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45-576: WTEN (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Albany, New York , United States, serving the Capital District as an affiliate of ABC . Owned by Nexstar Media Group , it is a sister station to Fox affiliate WXXA-TV (channel 23, also licensed to Albany), which is operated under a shared services agreement (SSA) with Mission Broadcasting . The two stations share studios on Northern Boulevard in Albany's Bishop's Gate section; WTEN's transmitter

90-400: A New York City –based syndicate group led by legendary radio broadcaster/author Lowell Thomas and his manager/business partner Frank Smith, who became president of the company upon completion of the sale. After the sale, the station switched its affiliation to CBS on February 1, 1955. In the spring of 1956, the station's call letters were changed to WCDA (for "Capital District Albany") and

135-415: A much shorter wavelength, and thus requires a shorter antenna, but also higher power. North American stations can go up to 5000 kW ERP for video and 500 kW audio, or 1000 kW digital. Low channels travel further than high ones at the same power, but UHF does not suffer from as much electromagnetic interference and background "noise" as VHF, making it much more desirable for TV. Despite this, in

180-498: A satellite station, WCDB (channel 29) in nearby Hagaman, New York was launched to reach areas in the northern portion of the market where the main signal did not penetrate. In December 1957, Hudson Valley merged with Durham Broadcasting Enterprises, the owners of WTVD in Durham, North Carolina , to form Capital Cities Television Corporation (predecessor of Capital Cities Communications ) with WCDA as its flagship station. That same year,

225-562: A separate station affiliated with the DuMont network. The tower location on Mount Greylock (part of a state reserve ) 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 channel 19 extending the station's range to the Capital District of New York State. In February 1956, it was forced off the air when a storm damaged its transmitter tower. Capital Cities bought

270-586: A stable second place since then, although for a period in the early 2000s, it fell back to third. At times during the 1990s and 2000s, this station has occasionally finished ahead of WRGB or, more recently, WNYT. In terms of Nielsen ratings , the Capital District has been a very competitive market, with WRGB, WTEN and WNYT waging a spirited battle for first place. In November 2009, WNYT's newscasts slipped back to third place largely resulting from its owner Hubbard Broadcasting deciding to terminate many of its popular news team members. One notable personality let go from

315-458: A temporary transmitter in Herkimer , limiting the signal to the immediate area. The station went to full power and installed a permanent tower next to the studio a few months later. It was originally the Capital District 's ABC affiliate. Within their first year, the station was losing money, and on the verge of bankruptcy . By November 1954, Hudson Valley's shareholders sold controlling interest to

360-425: A variety of ways to generate revenue from television commercials . They may be an independent station or part of a broadcasting network , or some other structure. They can produce some or all of their programs or buy some broadcast syndication programming for or all of it from other stations or independent production companies. Many stations have some sort of television studio , which on major-network stations

405-496: Is non-commercial educational (NCE) and considered public broadcasting . To avoid concentration of media ownership of television stations, government regulations in most countries generally limit the ownership of television stations by television networks or other media operators, but these regulations vary considerably. Some countries have set up nationwide television networks, in which individual television stations act as mere repeaters of nationwide programs . In those countries,

450-470: Is broadcast via terrestrial radio waves. A group of television stations with common ownership or affiliation are known as a TV network and an individual station within the network is referred to as O&O or affiliate , respectively. Because television station signals use the electromagnetic spectrum, which in the past has been a common, scarce resource, governments often claim authority to regulate them. Broadcast television systems standards vary around

495-577: Is located on the Helderberg Escarpment west of New Salem . WTEN formerly operated full-time satellite WCDC-TV (channel 19) in Adams, Massachusetts , with transmitter located on Mount Greylock , the highest peak in Massachusetts. WCDC-TV's signal covered portions of western Massachusetts and southern Vermont that received a marginal to non-existent over-the-air signal from WTEN, although there

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540-792: Is often used for newscasts or other local programming . There is usually a news department , where journalists gather information. There is also a section where electronic news-gathering (ENG) operations are based, receiving remote broadcasts via remote pickup unit or satellite TV . Outside broadcasting vans, production trucks , or SUVs with electronic field production (EFP) equipment are sent out with reporters , who may also bring back news stories on video tape rather than sending them back live . To keep pace with technology United States television stations have been replacing operators with broadcast automation systems to increase profits in recent years. Some stations (known as repeaters or translators ) only simulcast another, usually

