WUTR

WUTR is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Mohawk Valley of Central Upstate New York. Licensed to Utica, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 (PSIP virtual channel 20) from a transmitter at its studios on Smith Hill Road in Deerfield (the official address is Utica). The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 889. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, WUTR is operated through local marketing and joint sales agreements by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group as sister to Fox affiliate WFXV and low-powered MyNetworkTV affiliate WPNY-LP. (all three share studios).Syndicated programming on WUTR includes How I Met Your Mother, The Insider, Entertainment Tonight, and Inside Edition among others.

Digital programming
WPNY does not currently air a digital signal of its own due to low-powered status. Therefore, one is provided in standard definition on a second digital subchannel of WUTR.

History
WUTR signed-on February 28, 1970 as the second television station in the Utica market. Owned by Roy H. Park Communications at the outset, the station originally sought to affiliate with CBSbut was stopped by WHEN-TV (now WTVH) in Syracuse when that outlet claimed the Utica area in its market area. Although WHEN cited potential revenue losses as reasoning for its actions, a rivalry between the Syracuse-based Park and then-WHEN owner Meredith Corporation may have also played a factor. As a result, WUTR joined ABC and it was at that time the only affiliate with the network owned by Park. For the next couple of decades, its stayed at a distant but strong second place behind dominant NBC affiliate WKTV.

Until the 1980s, WUTR was the default ABC affiliate for much of the Watertown market and operated translators both there and in Massena. The translators were shut down after WFYF (now WWTI which later spent several years as a sister station to WUTR) began operations. After Roy Park died in 1993, the future of the group was put into doubt as his estate sold much of the group to corporate investor Gary Knapp who in turn sold the remnants of the Park group to Media General in 1996. With WUTR being one of the smallest of Park's stations and the sole station the group had in the Northeast, Media General spun it off in mid-1997 to the Ackerley Group (then-owner of ABC affiliate WIXT in Syracuse, now WSYR-TV). With the purchase, Ackerley began to build a regional strategy called the "Central New York Station Group" (CNYSG) which eventually covered most of Upstate New York and acquired stations in markets the company did not initially enter.

In October 2001, Clear Channel Communications announced its buyout of Ackerley closing on its purchase in 2002. Though initially no changes took place, market concentration concerns with Clear Channel's radio cluster in the Utica market put WUTR's future under the company in doubt. Given the option between potentially selling WUTR or the four-station "Sports Stars" sports radio simulcast, Clear Channel decided to hack away at this station by cutting budgets and redistributing resources to other stations in the CNYSG. This ultimately resulted in the announcement in December 2003 WUTR would be sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group subsidiary Mission Broadcasting. The sale was completed on April 1, 2004. At that time, Nexstar (owner of WFXV and WPNY) took over operations of WUTR under local marketing and joint sales agreements with the three stations eventually being consolidated into WUTR's studios in Deerfield. It began digital-exclusive transmission on March 16, 2009 continuing to broadcast its digital signal on channel 30. [1] [2] [3] [4] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display its virtual channel as 20.

For a time in December 2010, WUTR was available in the Burlington, Vermont/Plattsburgh, New York area on Time Warner Cable systems after the provider dropped that market's ABC affiliate, WVNY, because of an ongoing retransmission dispute. Rival WKTV, which is co-owned with WVNY, was replaced with Nexstar-owned WBRE-TV from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on Time Warner Cable's systems in Utica for the same reason. [5] Eventually the dispute was resolved and home stations were returned to the cable system. It has traditionally carried Christmas promos accompanied by the station's Christmas-themed music package. WUTR was also known in its coverage area for its "A Visit from St. Nicholas" done by the station's personnel which aired through Christmas during newscasts. Its current holiday cards (also aired on sister stations WFXV and WPNY) are seen in a similar fashion to WKTV and accompanied by the song Winter Wonderland.

News operation
For its entire history, NBC affiliate WKTV has been the dominant station in Utica because it was the first to sign-on and is the only outlet on the VHF dial. However, WUTR was most competitive with that station in the mid-1990s. After Clear Channel began cutting back this station's operations, it became more reliant on content originating from its sister stations in Upstate New York particularly flagship WIXT in Syracuse. WUTR ended its weekday morning and weekend newscasts in June 2002. A new weekday morning show known as Daybreak debuted a month later which was simulcasted on WIVT (in Binghamton) and WWTI. The broadcast was produced by WIXT at its studios in Syracuse and included brief updates, focusing on Utica, twice an hour from 5 to 7. However, most coverage presented was regional with area wide weather forecasts. Weeknight newscasts and the remaining news department at WUTR was shut down entirely on August 1, 2003. For the rest of Clear Channel's ownership, the station simulcasted news from WIXT providing some limited coverage of the Mohawk Valley. [6] [7]

Since WTVH's acquisition by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation in June 1993, that station has not really taken advantage of its status as Utica's de-facto CBS affiliate in terms of advertising opportunities and news coverage in the area. Although WSTM-TV (which took over WTVH's news operations in 2009) carries substantial news stories from Herkimer County, WKTV is the only locally-based station to offer newscasts. Your News Now, Time Warner's cable-only station in Upstate New York, covers the area from a Syracuse-based newsroom but with more regional content. Currently, meteorologists from sister station WROC-TV in Rochester provide WUTR with weekday morning weather cut-ins during Good Morning America from 7 until 9. There is also a locally-produced "Ask The Expert" segment seen at 7:25 and 8:25 during the national morning show in addition to other website features.

