WVNY

Overview
On cable, it can be seen on channel 4 on Comcast (in Vermont) and Charter (in New York State). WVNY can also be seen on analog repeater W09BB channel 9 in Schroon Lake, New York. This has a transmitter near the town's airport and does not currently have an application to air a digital signal. Like the other network stations that serve Plattsburgh and Burlington, it has a large audience in Southern Quebec, Canada. This includes Montreal, a city that is ten times more populous than all of WVNY's entire American viewing area combined.

It remains the only Champlain Valley channel identifying on-air as "Burlington/Plattsburgh/Montreal" to acknowledge a large cable viewership in Canada. On Vidéotron in the city, it can be seen on channel 22. It can also be seen on Illico channel 51 and in high definition on digital channel 651.

History
WVNY began on August 19, 1968 airing an analog on UHF channel 22. It was the first station in the area to air live broadcasts in color. In 1971, it switched its call letters to WEZF-TV to match its sister FM radio station. In 1982, the calls were switched back to WVNY. The station maintained studios on Farrell Street off Shelburne Road (U.S. 7) in South Burlington. WVNY was the host station for the 1980 Winter Olympics and the famous Miracle on Ice ice hockey game between the United States and Soviet Union.

For many years it, had to compete against fellow ABC affiliate WMTW-TV in Portland, Maine whose transmitter on Mount Washington covered most of Vermont. That station had been the ABC affiliate of record for the market until this channel signed-on and stayed on many of the area's cable systems well into the 1980s.

From the 1980s until 1995, WVNY dropped ABC's General Hospital in favor of cartoons and aired Boston Red Sox baseball games on Friday nights. Viewers could still see General Hospital on CFCF-TV in Montreal. For a time, the station aired Canadian Football League football games. During the 1990s, it frequently dropped network programming in favor of infomercials. As a result, several ABC shows were never seen in Montreal. Before WVNY was purchased by Lambert Broadcasting, it would pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live for the same purpose (at first only the last half hour of the show but later the whole hour). In 2004, WVNY became sister station to WFFF after Lambert Broadcasting acquired this channel and entered into an LMA with Smith Media, the owner of WFFF. That company then moved WVNY into that station's Colchester facilities.

WVNY-DT on channel 13 became the first VHF high definition station in the market when it signed-on in 2006. The station became digital-only effective February 17, 2009. On that date, WVNY-DT remained on its current pre-transition channel assignment, VHF channel 13, identifying as channel 22.1 via PSIP. It has had difficulty achieving equivalent coverage with its digital signal compared to analog channel 22 raising concerns that some parts of Vermont will be left without a full-power ABC affiliate. This turned out to be the case for Enosburg, Vermont in Franklin County. The channel 22 position was given to CBS affiliate WCAX-TV for its digital operation.

During the analog era and for a time after the digital transition, WVNY operated a total of five additional repeater signals. Originally, WSYR-TV in Syracuse, New York served Massena and Malone. On September 23, 1987, this was replaced by new sign-on WWTI in Watertown. However, both stations were available in Massena and Malone for a short time. Eventually, WVNY added repeater station W60AF on channel 60 in Malone. However, this has since been shut down. W09BB channel 9 in Schroon Lake is the only one that remains of the translator network to this day. Due to its low-powered status, this was exempt from switching to digital on June 12, 2009.

News operation
News open.WVNY has made several attempts at airing newscasts but none of them ever made any headway in the ratings against WCAX and NBC affiliate WPTZ. Besides the difficulties of being the youngest network affiliate in the market, it was a UHF station in an area that is very mountainous. These stations usually do not get good reception in rugged terrain. WVNY's last and best attempt at operating a news department began in August 1999 and had newscasts known as ABC 22 News. However due to financial troubles, news production was shut down on September 12, 2003. This resulted in the termination of 25 personnel. From that point, WCAX and WPTZ operated well established news operations. WCAX has traditionally had a Vermont focus in coverage while WPTZ tends to cover more from New York State.

In 2005 after WVNY moved into WFFF's studios, Smith Media made an announcement that it was planning to start a news department for the two stations. After the creation of The CW and WFFF airing that network's programming at 10 p.m., there was some doubt as to the status of the news operation launch. In mid-July 2007 however, planning for a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on WFFF started with the posting of jobs on that channel's website. This development related to the fact that The CW moved to WFFF-DT2 instead of airing at 10 in a delayed manner on the main channel. On November 26, advertisements started appearing on WVNY and WFFF for the launch of the 10 p.m. show which occurred on December 3.

On March 3, 2008, WFFF began to produce a weeknight and Saturday 7 o'clock broadcast on WVNY known as Fox 44 Local News on ABC. As a result, this station became first in the area to offer news at that time. The move to launch the production was due in part to the tough competition of news at 6 on WCAX and WPTZ. As is the case on WFFF, the WVNY news is aired in high definition. The Saturday edition eventually moved to 6:30 which has been the case on Sundays to accommodate ABC programming. The WVNY broadcasts mark the return of local news on the station since it shut down its own news department. The only "ABC 22" identification seen during the news is in the intro package and the "bug" in the bottom right corner of the screen.

