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WNYA
CityPittsfield, Massachusetts
Channels
BrandingMy4 Albany
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WNYT
History
FoundedFebruary 3, 2003
First air date
September 1, 2003 (21 years ago) (2003-09-01)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 51 (UHF, 2003–2009)
  • Digital: 13 (VHF, 2009–2020)
UPN (2003–2006)
Call sign meaning
New York Television Alternate (for sister station WNYT as a backronym), or Albany
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID136751
ERP23 kW
HAAT437.2 m (1,434.4 ft)
Transmitter coordinates42°37′31.3″N 74°0′36.7″W / 42.625361°N 74.010194°W / 42.625361; -74.010194
Links
Public license information
Websitewnyt.com/my4

WNYA (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States, serving New York's Capital District as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting alongside Albany-licensed NBC affiliate WNYT (channel 13). Both stations share studios on North Pearl Street in Menands (with an Albany postal address), while WNYA's transmitter is located on the Helderberg Escarpment west of New Salem.

The station uses its main cable channel position of 4 on Charter Spectrum and Verizon Fios for marketing purposes as My 4 Albany, only mentioning their actual channel number on-air during maintenance sign-off disclosures. Despite Pittsfield being WNYA's city of license, the station maintains no physical presence there.

History

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Establishment of channel 51

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What today is WNYA can indirectly trace its history to WVUW, an un-built station on channel 51 in Pittsfield. WVUW was granted a construction permit in 1984,[2] but was deleted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1990.[3] In October 1996, Pappas Telecasting applied for a new permit for this allocation;[4] however, in 2001, the FCC placed the channel up for auction.[5] In addition to Pappas, which by then planned to use the station as an Azteca América affiliate, bidders included Hubbard Broadcasting, Equity Broadcasting, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and Venture Technologies Group.[5] When the auction took place in February 2002, Venture Technologies ended up with the winning bid for $1.3 million.[6] The FCC granted the construction permit[7] and the WNYA call sign to Venture a year later.[8] To accommodate the new WNYA, WNYT moved its Adams translator, which had broadcast on channel 51 since 1984,[9] to channel 38.[10]

UPN Capital Region

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In February 2003, Venture Technologies signed a joint sales agreement (JSA) with Freedom Communications, then-owner of CBS affiliate WRGB (channel 6); this allowed WNYA to operate from WRGB's studios in Niskayuna. Soon afterward, WNYA secured an affiliation with UPN, replacing "WEDG-TV," a cable-only station operated as a partnership of WXXA-TV (channel 23) and Time Warner Cable.[11]

On May 22, 2003, Venture purchased WVBX-LP (channel 39) in Easton from Vision 3 Broadcasting,[12] a station that a year earlier had been granted a construction permit to upgrade to class A service and move to channel 15 from a transmitter in the Helderberg Mountains in New Scotland, in effect moving WVBX to Albany.[13] Venture took channel 39 off-the-air that June,[14] built the channel 15 facility, gave it the call letters WNYA-CA on June 30, 2003,[15] and announced that the station would serve as a WNYA repeater;[16] this created the unusual circumstance of a repeater station older than its parent station, as WVBX had signed on in 1997 as part of a network of low-power stations based at WVBG-LP (channel 25) in Albany,[17] which itself served as the Capital District's UPN affiliate from 1998 until the launch of "WEDG-TV" in 2000.[18][19]

On September 1, 2003, WNYA launched using the branding "UPN Capital Region."[16] The main signal, WNYA, had an analog transmitter northwest of Pittsfield on Berry Mountain. It became the first full-powered, over-the-air UPN affiliate in the Capital District. In addition to UPN programming, WNYA occasionally carried CBS programming preempted by WRGB, including US Open telecasts that conflicted with WRGB's broadcast of the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.[16]

From its sign-on, WNYA took the cable channel position of "WEDG-TV" on Time Warner,[16] Charter (in Rensselaer and Columbia counties), and independent Mid-Hudson Cablevision (in Greene County). Adelphia would replace WSBK-TV from Boston with WNYA at the start of 2004, with other providers including DirecTV and Dish Network adding the station later that year.

