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WAMI-DT (channel 69) 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 ...
licensed to
Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now ...
, United States, serving the
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
area with programming from the Spanish-language
UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
network. It is
owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by
TelevisaUnivision TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American mass media, media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is ...
alongside
Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...
outlet
WLTV-DT WLTV-DT (channel 23) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from Univision. It is one of two flagship stations of the Spanish-language network (the other being WXTV-DT in the New York City market). WLTV-DT ...
(channel 23). Both stations share studios known as "NewsPort" (a converted studio facility that also houses
Noticias Univision Noticias Univision (, ) is the news division of Univision, an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by the Univision Television Group division of TelevisaUnivision. The news division is based out of the network's fac ...
) on Northwest 30th Terrace in Doral, while WAMI-DT's transmitter is located in
Pembroke Park, Florida Pembroke Park is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States. The town took its name from its location along Pembroke Road. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,260. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to ...
. WAMI is one of two
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
television stations with a
city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...
in
Broward County Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...
(the other being
Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...
station
WSCV WSCV (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, broadcasting Telemundo programming to the Miami area. It is one of two flagship stations of the Spanish-language network (the other being WNJU in t ...
, channel 51, licensed to
Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
). The station also serves as the ''de facto'' UniMás outlet for the
West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
market.


History

Prior to being used by a full-power station, the channel 69 allocation was occupied by W69AA, a translator for
WCIX WCIX (channel 49) is a television station licensed to Springfield, Illinois, United States, serving the Central Illinois region as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Champaign-licensed CBS affiliate WCIA (c ...
channel 6. The analog channel 6 transmitter was located in
Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...
because of station spacing restrictions to channel 6 in
Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...
; W69AA and two other translators, all commissioned in 1972, provided WCIX programming to areas in Broward County and Boca Raton. As applications proceeded on the full-power allotment, W69AA was displaced; it went silent and returned as W58BU, a translator of
WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (ch ...
, on March 10, 1994.


Early years

In 1981, four applications were received for a full-power television station on channel 69, from Whitco Broadcasters; Family Television 69, owned by Hialeah pastor Adib Eden, Sr.; Golden East Broadcasters; and Christian Media of Florida. In April, the FCC selected Whitco over the other applicants, saying that Christian Media of Florida's three pastor owners would not be able to balance ministry and station operations; Whitco offered $111,000 to its competitors to end the proceeding. Whitco, owned by Eddie Whitehead and Thomas Coates, proposed the first African American-owned television station in South Florida, aimed at the same audience. The construction permit took the call letters WDEM and secured space on the new tower being built by
Guy Gannett Communications Guy Gannett Communications was a family-owned business consisting of newspapers in Maine and a handful of television stations in the eastern United States. The company was founded by its namesake, Guy P. Gannett, in 1921, and was managed by a fa ...
in Pembroke Park. An attempt to sell a majority stake in the construction permit to an investor group that sought to program channel 69 as a Spanish-language station fell through in early 1985. On February 19, 1987, the Home Shopping Network announced that it was acquiring a majority stake in WDEM, with the option to buy the facility outright upon completion for $10 million. WAMI first signed on the air on August 10, 1988 as WYHS-TV. Before prior-to-launch, WYHS-TV telecasted audio from
WHYI-FM WHYI-FM (100.7 MHz) is a heritage contemporary hit radio station. The station is licensed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and owned by iHeartMedia. Y100 broadcasts at an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts from its 1,007 foot transmitter, w ...
(Y-100) before signing on with live views of Miami. When it signed on, WHYS-FM carried programming from the Home Shopping Network. Two months later, HSN's broadcasting division, Silver King Communications, acquired the remainder of the station. The primary purpose of these stations was to force carriage of HSN on cable providers in each
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...
through the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
's
must-carry In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system. North America Canada Under current CRTC regulations, the lowest tier of service on ...
provisions as
QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network, and flagship shopping channel specializing in televised home shopping, owned by Qurate Retail Group. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Chester, Pen ...
was taking away a large slice of HSN's audience as several providers had held an ownership interest in QVC, but not HSN. Eventually, Silver King Communications acquired an ownership interest in the
USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
, and as a result, later became
USA Broadcasting USA Broadcasting was an United States of America, American television broadcasting company owned by the veteran entertainment industry executive Barry Diller. This company was the over-the-air broadcasting arm of USA Networks. Before founding US ...
, the broadcast arm of media company USA Networks, Inc. In the fall of 1997, channel 69 began carrying
Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...
programming, after it was dropped by the market's WB affiliate WDZL (channel 39, later WBZL and now
WSFL-TV WSFL-TV (channel 39) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Ion Television owned-and-operated station WPXM-TV (channel 35), also licensed to Miami. WS ...
), which acquired the block in 1993 after Fox affiliate
WSVN WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television. WSVN's studios are located on 79th Street Causeway ( SR 934) in North ...
(channel 7) decided to stop carrying Fox's children's programming.


