WTEN
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| WTEN / WCDC-TV | |
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| WTEN: Albany / Schenectady / Troy, New York WCDC: Adams / Pittsfield, Massachusetts |
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| Branding | WTEN (general) News 10 (newscasts) RTV (on WTEN-DT3) |
| Slogan | The News Station |
| Channels | |
| Subchannels | 10.1 ABC 10.2 Local Weather 10.3 RTV |
| Translators | W04AE 4 Herkimer |
| Owner | Young Broadcasting (Young Broadcasting of Albany, Inc.) |
| First air date | WTEN: October 14, 1953 WCDC: February 5, 1954 |
| Call letters’ meaning | WTEN: channel TEN (10) WCDC: derived from WTEN's former callsign WCDA |
| Former callsigns | WTEN: WROW-TV (1953-1956) WCDA (1956-1957) WCDC: WMGT (1954-1957) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: WTEN: 41 (1954-1957) 10 (VHF, 1957-2009) WCDC: 74 (1954-1957) 19 (UHF, 1957-2009) |
| Former affiliations | WTEN: CBS (1954-1977) WCDC: DuMont (secondary, 1954-1956) CBS (1954-1977) |
| Transmitter Power | WTEN: 700 kW WCDC: 48 kW |
| Height | WTEN: 426 m (1,398 ft) WCDC: 631 m (2,070 ft) |
| Facility ID | WTEN: 74422 WCDC: 74419 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | WTEN: 42°38′14.2″N 73°59′53.4″W / 42.637278°N 73.998167°W WCDC: 42°38′13.7″N 73°10′6.2″W / 42.637139°N 73.168389°W |
| Website | www.wten.com/ |
WTEN is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Capital District of New York State and western New England that is licensed to Albany. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter Mount Pinnacle in New Scotland. The station operates a full-time satellite, WCDC-TV, that is licensed to Adams, Massachusetts. This broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a transmitter on Mount Greylock, the highest peak in Massachusetts. There is no on-air reference to the station but it is mentioned in WTEN's legal ID, EEO public file reports and on the "News 10 Storm Tracker Weather Channel".
WCDC's signal reliably covers the western half of Massachusetts, southern Vermont, northern Connecticut and southwestern New Hampshire. The station, along with MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYA, can be considered rimshot signals into the Springfield / Holyoke, Massachusetts television market. Despite WCDC being located in Berkshire County, Time Warner cable systems in the county carry WTEN's signal instead of WCDC¹. Owned by Young Broadcasting, the stations have studios on Northern Boulevard in Albany. Syndicated programming on WTEN includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, The Doctors and Merv Griffin's Crosswords.
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[edit] Digital television
WTEN's digital signal is multiplexed. On WTEN-DT2 and Time Warner digital cable channel 554 is the "News 10 Storm Tracker Weather Channel". It had also been seen via live streaming video on WTEN's website but this is no longer possible. On WTEN-DT3 and Time Warner digital cable channel 1897 is Equity Broadcasting's Retro Television Network which is known on-air as "RTV". WCDC's digital signal does not offer the 24-hour local weather channel or RTV. However, Time Warner digital cable systems in Berkshire County offer them on the same channels.
| Virtual Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.1 / 19.1 | 720p | 16:9 | main WTEN programming / ABC HD |
| 10.2 | 480i | 4:3 | "News 10 Storm Tracker Weather Channel" (24-hour local weather channel) |
| 10.3 | 480i | 4:3 | "RTN 10" |
On June 12, 2009, WTEN and WCDC remained on their respective pre-transition channel numbers (26 and 36). [1][2][3] Through the use of PSIP, digital channel receivers display virtual channels for both stations corresponding to their previous analog channel numbers.
[edit] History
WTEN began broadcasting on October 14, 1953 as WROW-TV from a temporary 100-foot (30 m) mast which limited its signal to the immediate Albany/Schenectady/Troy area. It went to full power and a permanent antenna tower a few months later. The station was initially an ABC affiliate broadcasting on channel 41. It was owned by Hudson Valley Broadcasting Company along with WROW-AM,l also an ABC affiliate. Both stations switched to CBS affiliation in 1955.
A year later in 1954, WROW-TV was operating in the red and was losing money, prompted the company's original owners to sell its 88% controlling stake in Hudson Valley Broadcasting to a New York City based syndicate group led by legendary radio broadcaster/author Lowell Thomas and his manager/business partner Frank Smith. Smith, later became President of Hudson Valley Broadcasting.
Following the takeover, Smith recruited 29 year-old Thomas S. Murphy, a product manager for Lever Brothers in New York City, to run WROW-TV and radio as its first Station Manager. Though he never had any broadcast experience, Murphy's leadership and his conservative financial restraint help bring WROW-TV to profitability 3 years later.
