WPVI-TV, previously WFIL-TV, is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based television station on the VHF television band that has been the Philadelphia affiliate of the American Broadcasting Companies, youngest of the three primary broadcast television networks whose initial establishments were all in the radio-network era and hence all predate the rise of cable television and the Internet/World Wide Web, since its initial receipt of its broadcast license from the Federal Communications Commission in the middle 1940s. It is also the only such station in Philadelphia whose affiliation with any non-public television network has continued uninterrupted since receiving its initial FCC license.
WFIL-TV
When it was initially established as WFIL-TV (the "FIL" was short for "FILadelfia," the Spanish form of the city's name), the station was owned by Triangle Communications, and it was a sister company to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
1947–1948 (as WFIL-TV on both Blue-DuMONT)
1948–1956 (as WFIL-TV on Blue-ABC & DuMONT)
1956–1962 (as WFIL-TV ABC 6)
1962-1963
This design, incorporating the network logo into the numeral "6," could with some accuracy be considered the direct design forerunner of the most recent station logo, shown below, even though it was not employed as a reference for the later design.
1963–1967
1967–1971
In 1967, WFIL-TV's logo became standardized. Though the type font style name did not become widely known at the time and still was not widely known as of late 2016, the station would employ this logo for the next four years.
WPVI-TV
On Tuesday, April 27, 1971, WFIL-TV became WPVI-TV after Triangle sold the station to Capital Cities Communications. The then station announcer, Paul Norton, reassured viewers, "It's STILL Channel 6."
1971–present
1971–1997
The change of the station call sign led to a revision of the logo which used the same type font style as previously.
In 1997, The Walt Disney Company absorbed Capital Cities/ABC into itself, giving rise to the Disney-ABC Television Group which still exists at the present time. The station logo design, however, did not immediately reflect this take-over of the station's parent network.
In 2010, WPVI's logo was given an update; while the "6" design remained the same as it has been since it first debuted in 1967, a blue circle with a white outline was added, which made it look more similar to the logos used by most of WPVI's fellow ABC-owned stations. The red ABC Circle logo located on the bottom right of the "6" was changed to the black "ball" version that the network had been using since 2007, and it was also slightly enlarged.
2013–present
Video
WPVI-TV news opens
A video of all the available Action News opens for WPVI-TV, including variants for each Action News open.
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