MyNetworkTV

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On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would end broadcasting and merge to form a new network, The CW; the new network immediately named WEWB-TV (channel 45, now WCWN) its Capital District affiliate after then-owner Tribune Broadcasting signed a ten-year affiliation deal with the new network on most of its WB stations.[20] On February 22, News Corporation announced that it would start up another new broadcast television network called MyNetworkTV; on March 9, it was announced that WNYA would join this network.[21] After having not branded with a channel number during its UPN affiliation, the station chose to call itself "My TV 4 Albany" after its channel position on Time Warner Cable systems. Ironically, nowhere in Berkshire County, Massachusetts is WNYA currently on channel 4; in North Adams, that channel is the spot where Boston's CBS affiliate WBZ-TV is located. After MyNetworkTV's launch on September 5, 2006, WNYA aired the last two weeks of UPN programming from 1 to 3 a.m. from Tuesday to Saturday.

A few months after the affiliation change, on December 5, 2006, Freedom Communications purchased WCWN from Tribune, in effect giving it control over three stations in the Capital District.[22] In February 2007, the joint sales agreement with WRGB was terminated,[23] and WNYA moved to a facility in Rotterdam that formerly housed WMHT-FM-TV.[24]

In December 2007, WNYA reached an agreement to carry the New York Yankees' over-the-air television package, which had previously been carried on WXXA-TV.[25] The station hired Dan Murphy, a former WTEN (channel 10) sports anchor and WOFX (980 AM) host, to host a local pregame show for Yankee telecasts and other local sports broadcasts.[24] Yankee broadcasts remained on WNYA through the 2012 season, after which they migrated to WCWN and WRGB.[26]

On April 18, 2008, WNYA launched its high definition channel on Time Warner Cable in Albany, even though it was not able to transmit its digital signal over the air until 2009. This coincided with the first Yankee baseball broadcast it had the rights to. WNYA switched to digital broadcasting as part of the transition on June 12, 2009. The Albany repeater, WNYA-CA, had a construction permit to perform a "flash-cut" to a low-power digital signal; due to its Class A status, it was not mandated to make the transition until 2015. Around April 20, 2011, WNYA launched its first digital subchannel in the form of Tribune Broadcasting's Antenna TV over Channel 51.2. The new subchannel also began to be simulcast on WNYA-CA in place of WNYA's main programming.[27]

Acquisition by Hubbard

[edit]

On February 25, 2013, Hubbard Broadcasting announced that it would purchase WNYA to form a duopoly with its local NBC affiliate WNYT, for $2.3 million, pending FCC approval. As the Capital Region does not have enough full-power stations to legally permit a duopoly, Hubbard sought a failed station waiver to acquire the station;[28][29] an avenue that rival CBS affiliate WRGB had used in purchasing CW affiliate WCWN in 2006.[30] Venture had put WNYA up for sale in 2009, but no other potential buyers came forward.[31] The sale did not include class-A station WNYA-CA, which remained with Venture Technologies.[32] 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,"[29] that station became WEPT-CA on March 8, 2013.[15] On May 29, 2013, the FCC approved the sale of WNYA to Hubbard, with Venture retaining ownership of WEPT-CA.[33][34] The sale was consummated on July 15.[35] WEPT-CA dropped its simulcast of WNYA-DT2 and switched to AMGTV in September 2013, ending its association with WNYA.[36] On December 31, 2015, WNYA added Decades on subchannel 51.3. On November 1, 2017, WNYA replaced Antenna TV with Light TV on subchannel 51.2.[citation needed]

Newscasts

[edit]
Further information: WNYT (TV) § News operation

On April 17, 2006, WRGB began producing an hour-long 7 a.m. newscast on WNYA.[37] The newscast moved to WCWN shortly after Freedom's purchase of that station.[22]

With Hubbard's acquisition of WNYA, the company indicated that it would eventually produce newscasts on the station with an increased emphasis on news for the Berkshires.[31] WNYT once operated a Berkshire County bureau in Pittsfield but closed it following the 2008 recession.[38] The newscast premiered September 16, 2013 with the title NewsChannel 13 Live at 10 on My 4 Albany.[39] The show airs weeknights for a half hour in a fast-paced format and includes a "Berkshire Moment" segment featuring western Massachusetts-specific stories with the assistance of The Berkshire Eagle.[40] It competes with the firmly established hour long broadcast seen every night on WXXA (produced by WTEN) and another sixty-minute news show on WCWN (a weeknight-only production by WRGB).

Technical information

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Subchannels

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The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WNYA[41]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
51.1 1080i 16:9 WNYA-HD MyNetworkTV
51.2 480i WNYA-HI Heroes & Icons
51.3 WNYA-DE Catchy Comedy
51.4 MeTV Toons
Former DT2 logo, to 2017.

