WRGB

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WRGB is the CBS affiliate television station for New York state's Capital District (Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga Springs and Troy). It is licensed to Schenectady with studios in the nearby town of Niskayuna with its transmitter located in the Helderberg Mountains in New Scotland. The station broadcasts on channel 6 at an effective radiated power (ERP) of 93.3 kW. The station is owned by Freedom Communications. It's digital signal, WRGB-DT, broadcasts on channel 39 from an adjacent site with an ERP of 600 kW.

WRGB's audio signal can also be heard on 87.7 FM in most areas the video signal can be received (and some that it cannot); this is because of the electromagnetic field effect which puts the audio signal of channel 6 at the location of 87.75 MHz with tuners getting the signal at 87.7.

History

WRGB claims to be the world's first television station. It traces its roots to an experimental station founded on January 13, 1928 from the General Electric facility under the call letters W2XB on channel 4. It was popularly known as "WGY Television" after its radio sister. In 1939, it began sharing programs with W2XBS (forerunner of WNBC-TV) in New York City, becoming NBC's first television affiliate—a link that would last for 42 years.

On February 26, 1942, W2XB received a commercial license as WRGB—the fourth in the nation and only the second one outside of New York City. Several years later, WRGB took on secondary affiliations with the three other networks in operation (CBS, ABC, and DuMont) In 1954, it moved to its current position on channel 6 to alleviate interference from WNBC (then known as WRCA-TV) and WBZ-TV and the station dropped its secondary affiliations when the signons of WCDA (today's WTEN) and WTRI (today's WNYT) took the CBS and ABC affiliations respectively.

WRGB produced two of the longest-running locally-produced programs in television history: a quiz show called Answers Please and a bowling program entitled TV Tournament Time. After the cancellation of both by the late 1980s, WRGB's local programming has been variable and erratic ranging from a local home shopping show to a weekly video countdown done with Top 40 stations WFLY and (later) WKKF.

On September 28, 1981, WRGB swapped affiliations with WAST (now WNYT) and became a CBS affiliate. Two years later, fifty-five years of General Electric ownership ended when they sold WRGB to Unicom Inc., a unit of Forstmann Little. Unicom's ownership of the station was short-lived as in 1986 they sold WRGB to its current owner, Freedom Communications. The next year, WRGB was awarded the Broadcast Pioneers Golden Mike Award and shortly thereafter was awarded a Presidential citation by Ronald Reagan.

For many years, WRGB had the leading newscast in the Capital District, anchored for many years by the venerable Ernie Tetrault (who was immortalized in the 1992 film Sneakers, directed by one-time WRGB intern Phil Alden Robinson). After Tetrault's retirement in 1993, the station was quickly eclipsed by WNYT and for several years in the mid-1990s fell to third place. For the most part, the station has stabilized to a steady #2 though for a period in the early 2000s it fell back to #3. This relative instablity led WRGB to shed its heritage "NewsCenter 6" brand in early 1998. It changed its on-air name to "CBS6" in October 2004 after decades of being known as either "TV6" or "Channel 6".

WRGB-DT

In September 2003, WRGB signed on its digital signal, WRGB-DT, located on channel 39. Like its analog counterpart, WRGB-DT was the first full-market digital signal to sign on in the market. The signal consists of the following:

• 6.1: WRGB's digital signal
• 6.2: A simulcast of UPN (and future My Network TV) affiliate WNYA, for which WRGB handles commercial sales via a joint services agreement.
• 6.3: A live feed of the station's live "Instant Doppler" radar. This feed is preempted in cases when both WRGB and WNYA have had simultaneous high definition programming and to air additional games of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.

WNYA and WCWN involvement

In April 2003, WRGB signed a joint services agreement with then-fledgling UPN affiliate WNYA several months prior to that station's sign-on that September. Under the agreement, WRGB handles ad sales for WNYA as well as shares programming with the station which has included two forays of WRGB newscasts airing on WNYA (early on repeats and currently an extention to their morning newscast). The agreement, originally set to expire at the end of August 2006 is now set to expire at the end of 2008.

On June 19, 2006, WRGB parent Freedom Communications announced the purchase of current WB/future The CW affiliate WCWN from Tribune Broadcasting for $17 million. This purchase would give the Albany/Schenectady/Troy market its first duopoly and barring FCC objection would give WRGB control of three stations in the market.

Logos

• WRGB's old circle 6 logo, used 1981-98
  WRGB's old circle 6 logo, used 1981-98
• WRGB's previous logo, used 1998-2004
  WRGB's previous logo, used 1998-2004
• Current WRGB logo, used since October 2004
  Current WRGB logo, used since October 2004

Notable personalities

Current

• Jack Aernecke (5:00/5:30 p.m. anchor and longest tenured air talent dating back to 1970)
• Mike Augustyniak (Weekend evening and alternating noon meteorologist)
• Liz Bishop (5:30/6:00/11:00 anchor and arguably the face of the station)
• Fred Dicker (Political analyst, better known as Albany correspondent for the New York Post)
• Dan DiNicola (Feature/Entertainment Reporter, also known as the co-author of Rachael Ray's original "30-Minute Meals" book)
• Greg Floyd (6:00/11:00 anchor, came in late of 2005 from WXXA)
• Jerry Gretzinger (Weekend evening anchor and a key nightside reporter)
• Steve LaPointe (Chief Meteorolgist, in some form, since 1995)
• Tom Mailey (Weekday morning and alternating noon "weathercaster", prior to that a feature reporter and originally afternoon movie host in the late 1980s)
• Tim Mack (Weekend sports)
• Marci Natale (Saturday morning anchor, late of WXXA)
• Sue Nigra (Noon/5:00 p.m. anchor and health reporter; her arrival to the station from WTEN was the focus of a key lawsuit on noncompete clauses)
• Ed O'Brien (Weekday morning anchor, previously did sports in the early 1990s)
• Ken Screven (Longtime reporter and head of the station's downtown Albany bureau; also holds the distinction of being the first African-American air talent in the Albany market)
• Doug Sherman (Sports Director)
• Craig Smith (Nightside reporter and key sub anchor, late of WNYT)
• Mike Tamas (Saturday morning/fill-in meteorologist)
• Mary Beth Wenger (Berkshire County correspondent and former longtime (1987-2004) weekend anchor)

