NBC affiliate in Albany, New York
This article is about the television station. For the former FM and current internet radio station, see
WNYT (internet radio)
.
"WAST-TV" redirects here. For the low-power television station in Ashland, Wisconsin, see
WAST-LP
.
WNYT
(channel 13) is a
television station
licensed to
Albany, New York
, United States, serving the
Capital District
as an affiliate of
NBC
. It is owned by
Hubbard Broadcasting
alongside
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
?licensed
MyNetworkTV
affiliate
WNYA
(channel 51). The two stations share studios on North Pearl Street in
Menands
(with an Albany
postal
address); WNYT's transmitter is located on the
Helderberg Escarpment
west of
New Salem
.
History
[
edit
]
The station began broadcasting on February 17, 1954, as
CBS
affiliate WTRI, licensed to
Troy
and broadcasting on
UHF
channel 35. The station was co-owned by Van Curler Broadcasting, a unit of the Stanley Warner Theaters chain, and Troy Broadcasting Company, owner of WTRY radio (AM 980, now
WOFX
). Van Curler operated the station. Its studio was located alongside its transmitter on Bald Mountain in the town of
Brunswick
, east of Troy. The station lost its CBS affiliation to Albany's WROW-TV (channel 41, now
WTEN
on channel 10) in January 1955. Logically, it should have taken over WROW-TV's
ABC
affiliation. However, ABC balked, forcing WTRI off the air. Van Curler purchased Troy Broadcasting's stake in WTRI and returned the station to the air in 1956 as an ABC affiliate.
In 1958, Van Curler sought
Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) permission to move the license to Albany, on channel 13. By this time, the market had expanded to cover not only east-central New York, but also large swaths of southwestern
Vermont
and western Massachusetts. Not only is this market one of the largest east of the Mississippi River, but much of it is very mountainous. UHF stations have never covered large areas or rugged terrain very well. Van Curler thus jumped at a chance to move to the stronger VHF band. The FCC granted the request, and in December, the station took new call letters, WAST (for Albany,
Schenectady
, and Troy). Originally, the station had wanted to take the call sign WTAS (for Troy, Albany, and Schenectady) but the similarity of the letters
TAS
to the news agency of the
Soviet Union
(known as
TASS
) led to the use of WAST. As part of a dial realignment,
WKTV
in
Utica
moved from channel 13 to channel 2.
Shortly after the upgrade, WAST moved to a converted warehouse on the Albany?Menands line on North Pearl Street, which previously housed
Selective Service
records. Channel 13 still operates from this location today.
Despite the increased transmitter power, WAST's signal was still significantly weaker in some portions of the Capital District market than its competitors, particularly in the southern portion. This was because as a condition of being allowed to move to the VHF band, it remained on its original transmitter on Bald Mountain (a legacy of the days when it was licensed to Troy) and used a somewhat directional signal to protect WNTA-TV (now
WNET
) in
Newark
, near New York City. The other stations in the
market
had their transmitters on the Helderberg Escarpment. This forced WAST to build several translators to expand its coverage. Combined with the fact it was affiliated with ABC, the smallest and weakest of the three major networks at the time (but, during the late 1970s, ABC's fortunes would improve considerably), channel 13 was not really on par with rivals?WTEN and then-
General Electric
-owned NBC affiliate
WRGB
(channel 6)?until cable television arrived in the Capital District in the early 1970s. In 1968 Van Curler sold WAST to Sonderling Broadcasting, a radio company based in the Chicago suburb of
Oak Park, Illinois
.
[4]
On October 23, 1977, the station switched affiliations with WTEN and became the Capital District's CBS affiliate, returning the station to its original affiliation after 22 years. In 1978,
the original iteration of Viacom
announced its purchase of Sonderling Broadcasting's holdings and made WAST the company's second television station (after
WVIT
in
New Britain, Connecticut
) when the sale was finalized two years later, in March 1980.
[5]
On September 28, 1981, WAST swapped affiliations again, this time with WRGB and became the area's NBC affiliate. Seeking a fresh start and a new identity, Viacom decided to mark the affiliation change with the current call sign of WNYT. It is one of the few stations in the United States to have been a primary affiliate of all of the
big three
networks.
Viacom's 1994 acquisition of
Paramount Pictures
placed the company's existing television stations (WNYT; WVIT;
WHEC-TV
in
Rochester
;
KMOV
in
St. Louis
; and
KSLA-TV
in
Shreveport, Louisiana
) under common ownership with Paramount's broadcasting arm, the
Paramount Stations Group
;
[6]
[7]
the two groups were formally consolidated in December 1995.
