wpbf thus launched as an abc affiliate its first day of operation, january 1, 1989, with all of the above moves in miami and west palm beach occurring on the same day. wpbf, having planned to be an independent, had purchased a large inventory of classic sitcoms and cartoons early in 1988 to launch the station, but now having the obligations to a broadcast network, had few timeslots to air the programming in and little compatibility with abc's schedule. the inventory was thus sold to wtvx a couple of months after signing-on; with no network affiliation, wtvx also shut down their struggling news department, allowing wpbf to build their news operation in their own image without comparisons to wtvx's effort.