In the spring of 1956, its call letters were changed to WCDA when it opened satellite station WCDB on channel 29 in nearby Hagaman, to reach areas which the channel 41 signal couldn't reach[4]. The calls were changed again to the current WTEN in 1957, when the station moved to Channel 10 and the WCDB satellite was discontinued. In December 1957, Hudson Valley Broadcasting merged with Durham Broadcasting, owners of WTVD in Durham, North Carolina to form Capital Cities Television Corporation (predecessor of Capital Cities Communications) and WTEN was its flagship station at the time.
From the day it went on the air, Channel 10 along with WROW radio, occupied inside of an old retirement home for Nuns formerly owned by The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, on a dirt farm road in the town of North Greenbush near Troy, New York. In 1966, the stations moved to its new state-of-art boadcasting facility on the north-side of Albany on Northern Boulevard which WTEN remains to this day (WROW AM-FM moved out of the facility in 1993). A year later, the old studio was burned down by a fire caused by arson.
In 1968, Capital Cities sold the original three stations of the group (WTEN, WPRO-TV in Providence, Rhode Island and WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan) to Poole Broadcasting. Nine years later, Poole sold WTEN, WJRT, and WPRO (now WPRI-TV) to Knight-Ridder. The new owner signed an affiliation deal with ABC which resulted in WTEN swapping affiliations with WAST (now WNYT) to become the market's ABC affiliate. Young Broadcasting bought WTEN and its sister station WKRN-TV in Nashville from Knight-Ridder upon the latter's exit from broadcasting.
WTEN signed on its digital signal on UHF channel 26 in 2004 and began offering high-definition service. WTEN's HDTV signal can also be seen on Time Warner digital cable channel 1810.
On October 1, 2007, station owner Young Broadcasting launched Equity Broadcasting's Retro Television Network on WTEN's DT3 digital subchannel. This launch is part of a test of the network with sister stations WBAY in Green Bay, Wisconsin and KRON in San Francisco. The network features classic sitcoms and dramas. It remains to be seen if this channel will be offered on Time Warner digital cable systems in the Capital District and / or Berkshire County (MA).
In an effort to cut costs, Young Broadcasting eliminated 10 positions from WTEN on January 31, 2008, fueling speculations that the company might sell the station in order to pay down its financial debt.
In late January of 2008, Young Broadcasting was delisted from NASDAQ stock exchange and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, citing the need "to bring its debt in line with current economic realities." Young, based in New York City, has long struggled with heavy debt since its 1999 purchase of KRON in San Francisco.
On July 1, 2009, Young Broadcasting Inc., and other television stations nationally including WTEN, will go up for auction later this month. The auction is scheduled for July 14, although bids are due by July 10, according to court documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York.
It's likely that all the Young properties, including 10 TV stations, will be auctioned as a block rather than selling in pieces.
[edit] WCDC
WCDC began broadcasting on February 5, 1954 as WMGT (Mount Greylock Television) on channel 74 as an independent station, affiliated with the DuMont network. The tower location on Mount Greylock helped WMGT serve first as the market's secondary affiliate of DuMont and later as a major boost to WCDA.
In December 1954, WMGT moved to channel 19, extending the station's range to the New York Capital Region. In February 1956, the station was forced off the air when a storm damaged its transmitting tower.[5] When it returned to the air in 1957, the call letters were changed to the current WCDC and the station had become a relay of WCDA in Albany. The WCDC call letters were derived from WTEN's former calls WCDA and its Hagaman relay, WCDB. The WMGT call sign has been used on the NBC affiliate in Macon, GA on Channel 41 since 1983.
WCDC's digital signal on UHF channel 36 signed on nearly 18 months before WTEN's did. However, it not upgrade to high-definition programming until WTEN-DT signed on. WCDC's digital signal is currently not offered on Time Warner digital cable systems in Berkshire County (MA).
[edit] WCDB
Prior to WCDA's move to channel 10, a second satellite was operated by WCDA located on channel 29 in the Montgomery County village of Hagaman. The station, with the call letters of WCDB, signed off the air in 1959 after the WCDA move rendered WCDB superfluous (even though it did provide some primary CBS coverage to Utica). The WCDB calls would return to the air in 1978 and serve the student-run radio station at the University at Albany.
[edit] Newscasts
For many years, WRGB had the leading local news production in the Capital Region followed by WNYT and WTEN. In 1993, WRGB was quickly eclipsed by WNYT. Since then, WTEN has consistently ranked third in the ratings. For a period in the early-2000s, WTEN passed WRGB. In 2005, WTEN launched a 24-hour local weather channel on its second digital subchannel known as the "News 10 Storm Tracker Weather Channel". WTEN's regional weather radar is known as "News 10 Storm Tracker HD Doppler".
