is a full-power,
Independent television station located in San Juan, Puerto Rico transmitting over analog channel 4, digital channel 27. The station is owned by
LIN TV and is branded as Televicentro de Puerto Rico. LIN TV also owns
MTV affiliate
WJPX , channel 24, and its two repeaters.
WAPA-TV has two full-power satellite stations:
WTIN , channel 14 in
Ponce and
WNJX-TV , channel 22 in
Mayagüez . Both stations are also owned by LIN TV.
WAPA also streams its programming on its website.
WAPA-TV was the second television station to be licensed to Puerto Rico and began broadcasting on
May 1 ,
1954 . Its call letters are a partial abbreviation of the station's original owners, the now-defunct ''Asociación de Productores de Azúcar'', or Puerto Rico Sugar Grower's Association. Popularly known in Puerto Rico by its assigned channel number, ''Canal Cuatro'', the station is also known by its animated cartoon mascot during the
1970s and
1980s , a bongo-playing cat (known commonly as ''el gato de WAPA'' in
Spanish ) and therefore its rhyming slogan is, ''Por el cuatro como el gato'', which rhymes in Spanish.
One of five major Puerto Rican television channels, WAPA-TV's competitors include
WKAQ-TV ,
WLII , and
WIPR-TV . WAPA-TV and WKAQ-TV have battled for the title of Puerto Rico's most-viewed station since the
1950s .
In
September of 2004, WAPA-TV became the first Puerto Rican station to broadcast shows through the
DirecTV Satellite system to the
United States , under the name of . WAPA America can also be seen in the U. S. through cable television service (Comcast). WAPA-TV is the first native Puerto Rican television station to broadcast its signal across the Continental United States by satellite and cable services.
WAPA-TV for years has shown
Boxing ,
BSN Basketball ,
Telenovelas , movies, comedies, sitcoms (both
American and domestic),
Baseball ,
NFL Football , both
WWE and Puerto Rican
Wrestling , human interest shows and its news show, ''Noticentro 4''.
is the name of WAPA-TV's news division. The program began in
1967 with
Evelio Otero as the only anchor at the 10 PM newscast. Soon thereafter Carlos Ruben Ortiz joined the news staff with the 6 PM broadcast. Evelio Otero remained by himself on camera until his departure from WAPA in 1980 to take the senior editor position at the Voice of America in Washington. carlso RUben Ortiz shared teh anchor slot at 6Pm with the a new Guillermo Jose Torres. The format predated the ''
NewsCenter '' format which become popular in the NBC owned stations in the
1970s .
In its beginings, Noticentro 4 lasted only fifteen minutes in the afternoon, with a 30 minute edition at 10 in the evening. There was also a weekend edition. Gradually, the program's on-the-air time was raised, until it was stretched an hour daily.
Soon after, Otero and Sánchez retired, making Torres the director of the news department at WAPA-TV, and also the show's main anchor and director. In the late
1970s ,
Enrique Cruz ,
Luz Nereida Vélez ,
Sylvia Gómez ,
Luis Rigual ,
Cyd Marie Fleming ,
José Esteves ,
Luis Vigoreaux and others joined.
In
1980 , ''Noticentro 4'' inaugurated a new studio. In
1981 ,
Pedro Rosa Nales joined the team. In
1982 , Enrique Cruz, also known as ''Kike Cruz'', substituted Torres as show director. In
1983 , Rigual tragically died, being substituted as main sports anchor man by
Rafael Bracero .
Bobby Anglero joined the team of reporters as Bracero's main helper in
1984 , year in which the ''
Coquí Satellite'' was inaugurated by the station. ''Coquí Satellite'' helped the network deliver breaking news quicker, and it helped deliver the news on occasions such as the
Challenger explosion, when Torres interrupted
Angela Meyer on her
Chanita Gobernadora comedy section to break the news to the public only minutes after it had happened.
In the early
2000s , WAPA-TV inaugurated the ''SuperCóptero'' (SuperChopper), the Noticentro 4
Helicopter . The ''SuperCóptero'' is mostly used to report on traffic conditions in the metropolitan area on the 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM editions of Noticentro 4. WAPA-TV is the only local station to have a helicopter in the air.
Noticentro 4 runs a local cable channel, ''El Canal del Tiempo'' (''The Weather Channel''). The channel broadcasts weather forecasts for Puerto Rico 24 hours a day. El Canal del Tiempo can be seen on all three cable companies serving Puerto Rico and on WAPA-TV digital subchannel, WAPA-DT 27.2/4.2.
WAPA-TV uses a "Circle 4" logo for Noticentro 4, whereas the ''Televicentro'' logo is used for all other programs. The current music package is called ''News Authority'' by 615 Music and has been used since
2004 . In the past they've used ''Newswatch 24'', ''News One'', ''Impact'' among others.
''Noticentro 4'' airs about forty hours of news coverage a week.
- ''Noticentro 4 al Amanecer'' - 5:00AM-9:00AM
- ''Noticentro 4 a las 11:00 '' - 11:00AM-11:30AM
- ''Noticentro 4 a las 4:00'' - 4:00PM-5:00PM
- ''Noticentro 4 a las 5:00'' - 5:00PM-6:00PM
- ''Noticentro 4 a las 10:00'' - 10:00-11:00PM
- ''Noticentro 4 Fin de Semana'' - 5:00PM-6:00PM
- ''Noticentro 4 Fin de Semana'' - 10:00-10:30PM
- ''Resumen de Noticias'' - 10:30PM-11:00PM (Saturdays only)
- WAPA-DT 27.1/4.1 - Simulcast of WAPA-TV
- WAPA-DT 27.2/4.2 - El Canal del Tiempo
