WPHY-CD

Television station in Trenton, New Jersey

WPHY-CD

*     * Trenton, New Jersey
* Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

* United States

City| Trenton, New Jersey
Channels|

* Digital: 22 (UHF), shared with WTVE
* Virtual: 25

Programming
Affiliations|

* 25.1: Infomercials
* 25.2: SonLife
* 25.3: Jewelry Television

Ownership
Owner|

* WRNN-TV Associates[1][2]
* (RNN National, LLC)

Sister stations

| WTVE, WMCN-TV
History

First air date

| 1993 (32 years ago) (1993)

Former call signs

* W25AW (1989–2012)
* W50DZ-D (January–November 2012)[3]

Former channel number(s)

* Analog: 25 (UHF, 1993–2012)
* Digital: 50 (UHF, 2011–2019)

Former affiliations

* All News Channel
* CNN
* America One
* Youtoo America

Call sign meaning

| Philly
Technical information[4]

Licensing authority

| FCC
Facility ID| 74464
Class| CD
ERP| 15 kW
HAAT| 351.9 m (1,154.5 ft)
Transmitter coordinates| 40°2′30.1″N 75°14′10.1″W﻿ / ﻿40.041694°N 75.236139°W﻿ / 40.041694; -75.236139
Links

Public license information

* Public file
* LMS

WPHY-CD (channel 25) is a low-power, Class A television station licensed to Trenton, New Jersey, United States, serving the Philadelphia area. It is owned by WRNN-TV Associates alongside Princeton, New Jersey–licensed ShopHQ affiliate WMCN-TV (channel 44) and Willow Grove, Pennsylvania–licensed WTVE (channel 51). WPHY-CD and WTVE share studios on East State Street in Trenton; through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WPHY-CD's spectrum from an antenna in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia (Trenton is part of the Philadelphia television market).

## History

[edit]

The station first broadcast in 1993 on analog channel 25, and was originally assigned the call sign W25AW, though for much of its history it branded as "WZBN TV-25". The station's tower was located in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey. The station's call sign became W50DZ-D in January 2012 after converting to digital broadcasting on channel 50; however, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel 25\.

The station has received several awards from the Community Broadcasters Association for local service and programming.

With the creation of a statewide and regional cable news service owned by the cable companies, cable outlets threatened to pull WZBN off their systems in the late 1990s. Protests by viewers ensured the station remained on cable.[citation needed] WZBN has since expanded its reach with additional broadcasts on three competing cable systems (Verizon Fios, Cablevision, Comcast) in the area.

In 2012, the station's longtime owners, the Zanoni family, announced that they would sell W50DZ-D to NRJ TV LLC (a company unrelated to European broadcaster NRJ Radio), which already owned WTVE.[5] The station's local programming was discontinued on June 8, 2012;[6] the sale was completed a week later, on June 15, 2012.[7][8]

On November 1, 2012, NRJ TV changed W50DZ-D's call sign to WPHY-CD.[3] The WPHY call sign was previously used by two radio stations audible in the market; it was on 560 AM in Philadelphia for ten months in 1993–94, ending when that signal's heritage call sign WFIL became available and was reclaimed, and it was on 920 AM in Trenton from 2002 to 2008. In January 2014, Cablevision announced that it would drop WPHY from its Trenton-area systems on January 28 to accommodate a must-carry request from MeTV affiliate KJWP (channel 2); WPHY's former channel 25 slot on Cablevision was taken by WCBS-TV from New York City, which lost its previous channel 2 slot on the system to KJWP.[9] In June 2016, the station began to carry Sonlife Broadcasting Network programming;[10] it had previously been affiliated with Youtoo America.

On December 9, 2019, it was announced that WRNN-TV Associates, owner of New York City–based WRNN-TV, secured a deal to purchase seven full-power TV stations and one Class A station (including WPHY-CD) from NRJ.[1] The sale was approved by the FCC on January 23,[2] and was completed on February 4, 2020, and would make WTVE and WPHY-CD sister stations to WMCN-TV.[11]

## Notable former staff

[edit]

* Tracy Wolfson (now at CBS Sports)

## Subchannels

[edit]

Subchannels of WPHY-CD and WTVE[12] License  | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name  | Programming

|
|
|
|
|

WPHY-CD  | 25.1  | 480i | 16:9 | WPHY DT | Infomercials
25.2  | SBN | SonLife
25.3  | JTV | Jewelry TV
44.7  | SHOPLC | Shop LC
WTVE  | 51.1  | 720p | WTVE.1 | OnTV4U (infomercials)
51.2  | 480i | INFO | Infomercials
51.3  | ACE TV | Ace TV
51.4  | QVC2 | QVC2

