broke so many hearts two weeks ago Wednesday... they are young black men." WTAE-TV's president and general manager publicly apologized for the incident on air. Two black males were arrested and charged, but not convicted of the murders. Bell sued her former employer, Hearst Communications, claiming "she wouldn't have been fired for her comments if she were not white". The terms of an out-of-court settlement were not disclosed, though Bell said she "was satisfied". Bell has since become a controversial conservative talk radio host with runs at KDKA and WJAS, expressing skepticism regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and the validity of the 2020 presidential election. Technical information Subchannels The station's digital signal is multiplexed: On August 3, 2009, WTAE-TV converted its traffic/weather subchannel into a This TV affiliate. WTAE-TV is among a handful of ABC-affiliated stations and one of four Hearst-owned ABC affiliates (the other three are WCVB-TV in Boston, KMBC-TV in Kansas City and KETV in Omaha) that broadcast their HDTV signals in 1080i rather than the 720p format of most other ABC stations, which allows the station's weather graphics and local advertising (often filmed in 1080i or 1080p) to be carried in a native format without a step of downscaling. On January 1, 2018, WTAE-TV replaced This on WTAE-DT2 with Cozi TV upon the end of Hearst's carriage agreement with parent Tribune Broadcasting for that network. Analog-to-digital conversion WTAE-TV signed on its high definition digital signal on December 3, 1998. WTAE-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 51. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4. WTAE-TV operates a 15-kilowatt digital broadcast translator on channel 22 to cover portions of the northern Pittsburgh area which were unable to receive channel 4's digital signal. WTAE-TV had to wait for WPMY, which had been operating in analog nightlight mode after terminating regular programming on analog UHF channel 22 on the original February 17 deadline, to leave the channel entirely on March 19 before operating it. Translator Out-of-market coverage At various times, WTAE-TV has also served as the default ABC affiliate for the neighboring Johnstown–Altoona, Wheeling–Steubenville, and Clarksburg–Weston television markets (all