585-405: The broadcast range , or geographic area, that the station is limited to, allocates the broadcast frequency of the radio spectrum for that station's transmissions, sets limits on what types of television programs can be programmed for broadcast and requires a station to broadcast a minimum amount of certain programs types, such as public affairs messages . Another form of television station

630-534: The electricity bill and emergency backup generators . In North America , full-power stations on band I (channels 2 to 6) are generally limited to 100 kW analog video ( VSB ) and 10 kW analog audio ( FM ), or 45 kW digital ( 8VSB ) ERP. Stations on band III (channels 7 to 13) can go up by 5 dB to 316 kW video, 31.6 kW audio, or 160 kW digital. Low-VHF stations are often subject to long-distance reception just as with FM. There are no stations on Channel 1 . UHF , by comparison, has

675-604: The Capital District proper. The FCC eventually allowed a waiver in 1963 which let WTEN move its transmitter to Voorheesville , closer to Albany. The new transmitter, located on the Helderberg Escarpment , was on some of the highest ground in the region, giving WTEN a coverage area comparable to that of long-dominant WRGB (channel 6). In 1966, WTEN and WROW moved to new facilities on Albany's northside on Northern Boulevard, where WTEN remains (the WROW radio stations moved out in 1993, ten years after they were sold by Capital Cities). In 1966,

720-622: The FCC allocated two additional VHF channels to Albany, Hudson Valley sought and received permission to move to channel 10. Upon moving to the VHF band, the station's transmitter was moved to Vail Mills , approximately 35 miles (56 km) west of Albany. This was necessary to protect both WHEC-TV/WVET-TV in Rochester and WJAR-TV in Providence, Rhode Island . But the new transmitter proved inadequate for serving

765-448: The FCC's spectrum incentive auction in April 2017, was awarded $ 34,558,086 to agree to take WCDC-TV off the air; at the time, it indicated that WCDC would enter a channel sharing agreement (CSA) to continue providing service to viewers. Nexstar subsequently announced that WCDC would instead go dark December 1, 2017; however, damage to the station's transmission line in a storm would take WCDC off

810-508: The NBC affiliate was Lydia Kulbida who was hired by WTEN in time to help launch the market's only over-the-air weekday local news show at 4 (which occurred on September 21, 2009). On October 26, 2011, WTEN became the second station in Albany to upgrade its newscasts to high definition level. As a full-time satellite of WTEN, WCDC simulcast all newscasts from its parent outlet. Although there were no separate title openings or local cut-ins provided during

855-627: The U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking another large portion of this band (channels 52 to 69) away, in contrast to the rest of the world, which has been taking VHF instead. This means that some stations left on VHF are harder to receive after the analog shutdown . Since at least 1974, there are no stations on channel 37 in North America for radio astronomy purposes. Most television stations are commercial broadcasting enterprises which are structured in

900-522: 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 from the start. On October 1, 2007, Young Broadcasting launched the Retro Television Network (RTV) on a new third digital subchannel of WTEN. This

945-489: The air in 1978 for the student-run radio station at University at Albany . The UHF channel 29 allocation remained in the Albany market until the DTV transition in 2009; however, no other station had used the channel number since WCDB's sign-off. WCDC began broadcasting on February 5, 1954, as WMGT ("Mount Greylock Television") on UHF channel 74, the highest channel number ever used by a full-power U.S. television station. WMGT began as

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990-725: The air on November 19, almost two weeks earlier than scheduled. Nexstar informed the FCC that, due to insufficient time and a lack of available tower crews, the line would not be repaired before the planned shutdown date. Nexstar surrendered the WCDC-TV license for cancellation on February 12, 2018. On December 22, 2017, WAMC entered into an agreement to purchase the Mount Greylock transmitter and tower from Nexstar for just over $ 1 million. Due to sitting on Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (MDCR) land and WTEN's lease having expired two years earlier, WAMC could have been taken off

