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WSJU-TV

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For the current low-power television station in Ceiba–Fajardo, Puerto Rico, see WSJU-LD.

WSJU-TV
Channels
BrandingAerco Broadcasting Network
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
  • AiLive Network
  • (Aerco Broadcasting Corporation)
WSJU-LD, WQBS, WQBS-FM, WZET, WIOA, WIOC, W295BU, WIBS, WRSJ, WGIT
History
First air date
May 30, 1985; 39 years ago (1985-05-30)
Last air date
September 5, 2017 (2017-09-05) (32 years, 98 days) (license canceled June 26, 2018[1])
Former call signs
WRWR-TV (1985–2000)
Former channel number(s)
Analog: 30 (UHF, 1985–2009)
Call sign meaning
"San Juan"
Technical information
Facility ID4077
ERP66 kW
HAAT267 m (876 ft)
Transmitter coordinates18°16′23″N 66°5′35″W / 18.27306°N 66.09306°W / 18.27306; -66.09306

WSJU-TV (channel 31) was a television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, owned by Aerco Broadcasting Corporation. The station's studios were located at the IBC-AERCO building at 1554 Bori Street, Urb. Antonsanti in Rio Piedras. Its transmitter was located at Cerro la Marquesa in Aguas Buenas.

During most of the 2000s, the station's programming consisted mostly of music videos until it became an affiliate of Spanish Broadcasting System's Mega TV on August 25, 2008. It was carried by Dish Network and Liberty Puerto Rico.

Prior use of channel 30

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Main article: WITA-TV

The El Imparcial newspaper built WITA-TV, which operated from June 1966 to June 1967. The station was a financial failure and left the air after a year of broadcasting. The construction permit and additional permits for stations in Ponce and Mayagüez were sold in 1969; the new owner came close to rebuilding the San Juan station and signing on the others but saw its finances unravel and never put any of them back on the air.

History

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WRWR-TV received its construction permit on December 18, 1980. Its original permitholders, La Fe del Progreso Broadcasting Corporation, envisioned it as a religious station to be called Nueva Visión (New Vision).[2] The station began broadcasting on channel 30 on May 30, 1985. It was known as Cinema 30 and broadcast older movies. It had translators on channels 16 (WTRA) in Mayagüez and 48 (WIEC) in Ponce.[3][4] The station was in poor financial condition; by February 1987, it was noted that infomercials and home shopping were taking up an increasing amount of its airtime. Bay Broadcasting attempted to get Mexican broadcaster Televisa to invest in the station.[5] The next month, it affiliated with Univision. In the meantime, the station battled through bankruptcy proceedings initiated in Florida and later transferred to Puerto Rico courts.[6][7]

The station went off the air around 1991. It then reappeared around 1999 through 2000. It applied to assign its station license from Three Star Telecast to International Broadcasting Corp.

Prior to and including the early 1990s, the call letters WSJU (now WTCV) were used by an NBC affiliated station broadcasting on UHF channel 18 (Liberty channel 12) with studios in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Most of the programming was in English, making it one of at least two stations at the time to broadcast in English (the other was WPRV-TV, "The Bright Spot"). In addition to carrying local television programming like The Judy Gordon Show and Chicola y la Ganga, WSJU carried a variety of NBC programs such as Wheel of Fortune, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (and later Jay Leno), and Late Night with David Letterman during his run at NBC.

As with many stations serving the metropolitan area of San Juan and vicinity, the transmitter tower was located on top of the peak of El Yunque. Broadcasting hours ran from 6 a.m. to midnight daily. At the end of each broadcast day, the station played video rolls of the Puerto Rican and United States national anthems.

Today, the Carolina studios for the former WSJU are owned and operated by the local affiliate of the Catholic Radio and Television Network, TeleOro channel 13 (WORO-DT; formerly WPRV-TV).

WSJU has continuously been branded as "Tele San Juan" from its time on channel 18 to its current seat on channel 30.

