14 references edit tribune co. looks to boost role in tv with offer for six stations los angeles daily news july 2 1996 . retrieved july 20 2013 from highbeam research . rabbitears tv query for wpmt wpmt launching local 24 hour news ch . tvnewscheck october 16 2009 . wpmt livestream page list of digital full power stations permanent dead link fcc document appendix b all full power television stations by dma indicating those terminating analog service before on or february 17 2009 . cdbs print wpmt york pa . adding 6 30 p.m. news tvnewscheck august 12 2009 . https twitter.com fox43 status 7454932957 wpmt wgal newscasts getting an upgrade lancaster new era january 2 2011 . wpmt harrisburg adds 6 p.m. newscast tvnewscheck december 6 2011 . wpmt morning news expands to 5 hours tvnewscheck february 11 2013 . wpmt fox 43 to start two new hours of news this august fox43.com may 14 2013 . wpmt to expand evening news lineup tvnewscheck.com may 14 2013 . external links edit official website wpmt.antennatv.tv antenna tv harrisburg official website query the fcc s tv station database for wpmt livestream.com wpmt live wpmt livestream page v t e broadcast television in the susquehanna valley including harrisburg lancaster and york reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wgal 8.1 nbc 8.2 metv wxbu 15.1 grit 15.2 comet tv whp tv 21.1 cbs 21.2 mynetworktv 21.3 the cw whtm tv 27.1 abc 27.2 ion 27.3 gettv w07dp d 35.1 cor witf tv 33.1 pbs wpmt 43.1 fox 43.2 antenna tv 43.3 this tv wgcb tv 49.1 ind 49.2 cozi tv 49.3 the works outlying areas wjal 68.1 ind adjacent locals philadelphia pa kyw tv 3.1 cbs 3.2 decades wpvi tv 6.1 abc 6.2 lwn hd 6.3 laff wphl tv 17.1 mynetworktv 17.2 antenna tv 17.3 this 17.4 tango traffic baltimore md wmar tv 2.1 abc 2.2 laff wbal tv 11.1 nbc 11.2 metv wjz tv 13.1 cbs cable channels harrisburg broadcast network pennsylvania cable network the comcast network pennsylvania broadcast television binghamton new york buffalo new york elmira new york erie johnstown altoona state college new york city philadelphia pittsburgh scranton wilkes barre susquehanna valley harrisburg washington dc youngstown ohio see also baltimore tv v t e fox network affiliates in the state of pennsylvania wwcp 8 johnstown wyfx 19 youngstown wtxf 29 philadelphia wpmt 43 york wpgh 53 pittsburgh wolf 56 hazleton wfxp 66 erie see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in pennsylvania v t e tribune media corporate