WTEN

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 southwest of the Voorheesville section of New Scotland. Owned by Young Broadcasting and operated by Gray Television,[1] the station has studios on Northern Boulevard in Albany. Syndicated programming on WTEN includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Inside Edition, and The Doctors. It can also be seen on W04AE channel 4 in Herkimer from a transmitter between that town and Little Falls.

WCDC-TV in Adams, Massachusetts operates as a full-time satellite. This broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a transmitter on the highest peak in Massachusetts, Mount Greylock. There is no on-air reference to the station but it is mentioned in WTEN's legal ID, EEO public file reports, and on WTEN-DT2 "News 10 Storm Tracker Weather Channel".

WCDC's signal reliably covers the western half of Massachusetts, Southern Vermont, Northern Connecticut, and Southwestern New Hampshire. It can be considered a rim-shot signal into the Springfield/Holyoke, Massachusetts television market. Despite WCDC being located in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Time Warner Cable carries WTEN instead of WCDC.

Digital programming
On WTEN-DT2, Time Warner digital channel 554, and live streaming video on its website is the "News 10 Storm Tracker Weather Channel". On WTEN-DT3 and Time Warner digital channel 1897 is the Retro Television Network (RTV). WCDC's digital signal does not offer those two channels. Instead, Time Warner digital systems in Berkshire County offers those services in the same channel slots.

[edit] History
WTEN began broadcasting on October 14, 1953 as ABC affiliate WROW-TV. It aired an analog UHF channel 41 from a temporary 100 foot (30 m) transmitter in Herkimer. This limited its signal to the immediate area. It went to full power and a permanent antenna tower a few months later. WROW-TV was owned by Hudson Valley Broadcasting Company along with WROW-AM 590. From the day it went on the air, the two stations shared space inside an old retirement home for Nuns (formerly owned by The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet) on a farm dirt road in the town of East Greenbush.

By November 1954, WROW-TV was losing money prompting the company's original owners to sell its 88% controlling stake to a New York City-based syndicate group led by legendary radio broadcaster/author Lowell Thomas and his manager/business partner Frank Smith (who 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 the WROW stations 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 three years later. It switched to CBS in 1955. In the spring of 1956, the channel's call letters were changed to WCDA and a satellite station, WCDB channel 29, in nearby Hagaman was launched to reach areas where the main signal could not.[2]

The calls were changed again to the current WTEN in 1957 when the station moved to VHF channel 10. It initially operated from a transmitter in the Vail Mills section of Mayfield approximately 35 miles west of the Capital District. This was due to its relatively close proximity to WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had concerns that WTEN's signal might interfere with WJAR and held this station to a 170-mile separation requirement to protect WJAR. While the Vail Mills location met the separation requirement, it proved inadequate for serving the Capital District. The FCC eventually allowed a waiver in 1963 which let WTEN move its transmitter closer to Albany in Voorheesville where its signal could be more easily received.[3]

In December 1957, Hudson Valley merged with Durham Television Enterprises, the owners of WTVD in Durham, North Carolina to form Capital Cities Television Corporation (predecessor of Capital Cities Communications) with WTEN as its flagship station. In 1963, the studios of WTEN and WROW-AM were moved to new facilities on the north side of Albany on Northern Boulevard. WTEN remains at this location to this day although the radio station moved out of the facility in 1993. In 1967, the old studios in East Greenbush was burned down by a fire caused by arson.

In 1971, Capital Cities sold WTEN to Poole Broadcasting after it purchased WFIL-TV (now WPVI-TV) in Philadelphia and WNHC-TV (now WTNH) in New Haven, Connecticut. This was because the purchases gave Capital Cities more VHF television stations than the FCC permitted at the time. In 1978, Poole sold WTEN, WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan, and WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island to Knight-Ridder. The new owner signed an affiliation deal with ABC which resulted in WTEN swapping affiliations with WAST (now WNYT). Upon Knight-Ridder's exit from broadcasting in 1989, WTEN and sister station WKRN-TV in Nashville, Tennessee were sold to Young Broadcasting. Because the Young purchases of the two stations plus WTEN satellite WCDC were made through two separate deals, they were consummated more than three months apart.

WTEN signed-on its digital signal on UHF channel 26 in 2004 and began offering high definition service right from the start. This can also be seen on Time Warner digital channel 1810. On October 1, 2007, Young Broadcasting launched the Retro Television Network on a new third digital subchannel of WTEN. This was part of a test of the network with sister stations WBAY-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin and KRON-TV in San Francisco. In an effort to cut costs, the company eliminated ten 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 January 2009, after failing to meet the minimum standards for being listed on NASDAQ, Young Broadcasting was dropped from the exchange.[4] One month later, on February 13, they declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[5] The company planned to auction off its stations in a New York City bankruptcy court on July 14, 2009 but canceled the auction last minute.[6] However, Gray Television (who now operates the station) is currently in talks to purchase WTEN and six other stations from Young Broadcasting.[7] WTEN switched-off analog transmissions on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. It remained on its pre-transition channel 26.[8] Tune to channel 10 using PSIP.[9] [10]

[edit] WCDB
In the spring of 1956, satellite station WCDB on UHF channel 29 in Hagaman was launched to reach areas where the main signal could not.[2] This signed-off in 1957 after the WCDA move rendered WCDB superfluous even though it did provide some primary CBS coverage to Utica. The WCDB call sign would return to the air in 1978 for the student-run radio station at University at Albany.

