WWNY-TV

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Not to be confused with WNYW, the Fox Broadcasting Company's flagship station in New York City.

WWNY-TV
UHF) Massena
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wwnytv.com
Translator
WWNY-CD
Channels
Programming
Affiliations
History
First air date
2001 (as separate station)
Former call signs
  • W28BC (1994–2002)
  • WNYF-LP (2002–2010)
  • WNYF-LD (2010–2013)
  • WNYF-CD (2013–2014)
Former channel number(s)
Analog: 28 (UHF, 1994–2010)
  • ABC (as WWTI repeater)
  • UPN (secondary; 2001–2006)
Technical information[3]
Facility ID16744
ClassCD
ERP4 kW
HAAT244.2 m (801 ft)
Transmitter coordinates44°29′29″N 74°51′26″W / 44.49139°N 74.85722°W / 44.49139; -74.85722 (WWNY-CD)
Links
Public license information

WWNY-TV (channel 7) is a

NY 126/State Street on Champion Hill
.

WWNY-CD (channel 28) is a Class A station licensed to

NY 56
.

History

WCNY-TV was granted a special temporary authority (STA) to begin broadcasting on October 14, 1954.[6] It was locally owned by the Watertown Daily Times, which also owned WWNY radio (AM 790, now WTNY) in Watertown.[7] The station carried programming from two networks at the time (CBS, ABC[8] then added NBC by the program)[9] but has always been a primary CBS affiliate. During the late-1950s, WCNY was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[10] By the mid-1960s, the station benefited from the ratings-dominant CBS programming lineup and established a large viewership base, including much of eastern Ontario, Canada. After the FCC allowed television and radio stations to share the same base call sign even when they were licensed to different cities, channel 7 changed call letters to WWNY-TV to match its radio sisters in July 1965. The WCNY-TV calls now reside on a PBS member station in nearby Syracuse.

The station was a major beneficiary of a quirk in the FCC's plan for allocating stations. In the early days of broadcast television, there were twelve VHF channels available and 69 UHF channels (later reduced to 55 in 1983). The VHF bands were more desirable because they carried longer distances. Since there were only twelve VHF channels available, there were limitations as to how closely the stations could be spaced.

After the FCC's Sixth Report and Order ended the license freeze and opened the UHF band in 1952, it devised a plan for allocating VHF licenses. Under this plan, almost all of the country would be able to receive two commercial VHF channels plus one noncommercial channel. Most of the rest of the country ("1/2") would be able to receive a third VHF channel. Other areas would be designated as "UHF islands" since they were too close to larger cities for VHF service. The "2" networks became CBS and NBC, "+1" represented

non-commercial educational
stations, and "1/2" became ABC (which was the weakest network usually winding up with the UHF allocation where no VHF was available).

However, Watertown was sandwiched between Syracuse (channels

Plattsburgh (channels 3 and 5) to the east, Kingston (channel 11) to the northwest, Ottawa (channels 4 and 9, later joined by 13) to the north, and Montreal (channels 2, 6, 10, and 12
) to the northeast. This created a large "doughnut" where there could only be one VHF license. WWNY was fortunate to gain that license, and as a result was the only television station based in the Watertown market until the early 1970s.

From 1958 until 1971, WCNY/WWNY also aired educational programming through

United Communications Corporation in 1981 for $8.2 million after an unsuccessful struggle against the FCC and its directive for newspapers to divest themselves of television stations held within the same market
.

Until WFYF (now WWTI) signed-on in 1988 replacing a small WUTR repeater on analog UHF channel 50 and taking the ABC affiliation, WWNY was Watertown's only commercial station. As a primary CBS affiliate, WWNY carried the network's full prime time schedule and news programs while cherry-picking the most popular ABC and NBC shows aired at other hours. The station also aired some Fox programming starting in 1987 while Sunday Fox Sports National Football League games aired on WWTI. When cable arrived in the region in the 1970s, viewers could watch the full network schedules via NBC affiliate WSTM-TV and ABC affiliate WIXT (now WSYR-TV) in Syracuse or NBC affiliate WPTZ in Plattsburgh.

Channel 7 gradually phased out non-CBS programming in the 1980s. ABC completely disappeared from the schedule when WFYF signed-on. NBC programs (including

Fox Sports
which lasted until 1998.

On February 8, 2019, Gray Television announced it was purchasing the United stations, including WWNY-TV, WNYF-CD and WWNY-CD. In advance of the purchase, Gray assumed control of the stations via a local marketing agreement (LMA) on March 1.[12] WWNY-TV, WNYF-CD and WWNY-CD would be Gray's first stations in New York State; the acquisition would make them sister stations to fellow CBS affiliate WCAX-TV in adjacent Burlington, Vermont, another station owned by a small independent operator (in WCAX's case, the Hasbrook-Martin family) before Gray bought the station in 2017.[13] The sale was completed on May 1.[14]

Translator history

WWNY-CD was originally a repeater for ABC affiliate WWTI (channel 50) with the call sign W28BC.

Disney network ESPN
).

In 2001, United Communications and WWNY entered into an agreement with

NY 420
in Massena.

On June 30, 2009, United Communications applied to the FCC for a digital version of WNYF-LP on UHF channel 18. This allocation was formerly used for WNPI-DT's analog signal. It was

St. Lawrence County
viewers who had experienced difficulty receiving WWNY's digital signal after that station transitioned to digital-only broadcasts.

