WZMY-TV
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| WZMY-TV | |
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| Derry, New Hampshire / Boston, Massachusetts |
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| Branding | My TV |
| Slogan | My TV is Your TV |
| Channel | Digital: 35 (UHF) Virtual: 50 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 50.1 MyNetworkTV |
| Owner | Shooting Star Broadcasting of New England, LLC |
| First air date | October 1969 |
| Callsign meaning | We're Zooming to MY TV (the name predates MyNetworkTV by a year) |
| Former callsigns | WXPO (1969-1970) WNDS (1983-2005) |
| Former channels | 50 (analog 1969-1970 & 1983-2008) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1969-1970 & 1983-2006) Silent (1970-1983) |
| Effective power | 7.3 kW |
| Height | 204.8 m |
| Facility ID | 14682 |
| Antenna coordinates | 42°44′7.1″N 71°23′33.6″W / 42.735306°N 71.392667°W |
| Website | mytvstation.tv |
WZMY-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for southern New Hampshire and Greater Boston that is licensed to Derry, New Hampshire. Its transmitter is located on Merrill Hill in Hudson, New Hampshire. Owned by Shooting Star Broadcasting of New England, the station has studios on A Street in Derry. Additional offices are located on the 51st floor of the John Hancock Building on Clarendon Street in downtown Boston.
Syndicated programming on the station includes: Still Standing, Frasier, Family Feud, and Becker. WZMY can generally be seen on Comcast cable channel 18 (outside of downtown Boston) and Verizon FiOS cable channel 6. It is offered on cable systems throughout New Hampshire, southern Vermont and southern Maine as well.
As of November 2007, the station does not do news or sports coverage like most MyNetworkTV affiliates; the news department was dissolved and replaced with reruns of popular sitcoms. The station has no plans to bring back news coverage anytime soon, however, the station still does weekday weather updates on the hour from Noon until 11 with meteorologist Al Kaprielian.
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[edit] History
[edit] WXPO
Channel 50 first appeared early in October 1969 as WXPO-TV, from two studios. Its offices and master production facilities were located on Dutton Street in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts; however, its transmitter and "main" studio was on Governor Dinsmore Road in Windham, New Hampshire to comply with FCC regulations requiring that a station's transmitter be located within 15 miles of the city of license. The original vision was to air business news during the daytime, and a general entertainment format -- including sports -- late in the afternoon and in the evening.
Its Treehouse 50 program in the afternoons gained a cult following with Boston-area college students, as it had slapstick comedy and the Warner Brothers cartoons that had been released to television stations at that time. In addition, channel 50 was the first station to have news updates every hour, long before the 24-hour news sources of the early 1990s, was the first New England television station (beating WKBG, now WLVI) to air a ten o'clock newscast (however, it had no newsfilm to use), and attempted to do live remotes with some mixed success. In addition, WXPO was infamous for a New Year's Eve show that by 1:00 a.m. had started to become particularly strange.
However, the station's coverage in many parts of Greater Boston was spotty at best. The station's Lowell studios were located less than 1,000 feet from the transmitter of WLLH-AM 1400, making high-quality production impossible during the day due to RF interference with the cameras. Advertisers were scared off when the Lowell Sun blacklisted anyone who advertised on the station. Bills went unpaid for several months.
By early 1970, the vast majority (90%) of the staff was removed from the payroll, although many continued with the station, believing it could pull through. Unfortunately for them, the spring of that year saw the Lowell studio closing its doors. Finally, in June the power company pulled the plug at the Windham studios during a Maverick rerun, taking WXPO off the air.
On July 17, 1973, channel 50 returned to the air with a test transmission, with plans to return the station to the air later that year, possibly as New Hampshire's CBS affiliate. Unfortunately, those plans were never realized, and the WXPO-TV license was deleted in 1975.
[edit] WNDS
The current incarnation of channel 50 began broadcasting on Labor Day Weekend, 1983 as WNDS, and was known on-air as "The Winds of New England". It aired an independent format that was a constant for most of its years of operation. In April 1988, the station applied for the WQNH call letters, but they were never used.
