WSTE (Teleisla) - Closedown/Sign-off (03.19.2009)
Copyright (c) 2009 TelevisaUnivision
Operated by TelevisaUnivision as an affiliate, WSTE, also known on-air as Teleisla, is a Spanish-language independent TV station serving San Juan in Puerto Rico, that is licensed to Ponce. The station was first launched on 2 February 1958 as WRIK-TV, after receiving the FCC permit to go on the air on channel 7. It was the first television station in Ponce, and the fourth in Puerto Rico.
The network's beginnings were humble; the station had retransmitted programming from Telemundo's WKAQ-TV, but WRIK-TV's acquisition by United Artists Corporation in the early 1970s have allowed it to produce its own programming, only to find no success. It was acquired by Puerto Rican media producer Tommy Muñiz in 1979; its callsign was subsequently changed to WLUZ-TV (branded as "Teleluz") on 28 March that same year.
The network had then faced financial troubles, and that forced Muñiz, in 1985, to sell the station to Malrite Communications Group for $1.3 million. Two years later, Teleluz was rebranded as SuperSiete, and it renamed its call letters to WSTE. Enjoying some limited success, SuperSiete was acknowledged for its children's show "El Show de Burbujita y Bolillo", produced by Milly Cangiano, and its Saturday morning cartoon block. Also, one of Puerto Rico's longest-running shows, No te Duermas with Antonio Sánchez El Gangster, began airing on the channel as well.
In 1991, Malrite bought WLII-TV and WSUR-TV and sold WSTE out to Florida entrepreneur Jerry Hartman and his company Siete Grande Television. At that moment on, it became rebranded as El Nuevo SuperSiete, and then later Teleisla during primetime hours. But because of the failure of the new programming, and a lack of full island coverage by WLII at the time, WSTE began re-airing WLII's primetime shows mainly for the western and central areas of Puerto Rico.
In 1995, WLII entered into an affiliation agreement with WORA-TV. This created a row with the FCC, as WLII's programming was being rebroadcast by two different stations across the island, but following admonishment by the FCC, WLII have dropped WSTE and WNJX-TV coverage. After that point (sometime in 1995) and to this day, WSTE mostly broadcasts infomercials and locally-produced advertisements for car dealerships. Additionally from 2013 to 2020, the station broadcasted horse racing programmes straight from Hipodromo Camarero in Canóvanas.