1035-518: The air without purchasing the facility. WAMC owns the facility itself, but not the land beneath, which is under lease with the MDCR until 2025, and will fundraise in order to rebuild their financial reserves. For most of its history, WTEN was a solid runner-up to WRGB, especially after moving its transmitter to Voorheesville. WNYT overtook WTEN for the runner-up spot by the late 1980s, and in 1992, scored its first late news victory. WTEN has generally remained at

1080-630: The broadcasts, there was coverage of Western Massachusetts and Southwestern Vermont. Since 2001, rival WNYT has been the only Capital District-based television station to operate a bureau in Western Massachusetts (located in Pittsfield ). With the consolidation of WXXA with WTEN, the ABC affiliate took over production of the Fox station's newscasts. The two stations' reporting staffs were merged immediately following

1125-488: The call letters were changed again to WTEN when the station moved to VHF channel 10. By this time, the market had expanded to cover not only east-central New York, but also large swaths of southwestern Vermont and western Massachusetts. Not only is this market one of the largest east of the Mississippi River , but much of it is very mountainous. UHF stations have never covered large areas or rugged terrain very well. When

1170-487: The completion of Shield Media's purchase of WXXA. On January 24, 2013, the Fox outlet dropped its separate weeknight 5 and 11 o'clock newscasts. WXXA's weekday morning newscast (seen 7 to 9 a.m.) and nightly prime time broadcast at 10 were retained as this programming does not directly compete with local news airing on WTEN. The station's signal is multiplexed : WCDC carried WTEN's two subchannels as 19.2 and 19.3 respectively, and they were carried locally in Massachusetts on

1215-518: The digital television repack, WTEN moved from UHF channel 26 to UHF channel 24. Television station The Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow ( TV Station Paul Nipkow ) in Berlin , Germany , was the first regular television service in the world. It was on the air from 22 March 1935, until it was shut down in 1944. The station was named after Paul Gottlieb Nipkow , the inventor of the Nipkow disk . Most often

1260-495: The digital tier of Time Warner Cable , and later its successor, Charter Communications . WTEN shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, 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's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 26; using virtual channel 10. In 2019, during

1305-420: The highest point available in the transmission area, such as on a summit , the top of a high skyscraper , or on a tall radio tower . To get a signal from the master control room to the transmitter, a studio/transmitter link (STL) is used. The link can be either by radio or T1 / E1 . A transmitter/studio link (TSL) may also send telemetry back to the station, but this may be embedded in subcarriers of

1350-570: The license and returned it to the air in 1957 under its final sign, WCDC. (The WMGT callsign is held by an NBC-affiliated station in Macon, Georgia .) After Capital Cities returned WCDC to the air and until it shut down, it served as a straight simulcast of WCDA/WTEN. Due to snow and ice build-up, a tower collapse forced WCDC off the air again in March 1983. Most cable systems on the Vermont and Massachusetts sides of

1395-400: The local television station has no station identification and, from a consumer's point of view, there is no practical distinction between a network and a station, with only small regional changes in programming, such as local television news . To broadcast its programs, a television station requires operators to operate equipment, a transmitter or radio antenna , which is often located at

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1440-419: The main broadcast. Stations which retransmit or simulcast another may simply pick-up that station over-the-air , or via STL or satellite. The license usually specifies which other station it is allowed to carry. VHF stations often have very tall antennas due to their long wavelength , but require much less effective radiated power (ERP), and therefore use much less transmitter power output , also saving on

1485-700: The market picked up WCDC's signal. WTEN's various owners also leased tower space to other entities, including the Massachusetts State Police and competitor WNYT for their area translator station, as well as the area's main NPR station, WAMC-FM . WCDC's digital signal on UHF channel 36 signed on nearly eighteen months before WTEN's did in 2002. However, it did not upgrade to high definition until WTEN-DT signed-on. WCDC shut down its analog signal on channel 19 on June 12, 2009, following WTEN's lead. Citing declining over-the-air viewership, Nexstar Broadcasting, through

1530-460: The old studio in North Greenbush was burned down by an arson fire, but the station's owner donated its old transmitter to WRPI radio . On April 27, 1971, Capital Cities sold WTEN to Poole Broadcasting . Following its purchase of several broadcast properties from Triangle Publications , Capital Cities had to sell off two VHF stations to stay within the FCC's limit of five stations per owner at