In 1997, CTV of Derry, who owned WNDS, attempted to sell the station to the Global Shopping Network. That network operated channel 50 from April to June with a home shopping format. [1] However, GSN failed to make payments for WNDS (as well as their other stations) effectively returning control of the station to CTV. [2][3]
In 2004, CTV sold channel 50 again, this time to its present owner Shooting Star Broadcasting.[4]
[edit] WZMY
Soon after assuming control, in August 2005, Shooting Star Broadcasting announced that WNDS would change its call letters to WZMY-TV and its branding to "My TV". [5] At that time, the station overhauled its schedule, based on viewer responses on the old WNDS website. The changes were implemented on-air on September 26, 2005.
[edit] Network affiliation
On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced that they would start up a new network called MyNetworkTV, in response to the merger of UPN and The WB to form The CW. Since WZMY had already filed a trademark in mid-2005 for use of the MyTV name, it was speculated that WZMY would take legal action with News Corp over their similar name.[6]. Ultimately on July 21, 2006, WZMY's My TV Club newsletter announced that the station would become the region's MyNetworkTV affiliate, later revealed on July 24 to the media and visitors to WZMY's website, and to the general public on July 26. Until the announcements were made, Boston and Southern New Hampshire had been the largest market without a stand-alone MyNetworkTV affiliate.
MyNetworkTV is the first television network that WNDS and WZMY have ever affiliated with in its history. With network affiliation beginning with the network's launch (which happened on September 5, 2006), the station continued to use their "My TV" branding. WZMY redesigned its website to reflect its new network affiliation and a new logo was unveiled.
In July 2007, WZMY launched a revamped website, similar to the MyNetworkTV website.
In December 2009, the station laid off seven employees, effective at the end of the month, and announced a merger with a station in Portland, Maine, citing economic factors and the increasing difficulty of competing with larger stations such as WMUR-TV.[7]
[edit] Local programming
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
[edit] Newscasts
[edit] WNDS
Soon after going on the air in the fall of 1983, WNDS began nightly newscasts at both 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM. The news team included news anchor Larry Sparano, sportscaster Doug Brown, and meteorologist Al Kaprielian. The weekend newscasts were cut in 1985, and the nightly newscasts were off the air by 1986.
In September 1998, WNDS began the News Now local newscasts weeknights at 7 and 10 p.m., as well as weekend afternoon newscasts (which were dropped by early 2002). By 2003, the 11:57 a.m. weekday news update was expanded into a full half-hour newscast at noon. However, the station began to struggle by the 2004–2005 season. As a result, the noon broadcast was discontinued and the 10 p.m. edition was cut down to 10 minutes in favor of syndicated programming like That '70s Show.
In addition, some news / weather updates as well as stand-alone weather updates from chief meteorologist Al Kaprielian were provided throughout the day. After the conversion to "My TV", the 10 p.m. news was dropped completely. The news team remained the same throughout the transition.
[edit] WZMY
When the station was relaunched as WZMY, it had only one news program on the schedule, MyTV Now, which aired weeknights from 7:30 to 8 p.m. An additional 60-minute news and commentary program, MyTV Prime, aired from 9 to 10 p.m. On March 10, 2006, however, the two programs were consolidated into a new, 90-minute version of MyTV Prime that aired from 8 to 9:30 p.m. News was no longer provided outside of that program. By July 2006, channel 50 had discontinued MyTV Prime in favor of sitcom reruns. Weather updates from Al Kaprielian are still provided each hour from noon to midnight; for a time, these were accompanied by news updates that used the MyTV Now title.
WZMY dissolved its news department completely (with the exception of weather) in November 2007, after Nicole Papageorge and Mike DeBlasi (the longest-tenured on-air employee after Al Kaprielian) departed the station. As a result, WZMY eliminated all daily news cut-ins, political commentary, and locally-produced public affairs programming. The station currently has no intention to produce any further news programming.
