WORA-TV (channel 5) branded on-air as ABC Puerto Rico, is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico Mayagüez (, ) is a city and the eighth-largest municipality in Puerto Rico. It was founded as Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez, and is also known as ''La Sultana del Oeste'' (The Sultaness of the West), ''Ciudad de las Aguas Pura ...

, affiliated with

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and owned by Telecinco Media Holdings. WORA-TV's studios are located on Ponce de León Avenue in Santurce, with additional studios at the Guanajibo Building in Mayagüez. The station's transmitter is located at Monte del Estado in

Maricao Maricao () is a town and the second-least populous municipality of Puerto Rico; it is located at the western edge of the Cordillera Central. It is a small town set around a small square in hilly terrain, north of San Germán, Sabana Grande and ...

. WRFB (channel 5) in Carolina operates as a full-time

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

of WORA-TV, serving

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

and eastern Puerto Rico.

History

Founded by Alfredo Ramírez de Arellano y Bártoli in 1955, WORA-TV was the first television station on Puerto Rico's west coast and the third station islandwide after

WKAQ-TV WKAQ-TV (channel 2) is a television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, airing programming from the Telemundo and NBC networks. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the Telemundo Station Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal. WKAQ-T ...

and

WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish language in the United States, Spanish-language Independent station (North America), independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by :es:Hemisphere Media Group, Hemisphere Media Group, w ...

(established in the same year earlier). The station was named for then-sister station WORA radio (760 AM), which one year later was joined by WORA-FM (97.5 FM, now

WIOB WIOB (97.5 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Tropical Tropical music ( es, música tropical) is a term in the Latin music, Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of ...

), the first FM broadcaster on the west coast. During its early years, the station produced its own programming, but its schedule eventually shifted toward

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

s, possibly due to the lack of interest from local businesses in advertising on television. In 1969, WORA-TV became a repeater station for WRIK-TV, airing their programming on the west coast of the island. In 1979, WORA-TV entered into an affiliation agreement with San Juan-based WAPA-TV, ending its run as a locally-run independent station. After that, most television stations on the island's western coast followed suit. By joining with economically stronger stations from the San Juan market, market divisions on the island ended. In 1985, WORA-TV changed its affiliation agreement to WKAQ-TV, and on January 1, 1995, it began a new affiliation agreement with

WLII WLII-DT (channel 11), branded on-air as TeleOnce, is a television station licensed to Caguas, Puerto Rico, serving the Territories of the United States#Permanently inhabited territories, U.S. territory as an affiliate of Univision and UniMás. ...

. On September 19, 2014, it was announced that WORA would become an ABC affiliate on November 1, 2014, replacing low-power station

WPRU-LP WPRU-LP, UHF Analog television, analog channel 20, was a Low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power American Broadcasting Company, ABC-Network affiliate, affiliated television station City of license, licensed to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The sta ...

, carrying the network on a subchannel branded as ABC 5. On January 1, 2015, WORA-TV again become a semi-satellite of WKAQ-TV on channel 5.1. Univision programming moved to

WOLE-DT WOLE-DT (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, serving Mayagüez and the western part of the island as an affiliate of Univision and UniMás. It is a full-time satellite of San Juan–based WLII-DT (channel 11, ...

channel 12, on the same date. On March 9, 2015, WORA's third digital subchannel added VIVE, which broadcasts series from

Televisión Española Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in ...

. On June 27, 2019, WORA-TV announced that will end an affiliation agreement with WKAQ-TV by December 31, leaving Telemundo without a western affiliate after more than four years. Later,

Hemisphere Media Group Hemisphere refers to: * A half of a sphere As half of the Earth * A hemisphere of Earth ** Northern Hemisphere ** Southern Hemisphere ** Eastern Hemisphere ** Western Hemisphere ** Land and water hemispheres * A half of the (geocentric) celestia ...

, the owners of

, announced that Telemundo would air on a subchannel of

WNJX-TV WNJX-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish language in the United States, Spanish-language Independent station (North America), independent television station city of license, licensed to Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. It is a full-time broadcast relay station# ...

by January 1, 2020. On December 18, WORA-TV announced that it will move ABC programming to the station's primary channel on January 1. On July 1, 2019, VIVE switched to a simulcast of the 24H news channel from TVE. On December 1, 2020, WORA-TV, WRFB and its translator stations launched as Telecinco, a new independent station combining news programming from RT and horse racing from Hipodromo Camarero. Telecinco is seen over-the-air on the station's fourth digital subchannel. On March 1, 2022, The station lost its RT affiliation after the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

and was replaced by

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

Analog-to-digital conversion

WORA-TV shut down its analog signal, over

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

channel 5, on June 12, 2009, the official date when full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 29. Through the use of

Program and System Information Protocol The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the ...

, digital television receivers display the station's

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...

as its former VHF analog channel 5.

Translator stations

WORA-TV can be seen across Puerto Rico on the following stations:

Programming

In addition to ABC network programming, WORA-TV airs some local shows in Spanish, mostly on Sunday afternoons.

News operation

WORA-TV had a small news division branded as ''WORA-TV Noticias'', which aired during WKAQ-TV's ''Telenoticias'' news broadcasts on WORA-DT1. These 15 to 30 minute news segments focus on events happening in and around Mayagüez and Puerto Rico's west coast. On June 28, 2019, WORA-TV laid off 19 employees. This caused the closing of the entire news department and the newscasts have been canceled. Currently, WORA-TV (which is affiliated with ABC), airs a simulcast of

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neighbor ...

's ''Eyewitness News''. Unlike most ABC affiliates, which produce their local newscasts in English, WORA-TV produces their local newscasts in Spanish. The local programs, ''Punto Final'' (anchored and produced by

Carmen Jovet Carmen Jovet Esteves (born June 9, 1944) is a journalist and the first Puerto Rican woman news anchor in Puerto Rico. Early years Carmen Jovet Esteves, daughter of Manolín Jovet-Viruet and Doña Carmen "Cuca" Esteves, was born and raised in Maya ...

) and ''Primetime'' (hosted by Victor Santiago, Kimberly Santiago and Nicole Marie Colón) broadcast in the evening. On April 14, 2021, after nearly two years without a regional news operation, WORA-TV announces its return to news programming, with the launch of ''ABC News Extra'', a local newscast headed by female journalists. The locally-produced newscast airs weeknights at 7:00 p.m.

Local programs produced by WORA-TV

* ''ABC News Extra'' * ''Punto Final'' * ''Primetime'' * ''De Show con Gricel'' * ''Fan Zone'' * ''Juan de Vega de Show'' * ''Turismo con Perea'' * ''Impulso del Oeste'' * ''Muy Interesante''

References

External links

WORA-TV
– Official website
ABC Puerto Rico
– Official website for ABC Puerto Rico * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wora-Tv ORA-TV Mayagüez, Puerto Rico ABC network affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1955 1955 establishments in Puerto Rico