[8]
Prior to the merger, Paramount announced the formation of the United Paramount Network (
UPN
), which started operating in January 1995; as early as 1994, Viacom was considering selling off its non-UPN stations.
[9]
In June 1996, Viacom/Paramount agreed to trade WNYT and WHEC-TV to
Hubbard Broadcasting
in return for UPN affiliate
WTOG
in
St. Petersburg, Florida
.
[10]
[11]
WNYT signed-on its digital signal in October 2003 on VHF channel 12. Unlike the station's analog signal, WNYT's digital transmitter was located in the Helderberg tower farm with the market's other stations.
On February 25, 2013, Hubbard announced that it would purchase WNYA from Venture Technologies to form a duopoly with WNYT, for $2.3 million, pending FCC approval. Hubbard sought a failed station waiver to acquire the station;
[12]
[13]
Venture had put WNYA up for sale in 2009, but no other potential buyers came forward.
[14]
The sale did not include
Class A
repeater
WNYA-CA which will remain with Venture Technologies.
[15]
Under a clause of the sale of WNYA that required WNYA-CA to use a new
call sign
that does not feature the letters "N" or "Y,"
[13]
that station became WEPT-CA on March 8, 2013. On May 29, 2013, the FCC approved the sale of WNYA to Hubbard, with Venture retaining ownership of WEPT-CA.
[16]
News operation
[
edit
]
For many years, channel 13 ran a distant third in the area's
Nielsen ratings
behind WRGB and WTEN. This was not only because it was the youngest station in the market, but also because of its signal reception issues. Under Viacom ownership, the station expanded and modernized its studios (newsroom, offices, etc., including the market's first modern computers), becoming a factor in the Capital District ratings race for the first time. The company also made a significant investment in electronic equipment, including a satellite news truck. Investment in talent increased with the building of its own talent and by acquiring key personalities from other stations in the area. The station also benefited from the switch to NBC, giving its resurgent news operation a powerful lead-in as NBC rose to become the ratings leader for most of the second half of the 1980s.
WNYT overtook WTEN for the runner-up spot by the late-1980s, and in 1992, scored its first late news victory over longtime leader WRGB. Gradually, the station overtook WRGB, which had lost considerable momentum due to the retirement of longtime anchor Ernie Tetrault, in other time slots. In Viacom's last
sweeps
period owning WNYT, the station won every time slot. It remained the overall market leader under Hubbard ownership until mid-2009 when it lost the late weeknight lead to WRGB in the May 2009 ratings period. In November 2009, WNYT's weekday evening newscasts slipped to third place largely due to the station's decision to terminate many of its popular personalities. Two years after Hubbard bought WNYT, it won the distinction of being the first and only station outside of New York City to win a regional
Emmy Award
for best newscast in New York State. With the re-branding of the station's newscasts from
News 13
to
NewsChannel 13
in 1991, WNYT became the first station to use the "Live. Local. Late Breaking." tag line slogan which is now commonplace throughout the country.
In the mid-1990s, the station began an alliance with
PBS
member station
WMHT
(channel 17). This led to WNYT producing several programs for the public broadcaster including semi-regular town hall meetings, the weekly call-in show
Health LINK
(which continues today), and for two years the market's first 10 p.m. newscast on WMHT's then-secondary station WMHQ (now
WCWN
). This production was canceled due to a lack of support. From 2001 until 2004, WNYT also maintained a
joint sales agreement
(JSA) with
Pax
affiliate
WYPX-TV
(channel 55) that included rebroadcasts of newscasts and other local non-news programming.
In 2001, WNYT opened the
Berkshire County
Bureau on South Church Street in Downtown Pittsfield to cover the Massachusetts side of the market. At that time, the bureau was the first of a Capital District station. The Berkshire County Bureau began to be staffed only on an occasional basis in 2009,
[17]
and subsequently closed altogether as a result of the
2008 recession
, though the station still covers Berkshire County. WCDC (a
dark
full-time
satellite
of rival WTEN), had never established any sort of physical presence in the Berkshires despite being licensed in the region before it shut down in 2017 (specifically,
Adams
). With the acquisition of WNYA, Hubbard has indicated that it would produce newscasts on WNYA with an increased emphasis on news from Berkshire County. It remains to be seen whether this will include any new physical presence (i.e. a news bureau or a full studio) of WNYA and WNYT in the local area.
[14]
[18]
A newscast airing on WNYA finally premiered September 16, 2013, and is known on-air as
NewsChannel 13 Live at 10 on My 4 Albany
. The show airs weeknights for a half-hour in a fast-paced format and includes a "Berkshire Moment" segment featuring western Massachusetts headlines powered by
The Berkshire Eagle
. It competes with the firmly established sixty-minute broadcast seen every night on
Fox
affiliate
WXXA-TV
(produced by WTEN) and another thirty-minute news show on WCWN (a weeknight-only production by WRGB).