[edit] WCDC
WCDC began broadcasting on February 5, 1954 as WMGT (Mount Greylock Television) on UHF channel 74. This was a separate 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 UHF channel 19 extending the station's range to the Capital Region of New York State. In February 1956, it was forced off the air when a storm damaged its transmitter tower.[11] When it returned to the air in 1957, the call letters were changed to the current WCDC and the station became second relay of WCDA in Albany. The WMGT call sign has been used on the NBC affiliate in Macon, Georgia since 1983. WCDC's digital signal on UHF channel 36 signed on nearly eighteen months before WTEN's did. However, it did not upgrade to high definition until WTEN-DT signed-on.

[edit] News operation
Current news open seen weeknights at 4.For many years, WRGB was the dominant news station in the Capital District. In 1993, that station was quickly eclipsed by WNYT and for several years in the mid-1990s fell to third place. For the most part, WTEN has stabilized at a steady second place, although for a period in the early-2000s, it fell back to third. WNYT overtook WTEN for the runner-up spot by the late-1980s, and in 1992, scored its first late news victory. At times during the 1990s and 2000s, this station has occasionally finished ahead of WRGB or, more recently, WNYT. In November 2009, WNYT's weeknights newscasts slipped back to third place largely due to that channel's decision to terminate many of its popular personalities.

In 2005, WTEN launched a 24-hour local weather channel, known as the "News 10 Storm Tracker Weather Channel", on a new second digital subchannel. Its regional weather radar is known as "News 10 Storm Tracker HD Doppler". On September 21, 2009, the station began airing the area's only weeknight 4 o'clock newscast.[12] This show features news of the day and weather in addition to features associated with daily issues facing women, children, and families in the Capital Region. As a full-time satellite, WCDC simulcasts all newscasts from WTEN. While there are no separate segments during local broadcasts, there is coverage of Western Massachusetts and Southwestern Vermont.

[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 (1967–1972)
 * Action News (1972–1977)
 * NewsTeam 10 (1977–1980)
 * TV-10 Action News (1980–1985)
 * 10 Eyewitness News (1985–1995)
 * News 10 (1995–present)

Station slogans

 * "The News Team That's Leading the Way in Local News Coverage" (1995–2007)
 * "The News Station" (2007–present)

News Team
Anchors Storm Tracker 10 Meteorologists / Weather Staff Reporters News 10 Contributors
 * Annie Scholz - REPORTER & ANCHORS NEWS10 IN THE MORNING & NEWS10 @ NOON
 * Lydia Kulbida - ANCHORS NEWS10 @ 4pm
 * Elisa Streeter - ANCHORS NEWS10 @ 4pm, 5pm, 5:30pm & 6pm
 * Steve Ammerman - ANCHORS NEWS10 @ 5pm, 5:30pm, 6pm & 11pm
 * Christina Arangio - ANCHORS NEWS10 @ 5pm, 5:30pm, 6pm & 11pm
 * Nicol Lally - REPORTER & ANCHORS NEWS10 ON THE WEEKEND
 * Jamie Seh - ANCHORS NEWS 10 SPORTS @ 6pm & 11pm (1st and Ten host)
 * Steve Caporizzo (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist - Seen on weeknight broadcasts
 * Produces "Ask Steve" and "Pet Connection" segments
 * His weather reports can be heard on WTSA-AM 1450, WTSA-FM 96.7, WTMM-FM 104.5, WGNA-FM 107.7, WQSH-FM 105.7
 * Andy Gregorio (AMS Seal of Approval) - Seen on weekday morning and noon broadcasts
 * Bryan Bachman - Meteorologist for NEWS 10 ON THE WEEKEND, also fills in on weekdays.
 * Craig Flint - Weather Anchor for NEWS 10 ON THE WEEKEND.
 * John McLoughlin - Reporter & Managing Editor (Retired on 2/10/2011)
 * Taryn Fitsik
 * Anya Tucker
 * Marie Luby
 * Demetra Ganias
 * Amy Cutler
 * Steve Pacer
 * Caryn Kennedy - Financial Contributor
 * Abigail Doolittle - Finance Contributor
 * Jay Bobbin - Entertainment Contributor
 * Jeffrey Vahanian - Financial Contributor
 * Dr. Frank Doberman - Medical Contributor
 * Dr. Abha Amin - Medical Contributor
 * Dr. Robert Donohue - Medical Contributor