In August 2008, SBS entered into an agreement with WSJU, which had formerly aired music videos, making it an affiliate of Mega TV. Mega TV Puerto Rico, as WSJU was branded from then on, carried a full prime time schedule as well as a Puerto Rico-focused newscast, Meganoticias.

WSJU aired infomercials 15 hours a day (midnight to 3 p.m.).

WSJU-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 30, 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 31.[8] As part of the SAFER Act, WSJU-TV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.[9]

In August 2009, the station opened a digital subchannel dedicated to music videos. This subchannel made its formal debut in September 2009 as PlayTV. Like competing music video channels TCV and VideoMax, PlayTV allowed viewers to send text messages to friends, which were displayed on air. PlayTV differentiated itself though, in that they assigned numeric codes to each music video, and viewers could send a text message to the station using those codes to request a particular video.

In October 2009, WSJU opened a third subchannel airing programming from the Dominican Republic.

WSJU-TV became the dominant television station for young adults by airing music videos in partnership with major record companies. In 2010, WSJU-TV introduced new television stations that proved to have significant value to TV viewers.

WSJU-TV also developed new media platforms (known as AiLive Network) to complement its electronic media offering, adding iPhone, Android, Internet, Games and many more digital platforms that received WSJU's host of stations regardless of viewers' locations. AiLive also allowed viewers to send text messages to friends, which were displayed on air.

WSJU-TV reached 80 percent of the 1,000,000 households directly over-the-air and 100% of the territory via the three major cable providers.

In April 2017, WSJU-TV announced that it would shut down in the next few months, after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s incentive auction, without any channel sharing agreement. The station successfully sold its spectrum for $5,202,091.[10]

Due to the passage of Hurricane Irma across Puerto Rico, WSJU-TV ceased broadcasting on September 5, 2017, ending nearly 34 years of operation. Its license was canceled by the FCC on June 26, 2018.[1]

On June 27, 2019, WSJU-TV's intellectual unit was moved to WSJU-LP in Ceiba, which is now branded as Fresh 99.9 TV, for its music video programming, and W08EI-D, which broadcast TeleMaxx on channel 39.1 until November 1, 2020.

Subchannels

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The station's signal was multiplexed:

Subchannels of WSJU-TV[11]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
31.1 480i 4:3 WSJU-D1 Main WSJU-TV programming
31.2 WSJU-D2 Infomercials
31.3 WSJU-D3 France 24
31.4 WSJU-D4 WQBS 870 AM
31.5 WSJU-D5 Dominican View
31.6 WSJU-D6 TeveSalud

References

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  1. ^ a b Roman-Lopez, Angel (June 26, 2018). "Cancellation Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  2. ^ Brignoni, Bartolomé (February 4, 1982). "'Nueva Visión', canal de TV con fines religiosos, planea ir al aire en junio" ['New Vision', religious TV channel, plans to sign on in July]. El Mundo. p. 8-A.
  3. ^ Burges, Norma (May 22, 1985). "Inaugura Canal 30" [Channel 30 inaugurated]. El Mundo (in Spanish). p. 39.
  4. ^ Cordero, Sonia L. (September 13, 1985). "Rompeolas" [Wave Breaker]. El Mundo. p. 33.
  5. ^ Cordero, Sonia L. (February 13, 1987). "Una renuncia, Cinema 30 y Shaka Zulú..." [A resignation, Cinema 30 and Shaka Zulu...]. El Mundo (in Spanish). p. 62.
  6. ^ Cordero, Sonia L. (May 29, 1987). "El canal 30 de Univisión se queda..." [Univision's Channel 30 remains...]. El Mundo (in Spanish). p. 48.
  7. ^ Cordero, Sonia L. (June 19, 1987). "No corren mucho los de alante..." El Mundo (in Spanish). p. 24.
  8. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
  9. ^ "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  10. ^ "FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction Auction 1001 Winning Bids" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  11. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WSJU". RabbitEars.info.
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