Analog-to-digital conversion

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WNYA shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 51, 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 "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation on VHF channel 13,[42] using virtual channel 51.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WNYA". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Application Search Details (WVUW, 1)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  3. ^ "Application Search Details (WVUW, 2)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  4. ^ Fybush, Scott (October 22, 1996). "1150 Gets Nifty, more Maine". New England RadioWatch. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  5. ^ a b Pinckney, Barbara (November 26, 2001). "13 companies line up to win bid for Pittsfield television station in auction". The Business Review. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  6. ^ Fybush, Scott (February 25, 2002). "North East RadioWatch". Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  7. ^ "Application Search Details (WNYA)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  8. ^ Fybush, Scott (February 10, 2003). "Fire on the Mountain". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  9. ^ "Application Search Details (W51AE)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  10. ^ Fybush, Scott (November 11, 2002). "North East RadioWatch". Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  11. ^ Pinckney, Barbara (February 19, 2003). "WRGB to handle ad sales for new channel". The Business Review. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  12. ^ "Application Search Details (WEPT-CA)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  13. ^ "WVBX gets FCC OK to move channel; will cover entire Capital Region". The Business Review. April 29, 2002. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  14. ^ "CapitalGold Dial Guide SoundBoard". June 20, 2003. Archived from the original on January 13, 2004. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  15. ^ a b "Call Sign History (WEPT-CA)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  16. ^ a b c d McGuire, Mark (August 26, 2003). "New UPN station to debut Sept. 1". Albany Times-Union. p. D4. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  17. ^ Owen, Rob (December 9, 1997). "'Daily' takes shot at the whole year". Albany Times-Union. p. D6. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  18. ^ McGuire, Mark (September 30, 1998). "Channel 25 is now affiliated with UPN". Albany Times-Union. p. D6. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  19. ^ McGuire, Mark (November 17, 1999). "WVBG hurt by UPN deal". Albany Times-Union. p. D5. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  20. ^ Sutel, Seth (January 25, 2006). "Failing networks merge to survive". Albany Times-Union. p. A1. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  21. ^ "With loss of UPN program, channel 15 to air MyNetworkTV". The Business Review. March 10, 2006. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  22. ^ a b Pinckney, Barbara (December 11, 2006). "WRGB promises to put 10 p.m. news slot on Channel 45 schedule". The Business Review. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  23. ^ McGuire, Mark (February 16, 2007). "With self-reliance, station can transcend networks". Albany Times-Union. p. D1. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  24. ^ a b Churchill, Chris (March 14, 2008). "WNYA deal a likely home run". Albany Times-Union. p. C1. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  25. ^ Churchill, Chris (December 27, 2007). "Yankees games expected to lift WNYA station". Albany Times-Union. p. C1. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  26. ^ Dougherty, Pete (October 5, 2012). "Local Yankees telecasts moving to WRGB, WCWN". Albany Times-Union. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  27. ^ "FCC 398 Children's Television Programming Report (WNYA-CA)". Federal Communications Commission. June 30, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  28. ^ "WNYT Albany to Purchase MyNet WNYA". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  29. ^ a b Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License Federal Communications Commission, 8 March 2013
  30. ^ "Microsoft Word - 61133.doc" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  31. ^ 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.
  32. ^ Seyler, Dave (March 8, 2013). "Hubbard believes failure will allow it to double in Albany". Television Business Report. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  33. ^ Rooney, Chris (May 29, 2013). "FCC approves sale of WNYA to WNYT". Albany, NY. WNYT NewsChannel 13. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  34. ^ "Microsoft Word - DA-13-1246A1" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  35. ^ "CDBS Print". licensing.fcc.gov.
  36. ^ "FCC 398 Children's Television Programming Report (WEPT-CA)". Federal Communications Commission. September 30, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  37. ^ "New morning news show to begin April 17". The Business Review. April 10, 2006. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  38. ^ Dobrowolski, Tony (May 2, 2013). "Albany NBC-TV affiliate buys station; will sharpen focus on Berkshire news". The Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  39. ^ "WNYT NewsChannel 13". www.facebook.com.
  40. ^ "WNYT, Eagle partner on TV for The Berkshire Minute".
  41. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WNYA". RabbitEars.info.
  42. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
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