On August 18, 2008, WFFF began airing a two-hour long weekday morning show known as Fox 44 Local News This Morning. Included in the launch were local cut-ins on WVNY during its airing of Good Morning America. This occurs at :25 and :55 past the hour and the two stations simulcast each other. Eventually, an additional hour of the broadcast starting at 6 was added to WVNY. Due to the relatively new status of the shared news department, there is a Vermont focus in coverage. During weather segments, WVNY and WFFF use live NOAA National Weather Service radar data from three regional sites. It is presented on-screen as "Sky Tracker HD Triple Doppler". Weather forecasts from this station can be heard on: WSNO-AM 1450, WMOO-FM 92.1/W257AU-FM 99.3, WDOT-FM 95.7, WWFY-FM 100.9, WCPV-FM 101.3, WEXP-FM 101.5/WTHK-FM 100.7/W264AB-FM 104.7, and WORK-FM 107.1.

Newscast titles

 * NewsCenter 22 (1980s-1999)
 * ABC 22 News (1999-2003)
 * Fox 44 Local News on ABC (evenings, 2008-present)

Station slogans

 * "You'll Love it on TV 22" (1985-1986, localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Something's Happening on TV 22" (1987-1990, localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Everyone is Watching TV 22" (1990-1992, localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "If It's Burlington/Plattsburgh, It Must Be TV 22" (1992-1993, localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Vermont & New York's ABC Station" (2004-2007)
 * "Start Here" (2007-present, localized version of ABC ad campaign)

News team
Anchors Sky Tracker HD Meteorologists Sports Reporters Photographers
 * TBD - weekday mornings
 * Greg Navarro - weeknights
 * Lauren Maloney - weeknights
 * Nicole Estaphan - weekends and reporter
 * Nick Johnston - weeknights
 * Kerrin Jeromin - weekday mornings
 * Steven Glazier - weekends
 * Kristian Read - Director seen weeknights
 * Varun Sriram - weekends
 * Brandon Hudson - sports and news reporter
 * Rachael Kent
 * Matt Austin
 * Mitch Pittman
 * Natalie Paterson
 * Tyson Foster - weekday mornings
 * Bob Conley
 * Steve Longchamp
 * Kyle DuBreuil

Past personnel
Anchors Meteorologists Sports Reporters Others
 * Judy Simpson - weeknights at 6
 * now weekday morning anchor at WCAX-TV
 * Eric Greene - weeknights at 6 and 11
 * News Director and Executive Producer
 * now weekday morning anchor and talk host at News 12 Connecticut
 * Meredith Allan - weekday mornings
 * health and feature reporter
 * Carrie Blake - weekends and reporter
 * Nicole L'Huillier - weekends and reporter
 * Lara Yamada - weekends and reporter
 * now weeknight anchor at KITV
 * Elissa Burnell - weekends and reporter
 * Tabitha Soren - weeknights and reporter
 * Former MTV News correspondent
 * Tim Drawbridge - Chief seen weeknights
 * now weekend morning meteorologist at WNYT
 * Randy Mann - Chief seen weeknights
 * now fill-in meteorologist for KREM-TV
 * Dan Skeldon - Chief seen weeknights and weather reporter
 * now Chief at WMGM-TV
 * Chris Silveri - weekends and video journalist
 * now at WRGB-TV
 * Rich Hoffman - weekends
 * now seen on weekday mornings and noon at News 12 Long Island
 * Mark Tarello - now chief at KEYC-TV
 * Andrew Catalon - Director seen weeknights
 * now news anchor and reporter at WNYT
 * Leo Doyle - Director seen weeknights
 * Jason Barr - weekends
 * was weekday afternoon news anchor at WMBF-TV
 * Bill Voth - weekends and sports reporter
 * now same position at WSOC-TV
 * Keith Baldi - now at WMTW
 * Ruth Dwyer - "A Hard Look" segment producer
 * Anya Huneke - now reporter at NECN
 * Carl Leimer - now reporter at WVEC
 * Brendan McDonough - reporter and photographer
 * Ron Mott - fill-in anchor
 * now NBC News correspondent based in Atlanta
 * Kelly Reardon - went to Boston College Law School
 * Eszter Vajda - now at UNC-TV
 * Jenny Rizzo - now at WKBW-TV
 * Michael Henrich - now at KOKH-TV
 * Ben Kennedy - now at WPLG
 * Kelly LaVoie
 * Jaimarie Ely
 * Ken Schreiner - first News Director
 * now independent filmmaker based in Utah
 * Bill Colley - News Director
 * Peter Speciale - final News Director
 * now producer at Bloomberg Television
 * Travis Altman - producer
 * Barrie Dunsmore - "Views From Vermont" segment producer
 * retired ABC News correspondent
 * Courtney Davis - Chief Photographer
 * Dan Ferrigan - photographer
 * now filmmaker at Dungby Productions in Boston
 * Michael Ollendorff - photographer
 * now photographer at WESH-TV
 * Chuck Brame