WUNI

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WUNI
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = Univision 27
Univision Nueva Inglaterra
analog = 27 (UHF)
digital = 29 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = Univision
network =
founded =
airdate = January 1970 [The "Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook" says January 2, while the "Television and Cable Factbook" says January 1.]
location = Worcester-Boston, Massachusetts
callsign_meaning = UNIvision
-or-
Univision
Nueva
Inglaterra
former_callsigns = WSMW-TV (1970-1985)
WHLL (1986-1993)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Entravision Communications Corporation
licensee = Entravision Holdings, LLC
sister_stations = WUTF-TV
former_affiliations = independent (1970-1992)
Telemundo (1992-1993)
effective_radiated_power = 1150 kW (analog)
165 kW (digital)
HAAT = 466 m (analog)
468 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 30577
coordinates = coord|42|20|8.8|N|71|42|54.9|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wunitv.com/ www.wunitv.com]

WUNI channel 27 is the Univision television affiliate for the Greater Boston market. Licensed to Worcester, Massachusetts, the station runs general Spanish entertainment programs as well as news and information programming. The call letters stand for "Univision Nueva Inglaterra", which is Spanish for New England.

History

The station signed on January 2, 1970 as English-language WSMW, and served Worcester with general entertainment programming with old movies, cartoons, religious shows, a cooking show "Cooking with Bernard", Science Fiction shows (Gerry Anderson's "UFO") and sitcoms. WSMW also broadcast sports; from its debut through the end of the 1971-1972 NBA season, the station was the television home of the Boston Celtics. In 1970 and 1971, WSMW broadcast pre-season games of the New England Patriots. WSMW also covered a lot of college basketball throughout the 1970s, mostly games of the College of the Holy Cross and Assumption College, with some Boston College, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Bentley College games included on the schedule. Finally, WSMW broadcast "Bay State Bowling", a weekly candlepin bowling program on Sunday evenings for most of the 1970s.

Beginning in 1980, Channel 27 began running a subscription TV service called Preview at night. By 1982, the station was running Preview all day with a couple hours in the morning devoted to religious and public affairs programming.

In the spring of 1985, WSMW cut Preview back to 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on weekdays and after 3 p.m. on weekends. The station also brought back some general entertainment programs. Hill Broadcasting bought the station at the end of 1985 and in 1986 the station was renamed as WHLL-TV. At that time, WHLL ceased to broadcast Preview and reverted to being a general-entertainment independent television station.

Initially, WHLL-TV schedule consisted of B grade movies, drama shows, cartoons, a few sitcoms, as well as religious shows. By 1987, the cartoons and sitcoms were gone, and the station began running preempted network programming from NBC, ABC, and CBS. WHLL-TV also began running a few first run syndicated shows by 1988, as well as a good amount of religious programming.

By 1992, the station began to focus on Spanish-language programming with the addition of Telemundo programming from 4 or 5 p.m.. By 1993, when the Jasas Corporation acquired WHLL from Hill Broadcasting, it ran Spanish shows after noon. The station eventually broadcast Univision programming and changed its call letters to WUNI. Entravision eventually bought the station in 2000.

Newscast

On April 1st, 2003 the station launched at 6:00 PM the first and only live local newscast under the name "Noticias Univision Nueva Inglaterra" (Univision News New England). Sara Suarez was brought from Univision's affiliate in Colorado KCEC to serve as anchorwoman and News Director. Angel Salcedo, who hosted for years "Enfoque Latino" (a local affair program on the same station), was chosen as the anchorman. However, Salcedo left the station shortly leaving Suarez as the sole anchor until Carlos Ruben Zapata was hired to replace Salcedo. In early-to-mid 2005, Zapata left the station and Suarez anchored the news by herself once again. In late 2005, the station hired the current anchorman Eduardo Guerrero.

Before the newscast went on the air, the station signed an agreement with regional cable television network NECN in which NECN provided videos with footages of current local news. Several commercial spots were featured on WUNI-TV as well as Telefutura's Boston affiliate WUTF-TV encouraging Hispanics to tune-in during the day to watch the news on NECN. However, the agreement with NECN expired in mid 2005 and as a result, WUNI-TV signed a new agreement with CBS' Boston affiliate WBZ-TV. Instead of featuring commercial spots on WUNI-TV and WUTF-TV encouraging Hispanics to tune-in to CBS, channel 4's newscast ("WBZ News") is given credits while the images are shown on the air. In addition, they were also given credit at the end of the broadcast, right before the copyright graphic title.

In April 2007, the station launched "Despierta Boston," a local morning news update segment feature during Univision's Despierta América at 7:25, 8:25, and 9:25. The station used Despierta America's logo by replacing the word "américa" with the word "boston" while using a version of the graphics and music package that are used in the 6PM newscast. "Despierta Boston" is anchored by reporter Maria Gonzalez.

On July 14, 2007, the station began broadcasting Saturdays and Sundays editions of "Las Noticias Univision Fin de Semana" from Univision's affiliate in Puerto Rico WLII.

News Team

* Sara Suarez, Anchorwoman and News Director
* Eduardo Guerrero, Anchorman
* Omar Cabrera, Sportsanchor and Sports Director
* Dania Alexandrino, Entertainment segments host
* Maria Gonzalez, Reporter, Anchor for "Despierta Boston"
* Cecy Gutierrez, Weather reporter (filling-in for Miguel Montoya while he is off work for a few months.)
* Ana Carolina Pereira, Special assignment reporter
* Fernando Pizarro, Washington D.C. reporter (featured on several Univision stations with local newscasts)

External links

* [http://www.wunitv.com/main_e.html WUNI 27 Website]
*TVQ|WUNI
*BIA|WUNI|TV|TV

References