WJAR

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WJAR, channel 10, is the NBC-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts, licensed to Providence, Rhode Island. Its transmitter is located in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Owned by Media General, the station has studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston, Rhode Island.

WJAR offers NBC Weather Plus on its second digital subchannel. On digital cable, it can be found on: Cox channel 800, Comcast channel 750, Verizon FiOS channel 860, and Full Channel 190.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel	Programming
10.1	main WJAR programming / NBC HD
10.2	NBC Weather Plus
10.3	GSN

In 2009, WJAR will be leaving analog channel 10 and will move to digital channel 51. ([1])

History

WJAR-TV signed on-air for the first time on channel 11 on July 10, 1949. It was Rhode Island's first television station and the fourth in New England. It was owned by The Outlet Company, a department store chain headquartered in Providence, along with WJAR radio (AM 920, now WHJJ; and FM 95.5, now WBRU). It moved to channel 10 in 1952.

WJAR signed on as an affiliate of all four networks of the time (NBC, ABC, DuMont, and CBS) but has always been a primary NBC affiliate due to WJAR-AM's long affiliation with NBC Radio. It lost ABC in 1953 when WNET-TV signed on and lost CBS in 1955 when WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV) signed on. When WNET-TV went dark in 1956, WJAR shared ABC programming with WPRO-TV until WTEV-TV (now WLNE-TV) signed on in 1963.

In 1954, WJAR received national attention for its coverage of Hurricane Carol.

In November of 1980, the Outlet Company left the department store business to concentrate on broadcasting. However, the station kept its studios in the Outlet Building until a fire destroyed the building in 1986. Many Rhode Islanders can even remember the live broadcast of the fire, with the building exploding over the reporters' heads.

In 1996, Outlet Communications merged with NBC. It was around this time that the station's studios were moved to their current location in an industrial area of Cranston just south of Providence.

In April of 1997, WJAR began to operate primary WB and secondary UPN affiliate WLWC (which was owned by Fant Broadcasting) under a local marketing agreement (LMA).

When NBC bought out Outlet in early-1996, the future of the LMA was put into doubt given the fact that NBC did not want to run stations outside their core owned-and-operated outlets. NBC, during this time, pushed Fant to sell the stations. In September of 1997, NBC came up with a three-way swap in which Fant exchanged WLWC and sister station WWHO in Columbus, Ohio to Paramount / Viacom for that group's NBC affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut, WVIT.

WJAR was one of four NBC O&Os in smaller markets that were put up for sale on January 9, 2006 along with stations in Columbus, Birmingham, and Raleigh. Except for the Birmingham station, these stations were also once owned by Outlet. On April 6, 2006, NBC Universal and Media General announced that Media General would purchase WJAR as part of a $600 million four station deal between the two companies. The deal was approved by the FCC on June 26, 2006. As a result, WJAR became Media General's first television station in New England. For all intents and purposes, this undid the NBC-Outlet merger a decade earlier.

For several months after the owner switch, WJAR's website remained in the format of an NBC O&O station. WJAR's redesigned website, which launched in early-December of 2006, now credits Media General in its copyright notice and is no longer powered by Internet Broadcasting. Although the main website has changed with Media General, WJAR still maintains a local page on the NBC Weather Plus website which is operated by NBC. However, the live Weather Plus video feed has been cut.

During the April 2007 Nor'easter, WJAR's over-the-air digital transmitter was damaged. Both digital signals, WJAR-HD and WJAR-DT2, were knocked off the air. The outage did not affect digital cable or satellite services as they do not get the signal from the digital transmitter.

It has been announced that WJAR will begin to offer Equity Broadcasting's Retro Television Network. This service is scheduled to begin broadcasting in early-2008 and will most likely be seen on a new third digital subchannel of WJAR as well as digital cable. ([2])

News operation

File:Wjar news open 2007.png

WJAR's news open.