1575-476: The programmes seen on its owner's flagship station, and have no television studio or production facilities of their own. This is common in developing countries . Low-power stations typically also fall into this category worldwide. Most stations which are not simulcast produce their own station identifications . TV stations may also advertise on or provide weather (or news) services to local radio stations , particularly co-owned sister stations . This may be

1620-526: The sale was completed on January 17, 2017. In the spring of 1956, satellite station WCDB on UHF channel 29 in Hagaman was launched to reach areas in the northern portion of the market where the main WCDA signal could not reach. This signed off in 1957 after WCDA moved its transmitter closer to Albany, making WCDB redundant even though it did provide some primary CBS coverage to Utica . The WCDB call sign would return to

1665-502: The station's transmission line forced it to end operations two weeks early on November 19. WTEN began broadcasting on October 14, 1953, as WROW-TV on UHF channel 41. It was owned by the Hudson Valley Broadcasting Company, operating alongside WROW radio (590 AM). The two stations shared space inside a former retirement home for nuns on a farm dirt road in the town of North Greenbush , near Troy . It broadcast from

1710-400: The term "television station" refers to a station which broadcasts structured content to an audience or it refers to the organization that operates the station. A terrestrial television transmission can occur via analog television signals or, more recently, via digital television signals. Television stations are differentiated from cable television or other video providers as their content

1755-1068: The time. In mid-1977, Poole sold WTEN and sister stations WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan , and WPRI-TV in Providence to Knight-Ridder , with the deal finalized in 1978. Before the sale could be completed, Knight-Ridder signed an affiliation deal with ABC, which resulted in WTEN swapping affiliations with WAST (channel 13, NBC -affiliated WNYT ) on October 23, 1977, thus returning ABC back to channel 10 (WPRI-TV had switched to ABC from CBS that June and would eventually reaffiliate with CBS in September 1995, nine years after WTEN's former owners, Capital Cities, completed its acquisition of ABC in January 1986). Upon Knight-Ridder's exit from broadcasting in 1989, WTEN and sister station WKRN-TV in Nashville were sold to Young Broadcasting . Since

1800-399: The world. Television stations broadcasting over an analog system were typically limited to one television channel , but digital television enables broadcasting via subchannels as well. Television stations usually require a broadcast license from a government agency which sets the requirements and limitations on the station. In the United States, for example, a television license defines

1845-635: Was announced that the Capital District's Fox affiliate, WXXA-TV, owned by Newport Television , would be sold to Shield Media, LLC (owned by White Knight Broadcasting vice president Sheldon Galloway ) for $ 19.2 million. That company then entered into a shared services agreement with Young Broadcasting resulting in WTEN operating WXXA. On October 23, the FCC granted the transaction. The move was completed on March 23, 2013. Soon afterward, WXXA closed its studios on Corporate Circle in Albany and moved its operations to WTEN. On June 6, 2013, Young Broadcasting announced that it would merge with Media General . The merger

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1890-631: Was approved by the FCC on November 8, after Media General shareholders approved the merger a day earlier; it was completed on November 12. More than two years later, on January 27, 2016, it was announced that the Nexstar Broadcasting Group would buy Media General for $ 4.6 billion. WTEN and the operations of WXXA became part of "Nexstar Media Group". The acquisition resulted in Nexstar owning stations in every television market in Upstate New York;

1935-471: Was dropped from the exchange. One month later, on February 13, they declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company planned to auction off its stations in a New York City bankruptcy court on July 14, 2009, but canceled the auction at the last minute. After multiple issues with RTV operations and programming, Young switched their main subchannel affiliations to ABC's Live Well Network as part of a group deal with Young's other stations in 2012. On July 27, 2012, it

1980-522: Was part of a test of the network with sister stations WBAY-TV in Green Bay and KRON-TV in San Francisco . In an effort to cut costs, the company eliminated ten positions from WTEN on January 31, 2008, fueling speculation 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 listing on NASDAQ , Young Broadcasting

2025-496: Was significant overlap between the two stations' contours otherwise. WCDC-TV was a straight simulcast of WTEN; the only on-air references to the station were the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-mandated hourly legal identifications . Aside from its transmitter, WCDC-TV did not maintain a physical presence in Adams. Nexstar planned to shut down WCDC-TV on December 1, 2017, via the FCC's spectrum incentive auction , but damage to

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