[19]
[
non-primary source needed
]
After forging an alliance with the
Glens Falls Post-Star
, the Saratoga/
North Country
Bureau was opened on Broadway/
NY 50
/
US 9
in Downtown
Saratoga Springs
in early 2004. In December 2005, WNYT began broadcasting
NBC Weather Plus
on its second
digital subchannel
with a full launch coming two months later on
Time Warner Cable
digital channel 556. In the late 2000s, WNYT briefly replaced its weekday noon news with an hour-long broadcast at 11 a.m. entitled
Midday
. On April 24, 2012, WNYT became the third station in Albany to launch newscasts in high definition. Although three other Hubbard-owned stations have already been broadcasting their local news shows in
16:9
enhanced definition
widescreen
, WNYT is only the second Hubbard-owned station (after company
flagship
KSTP-TV
in
St. Paul, Minnesota
) to have made the upgrade to full high definition level. The station operates its own
Doppler weather radar
, known on-air as "NewsChannel 13 First Warning Live Doppler" at its former analog transmitter site on Bald Mountain.
Notable former on-air staff
[
edit
]
- Andrew Catalon
? Broadcaster for
CBS Sports
and
NBC's Olympics coverage
.
- Dr. Alan Chartock
? former director of
WAMC
, also former political analyst
- Nancy Cozean
? The first lead female weekday anchor in the Albany market, left in 1985 to co-anchor the evening newscast at
WTZA
in
Kingston, New York
. Later became the mayor of the
City of Poughkeepsie
.
- Todd Gross
? Chief meteorologist, 1980?1983.
- Chris Kapostasy (Jansing)
? 1981?1998, was an anchor from 1987 to 1998, now correspondent and anchor for NBC and MSNBC.
- Kari Lake
? anchor, 1998?1999, later at
KSAZ-TV
in Phoenix.
[20]
- Miles O'Brien
? Weekend anchor, mid-1980s; Later spent 16 years at
CNN
.
- Randy Salerno
? Weekend anchor, 1988?1993; later went to
WGN-TV
and then to
WBBM-TV
in Chicago; killed in snowmobile accident in 2008.
- Norm Sebastian
? Former weekend, then weekday morning/noon meteorologist); deceased.
- Don Weeks
? Weatherman during the late 1960s under the name of "Wally Weather"; was the morning show host at
WGY
from 1980 until his retirement in December 2010 (deceased).
Technical information
[
edit
]
Subchannels
[
edit
]
The station's signal is
multiplexed
:
Analog-to-digital conversion
[
edit
]
WNYT shut down its analog signal, over
VHF
channel 13, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States
transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts
under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 12,
[22]
using
virtual channel
13. With the 2019 digital television repack, WNYT remained on its current VHF channel 12.
Translators
[
edit
]
WNYT operates five additional repeaters. Until the early 1990s, it maintained a translator in
Kingston
(in the New York City market). This was first located on channel 63 but moved to channel 36 after the launch of
WTZA
in 1985. The translators were all built because WNYT's
analog
signal was not as strong as the other major television stations in the Capital District (see above). The Adams, Gloversville and Pittsfield translators have since been converted from analog to digital. The Glens Falls and Troy repeaters are licensed under the WNYT call sign but designated as low-power digital replacement translators.
Former translators
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"Channel Substitution/Community of License Change"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
. August 9, 2021
. Retrieved
August 9,
2021
.
- ^
"Report & Order"
, Media Bureau,
Federal Communications Commission
, April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^
"Facility Technical Data for WNYT"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
"Sonderling increases TV holdings"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. November 11, 1968. p. 45
. Retrieved
January 8,
2019
.
- ^
"Viacom, Sonderling propose marriage"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. March 20, 1978. pp. 33, 34
. Retrieved
January 8,
2019
– via World Radio History.
- ^
Foisie, Geoffrey, and Christopher Stern. "Viacom, Paramount say 'I do.'"
Broadcasting and Cable
, September 20, 1993, pp. 14-16. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
[1]
[2]
[3]
- ^
Foisie, Geoffrey. "At long last: Viacom Paramount."
Broadcasting and Cable
, February 21, 1994, pp. 7, 10, 14. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
[4]
[5]
[6]
- ^
Flint, Joe (December 18, 1995).
"Viacom Group Merged Under Par's Cassara"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
March 5,
2023
.
- ^
Zier, Julie A., and Steve McClellan. "Minority-led group eyes Viacom stations."
Broadcasting and Cable
, November 7, 1994, pp. 6. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
[7]
- ^
Rathburn, Elizabeth A. (June 17, 1996).
