verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message whtm tv harrisburg york lancaster lebanon pennsylvania united states branding abc 27 general abc 27 news newscasts slogan working for you channels digital 10 vhf virtual 27 psip affiliations .1 abc .2 ion television .3 gettv owner media general sale to nexstar broadcasting group pending whtm acquisition llc first air date july 6 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 07 06 call letters meaning harrisburg times mirror former owner former callsigns wtpa 1953 1980 former channel number s analog 71 uhf 1953 1957 27 uhf 1957 2009 former affiliations nbc 1953 1954 transmitter power 19.7 kw height 346 m facility id 72326 transmitter coordinates 40 18 58 n 76 57 1 w 40.31611 n 76.95028 w 40.31611 ; 76.95028 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website abc27.com whtm tv virtual channel 27 vhf digital channel 10 is the abc affiliated television station serving the susquehanna valley region of south central pennsylvania licensed to harrisburg . the station is owned by media general . whtm maintains studio facilities located on north 6th street in harrisburg although with a hoffman street address directly across the street from the studios of rival whp tv and its transmitter is located on the ridge north of i 81 along the cumberland and perry county line . on cable the station is available on comcast cable channel 9 and in high definition on digital channel 807 and is also available via verizon fios directv and dish network . contents 1 history 1.1 sale to media general 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 awards 4 references 5 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on july 6 1953 as wtpa standing for television pennsylvania operating as an nbc affiliate . wtpa was founded by the newhouse family whose media holdings eventually became advance publications and was operated alongside harrisburg s two major newspapers the patriot and the evening news since merged as the patriot news . the following year it switched affiliations to abc . it originally operated on uhf channel 71 but later moved to channel 27 in 1957 after that channel s original occupant wcmb tv ceased operations . during wtpa s first year on the air the station broadcast from 9 00 a.m. to 12 15 a.m. on weekdays and from noon to midnight on weekends . early local programs included a midday religious program daily devotions music and comedy focused variety program mac s matinee daytime talk show harrisburg hostess cooking show look what s cooking and susquehanna trail . the times mirror company acquired the newhouse television stations including wtpa on march 28 1980 and changed its call sign to the current whtm tv . the station was sold along with then sister station wetm tv in elmira new york to smith broadcasting company in 1986 . whtm in turn was sold to price communications in 1994 . allbritton communications acquired the station in 1996 . an ice storm that hit south central pennsylvania on december 15 and 16 2007 knocked out the power to whtm s transmitter site which also affected the reception of the station on some cable and satellite providers . whtm s signal began operating at full power once again on the morning of december 18 . 1 2 feature reporter chuck rhodes served as a minor cast member in the 2000 film lucky numbers which was based loosely on the 1980 pennsylvania lottery scandal and starred john travolta as a cash lacking meteorologist whose biggest competition in harrisburg was rhodes the real life incident occurred in pittsburgh . on november 30 2015 whtm 27.2 replaced retrotv with ion television . sale to media general edit on july 29 2013 allbritton announced that it would sell its seven television stations including whtm to the sinclair broadcast group . 3 as part of the deal sinclair was planning to sell the license assets of its existing harrisburg station whp tv channel 21 to deerfield media but would still operate that station through shared services and joint sales agreements . 4 however the fcc ruled that sinclair s plans to retain whtm would have in effect created a new lma between whtm and wlyh tv even though the fcc had ruled in 1999 that such agreements made after november 5 1996 covering more than 15 % of the broadcast day would count toward the ownership limits for the brokering station s owner . 5 after several revisions to the deal one which included a proposal to divest whp and the lma with wlyh 6 7 sinclair chose to instead retain whp and the lma with wlyh and divest whtm . 8 9 on june 23 it was announced that whtm would be sold to media general for 83.4 million . 10 after nearly a year of delays the deal was approved by the fcc on july 24 2014 . 11 sinclair completed the purchase of the allbritton stations on august 1 12 with whtm being operated under a hold separate agreement until its sale to media general was completed on september 2 . 13 on january 27 2016 nexstar broadcasting group which owned wlyh now wxbu from 2006 to 2015 announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire media general . 14 upon consummation whtm will become sisters with five stations in three other pennsylvania markets including wyou and wbre tv in scranton wilkes barre wtaj tv in altoona and wjet tv and wfxp in erie . