WPPX-TV

WPPX-TV
CityWilmington, Delaware
Channels
BrandingIon Television
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
July 9, 1986
(38 years ago)
 (1986-07-09)
Former call signs
  • WTGI-TV (1986–1998)
  • WPPX (1998–2009)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 61 (UHF, 1986–2009)
  • Digital: 31 (UHF, 2003–2019)
  • Independent (1986)
  • ShoppingLine (1986–1987)
  • Consumers Discount Network (1987)
  • America's Value Network (1988)
  • Telemundo (1988–1995)
  • inTV (1995–1998)
Call sign meaning
Philadelphia Pax
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID51984
ERP310 kW
HAAT324.13 m (1,063 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°2′39″N 75°14′25″W / 40.04417°N 75.24028°W / 40.04417; -75.24028
Links
Public license information
Websiteiontelevision.com

WPPX-TV (channel 61) is a television station licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Philadelphia area. It is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company and maintains offices on Main Street in Manayunk, with a transmitter in Roxborough, both sections of Philadelphia.

Channel 61 in Wilmington signed on the air in 1986 as WTGI-TV, the first commercial television station in Delaware since 1958. It intended to operate as a general-market independent station but found itself with too little cash, as a result of nonexistent carriage on local cable systems, and was forced to switch to home shopping programming to generate revenue. From 1988 to 1995, the station operated as a multilingual ethnic broadcaster with Spanish-language programs from Telemundo as well as shows in Italian, Korean, and other languages. This ended when Paxson Communications Corporation, forerunner to Ion Media, acquired WTGI-TV and incorporated it into its Infomall TV network, broadcasting infomercials and paid programs; these stations formed the core of the Pax network, predecessor to Ion, in 1998.

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WPPX-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.