WZMY is well known in New England for Al Kaprielian. His quirky, offbeat style has made him a minor celebrity in Southern New Hampshire. As a result of his popularity, he was a "Guest Meteorologist" on The Weather Channel's Abrams & Bettes: Beyond the Forecast on November 10, 2006. He has worked for WZMY for his whole career. However, as a result of the station's December 2009 cutbacks, Al was laid off from the station, with his final day on-air December 31; as a result, WZMY will no longer broadcast weather updates.[7][8]
[edit] Other local programs
[edit] As WNDS
During its first year on the air, WNDS ran an impressive number of locally produced programs, including a cooking show (The Yankee Gourmet), a children's show (Just Kidding Around) and a weekly prime-time variety show (The Best of New Hampshire). All of these shows were cancelled by the end of 1985, which in the case of Just Kidding Around, was largely due to one child in the audience during a live broadcast misquoting the title in a lewd manner. The station also covered live local sports, including high school football, college hockey and minor league baseball. WNDS also ran a candlepin bowling show each weekend at noon called Candlepin Stars and Strikes, which remained on the air until August 2005.
Prior to the switch to Global Shopping Network in April 1997, WNDS also ran three additional shows: High School Sports Review (which looked at high school sports news in the station's broadcast region), Sports Wrap (a Sports Talk show discussing Boston sports), and WNDS News Up Front (a local newsmagazine). When regular programming was restored in June, these three shows were not resurrected.
In addition, during the early 2000s, channel 50 ran a public affairs program titled Capitol Ideas.
Friday Night Chaos, a 30-minute weekly show from independent wrestling promotion Chaotic Wrestling, aired on WNDS from 2001 to 2002. The station also aired a locally-produced talk show hosted by singer-comedian Bucky Lewis.
[edit] As WZMY
Much of "My TV"'s local programming consisted of visits to businesses around the region, in a format known as "MyShows". The original show for this format was My New England, but variants focusing on specific topics were subsequently added, such as My Premier Bride and My Good Health. These programs appeared throughout the day in the early years of "My TV"; as of October 2008[update], only My Premier Bride and My Outdoors remain. Additionally, several local businesses (particularly car dealerships, but sometimes other businesses such as Dollar Bill's Discount World) produce programs that appear on weekend mornings. The latter programming had also appeared on WNDS.
When "MyTV" launched, two other local programs also existed: a talk show entitled MyTV Prime (which originally aired from 9 to 10 p.m. and later from 8 to 9:30 p.m.), and Wild World (a review of action sports around the region, which was produced by Dan Egan). However, the station has subsequently discontinued these shows from its lineup (although Wild World is still produced for other outlets).
At one point, the station aired MyVoice, which focused on issues important to New Englanders; this program has since been dropped.
On May 1, 2009, the station began airing a new 30-minute show from the Massachusetts-based Big Time Wrestling promotion.
[edit] Digital television
WZMY-TV discontinued analog transmission on December 1, 2008, which was within the permissible 90-day window prior to the since-delayed February 17, 2009 deadline.[9] WZMY-DT's digital broadcasts will continue on pre-transition channel UHF 35. [10] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WZMY's virtual channel as 50.1
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Fybush, Scott (April 10, 1997). "North East RadioWatch". The Boston Radio Archives. http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-970410.html. Retrieved January 10, 2008.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (June 15, 1997). "North East RadioWatch". The Boston Radio Archives. http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-970605.html. Retrieved January 10, 2008.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (June 12, 1997). "North East RadioWatch". The Boston Radio Archives. http://www.bostonradio.org/nerw/nerw-970612.html. Retrieved January 10, 2008.
- ^ Fybush, Scott (May 17, 2004). "Remembering Nick Berg". NorthEast Radio Watch. http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2004/040517/nerw.html. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
- ^ Kennedy, Eileen (August 5, 2005). "WNDS focuses lens on viewers". Nashua Telegraph. Telegraph Publishing Company. http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050805/BUSINESS/108050017/-1/ENTERTAINMENT. Retrieved January 10, 2008.
- ^ "TV show: Whose station is it?". http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=127585.
- ^ a b Duckler, Ray (December 28, 2009). "The gale before the storm". Concord Monitor. http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091228/FRONTPAGE/912280311&template=single. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
- ^ Heslam, Jessica (December 16, 2009). "Weatherman’s TV reign to end". Boston Herald. http://www.bostonherald.com/business/media/view.bg?articleid=1219195&srvc=business&position=recent. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
- ^ WZMY Gets the Jump on the DTV Switch, Harry A. Jessell, TVNEWSDAY, Dec 3 2008
- ^ FCC DTV status report for WZMY
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