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WAPT is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central Mississippi that is licensed to Jackson. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 21 (or virtual channel 16.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter at its studios on Channel 16 Way in Southwest Jackson. Owned by Hearst Television, the station can also be found on Comcast channel 4 and Cable ONE channel 12. There is a high definition feed provided on Comcast digital channel 431 and Cable ONE digital channel 455. ==History== The station began broadcasting on October 3, 1970 with a rerun of ''Stagecoach West.'' Prior to its debut, ABC was limited to coverage on NBC affiliate WLBT and CBS affiliate WJTV, even though Jackson had been big enough since the 1950s to support three full network affiliates. In fact, Jackson was one of the largest markets, if not the largest, in the U.S. with only two network stations by the 1960s. It has long been speculated that the Federal Communications Commission delayed granting licenses to any potential broadcasters in central Mississippi because of WLBT's blatant bias against African-Americans in news coverage and advocacy against the civil rights movement. A more likely reason, however, has to do with geography. The Jackson market is a fairly large market, covering a large swath of west-central Mississippi. Jackson had been allocated only two VHF frequencies—channels 3 and 12, occupied by WLBT and WJTV respectively. UHF stations initially didn't cover large stretches of territory very well. Even after the FCC mandated all-channel tuning in 1964, it took a long while for UHF to be a viable option to cover large areas. With Jackson sandwiched between Baton Rouge to the south and Monroe/El Dorado to the north, it is not likely there would have been room to drop in a third VHF allocation in Jackson. In 1971, WAPT started broadcasting local news, weather, and sports Monday through Friday evenings following the ''ABC Evening News''. The broadcast, which aired at 5:30 p.m., was called ''The Case-Jefferies Report.'' A 10:00 p.m. news broadcast was later added. This was later moved to 10:30 when the station began broadcasting the syndicated comedies ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'' and ''Forever Fernwood.'' at 10 instead, as an attempt to counter-program the newscasts on WLBT and WJTV, whose ratings were well ahead of WAPT at the time. Other syndicated programming, such as ''The Addams Family,'' ''Hee Haw Honeys,'' and ''The Andy Griffith Show.'' filled that time slot following the cancellations of the comedies set in Fernwood. In 1972, the station began a series of horror movies airing on Saturday evenings. These were hosted by "Scartisha", a female character whose true identity remains a mystery to this day. In 1973, the station's sports anchor, Dick Thames, was killed in a plane crash as he was preparing a news story. WAPT was founded by the American Public Life Insurance Company, an insurer which is still in business today but is now an affiliate of American Fidelity Assurance. American Public Life sold the station to Clay Communications in 1979. That company then sold its television stations—WAPT, plus KJAC-TV (now KBTV-TV) in Port Arthur, Texas, KFDX-TV in Wichita Falls, Texas and WWAY in Wilmington, North Carolina—to Price Communications in 1987. Price Communications sold three of its stations—WAPT and then-sister stations WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan and WNAC-TV in Providence, Rhode Island—to the newly founded Northstar Television Group in 1989. Northstar Television was bought out by Argyle Television Holdings II, a company which was formed in late 1994 by a group of managers and executives who left the first incarnation of Argyle Television (the former Times-Mirror Broadcasting) after that company sold all of its stations to New World Communications, in January 1995. In August 1997, Argyle merged with the Hearst Corporation's broadcasting unit to form what was then known as Hearst-Argyle Television (now Hearst Television after the Hearst Corporation became sole owner of the group in mid-2009). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「WAPT」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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