WPTY-TV

WPTY-TV, channel 24, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Memphis, Tennessee. Its transmitter is located in Brunswick. Owned by Newport Television, the station is sister to CW affiliate WLMT. The two stations share studios on Union Avenue Extension near the Aulon section of Memphis. WPTY is known on-air as ABC 24. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Extra, Maury, Judge Mathis, and Friends.

History

The station began broadcasting on September 10, 1978 and was the market's first UHF outlet and independent station. WPTY also served as the secondary network outlet for the other three stations in town whenever they passed on shows in favor of local fare. The station was owned by Petry Television (hence the call letters) and ran a general entertainment format of cartoons, movies, sitcoms, westerns, and drama shows. By 1983, WPTY picked up competition when TVX Broadcast Group's WMKW signed on and sparked a rivalry between the two stations. TVX signed a deal to affiliate all of their stations with Fox in 1987. This resulting in WMKW becoming the area's Fox affiliate.

The network pulled the affiliation from WMKW (now known as WLMT) in February of 1990 and gave it to WPTY. This came because TVX's deal with Fox included a clause stating that if a station was sold it could lose its Fox affiliation. Clear Channel Communications bought WPTY in 1992. A year later, a local marketing agreement (LMA) between Clear Channel and WLMT brought the two rival stations together. In 1994, Fox Television Stations surprised the market by buying longtime ABC affiliate WHBQ-TV and announced that the station would become the new affiliate. ABC, in turn, decided to go with WPTY as its new affiliate. On December 1, 1995, WPTY became the new home for ABC. At this point, WPTY began evolving into a traditional network affiliate running mostly first run syndicated shows and a few sitcoms while WLMT ran cartoons, movies, sitcoms, and some reality / talk shows as well.

Currently, WPTY does well with its ABC lineup and syndicated fare.

In 2001, Clear Channel would buy WLMT outright making the two stations sisters. On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Providence Equity Partners.

Digital television

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009, WPTY-DT will continue digital broadcasts on its current pre-transition channel number, 25. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WPTY's virtual channel as 24.

News operation

After becoming an ABC affiliate, WPTY decided to completely re-brand itself and start a news department. The newscasts on WPTY were branded as News Watch 24 and featured an energetic, youthful, almost "grunge" look. Several years later, the station re-branded the newscasts as ABC 24 News and began to modify its style to reach a broader audience. WPTY's news operation, which currently uses the Eyewitness News branding with sister WLMT, has shown tremendous growth but still remains last in market ratings. The station is behind the newscasts of long-dominating rivals WREG-TV channel 3, WMC-TV channel 5, and WHBQ-TV channel 13.

WPTY was honored in 2005 with Associated Press broadcasting awards for "Best Breaking News", "Best Newscast", "Best Reporter", and "Best Sportscast". The station was also honored in 2005 with an Edward R. Murrow award and a regional Emmy Award as the "Best Weekend Newscast". In the same Associated Press award period in 2006, WPTY was honored with nine awards including "Best Overall Newscast". The station produces three newscasts for sister WLMT. This includes for an hour at 7 A.M. on weekday mornings. Every night, there is a 45 minute newscast at 9 P.M. followed by a 15 minute sports replay show.