WPGH-TV

WPGH-TV, virtual channel 53 (UHF digital channel 43), is a Fox-affiliated television station located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, as part of a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WPNT (channel 22). The two stations share studios located on Ivory Avenue in the city's Summer Hill section, where WPGH-TV's transmitter is also located.

History

Early history of channel 53

The station originally signed on the air on July 14, 1953, as WKJF-TV, it was Pittsburgh's first NBC affiliate before later becoming an independent station more than a decade and a half later. Despite being a network affiliate, the station was plagued by financial woes from the start.

Additionally, southwestern Pennsylvania is a very rugged dissected plateau, and UHF stations typically do not get good reception in rugged terrain. At the time, UHF stations could only be seen with a converter (television sets were not required to have UHF tuners until 1964, following the passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act), and even then the picture quality was spotty at best. WKJF-TV was certainly no exception to this, especially with Pittsburgh's eastern suburbs receiving better reception from Johnstown's NBC affiliate, WJAC-TV, a VHF station which had been on the air for about four years by this time.