"Station swaps highlight week in trading"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting and Cable
. p. 13
. Retrieved
January 12,
2019
.
- ^
Rathburn, Elizabeth A. (August 19, 1996).
"Changing hands: Viacom, Hubbard agree to swap"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting and Cable
. p. 38
. Retrieved
January 12,
2019
.
- ^
"WNYT Albany to Purchase MyNet WNYA"
. Broadcasting & Cable
. Retrieved
February 25,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License
Federal Communications Commission
, March 8, 2013
- ^
a
b
Dobrowolski, Tony (May 2, 2013).
"Albany NBC-TV affiliate buys station; will sharpen focus on Berkshire news"
.
The Berkshire Eagle
. Pittsfield, MA
. Retrieved
May 18,
2013
.
- ^
Seyler, Dave (March 8, 2013).
"Hubbard believes failure will allow it to double in Albany"
.
Television Business Report
. Retrieved
March 27,
2013
.
- ^
Rooney, Chris (May 29, 2013).
"FCC approves sale of WNYA to WNYT"
. Albany, NY. WNYT NewsChannel 13
. Retrieved
May 29,
2013
.
- ^
Fanto, Clarence (February 22, 2009).
"Clouds gather over TV landscape"
.
The Berkshire Eagle
. Retrieved
May 18,
2013
.
- ^
Dobrowolski, Tony (May 2, 2013).
"Albany NBC-TV affiliate buys station; will sharpen focus on Berkshire news"
.
The Berkshire Eagle
. Retrieved
May 18,
2013
.
- ^
"WNYT NewsChannel 13's"
.
Archived
from the original on October 8, 2013
. Retrieved
September 25,
2021
– via Facebook.
- ^
"Former Upstate NY news anchor running for Arizona governor; endorsed by Trump, Mike Lindell"
. November 8, 2021
. Retrieved
November 10,
2022
.
- ^
"RabbitEars.Info"
.
rabbitears.info
.
- ^
"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on August 29, 2013
. Retrieved
March 24,
2012
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with
cable television
|
Full-power stations
|
- WRGB
(6.1
CBS
, 6.2
TBD
, 6.3
Comet
)
- WTEN
(10.1
ABC
, 10.2
Cozi
, 10.3
ANT
, 10.4
Mystery
)
- WNYT
(13.1
NBC
, 13.2
MeTV
, 13.3
Start
, 13.4
Get
)
- WMHT
(17.1
PBS
, 17.2
Create
, 17.3
World
, 17.4
PBS Kids
)
- WXXA-TV
(23.1
Fox
, 23.2 Capital
OTB
TV, 23.3
Grit
, 23.4
REW
)
- WCWN
(45.1
The CW
, 45.2
Charge!
, 45.4
Nest
)
- WNYA
(51.1
MNT
, 51.2
Grio
, 51.3
Catchy
, 51.4
H&I
)
- WYPX-TV
(55.1
Ion
, 55.2
Bounce
, 55.3
Court
, 55.4
Laff
, 55.5
Defy
, 55.6
Scripps News
, 55.7
JTV
, 55.8
HSN
, 55.9
QVC
)
|
---|
Low-power stations
|
- WNCE-CD
(8.1
YTA
;
Glens Falls
)
- WYBN-LD
(14.1
Buzzr
, 14.2 Fun Roads, 14.3
This
, 14.4
Retro
, 14.5
Rev'n
, 14.6
NOST
, 14.7
Action
, 14.8
NewsNet
;
Cobleskill
)
- WNYT (DRT) 21
(
NBC
,
Troy
)
- W21CP-D 21
(
NBC
,
Gloversville
, via
WNYT
)
- WVBG-LD
(25.1
Buzzr
, 25.2 Fun Roads, 25.3
This
, 25.4
Retro
, 25.5
Rev'n
, 25.6
CRTV
, 25.7
Action
, 25.8
NewsNet
;
Greenwich
)
- WNYT (DRT) 28
(
NBC
,
Glens Falls
)
- W28DA-D 28
(
NBC
,
Pittsfield, MA
, via
WNYT
)
- W35DU-D 35
(
NBC
,
Adams, MA
, via
WNYT
)
- WNGN-LD 38 / WNGX-LD 42
(
Heartland
;
Troy
/
Schenectady
)
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ATSC 3.0 digital
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Cable-only stations
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Defunct stations
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NBC
network affiliates licensed to and serving the state of
New York
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Connecticut
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Maine
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Massachusetts
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New Hampshire
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Rhode Island
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Vermont
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Key people
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Radio stations
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ABC
network affiliates
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NBC
network affiliates
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Other stations
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Cable television
channels
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Acquisitions
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