WPBF History, Schedule, Breaking News, Emmy, Anchors, Live

WPBF History

WPBF is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to the Gold and Treasure Coasts of South Florida, Tequesta, Florida, United States. WPBF went on-the-air for the first time on 1 January 1989, owned by Alan Potamkin and John H. Phipps. For Phipps, who had previously owned NBC affiliate WPTV-TV (channel 5) from 1956 to 1961, this marked a return to West Palm Beach.

WPBF was sold to Paxson Communications (now Ion Media Networks) in 1993, which at the time owned several FM radio stations as well as several affiliates of ABC and CBS. In 1997, Paxson sold its radio and network affiliates (including WPBF) to finance the acquisition of Pax TV (now Ion Television) stations, with WPBF going to Hearst Corporation.

Hearst transferred control of WPBF to its majority-owned subsidiary, Hearst Television (formerly Hearst-Argyle Television), as soon as the transaction was completed. Saving Private Ryan was preempted in 2004 by all Hearst-owned ABC affiliates including WPBF. The station was one of three ABC affiliates that preempted the film in the state of Florida.

WPBF News Director

On January 29, 2019, Stephanie Linton was named News Director for WPBF 25, Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach. The announcement was made by WPBF 25 President & General Manager, Caroline Taplett.

WBPF Weather Team

Mike Lyons has decades of experience and is expertise in the latest technology. He forecasts weekdays on WPBF 25 News at 5 and 11 p.m.

The severe weather expertise joined WPBF in 1991. Mike has covered every major weather event including Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the “storm of the century” in 1993, Hurricane Floyd in 1999, Frances, Jeanne and Wilma during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, Matthew in 2016, and Irma in 2017.

Chris Martinez is normally seen at WPBF 25 First Alert Weather Certified Most Accurate Forecasts weekdays at Noon, at 6 pm, and across WPBF 25’s digital platforms.

Cris loves being active in the community and has been officially connected with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, March of Dimes, and the American Diabetes Association.

Britley Ritz is also a first Alert Meteorologist at WPBF 25. She covers the weekend evenings and loves working with South Florida’s only “Certified Most Accurate” weather team.

Sandra Shaw serves South Florida viewers with high-energy Certified Most Accurate Forecasts, which she brings every weekday from 4:30 to 7:00 a.m. and again at 9 a.m.

Vanessa Vincent is a member of South Florida’s Certified Most Accurate WPBF 25 First Alert Weather team. You can catch her on weekend mornings.

WBPF Live

This channel covers live news too as they freshly happen, sending reporters and their camera crew to get the news for their viewers, no matter the situation. Check out their live stream website to watch the most accurate current news in Florida.

WPBF Traffic

To get the latest information about construction and congestion on the roadways head to WPBF interactive traffic map. Use it to plan your route and stay ahead of annoying delays on the road so you can get where you need to go.

When you get the traffic map, click the menu on the lower left of the page to see additional interactive options. To get the map, go to wpbf.com/traffic.

WPBF Schedule

According to the American TV Listings Guide, the following is WPBF TV’s program guide as of 31 May 2019.

Time                   TV Show
12:37 am             Nightline

01:07 am            Access

01:37 am            EVERSTRONG

02:07 am           World News Now

04:00 am           America This Morning

04:30 am           WPBF 25 News Mornings

07:00 am           Good Morning America

09:00 am          WPBF 25 News at 9:00 AM

10:00 am           The Dr. Oz Show

11:00 am            The View

12:00 pm           WPBF 25 News at Noon

12:30 pm           Access

1:00 pm             Strahan & Sara

2:00 pm            General Hospital

3:00 pm            The Dr. Oz Show

4:00 pm            The Ellen DeGeneres Show

5:00 pm            WPBF 25 News

6:00 pm            WPBF 25 News

6:30 pm             ABC World News Tonight With David Mui

7:00 pm            Wheel of Fortune

7:30 pm             New Jeopardy!

8:00 pm             Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

9:00 pm            20/20

11:00 pm           WPBF 25 News

11:35 pm           Jimmy Kimmel Live!

WPBF Breaking News

WPTV brings you breaking and developing news, weather, traffic, and sports coverage from the West Palm Beach metro area on WPTV-TV and also on their site. The Breaking News includes local, national and international news. As of 30th May 2019 up to today, developing news at WPBF involve “Florida Gov. DeSantis meets with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.”

According to WPTV, JERUSALEM Florida Government AP Ron DeSantis met with Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the “prepared for war” Israeli prime minister a “strong leader” on the governor’s final day of a trade mission to Israel.

The meeting came the day after Benjamin failed to bring together a governing coalition which caused a political crisis in the country.

“I think Bibi has been a really strong leader. He gave a great speech when I was in Congress to a joint session,” DeSantis said after the meeting, according to a pool report arranged through the Florida Society of News Editors. “I told him after that speech I had so many constituents who said, ‘Heck, why don’t we elect Netanyahu here?’ So, if it doesn’t work out for him, I think he probably could get elected in the United States if he wanted to.”

On May 30, 2019, Israel’s newly elected parliament dissolved itself and set another election date. The move came just 50 days after Benjamin seemed to have cruised to re-election. Benjamin Netanyahu conceded that he had failed to build a coalition government and pushed through legislation for a do-over.

Ron DeSantis said that while he met with some Israeli politicians, politics wasn’t the nature of his four-day trade mission.”It was kind of beyond the scope of the trip,” DeSantis said.

After the meeting, Benjamin visited the Western Wall, the holiest site for the Jewish people. He placed his own prayer in the wall asking God to keep Florida safe from hurricanes, as well as one from a Florida Panhandle girl who lost her home during Hurricane Michael.