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "RNN Reaches Agreement to Increase Permanent Distribution Platform to 28 Percent of the US With NRJ Purchase". Globe Newswire. December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
2. ^ a b "Application Search Details".
3. ^ a b "FCC Call Sign History - Facility ID 74464". FCC.gov. Federal Communications Commission.
4. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WPHY-CD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
5. ^ "NRJ adds to portfolio with Trenton NJ LPTV". Television Business Report. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
6. ^ "Mercer's WZBN-TV agrees to sell for $3.5 million". The Times. May 19, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
7. ^ "WPHY-CD - FCC Application Search Details - BALDTA-20120301ABB Assignment of License". FCC.gov. Accepted 2 February 2012; Granted 23 April 2012; Consummation 15 June 2012. Federal Communications Commission.
8. ^ "WPHY-CD - FCC 314 - APPLICATION FOR CONSENT TO ASSIGNMENT OF BROADCAST STATION CONSTRUCTION PERMIT OR LICENSE - BALDTA-20120301ABB". FCC.gov. Accepted 2 February 2012; Granted 23 April 2012; Consummation 15 June 2012. Federal Communications Commission.
9. ^ Davis, Mike (January 15, 2014). "Cablevision will switch CBS NY channel in Mercer, but will not remove it from dial". The Times. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
10. ^ "Children's Television Programming Report" (PDF). Public Inspection Files. Federal Communications Commission. July 7, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
11. ^ Consummation Notice
12. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WPHY". RabbitEars. Retrieved March 6, 2025.

* v
* t
* e

Broadcast television in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley and Lehigh Valley regions

Full power|

* WDPN-TV 2
* MeTV
* KYW-TV 3
* CBS
* WPVI-TV 6
* ABC
* WCAU 10
* NBC
* WHYY-TV 12
* PBS
* WPHL-TV 17
* .1 The CW
* .2 MyNetworkTV
* WNJS 23
* PBS
* WTXF-TV 29
* Fox
* WPPT 35
* PBS
* WMCN-TV 44
* Shop LC
* WTVE 51
* OnTV4U
* WPSG 57
* Ind.
* WPPX-TV 61
* Ion Television
* WWSI 62
* Telemundo
* WUVP-DT 65
* Univision

Low-power|

* WEFG-LD 7
* WPSJ-CD 8
* .1 Visión Latina
* .2 LATV
* WPHA-CD 24
* WFPA-CD 28
* UniMás
* WZPA-LD 33
* WQAV-CD 34
* W25FG-D 36
* WDUM-LD 41
* WELL-LD 45
* Daystar

Outlying areas|

* WACP 4
* TCT, Atlantic City, NJ
* WSJT-LD 15
* Atlantic City, NJ
* WPHY-CD 25
* Trenton, NJ
* WLVT-TV 39
* PBS, Allentown
* WMGM-TV 40
* .1 True Crime Network
* .3 Univision, Atlantic City, NJ
* WGTW-TV 48
* TBN, Millville, NJ
* WNJT 52
* PBS, Trenton, NJ
* WBPH-TV 60
* Religious Ind., Bethlehem
* WFMZ-TV 69
* Ind., Allentown

Defunct|

* WVUE 12
* Wilmington, DE
* WEEU-TV 33
* Reading
* WUHY-TV 35
* WFPG-TV 46
* Atlantic City, NJ
* WKBS-TV 48
* Burlington, NJ
* WLEV-TV 51
* Bethlehem
* WGLV 57
* Easton
* WHUM-TV 61
* Reading
* WFMZ-TV 67
* Allentown
* New Jersey Network
* PBS

Nearby areas
Baltimore
Harrisburg–Lancaster–York
New York City
Salisbury
Scranton

* v
* t
* e

Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state of New Jersey

Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of New Jersey

ABC|

* WABC-TV
* WPVI-TV

* New Jersey portal

CBS|

* KYW-TV
* WCBS-TV

Fox|

* WNYW
* WTXF-TV

NBC|

* WCAU
* WNBC

The CW|

* WPHL-TV
* WPIX

MyNetworkTV|

* WPHL-TV .2
* WWOR-TV

Ion Television|

* WPPX-TV
* WPXN-TV

PBS|

NJ PBS
WNJB
WNJN
WNJS
WNJT

* WHYY-TV
* WLIW
* WLVT-TV
* WNET
* WPPT

Spanish|

Telemundo
WNJU
WWSI
Univision
WUVP-DT
WXTV-DT
UniMás
WFPA-CD
WFUT-DT
Visión Latina
WPSJ-CD

Religious|

TBN
WGTW-TV
WTBY-TV
TBN Inspire
WDVB-CD
TCT
WACP
SonLife
WPHY-CD

* WBPH-TV

Other|

Independent
WFMZ-TV
WLNY-TV
WPSG
Noncommercial Ind.
WNYE-TV
MeTV
WDPN-TV
WJLP
Story Television
WZME

* WMBC-TV
* WMCN-TV
* WMGM-TV
* WNYX-LD
* WRNN-TV
* WTVE

See also
Delaware TV
New York TV
Pennsylvania TV
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