WPEC (channel 12) is a television station in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Fort Pierce–licensed CW affiliate WTVX (channel 34) and two low-power, Class A stations: MyNetworkTV affiliate WTCN-CD (channel 43) and WWHB-CD (channel 48). The stations share studios on Fairfield Drive in Mangonia Park (with a West Palm Beach postal address), while WPEC's transmitter is located southeast of Wellington, Florida.
The third TV station built in West Palm Beach and second-oldest in operation, channel 12 began as WEAT-TV on January 1, 1955. It was the ABC affiliate under several owners, including RKO General and land developer John D. MacArthur. In 1974, the station was acquired by Photo Electronics Corporation, headed by Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. The station expanded its news operation, but it continued to remain locked in second place in local news ratings.
In order to compensate for an affiliation switch in Miami that would leave CBS with a coverage shortfall in Broward County, south of the market but within WPEC's signal area, CBS induced WPEC to switch from ABC to CBS in January 1989. While Broward viewers turned to WPEC for CBS programming for a time, the station failed to woo them for news viewership. Dreyfoos sold WPEC in 1995 to Freedom Communications; it became the company's flagship television property. Freedom sold its stations to Sinclair in 2011; Sinclair simultaneously acquired WTVX and the two low-power stations from Four Points Media Group. In the 2010s, the station has slipped from second to third in news ratings.
History
WEAT-TV
In April 1952, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened to new television station applications after a four-year freeze, with channels 5 and 12 available in West Palm Beach. Applications for channel 12 were taken from radio station WIRK (which later amended its application for channel 21 and ultimately operated WIRK-TV for two and a half years), Television Theater of the Palm Beaches, radio station WWPG (Palm Beach Broadcasting), and—in November 1953—WEAT-TV, Inc. This company was associated with radio station WEAT (1490 AM, moved to 850 in 1954), though it did not actually own the station at the time.
The other two applicants each withdrew after WEAT-TV filed, leaving the path clear for WEAT-TV to obtain the channel 12 construction permit. The transmitter site on Congress Avenue was shared with WEAT, which was relocating from 1490 to 850 kHz; one of the three towers in the AM station's array would also hold the antenna for the TV station. While WEAT radio was affiliated with NBC, WEAT-TV would be a primary affiliate of ABC.
WEAT-TV began broadcasting on January 1, 1955. Six months later, the sale of WEAT radio and television to General Teleradio, later reorganized as RKO General, was announced. RKO owned the stations for less than two years before selling them to Rex Rand and Bertram Lebhar Jr., incorporated as Palm Beach Broadcasting, in 1957.
In 1963, Rand and Lebhar sued John D. MacArthur, claiming the businessman and developer had failed to pursue a stock and loan agreement. However, by September, negotiations were ongoing on an outright sale of the station to MacArthur. The $2.1 million purchase (through Gardens Broadcasting) was confirmed that October, with MacArthur also announcing plans to establish new studios to a site in Palm Beach Gardens. Under MacArthur, WEAT-TV began broadcasting local and network programs in color. In the 1967–68 season, ABC aired a national game show, Treasure Isle, which originated from MacArthur's Colonnades Beach Hotel in Palm Beach Shores and once was aired by channel 12 in the 7 p.m. time slot. MacArthur also expressed interest in teaming with Lamar Hunt to acquire the ABC network in 1968, having previously purchased video equipment from the failed Overmyer Network.
WPEC
MacArthur, then 76, announced in April 1973 that he would begin selling off his vast business holdings in Palm Beach County. The first business to be sold was WEAT-TV; the buyer was Photo Electronics Corporation (PEC), a company founded by local entrepreneur Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. and business partner George W. Mergens. Dreyfoos later noted in a 1982 interview for the Palm Beach Daily News that he was attracted to the electronic side of television. It was in technology that PEC had made its money; in 1971, the company had received an Academy Award for technical achievement for its Video Color Negative Analyzer (VCNA), a tool used in photography. The VCNA's success provided the funding to acquire WPEC.