After a trade mission that included nearly 100 business leaders, elected officials, and university officials, Benjamin returns to Florida on 1 April 2019. Several memoranda of understanding with Israeli firms and universities have been signed.

The trip also included a meeting between Benjamin and the three independently elected Cabinet members of the state, which was argued by the open government watchdog group First Amendment Foundation and several news outlets as a violation of Florida law as it was not accessible to Floridians.

WPBF Anchors

»Ron Burke is a weekend morning anchor and weekday reporter, who joined WPBF 25 News in July 2018. He moved to television news after starting his broadcasting career in radio news and sports. Most of his career was spent in Philadelphia where, before coming to South Florida, he was an award-winning sportscaster.

»Gianna Caserta joined the WPBF 25 News team in 2018 as weekend evening anchor/reporter. She anchored the weekend morning newscasts at the Hearst station WLKY in Louisville, KY, before arriving at WPBF 25 where she covered everything from the Kentucky Derby to the passing of Muhammad Ali.

»South Florida viewers wake up to Erin Guy on WPBF 25 News Mornings every weekday from 4:30-7am and on WPBF 25 News at 9:00 am. In 2011, Erin Guy joined the WPBF 25 News family after working at KOCO, the sister station of WPBF 25 in Oklahoma City for three years.

»Mark Kelly covers the Investigative news special category. His reporting and anchoring in a year-long 2017 series called the State of Addiction won him a regional Emmy award. Mark also files an ongoing political series called Truth Tests that holds politicians accountable and informs voters.

»At Noon and at 5 p.m., Tiffany Kenney anchors WPBF 25 News. With Rodriguez, Felicia.

To Palm Beach County, Tiffany is no stranger. The only local evening anchor born and raised in our area is the Emmy-Award-winning journalist. In West Palm Beach, her parents, sisters, and nieces live. With WPBF 25 News, she will celebrate her 20th year on the air in 2019.

»Todd McDermott co-anchors at 6 p.m. with WPBF 25 News. And 11:00 p.m. Contributes to Felicia Rodriguez at 5 p.m. broadcast. Todd was the moderator of several major statewide debates, including 2018 Before You Vote Decision: Florida Gubernatorial Debate, 2018 Governor Race: Democratic Primary Debate, and 2016 Before You Vote Decision: U.S. Senate Debate.

Todd anchored the weekday at 5 p.m. prior to his arrival in West Palm Beach in 2012. Newscast and weekend show for New York City’s CBS flagship station. McDermott was doing national correspondent work for the network while in New York, hosting the “CBS Early Show,” and anchoring the CBS Morning News. He had also previously anchored at WUSA in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh WPXI, Baltimore WMAR, and KSNW in Wichita.

»Felicia Rodriguez will be co-anchoring WPBF 25 News at 5, 6 and 11 pm. Felicia is a New Yorker native who was born and brought up to Puerto Rican parents in the Bronx. When she was a teenager, her family later moved to South Florida.

Felicia, who loves college football, is a proud Florida Gator! She graduated with a degree in telecommunications from the University of Florida. She went on to graduate from Mississippi State University in Meteorology. Felicia joined WPBF 25 News in 1998 and spent more than twenty years covering South Florida’s important stories and issues.

»Farron Salley is a three-time winner of the Emmy Award who is anxious to get to know South Florida people. In September 2016, Farron moved to West Palm Beach to become the WPBF 25 News weekend morning anchor. On WPBF 25 News Mornings you will also see Farron weekdays.

»Shayne Wright is an AP-winning journalist who came in August 2018 to WPBF 25 News. It’s a kind of homecoming for Shayne. He was born in Jamaica, but as a young man, he came to South Florida.

WPBF News

Every week, WPBF presently broadcasts 39½ hours of locally produced newscasts. Initially, WPBF had a small news department due to having not expected to not launching one before the circumstances of South Florida’s 1989 affiliation changes gave them the ABC affiliation.

WPBF Anchor DUI

According to Palm Beach Gardens police, jail and court records, a reporter and weekend anchor for WPBF-TV Channel 25, was arrested on December 14, 2018, on a DUI charge.

Farron Salley was booked early Saturday at the Palm Beach County Jail. Jail records show that she was released hours later on her own recognizance.

Farron was stopped for a broken tail light while driving on Alternate State Road A1A, north of PGA Boulevard. She told the officer she’d had one drink, despite failing a field sobriety test. The reporter and weekend anchor at first agreed to a Breathalyzer test but then refused to follow instructions.

WPBF Emmy

WPBF 25 was honored with two Emmys, Chronicle: State of Addiction and Chronicle: Crime Files – Behind the Tape, for their investigative news specials, during the recent 41ST Annual Suncoast Emmy Awards.

WPBF 25 News Anchors Tiffany Kenney, Felicia Rodriguez, Todd McDermott, and Mark Kelly took home statues, with Tiffany receiving two of them.

The Channel’s Executive Producer, Desiree Malky, and the News Photojournalist, Joel Waldmann, were also awarded two Emmys each for their work on both specials.

“WPBF 25 prides itself on award-winning journalism and covering stories which have a real impact on the local communities we serve every day. The State of Addiction year-long initiative underscores our parent company’s commitment to shining a light on the national opioid epidemic.

Our local Chronicle special helped spark conversations within our own community about education and awareness. Chronicle: Crime Files – Behind the Tape is an extension of our successful partnership with The Justice Network and reflects our efforts to keep our community safe,” said WPBF 25 President and General Manager, Caroline Taplett.