After the sale to Mission Broadcasting, speculation circulated of starting a combined news department for WUTR as well as sister stations WFXV and WPNY. However, no progress was made until March 31, 2011 when Nexstar announced the company would establish a news operation for the three stations by mid-September of this year. It will invest $1 million for new equipment and the hiring of twelve employees. On weeknights, there will be an early evening show at 6 on WUTR which will be repeated at 7 on WPNY. Although it will not air live, the latter program will be the only offering of local news in the time slot since there is no broadcast seen on WKTV. Late night newscasts will be seen at 10 (on WFXV) and at 11 (on WUTR). The prime time show on WFXV will feature a separate news team and be presented in a fast-paced format to attract Fox's younger viewers. [8] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[9] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[10] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[11]

Newscast titles

 * NewsWatch 20 (1970–1981)
 * TV-20 Eyewitness News (1981–1993)
 * WUTR-TV Eyewitness News (1993–1995)
 * WUTR Eyewitness News (1995–1997)
 * NewsChannel 20 (1997–2001)
 * WUTR Channel 20 (2001-August 2003)

Station slogans

 * "TV-20`s The One" (1977-1978 and 1979-1980; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "We`re The One On TV-20" (1978-1979; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "You and Me and TV-20" (1980-1981; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Now is The Time, TV-20 is the Place" (1981-1982; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Come on Along with TV-20" (1982-1983; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "That Special Feeling on TV-20" (1983-1984; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "We`re With You on TV-20" (1984-1985; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "You`ll Love It on TV-20" (1985-1986; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Something`s Happening on TV-20" (1987-1990; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Here For You!" (1988–1993)
 * "Utica`s Watching TV-20" (1990-1992; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "It Must Be TV-20" (1992-1993; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Local Coverage You Can Count On" (1994–1995)
 * "Still Here For You!" (1995–1997)
 * "Coverage You Can Count On" (1995–2003)

Former staff

 * Anthony Adornato - now a journalism professor at Ithaca College
 * Pat Bailey - weeknight 6 and 11 o'clock Director (now at WKTV)
 * Bob Bandilion (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist seen weekdays at noon, 5, and 6
 * Kylie Bennett
 * Gene Brink
 * Anna Bronk - news anchor weeknights at 5
 * Mike Cameron - now at WNEM-TV
 * Chris Carlsen
 * Kathy Contino-Turner - News Director and anchor
 * Ed Coyle
 * Tom Coyne - sports anchor, now at WKTV-TV
 * John DiPasquale - now at WXXA-TV
 * Mark Dudek
 * Tony Falvo - engineer
 * Tim Ferlito
 * Kam Fong
 * John Giacomo
 * Lisa Gilbert - sports reporter and Operation Overtime host
 * Melissa Godshall - weeknights at 11
 * Allan Harris - early 1970s (now at WBEN-AM)
 * Erik Heden - now at National Weather Service
 * Greg Horine
 * Ted Hoton
 * Paul Kennedy - former Vice President and General Manager
 * Rob King
 * Bill Knowles
 * Sukanya Krishnan - now at WPIX
 * Emeril Lagasse - food expert
 * Bill Lambdin - now at WNYT
 * Paul MacEnroe - 1980s weekend sports anchor
 * Natalie Martinez
 * Brendan McDonough - reporter
 * Steve McMurray - Sports Director seen weeknights, Operation Overtime host, News Director, and news anchor weeknights at 5 (now at WKTV)
 * Luke Michaels
 * Susan Nackley-Mojave
 * Kevin Nathan - early 1990s sports anchor
 * Cheryl Nelson
 * Hillary Norman
 * Steve Osterhaus - now at YNN
 * Tammy Palmer - now at YNN
 * Dave Phoenix - former Operations Manager and Program Director
 * Colleen Reilly - now at WWBT
 * John Ringstad
 * Scott Reiss - news anchor weeknights at 5
 * Andy Ryan - news anchor weekdays at noon and 5
 * Steve Sands
 * Allison Seymore - now at WTTG
 * Adam Shadoff - now at KRQE
 * Don Shipman - weekday morning news anchor (now at WKTV)
 * Stacy Simms
 * Lisa Spitz - now at WSTM-TV
 * John Swann - news director, news anchor weekdays at 5 - now at SUNYIT
 * Jess Torpey - now at News 14 Carolina
 * Chris Watson
 * Tiffanie Wong
 * Kristen Wright
 * Bob Van Dillen - now at CNN
 * Rocco Vertuccio - now at NY1