For most of its history, WJAR has led in the market in terms of ratings. More recently, however, WPRI has mounted a challenge for viewership. For a time in 2007, that station beat WJAR in the weeknight 5 and 11 o'clock timeslots. In April of 1997, WJAR launched the market's first 10 P.M. newscast on WLWC known as TV 28 News at 10. The start of this production was nearly a year prior to the 10 o'clock WPRI-produced news on FOX affiliate WNAC-TV.

As of September 13, 2006, WJAR has two alumni of its news personnel, Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, who host NBC's weekday Today show. Meredith Vieira started out as a reporter on the station in the late-1970s and early-1980s. Matt Lauer was co-host of WJAR's Providence version of PM Magazine in the early-1980s. The most notable past staff member is Christiane Amanpour. Amanpur is currently CNN's chief international correspondent. She has won 9 Emmy awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Distinguished Achievement in Broadcast Journalism. Forbes magazine has named her one of the 100 Most Powerful Women. Amanpur was an electronic graphics designer during her time a WJAR.

On October 1, 2007, WJAR began producing a weeknight 10 o'clock news on its NBC Weather Plus digital subchannel. Known as 10 at 10, it is a live, 10-minute production consisting of the top stories of the day and an updated weather forecast. Even though its airtime is short, 10 at 10 competes with the WPRI-produced WNAC-TV 10 o'clock news. WJAR offers a live video stream of its weekday Noon, 5, 5:30, 6, and 10 P.M. newscasts on its website. In addition to their main studios, WJAR operates three news bureaus. The Southeastern Massachusetts Bureau is located in The Standard Times newsroom in New Bedford. The South County Bureau is located in The Westerly Sun newsroom in Westerly. The Downcity Bureau is located on Dorrance Street in downtown Providence.

The station uses live, NOAA National Weather Service radar data that originates from the NWS Local Forecast Office in Taunton, Massachusetts. In weather segments, this data is presented in a forecasting system known as "Storm Team 10 VIPIR". During news programming, WJAR uses a modified version of its current logo.

News team

File:Wjar tv anchors 2007.png

Gene Valicenti and Patrice Wood anchor weeknights at 6 and 11.

File:Wjar weather 2008.png

WJAR's chief meteorologist.

Anchors

• Frank Coletta - weekday mornings
• Kelley McGee - weekdays at Noon
  • education reporter
• Dan Jaehnig - weeknights at 5
  • reporter
• Patrice Wood - weeknights at 5, 6, and 11
• Gene Valicenti - weeknights at 5:30, 6, 10, and 11
• Mario Hilario - weekend mornings
  • reporter
• Nicole Muri - weekend evenings
  • reporter

Storm Team 10

• Gary Ley (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen on weeknights at 5, 6, and 11
• Kelly Bates (NWA Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings
• John Ghiorse (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekdays at Noon, 5:30, and 10
• TBD - weekend mornings
• R.J. Heim - weekend evenings
  • feature & science reporter

Sports

• Frank Carpano - Director seen on weeknights at 6 and 11
  • host of 1st and 10
• Joe Kayata - weekend evenings
  • sports reporter
• Harry Cicma - sports producer
  • sports reporter

Reporters

• Steve Handelsman - Washington D.C. correspondent
• Audrey Laganas - consumer & investigative
• Barbara Morse Silva - health
• Bill Rappleye - political
• Jim Taricani - investigative
• Michelle Brown - Southeastern Massachusetts Bureau
• Tom Stewart - traffic
• Brian Crandall
• Leslie Yeransian

Contributors

• Chef Frank Terranova - host of "Cooking With Class" segment
  • is a Johnson & Wales University associate instructor
• Paul Giacobbe - ombudsman