WAMI 69

On June 8, 1998 at 6:00 a.m., channel 69 became an
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
; the station also changed its call letters to WAMI-TV. The relaunch of channel 69 was known as the "Birth of a Station", where a soon-to-be mother was giving birth to the "Miami" thought-bubble station logo (the entire day before, the channel
stunted Stunted growth is a reduced growth rate in human development. It is a primary manifestation of malnutrition (or more precisely undernutrition) and recurrent infections, such as diarrhea and helminthiasis, in early childhood and even before birth, ...
with the picture of a sonogram of the new logo as a lead into the introduction). Immediately after that sketch, real-time traffic and weather reports were shown. The revamped station adopted a general entertainment format with a strong focus on locally produced programs including a daily news program called ''The Times''; the sports discussion show ''SportsTown''; ''Generation ñ'', a program targeted at bilingual, 2nd generation Latinos in the U.S.; the lifestyle programs ''Ocean Drive'' (which was based on the magazine of the same name) and ''Ten's'' (which was also broadcast on
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
sister station
KSTR-TV KSTR-DT (channel 49) is a television station licensed to Irving, Texas, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language UniMás network to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Garland-licens ...
from 1999 to 2001); the dance program ''Barcode''; an alternative lifestyle program called ''Kenneth's Frequency''; and the talk show ''Out Loud'', which was hosted by Bill Teck and produced by Miami producer and media personality
Paul Bouche Paul Bouche is an American television host, comedian, media personality and television producer. Paul is the host, creator and producer of a variety of television and radio programs and serves as CCO (Chief Creative Officer) of Astracanada Product ...
. The station's programming was mostly aimed at teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 and 34. The format heavily took after the groundbreaking
CITY-TV CITY-DT (channel 57) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television outlets CFMT-DT (chan ...
in Toronto, which carried a similar mix of syndicated shows and movies with locally-produced programming. WAMI repackaged the Fox Kids block, incorporating it into the live, locally produced interactive children's show ''WAMI on Miami''. The hosts of that program would hold up a "WAMI" hand sign, holding up both hands, making "L" shapes and crossing their hands together to form a "W", shouting; "Wami, baby!" to its on-air audience. Children would show up at WAMI-sponsored Fox Kids/''
Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entert ...
'' events that were held throughout
Miami-Dade Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
and Broward counties, mimicking their favorite ''WAMI on Miami'' on-air host. Another pickup for the station was ''
Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
'', which had not been aired by the ABC affiliate in the area,
WPLG WPLG (channel 10) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Berkshire Hathaway as its sole broadcast property. WPLG's studios are located on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard in Pembrok ...
. The station soon began to heavily incorporate local remote interstitials that were broadcast live. WAMI-TV often shot its interstitials, "live" at remote locations all over Miami-Dade and Broward counties, with the WAMI interstitial host often literally pulled passers-by off the streets to read the cue cards announcing the programs that would be shown on the station during the next hour. Another short program not seen on most other USA-owned stations was the topical program ''Lips'', featuring a pair of ruby red lips in front of a black background, teasing the day's stories or issues, a concept that was thought to be inspired by ''
The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 musical comedy horror film by 20th Century Fox, produced by Lou Adler and Michael White and directed by Jim Sharman. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also ...
''. WAMI-TV prominently used the on-air station "bug" or WAMI station ID logo, a variation of the WAMI "thought bubble"; the station ID graphic would flash on the lower part of the screen, at the top and bottom of the hour, or each time a program returned from commercial break, and then fade out. WAMI's vice president of promotions ordered that the logo bug remain on-screen during its programs, around the clock, and to give it a translucent appearance so that it was seen constantly. WAMI also featured "WAMI-cams", which were three to five second on-air spots that were used to fill airtime, usually catching a glimpse of
South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...
street life, scenic views or interesting goings-on in Miami, followed a "pop" sound and the appearance of the WAMI "thought bubble" graphic. The rest of WAMI-TV's programming schedule was supplemented with some first-run syndicated
reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
and
talk shows A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sho ...
, syndicated reruns of network
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
s, movies (under the ''WAMI Movie Palace'' banner),
cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
and a few religious programs. By December 1998, after only six months on air, WAMI-TV had outbid
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
owned-and-operated station
WBFS-TV WBFS-TV (channel 33) is an independent television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS owned-and-operated station WFOR-TV (channel 4). Both stations share studios on Northwest 1 ...
(channel 33) and WB affiliate WBZL to land an exclusive six-year contract for the local television rights to
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
games from the
Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...
. WAMI had also procured the rights to broadcast
Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
games prior to the station's relaunch. By late 1999, WAMI had grown into its role as the " flagship station" of what was to become the USA Broadcasting Network, comprising thirteen stations scattered around the country in major U.S. cities, twelve of which were former HSN affiliates. All of these stations, which were owned by
Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall of ...
, were to gradually be converted to follow WAMI's format, called "CityVision". The "CityVision" concept was based on Diller's theory that local programming was being ignored on most broadcast stations, and that the general public wanted a sense of what is going on in their communities on television. A scaled-down version of the format was adopted by USA Broadcasting-owned sister stations KHSX-TV in Dallas (which became KSTR-TV and rebranded as "K-Star 49"), WHSH-TV in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
(which became WHUB-TV and rebranded as "Hub 66"; it is now
WUTF-TV WUTF-TV (channel 27) is a television station licensed to Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language UniMás network to the Boston area. It is owned by Entravision Communications, which provides certain services t ...
) and WHOT-TV in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
(which rebranded as "Hotlanta 34"; it is now WUVG-TV). The rest of the former HSN-affiliated stations owned by USA that were due to be converted were WHSE-TV (now
WFUT-DT WFUT-DT (channel 68) is a television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving as the UniMás outlet for the New York City area. It is one of two flagship stations of the Spanish-language network (the other being WAMI-DT in ...
) and WHSI (now
WFTY-DT WFTY-DT (channel 67) is a television station licensed to Smithtown, New York, United States, serving Long Island as an affiliate of the True Crime Network. It is owned by TelevisaUnivision alongside Newark, New Jersey–licensed UniMás co-flag ...
) in the New York City market (whose calls were to be changed to WORX and rebranded as "The Works" upon the format change), WEHS (now
WXFT-DT WXFT-DT (channel 60) is a television station licensed to Aurora, Illinois, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language UniMás network to the Chicago area. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Joliet-licensed Univision ...
) in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
(which was to become WNDE and be rebranded as "Windy"),
WQHS-TV WQHS-DT (channel 61) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Univision and UniMás networks. Owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision, it is the only full-power Spanish-language television st ...
in
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, KHSC-TV (now
KFTR-DT KFTR-DT (channel 46) is a television station licensed to Ontario, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as the western flagship station of the Spanish-language UniMás network. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alon ...
) in Los Angeles (whose calls were to be changed to KLIK and be rebranded as "Click"), WHSP (now
WUVP-DT WUVP-DT (channel 65) is a television station licensed to Vineland, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Univision network to the Philadelphia area. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Wildwood, Ne ...
) in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, WHSW (now
WUTB WUTB (channel 24) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, airing programming from the digital multicast network TBD. It is owned by Deerfield Media, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Sinclair Broadcast ...
) in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, KHSH (now
KFTH-DT KFTH-DT (channel 67) is a television station licensed to Alvin, Texas, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language UniMás network to the Houston area. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Rosenberg-licensed Univision ou ...
) in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
and WBHS (now WFTT-DT) in
Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
.


