WGTW-TV

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WGTW-TV
Burlington, New Jersey
Channels	48 (UHF) analog, 27 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	TBN
Owner	Trinity Broadcasting Network
Founded	August 15, 1992
Call letters meaning	We're Great Television to Watch
Former affiliations	Independent (1992-2004)
Transmitter Power	2340 kW (analog) 160 kW (digital)
Height	355 m (analog) 354 m (digital)
Website	www.tbn.org

For the old channel 48 in Philadelphia, see WKBS-TV (Philadelphia).

WGTW-TV, channel 48, is a Trinity Broadcasting Network-owned and operated television station serving the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area and licensed to Burlington, New Jersey, with studios in the Manayunk neighborhood of North Philadelphia. The station's transmitter is in Roxborough and its signal covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

Contents 1 History 2 WKBS/WGTW License facts conflict 3 News operation 4 Digital services 5 External links

[edit] History

After WKBS-TV shut down in 1983, its former owner, Field Communications, returned the license to the FCC. Several months later, the FCC put channel 48's license up for auction. Among those bidding on the license were: Dorothy Brunson, an African-American woman who previously worked in radio; and Cornerstone TeleVision, a Christian television outfit from western Pennsylvania. After a two-year process, the auction ended with Brunson winning the license. Cornerstone had, during the interim, purchased channel 48's transmitter, moved it to Altoona, and used it to sign on a new station in 1988 on channel 47, ironically enough under the WKBS-TV call letters.

Channel 48 signed back on the air on August 15, 1992, under the call letters WGTW-TV, an independent station. Initially the station ran public domain movies, infomercials, paid religion, and home-shopping programs. By 1994, WGTW had a variety of classic off-network series, cartoons, movies, first-run syndicated shows, and paid programming. Some of these shows had aired on the old WKBS-TV. The station also aired NBC daytime programs that were pre-empted by then-affiliate KYW-TV. However, by 2001, many of WGTW's classic shows were no longer available, and the financial restraints of ownership made the station unable to acquire better syndicated programming. As a result WGTW moved to more paid programming but still retained some general entertainment programs.

In 2004, Brunson sold the station to the Trinity Broadcasting Network and on October 1 of that year, the station switched to TBN programming. TBN is known for purchasing television stations so that the network could get must-carry status on area cable systems, despite offering almost no local programming. However, WGTW (like all TBN stations) does broadcast two hours of original local programming weekly: a public-affairs show called Joy in Our Town and a local version of Praise the Lord, TBN's flagship program.

[edit] WKBS/WGTW License facts conflict

WGTW operates under the same allocation, but not the same license, as WKBS-TV. It has been argued about the link between the license for WKBS-TV and WGTW. Articles in The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News from over the years stated that Brunson did indeed purchase the same license that WKBS-TV vacated from the FCC. (The archives of these articles can be found at http://www.philly.com , however, there is a subscription fee). However, the current channel 48 license is a new construction permit, dating from July 14, 1988.

As far back as when Field announced that WKBS was going dark, it was mentioned in several Inquirer articles that 6 months after the station went dark, the license would be put up for auction to minorities, so it was a foregone conclusion that channel 48 would return to the air in some form in the future.

[edit] News operation

In 2002, WGTW launched an hour-long news and public affairs show, known as 48 Update, which aired weeknights at 7 p.m.. The final edition of 48 Update aired on October 1, 2004, one hour before the station switched to TBN programming.

[edit] Digital services

This station's digital signal, like most other TBN-owned stations, carries five different TBN-run networks: the local TBN channel (simulcasting the analog station) on 48.1, The Church Channel on 48.2, JCTV on 48.3, Enlace USA on 48.4, and Smile of a Child on 48.5.

Preceded by: WKBS-TV

Channel 48 Burlington/Philadelphia occupant 1992-present

Succeeded by: incumbent

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WGTW-TV