Past

• Marty Aarons (Replacement for Ernie Tetrault, lasted less than a year before being fired in 1994)
• Garrett Argianas (Weekend meteorologist during early 2000s, now with WVIT in New Britain/Hartford, Connecticut)
• Kelly (Cass) Boland (Weekend meteorologist for much of the 1990s, now a key weekend meteorologist at The Weather Channel)
• Jim Brennan (Sports anchor for most of the 1980s, left to anchor at WTEN, now host of the regional PBS program "New York Week in Review")
• Dr. Alan Chartock (Controversial director of WAMC, was a political analyst until dropped in 1994 at which point he went to WNYT)
• Ed Dague (Reporter and later co-anchor from 1969-83, left for WNYT and was the catalyst for that station's current dominance)
• John Discepolo (Weekend sports anchor from 1996-99, now main sports anchor at WNYW in New York City)
• Bill Duffy (Political analyst from 1969 to his sudden death in 1987; father of current News Director Beau Duffy (and, in turn, father-in-law of 5:00 producer Michelle Nicoll-Duffy))
• Tracy Egan (Now at WTEN, served two separate stints at WRGB, first as a reporter in the mid 1970s then as lead co-anchor from 1986-91)
• Neal Estano (Chief meteorologist in two separate stints in the 1990s, now at WBAL-TV in Baltimore)
• Brad Holbrook (Evening co-anchor from 1998 to 2001, now host of BusinessWeek TV)
• Shawn Killenger (Morning feature reporter from 2000-2001, later was a contestant on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart)
• Kyle Kraska (Now main sports reporter at KFMB-TV in San Diego, got his start at WRGB in the early 1990s)
• Doug Lezette (Original weekend morning anchor, reporter, and later assisstant News Director, now head anchor and news director at WSHM in Springfield, Massachusetts)
• Bob McNamara (Sports reporter from 1966-81, known as the one-time "Dean" of Capital District sports, and the only person to hold on-air position at all three of Albany's VHF stations)
• Joe Pagliarulo (Evening co-anchor from 2002 to 2005, now morning host at WOAI radio in San Antonio)
• Ric Renner (Sports director from 1994-96, now host of "Southwest Sports Report" on Fox Sports Net Southwest)
• Judy Sanders (Feature and political reporter from 1979 to 2006)
• Scott Stevens (Webmaster of the conspiracy website WeatherWars, was fired by WRGB in 1995 after having fabricated his credentials)
• Ernie Tetrault (Main anchor for 42 years, 1951-93, a mark which will probably never be matched; now known as a commercial pitchman for many businesses in the Albany area)

Outside of news, WRGB is the home base for Art "Mr. Food" Ginsburg whose syndicated cooking segment airs across the US usually during midday newscasts. In the mid-1990s, WRGB was the springboard for Glens Falls native Rachael Ray who debuted her "30-Minute Meals" segments on the station.

Newscasts

Note: The time names listed here are not used on-air, the identification of all newscasts is merely "CBS6 News" regardless of time of day.

Weekdays

• CBS6 First News (5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.)
  • A third hour airs 7-8 a.m. on WNYA.
• CBS6 News at Noon
• CBS6 News at 5
• CBS6 News at 5:30
• CBS6 News at 6
  • On September 5, 2006, the 6:00 p.m. newscast will expand from 30 minutes to one hour. [1]
• CBS6 News at 11

Weekends

• CBS6 First News (Saturday 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.)
• CBS6 News at 6 (Saturday only)
• CBS6 News at 6:30 (Sunday only)
• CBS6 News at 11

Newscast titles

• The Esso News Report (1940 - 1954)
• Television 6 Reports (1954 - 1960)
• TV-6 News (1960 - 1974)
• NewsCenter 6 (1974 - January 25, 1998)
• Channel 6 News (January 26, 1998 - September 30, 2004)
• CBS6 News (October 1, 2004 - present)

Weather Coverage

As with its heritage of being the first station in the Capital Region, WRGB has had several firsts in the weather field as well given the unpredictable weather of the northeast. In February 1996, WRGB became the first Capital Region station to put forcasts on the world wide web with the launch of their website.

The Mechanicville Tornado Outbreak of 1998 led to further developments in the station's weather coverage. WRGB won an Emmy award for chief meteorologist Steve Lapointe's near-nonstop work over two days which made sure there were no fatalities in the otherwise devastating tornadoes.

In May 1999, the station (at the behest of LaPointe) started WeatherNet6 which allowed viewers of the station to join the station in reporting weather around the area, they were allowed to report anything from current conditions to snowfall totals.

In 2000, the station became the first station in the market to offer Live Doppler Radar as they installed Instant Doppler 6 to the station. For more information check out the , Instant Doppler 6 website. WRGB held this exclusive distinction until 2004 when WNYT set up their own live radar and both WTEN and WXXA updated their radar outputs to live capabilities (WXXA also adding interfacing with other sites around the state).

Ironically, WRGB was the last station in the Albany market to have a degree-holding meteorologist on their staff, not doing so until Freedom's purchase of the station several years after WTEN and WNYT did the same.

External links

• WRGB website
• WRGB Wireless
• WNYA Website

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