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 15 27.1 720p 16 9 whtm hd main whtm tv programming abc 27.2 480i 4 3 ion ion television 27.3 wx27 gettv analog to digital conversion edit whtm tv signed on its digital signal on vhf channel 10 in 1999 . the station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 27 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 16 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition vhf channel 10 17 this forced nbc owned and operated station wcau in philadelphia to continue broadcasting its digital signal on channel 34 using psip to display whtm tv s virtual channel as 27 on digital television receivers . news operation edit whtm tv presently broadcasts 33.5 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with five and a half hours on weekdays and three hours each on saturdays and sundays . in addition to its main studios whtm operates news bureaus at the the york dispatch offices on north george street i 83 bus in downtown york on north main street u.s. 11 sb in downtown chambersburg in downtown lebanon and near the square in carlisle . news programming on the station began with its sign on as wtpa in 1953 with 15 minute newscasts at 12 15 6 30 and 11 00 p.m. whtm has long placed second in the ratings among the market s newscasts though in recent years it has closed the gap with longtime ratings leader wgal . generally whtm leads the way in the market s northern counties such as dauphin cumberland and perry including the state capital of harrisburg and carlisle . 18 wgal has stayed in first mainly due to its dominance of york and lancaster counties which contain the majority of the market s population . starting in 2012 wgal began experiencing declines in news viewrship the largest occurring in may 2013 ; whtm saw consistent growth including significant gains during that same sweeps period . 19 that july whtm tv beat wgal for the first time at 5 p.m. among adults 25 54 while also experiencing ratings increases in other time periods including at 6 p.m. and created a virtual tie with wgal at noon . for the november 2013 ratings period whtm was the only television station in the market to show significant growth in all newscasts . wgal s news viewership dropped in every single time period that month as did whp tv . whtm s morning 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts all saw gains of at least one rating point and in some cases in excess of five share points . on october 14 2011 whtm became the third television station in central pennsylvania to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition ; news video from the field is presented in hd as whtm 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 13 2012 whtm upgraded its weather graphics to hd . on november 30 2015 whtm 27.2 replaced retrotv with ion television . awards edit over the years whtm has earned numerous emmy nominations and wins . in 2014 the station was nominated for 26 emmys leading the mid atlantic chapter of natas in total nominations . this was more than all other stations in the local market combined and more than all stations in pittsburgh and philadelphia . in 2013 the station received 16 emmy nominations including in the news excellence category . the station s coverage of the trial of jerry sandusky and its saturday morning and 11 p.m. newscasts and various members of the station s news staff were also nominated for regional emmys for various stories and newscasts . 20 whtm has repeatedly been recognized with the pennsylvania associated press broadcasters association s joe snyder award for outstanding news service including in 2013 . that year whtm also received seven first place awards from the associated press including for its sandusky trial coverage as well as a pennsylvania association of broadcasters award for its investigative reporting and in spot news for its coverage of the kidnapping of a local college student . 21 22 in 2014 the pab awarded whtm with outstanding website for abc27.com outstanding breaking news report for coverage of a major tanker truck explosion on i 81 in dauphin county and outstanding feature report for a series on the legalization of medical marijuana in pennsylvania . references edit statement from abc27 station management . december 17 2007 . retrieved 2007 12 18 . dead link statement from abc27 station management . december 18 2007 . archived from the original on 2007 12 20 . retrieved 2007 12 18 . heath thomas ; wilgoren debbi july 29 2013 . allbritton to sell 7 tv stations including wjla to sinclair for 985 million . the washington post . retrieved july 29 2013 . sinclair buying allbritton stations for 985m . tvnewscheck . july 29 2013 . retrieved july 29 2013 . kreisman barbara a. december 6 2013 . letter to sinclair and allbritton legal counsel pdf . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . retrieved december 8 2013 . sinclair offers to sell stations ahead of fcc decision tvspy march 21 2014 . sinclair proposes restructuring of allbritton transaction in order to meet objections of the federal communications commission the wall street journal via prnewswire march 20 2014 . eggerton john may 29 2014 . sinclair proposes surrendering three licenses to get allbritton deal done . broadcasting & cable . retrieved may 30 2014 . jessell harry a. may 29 2014 . sinclair giving up 3 stations to appease fcc . tvnewscheck . retrieved may 30 2014 . media general buying whtm for 83.4 m . tvnewscheck . june 23 2014 . retrieved june 23 2014 . eggerton john 24 july 2014 . fcc approves sinclair allbritton deal . broadcasting & cable . retrieved 24 july 2014 . sinclair s deal for allbritton