[edit] Newscast titles
- Your Esso Reporter (1953-1956)
- News of the Night/Stratton Views the News (1956-1961)
- The Bob Hudson Report (1961-1967)
- The Big News (1967-1974)
- Channel 10 News (1974-1977)
- NewsTeam 10 (1977-1980)
- TV-10 Action News (1980-1985)
- 10 Eyewitness News (1985-1995)
- News 10 (1995-present)
[edit] News music packages
- Move Closer to Your World
- Hello News
- WPRI News
- Palmer News Package
- WTEN News
- Primetime News
- Momentum News
[edit] News team
Anchors
(in alphabetical order)
| Personality | Position | WTEN Since |
|---|---|---|
| Steve Ammerman | News10 at 5, 6, and 11pm | 1997 |
| Christina Arangio | News10 at 5:30 and 11pm | 2007 |
| Nicol Lally | News10 Weekends | 2008 |
| Mark O'Brien | News10 in the Morning | 2007 |
| Annie Scholz | News10 in the Morning, News10 at Noon | 2009 |
| Elisa Streeter | News10 at 5, 5:30, and 6pm | 1989 |
Storm Tracker 10 Meteorologists
(in order of rank)
| Personality | Position | WTEN Since |
|---|---|---|
| Steve Caporizzo | News 10 at 5, 5:30, 6, and 11pm (Chief Meteorologist) /Host of: "Pet Connection" specials seen six times a year | 1989 |
| Andy Gregorio | News10 in the Morning | 1997 |
| Katie Virtue | News10 at 6 and 11pm (weekends), News10 at Noon | 2005 |
Sports
| Personality | Position | WTEN Since |
|---|---|---|
| Jamie Seh | News10 at 6 and 11pm/Host of: Friday Night Frenzy | 2006 |
Reporters
(in alphabetical order)
| Personality | Position | WTEN Since |
|---|---|---|
| Eric Egan | General Assignment Reporter | 2007 |
| John McLoughlin | General Assignment Reporter/Managing Editor (since 2003) | 1972 |
[edit] Past personalities
[edit] Anchors
- Angela Hampton (6:00/11:00 p.m. anchor, 1995-1997) Now 6:00/11:00 p.m. anchor at WTVD in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
- Cary Berglund (Weekend/Noon anchor, 1986-1989) now at KNBC in Los Angeles)
- Jim Brennan (6:00/11:00 p.m. anchor, 1991-2000) now hosts "New York Week in Review", aired on PBS stations across New York state
- Greg Floyd - Weekend anchor in the mid 1980's until leaving for WTZA in Kingston, then resurfacing at WXXA and WRGB
- Marci Elliott (Co-Weeknight News Anchor with Dick Wood, 1980-1989) Now lives in Florida doing freelance commercials, voice overs and acting.
- Cynthia Fodor (6:00/11:00 p.m. anchor, ?-1990's) Now at KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa and serves as Mid-West Bureau Chief for the nationally-syndicated travel magazine radio show, "The Travel Hour with Stephen Pickford and Friends" (formerly the Travel World Radio Show)
- Dori Marlin (Morning anchor, 2005-2008) left for evening news spots on WRGB in 2008[6]).
- Beth McKay (weekday anchor, 1990-1995) Left for KXAS in Dallas; she retired to become a full-time mom.
- Terry McSweeney (6:00/11:00 p.m. anchor from 2000-2006, 5:00 p.m. anchor 2002-2006); now a freelance reporter at KGO-TV in San Francisco, California)
- Sue Nigra (News Anchor in the 1990s) Sued the station to get out the contract to work for WRGB.
- Ryan Nobles (Weekday morning anchor from 2003-2005, Currently Anchor at WWBT in Richmond, Virginia)
- Mary Caroline Powers (Co-anchored the noon news for many years with Ralph Vartigan. Worked at WRGB during the 1970s and later worked in public television and as an editor at The Saratogian newspaper
- Sharman Sachetti (Former morning anchor) - as of 2005 a reporter at WFXT in Boston
- Robin Schwartz, anchor and reporter (Early 1990s-1998), now at WJBK in Detroit
- Mai Shiozaki (Former freelance morning anchor - was press secretary for National Organization for Women)
- Alyssa Van Wie (weekend morning anchor 2004-2008)
- Bruce Williamson - News Anchor early 60's early 70's. Became News Director until 1979. (deceased)
- George Lezotte - News anchor early 60's early 70's; NYS public relations. (deceased)
- Dick Wood (anchor from 1973-1991), as of 2006 hosts a jazz show on WABY Moon Radio and does commercials.
[edit] Meteorologists
- Marc Edwards
- Bob Gordon (Weatherman during the late 1960s and 1970s) Preceded Bob Kovachick; currently doing commercials.