On May 15, 2013, WNYF-CD and WNYF-LD swapped call signs,[15][18] as the Massena station is licensed as a class A facility while the Watertown digital station, at that time, was not. On February 6, 2014, WNYF-CD changed its call letters to WWNY-CD;[15] on March 13, 2014, the class A status for the Watertown station was transferred from the analog channel 28 license to the digital channel 35 license, retaking the WNYF-CD call sign.[18][19]

News operation

On the same night it began airing in 1954, WWNY produced a five-minute local update at 11:15. For its entire existence, the station has held the number one spot in area

Nielsen ratings
by a wide margin. WWNY has traditionally been the dominant outlet in the North Country because it had the market to itself until WWTI signed-on in 1987. That station's two attempts at local newscasts—from 1987 to 1991 and from 1995 to 2004—never made any headway in the ratings, and WWNY remained the most-watched and highest-rated station. Since 2004, it has been the only station in the market with a functioning news department.

In 1981, this station's weekday morning show only consisted of two five-minute cut-ins. As late as 1998, it was broadcasting for thirty minutes. In 2004, the station began producing ninety minutes of news on weekday mornings.

On April 11, 2001, WWNY began airing a 35-minute weeknight prime time broadcast at 10 on WNYF called 7 News Tonight on Fox. However, it was only seen by a handful of viewers able to receive that station's two low-power over-the-air signals because WNYF was not yet being offered on cable. An agreement with

Charter Spectrum
) in fall 2001 placed the station on the system and the prime time news debuted for the rest of the area on October 4.

WNYF currently simulcasts the 6 p.m. hour of WWNY's weekday morning news. It then offers a second hour at 7 p.m. seen exclusively on the Fox affiliate while this station airs CBS Mornings. The simulcast and separate show is known on WNYF as 7 News This Morning on Fox. There is no weekday morning or noon meteorologist; news anchor Beth Hall presents a forecast from AccuWeather during these segments. During the nightly evening weather forecasts, the station features a live National Weather Service weather radar based in Montague's Parkers section.

Technical information

Subchannels

The stations' signals are

multiplexed
:

Subchannels of WWNY-TV[20][21] and WWNY-CD[22]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
WWNY-TV WWNY-CD
7.1 28.2 1080i
16:9
 CBS CBS
7.2 28.1 720p FOX Fox (WNYF-CD)
7.3 28.3 480i DEFY Defy TV
7.4 28.4 CIRCLE
Circle
7.5 28.5 OXYGEN Oxygen
7.6 28.6 MeTV MeTV
  Simulcast of subchannels of another station

Analog-to-digital transition

In May 2003, WWNY started broadcasting its digital signal on UHF channel 35 and began offering CBS programming in high definition. It then created a new second digital subchannel to offer a digital signal of WNYF as that station did not operate one of its own due to analog-only Class A and low-power signals.[citation needed]

WWNY has been digital-only since February 17, 2009.[23][24][25] Both broadcasts of WWNY and WWTI were set to become digital-only starting on February 17. However, the latter's plans were delayed to June 12 by the FCC.[26][27][28][29] WWNY-DT's previous digital facilities on channel 35 were eventually re-employed by sister station WNYF to offer Fox in high definition for the first time.

Notes

  1. broadcast call sign from Watertown-licensed WWNY radio
    .

References

  1. ^ FCC History Cards for WWNY-TV. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WWNY-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WWNY-CD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  4. ^ "A Trail of Bleached Bones", Clarke Ingram, UHFhistory.com
  5. ^ "Original 1952 channel allotments". May 17, 2008. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008.
  6. ^ "Existing Tv Stations . . .: Applications" (PDF). Broadcasting/Telecasting Magazine. Broadcasting Publications. October 25, 1954. p. 109 – via americanradiohistory.com.
  7. ^ "The Home That Radio Build" (PDF). Broadcasting/Telecasting Magazine. September 3, 1956. p. 68. Retrieved September 28, 2018 – via americanradiohistory.com.
  8. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting/Telecasting Magazine. October 11, 1954. p. 134. Retrieved September 28, 2018 – via americanradiohistory.com.
  9. ^ "Telestatus" (PDF). Broadcasting/Telecasting Magazine. September 3, 1956. p. 85. Retrieved September 28, 2018 – via americanradiohistory.com.
  10. ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956
  11. ^ NBC to launch affiliate in Watertown Watertown Daily Times, November 3, 2016
  12. ^ "WWNY/WNYF Sold To Gray Television". WWNY-TV. February 8, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  13. ^ "Gray Enters New York State and Minnesota with Purchase of United's Strong Television Stations" (PDF). Gray Television. February 8, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  14. ^ "Consummation Notice", CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  15. ^ a b c d e "Call Sign History (WWNY-CD)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  16. ^ "Call Sign History (WNYF-LP)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  17. ^ "WNYF-LP, Massena Granted Construction Permit for DTV Facility | WWNY TV 7 - News, Weather and Sports for Watertown, NY | About Us". wwnytv.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2010.
  18. ^ a b "Call Sign History (WNYF-CD)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  19. ^ "Digital Class A Broadcast Station License" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  20. ^ "Watch us over the air? You'll need to rescan your sets!". WWNY-TV. April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  21. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WWNY". RabbitEars.info.
  22. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WWNY-CD". RabbitEars.info. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  23. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "WWNY Analog Sign-Off: Feb 17, 2009" – via YouTube.
  24. ^ WWNY Going Digital February 17, WWNY-TV, February 10, 2009
  25. ^ "Attachment I: DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  26. ^ "WWNY's Digital Switch Might Not Happen Next Week : WWNY TV 7". Archived from the original on February 16, 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
  27. ^ "WWTI to continue analog broadcast until June 12". Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  28. ^ "FCC delays stations' switch to digital, WWNY TO APPEAL: Local affiliates told to keep analog signal on", Nancy Madsen, Watertown (New York) Daily Times, February 14, 2009
  29. ^ It's Definite...WWNY Will Transition to All DTV Broadcasts 2/17/09, WWNY-TV 7News, February 16, 2009

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WWNY-TV&oldid=1220158799"