WEAT-TV
In April 1952, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened to new television station applications after a four-year freeze, with channels 5 and 12 available in West Palm Beach.[1] Applications for channel 12 were taken from radio station WIRK (which later amended its application for channel 21 and ultimately operated WIRK-TV for two and a half years),[2][3] Television Theater of the Palm Beaches,[4] radio station WWPG (Palm Beach Broadcasting),[5] and—in November 1953—WEAT-TV, Inc.[6] This company was associated with radio station WEAT (1490 AM, moved to 850 in 1954), though it did not actually own the station at the time.[7]
The other two applicants each withdrew after WEAT-TV filed, leaving the path clear for WEAT-TV to obtain the channel 12 construction permit.[8][9] The transmitter site on Congress Avenue was shared with WEAT, which was relocating from 1490 to 850 kHz; one of the three towers in the AM station's array would also hold the antenna for the TV station. While WEAT radio was affiliated with NBC, WEAT-TV would be a primary affiliate of ABC.[10]
WEAT-TV began broadcasting on January 1, 1955.[11] It was the second VHF station on the air in West Palm Beach after WJNO-TV (channel 5, known as WPTV after 1956), an NBC affiliate which started in August 1954.[12][13]
Six months after signing on, the sale of WEAT radio and television to General Teleradio, later reorganized as RKO General, was announced.[16] RKO owned the stations for less than two years before selling them to Rex Rand and Bertram Lebhar Jr., incorporated as Palm Beach Broadcasting, in 1957.[17]
In 1963, Rand and Lebhar sued John D. MacArthur, claiming the businessman and developer had failed to pursue a stock and loan agreement. However, by September, negotiations were ongoing on an outright sale of the station to MacArthur.[18] The $2.1 million purchase (through Gardens Broadcasting) was confirmed that October, with MacArthur also announcing plans to establish new studios to a site in Palm Beach Gardens.[19][20] Under MacArthur, WEAT-TV began broadcasting local and network programs in color.[21] In the 1967–68 season, ABC aired a national game show, Treasure Isle, which originated from MacArthur's Colonnades Beach Hotel in Palm Beach Shores and once was aired by channel 12 in the 7 p.m. time slot.[22] MacArthur also expressed interest in teaming with Lamar Hunt to acquire the ABC network in 1968, having previously purchased video equipment from the failed Overmyer Network.[23]
WPEC
MacArthur, then 76, announced in April 1973 that he would begin selling off his vast business holdings in Palm Beach County. The first business to be sold was WEAT-TV; the buyer was Photo Electronics Corporation (PEC), a company founded by local entrepreneur Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. and business partner George W. Mergens.[24] Dreyfoos later noted in a 1982 interview for the Palm Beach Daily News that he was attracted to the electronic side of television. It was in technology that PEC had made its money; in 1971, the company had received an Academy Award for technical achievement for its Video Color Negative Analyzer (VCNA), a tool used in photography. The VCNA's success provided the funding to acquire WEAT-TV.[25]
PEC assumed operation of the station on December 1; the station moved to its present studio facilities on Fairfield Drive in Mangonia Park and changed its call sign to WPEC on January 27, 1974.[26] The untangling of WEAT radio with the television station required hiring a mostly new news staff.[27]
Affiliation switch to CBS
On August 6, 1988, WPEC announced that it would become an affiliate of CBS in January 1989, leaving ABC after 34 years. CBS had convinced WPEC to join the network as part of a deal it was making in the Miami market. Simultaneous with the affiliation news, CBS purchased WCIX (channel 6) from TVX Broadcast Group to become the new CBS affiliate in the Miami market, replacing WTVJ (channel 4). CBS had been represented in the market by WTVX (channel 34), a station licensed to and based in Fort Pierce that had only begun serving Palm Beach County in 1980. For technical reasons, WCIX's transmitter site was much further south than other major television stations in the Miami market and consequently provided little to no signal over most of Broward County, an area outside the West Palm Beach market but covered by the signals of WPEC and WPTV.[32][33]
The switch to CBS excited Dreyfoos, who was running the station as acting general manager after Wiegand resigned; it came at a time when WPEC's news ratings were sliding because of an unpopular change in anchors and would allow WPEC to get out of the shadow of Miami ABC affiliate WPLG
Freedom Communications ownership
Dreyfoos was interested in acquiring additional TV stations, but after valuations rose in the industry and a surge in unsolicited offers for WPEC in the first half of 1995, he put the station on the market. For many years, Dreyfoos had received expressions of interest in the station from a variety of suitors, including Generoso Pope Jr., founder of the National Enquirer.[41][42] He believed that WPEC would be better served in a consolidated media environment being part of a larger station group.[43][44]
For more than $150 million—including interest, approaching $160 million—Freedom Communications was the winning bidder for WPEC in September 1995. It was the largest transaction in the company's history and made WPEC its flagship television property. Freedom's bid beat out larger suitors such as Meredith Corporation,
Sinclair ownership
Freedom announced on November 2, 2011, that it would bow out of television and sell its stations, including WPEC, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.[47] Sinclair had earlier announced the acquisition of Four Points Media Group, owner of WTVX as well as low-power stations WTCN-CA and WWHB-CA,[48] and the two purchases resulted in the first full duopoly in West Palm Beach.[49]
WPEC housed the studios for the American Sports Network, a Sinclair-run sports channel and syndication service that operated from 2014 to 2017.[50]