- John Guaraldi (meteorologist, 1981-c. mid-90s) Now meteorologist at WPLG-TV in Miami
- Bob Kovachick (chief meteorologist at WTEN, April 1977-1986) Now at WNYT, was the first credentialed meteorologist in the Albany market
- Jeff Smith (Weekend meteorologist 2004-January 2007, now weekend mornings at WABC-TV in New York City)
[edit] Sports
- Bob McNamara (Sports Reporter) early to late 60's before moving to WRGB sometime in early 70's and later to WNYT in the 80's and early 90's (retired)
- Dan Murphy (Sports Director from 1992-2005 and previously weekend sports), later host of "Murphy's Law" on WOFX radio; now seen on WNYA My 4 Albany.
- Rip Rowan (Sports anchor from 1968-86) later worked for the Albany-Colonie Yankees AA farm team
- Brian Sinkoff (sports director from 2005-2008) now host of Sound Off with Sinkoff on WTMM-FM
- John Spadafora (Weekend sports anchor from 1992-2005) now heads communications for the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce
[edit] Reporters
- Ken Chenault (Reporter, 1985?-1988) Recently worked for WNYW in New York in the early 90's).
- Renee Chenault (Fattah) (Reporter, 1985?-1988) Recently worked for KYW-TV in Philadelphia before working for crosstown rival station WCAU.
- Alfreida Graves (Reporter) she was station's first African-American reporter in the early 1970s. She sued WTEN in 1976 in a lawsuit claiming racial bias. The case was reportedly settled out of court. (Whereabouts Unknown).
- Doug Myers (Reporter and News Producer, 1971-1989) Did morning and weekend news anchoring. Previously, a radio news reporter for WPTR in the late 60's, now communications director for the Albany International Airport.
- Dick (Hill) McCarthy, (anchor, 1970s, later in communications for New York state. WABY did sports reports
- Walt McClure (key reporter from 1999-2005) now in the same role at WXXA-TV)
- Scott Patterson (reporter, 2001-2005), now weekend anchor at KPTM in Omaha, Nebraska)
- Beth Nichols (Reporter in mid 80's to 1989) among the casualties of mass firings when station changed ownership in 1989.
- Susan Raff (former business reporter), has been with WFSB since 1995
- Richard Reingold, (reporter, early 70s, was president and general manager of WUSA-TV, Washington, DC)
- David Glodt, reporter, producer, early 70's; executive producer, This Week With David Brinkley)
- Richard Roth, (reporter, early 70's, is a CBS News correspondent based in London)
- Herb Starr, (reporter, weekend anchor; Albany bureau WCBS Radio; 1975 comm. dir., NY Lt. Governor; corporate PA advisor; real estate developer; private investor)
- Vic Vetters (General assignment reporter); now general manager of WKTV in Utica, as well as the latter position at WFFF-TV/WVNY[[Burlington, VT]
- Dick Williams, (reporter-weekend anchor, early 70s, hosts WAGA-TV (FOX 5)'s Georgia Gang in Atlanta)
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Dan Burke (Station manager) 1960-66 became President and CEO of CapCities/ABC before retiring in 1995 when Company was sold to Disney.
- Ted Knight (1923-1986) hosted a kids variety show in mid 50's playing 'Windy Knight; was the announcer of 'The Early Movie' show and was a DJ for WROW Radio. Left for Hollywood in 1957.(deceased)
- George (Leighton) Layton - (Chief announcer for WTEN - 1950 to 1989) Nicknamed 'The Voice of God'; also was known as 'The Old Skipper' on The Good Ship News - an early morining show for children (1958 - 1968). (deceased March 2000)
- Thomas S. Murphy (Station Manager of WROW-TV and radio, 1954 - 1960) Rose through the ranks of CapCities became Chairman and CEO in 1966. Brought ABC in 1985. Retired in 1995 when he sold CapCities/ABC to Disney.
- John (Stewart) Musso - Co host 'Dialing for Dollars' with Vartigan in the mid to late 60's (retired)
- Ralph Vartigan (Longtime host of the children's program "The Good Ship News as 'Commander Ralph' and "Young People's News" in the late 70's as 'Mr. Vartigan'; hosted "Dialing for Dollars" and later co-anchor of the noon news)
[edit] References
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf.
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ CDBS Print
- ^ Albany Times-Union, April 22, 1956, page H-4
- ^ Albany Times Union, 22 April 1956, Page H-4
- ^ http://blogs.timesunion.com/business/?p=5221
¹ - WTEN cable carriage information courtesy Time Warner cable engineering staff, Pittsfield, MA
[edit] External links
- WTEN / WCDC "News 10"
- ABC
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WTEN
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WCDC-TV
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