Past personalities

• Christiane Amanpour - electronic graphics designer (1980s), now chief international correspondent for CNN
• Caterina Bandini - reporter (1991-1996), former WHDH anchor
• Ken Bell - sports (1977-1979), now at WLNE-TV
• Steve Berthiaume - sports (1990s), now at ESPN
• Alison Bolonga - reporter (?-2006), now at WFXT-TV
• Steve Bousquet- News reporter (1970's) Columinst Miami Herald
• Andrea Brody - weekend anchor (1996-1998), now at George Michael Sports Machine
• Bob Cain - anchor (1960s), former CNN anchor
• Tim Carr - reporter (1982-1989)
• Ginger Casey - anchor (1992-1997)
• Chris Clark - sports director (1970-1983)(d)
• George Colajezzi- News reporter (1970's)
• Tony Conigliaro- Sports (1970's) Former Red Sox OF. (deceased)
• Ted Daniel - reporter (2004-2005), now at WFXT-TV
• Dylan Dryer - weather (2004-2006), now at WHDH-TV
• Jack Edwards - sports (1983-1985)
• Stephen Frazier - anchor (1970s), now at CNN Headline News
• Vince Gibbens - anchor (1975-1978) (d)
• Bill Gile - weather (1997-2004)
• Tara Granahan - anchor/reporter (1993-2001)
• Tim Gray - sports (1999-2004)
• Ann Halloran - weekend anchor (1992-1996)
• Carrie Jackson- News anchor/reporter (1979-1982)
• Jack Kavanaugh - weekend anchor/ reporter (1973-1980)
• Tom Kierein - Meteorologist (1978-1983) Now at WRC-TV
• Dyanna Koelsch- political reporter (1982-2001)
• Tom Kole- political reporter (1980-1988)
• Art Lake- WJAR(AM) radio host (1944-1949) initially anchor, then weather (1949-2003) first birthdays announcer (2003-2005) Now Retired
• Matt Lauer- 'PM Magazine' host (1981-1985), now co-host of NBC's 'Today' show
• Mike Lawrence- Repoter (1978-1982) Worked at WHDH
• Dave Layman - anchor (1973-1976)
• Greg Liggins - anchor (1993-1995)
• Nicole Livas - anchor (1997-2001), now at WAVY-TV
• Mary Maguire - consumer reporter (1980s and 1990s)
• Ken Malloy- anchor (1990-1992), now at KGPE
• Pat Mastors - anchor (1982-1989)
• Martin Morenz- reporter (1989-1994), now at WFXT
• Bill Northup- Reporter (1970's)
• Cathy Ray - anchor/ medical reporter (1983-1992),
• Karin Reed - anchor/reporter (1993-2004)
• Rhondella Richardson - reporter (1992-1994), now at WCVB
• Joe Rocco - sports (1984-1996)
• John Rooke - sports (1992-1996)
• Keith Russell - sports (1996-1999), now at WPVI
• Stacy Sager - reporter (1990s)
• Frank Sommerville - anchor (1986-1991), now at KTVU-TV in San Francisco
• Maria Stephanous - reporter (1990s), now WFXT-TV
• John Sweeney - anchor (1970's-1981), worked at CNN
• Kathryn Tappen - sports (2004-2006), now at NESN
• Meredith Vieira - anchor/reporter (1976-1979), now co-host of NBC's 'Today' show
• Bob Ward- reporter/anchor (1988-1996), now at WFXT-TV
• Doug White - anchor (1978-2005), died on August 15, 2006
• Dick Wood - anchor (1970-1973)
• Sara Wye- anchor(1973-1981) First Female Anchor in Providence
• Tony Zarrella- sports (1988-1989) Now at KUSA
• Margie O' Brien - reporter Now at WFXT-TV
• Paul McGonagle - mass bureau reporter/assistant news director (1995-2004) now at WFXT-TV

Logo

WJAR's current "NBC 10" logo was first used on former sister station WCAU in Philadelphia. In its earliest days, WJAR's logo included a Rhode Island Red rooster, the state bird of Rhode Island. Prior to WJAR's purchase by NBC, the logo had included various versions of a different, stylized "10" above the WJAR call letters. This had been in effect for the previous twenty years.

External links

• WJAR "NBC 10"
• NBC
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