Sale to Univision and switch to a Spanish-language format

Due to financial problems that USA Networks began facing in 2000, the company began looking to divest some of its assets. USA Broadcasting, as one of these assets, was considered for divestiture as part of a deal to help USA Networks repair its financial footing. In 2001, the remaining entertainment units of USA Broadcasting were sold to
Vivendi Universal Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
, along with $10.3 billion worth of shares held by Barry Diller. The television stations were to be sold to
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
, but
Univision Communications TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by the ...
outbid its competition in a close race. The sale was finalized on January 3, 2002. On January 14, 2002, WAMI-TV became a charter owned-and-operated station of Univision's fledgling Spanish-language secondary network, Telefutura (which rebranded as
UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
eleven years later on February 7, 2013).
WPXM-TV WPXM-TV (channel 35) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the Ion Television network. It is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company alongside CW affiliate WSFL-TV ...
(channel 35) and West Palm Beach sister station
WPXP-TV WPXP-TV (channel 67) is an television station licensed to Lake Worth, Florida, United States, serving the West Palm Beach area as an affiliate of Ion Television. Owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings, the station maintains offices on Banyan Boulevard i ...
acquired the rights to the Marlins telecasts (which were now produced by
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...
), which aired through the Florida Marlins Television Network, eventually dropping them in
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
after Pax TV relaunched as i: Independent Television (the rights to Marlins and Heat telecasts are held by Sun Sports, now
Bally Sports Sun Bally Sports Sun is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local coverag ...
). In late 2009, most Univision-owned television stations, including WAMI and sister station WLTV, upgraded their main digital signals to transmit programming in
1080i 1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the screen. ...
high definition. TeleFutura's sister network Univision became the last major over-the-air television network in the United States to begin offering high definition programming on
December 31 It is known by a collection of names including: Saint Sylvester's Day, New Year's Eve or Old Years Day/Night, as the following day is New Year's Day. It is the last day of the year; the following day is January 1, the first day of the following ...
, 2009.


Newscasts and local programming

Univision owned-and-operated sister station WLTV produces an hour-long weekday morning newscast for WAMI called ''Noticias 23 Al Amanecer en UniMás Miami'', which airs Monday through Fridays at 7 a.m. and is an extension of WLTV's two-hour morning newscast. In addition, that station produces a public affairs program called ''Ahora en Nuestra Comunidad'', which airs on Saturday mornings at 6 a.m. on WAMI-DT with a rebroadcast on WLTV at 11:30 a.m.


Awards and nominations

WAMI-TV during its 2½ year run under USA Broadcasting ownership, received 18 Suncoast Regional
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s and 22
Promax Awards The Promax Awards (also known as the PromaxBDA Awards) honor promotion, design, and marketing by a company or individual that is broadcast, published, or released in their respective markets. Promax International/BPME (branded as "Promax") sponsor ...
. * 1998: 7 Regional Emmys * 1999: 6 Regional Emmys, 10 Promax Awards * 2000: 5 Regional Emmys, 10 Promax Awards * 2001: 2 Promax Awards


Notable former on-air staff

* Lisa Cabrera – ''The Times'' entertainment reporter (later reporter and fill-in anchor for
WNYW WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship W ...
in New York City) * Mark Jones – ''SportsTown'' co-anchor (now with
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
) *
Ben Mankiewicz Benjamin Frederick Mankiewicz (born March 25, 1967) is an American television personality, political commentator, and film critic. He is a host on Turner Classic Movies and has been a commentator on '' The Young Turks'' and ''What the Flick?!'' ...
– ''The Times'' news anchor (later with ''
TMZ on TV ''TMZ on TV'' (also known as ''TMZ on Fox'' and simply as ''TMZ'' or ''TMZTV'') is an American syndicated entertainment and gossip news television show that premiered on September 10, 2007 (its major carriage is among television stations owned ...
'' and co-host of '' At the Movies''; now film presenter for
Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
and co-host of ''
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Technical information


Subchannels

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

WAMI ended programming on its analog signal, on UHF channel 69, On June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 47. Through the use of
PSIP 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 AT ...
, 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 UHF analog channel 69, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition. Like all Univision-owned stations, it also retained the "-DT" suffix on their calls at the time of transition.


References


External links


Variety Business

UniMás

The Legend of WAMI (unofficial, but links to archived, official pages through banner)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wami-Tv AMI-DT UniMás network affiliates Bounce TV affiliates GetTV affiliates Grit (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1988 AMI-DT Hollywood, Florida 1988 establishments in Florida Quest (American TV network) affiliates Hispanic and Latino American culture in Miami