WNYT (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Albany, New York, United States, serving the Capital District as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting alongside WNYA (channel 51), an independent station with MyNetworkTV. The two stations share studios on North Pearl Street in Menands (with an Albany postal address); WNYT's primary transmitter is located on the Helderberg Escarpment west of New Salem.
This station began broadcasting on February 28, 1954, on UHF channel 35 as WTRI, originally licensed to nearby Schenectady. It was a secondary affiliate of CBS, with WRGB (channel 6) having first-call rights on network programs. The Capital District had originally been assigned just one channel in the then-superior VHF band, which belonged to the established WRGB. Two UHF stations, WTRI and WROW-TV (channel 41), struggled for viability at a time when the UHF band had poorer reception and not all televisions could tune UHF stations, and thus fought for the addition of VHF channels to the Albany area. On January 31, 1955, when WROW-TV picked up the CBS affiliation, WTRI left the air. It returned the next year as the ABC affiliate. Two years later, channels 10 and 13 were authorized to be reassigned to Albany for use by channel 41 (which became WCDA-TV and then WTEN) and channel 35. In 1959, WTRI moved to channel 13 and became WAST. The new channel 13 had short-spacing limitations to the south, to protect channel 13 in the New York City area, which limited the station's coverage area and earning potential.
For years, WAST was the third-place station in ratings in Albany television, a situation reflected by its being abandoned by networks twice within five years for stronger stations. In 1977, ABC moved to WTEN, leaving WAST to become the CBS affiliate. CBS then defected to WRGB in 1981, leaving a then-third-rated NBC network to affiliate with channel 13. Viacom, which had acquired the station between the two switches, used the 1981 switch to reset the station's image, including the new call sign WNYT. Viacom's steady investment in the station saw it rise in the local news ratings, first to second place in the mid-1980s and then to first toward the end of its ownership. The increasing use of cable television aided channel 13 by equalizing its signal difficulties.
In 1996, Viacom traded WNYT and WHEC-TV in Rochester to Hubbard in exchange for that company's WTOG in Florida. Under Hubbard, WNYT has remained competitive in the Albany market. With the digital television transition in the 2000s, WNYT moved its transmitter in with other Albany-market stations. WNYA was acquired in 2013, forming a duopoly. The station broadcasts 36 hours a week of local news programming.
WTRI: The UHF years Survival on two fronts On April 11, 1952, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted a self-imposed freeze on television applications through the adoption of the Sixth Report and Order, addressing the necessity for additional channels with the addition of ultra high frequency (UHF) broadcasting. The three primary cities of New York's Capital District—Albany, Schenectady and Troy—received a total of five allocations: WRGB in Schenectady was ordered to move from very high frequency (VHF) channel 4 to 6 because of new mileage separations; UHF channels 17 (reserved for educational use), 23, and 41 were available to any community within the immediate Albany–Schenectady–Troy area, while channel 35 was restricted to only Schenectady to avoid possible interference with channel 42 at Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Two groups filed with the FCC for channel 35 at Schenectady: the Champlain Valley Broadcasting Corporation, in which Meredith Publishing held an interest; and the Van Curler Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of Fabian Enterprises, a New York City-based theater chain who owned the Stanley Warner group of theaters. Van Curler and Champlain Valley had both previously applied for channel 9 prior to the FCC freeze in 1948, as had two other companies: Patroon Broadcasting, a subsidiary of the Schine Theatre chain, owners of WPTR in Albany; and Troy Broadcasting, owners of WTRY in Troy, both of whom now sought channel 23. Troy Broadcasting president Harry C. Wilder was a former owner of WSYR in Syracuse, New York; following the sale of the station to S.I. Newhouse in 1947, he remained president of WSYR and its television sister, WSYR-TV, until leaving his post in September 1952.
Champlain Valley had been operating WXKW in Albany under a construction permit since 1948 because of difficulties with its six-tower directional array, causing complaints of interference from WHDH in Boston and KOA in Denver. Looking for a way out of incurring further expenses with operating WXKW and seeking a TV construction permit, a deal was brokered between the four companies after channels 23 and 35: Champlain Valley would sell the assets of WXKW to the three other parties for $300,000, with Patroon to pay $150,000 and Van Curler and WTRY to pay $75,000 each, after which the radio station would cease operations; in return, Champlain Valley would relinquish its bid for channel 35. WTRY and Van Curler, in turn, would then file a joint bid for channel 35, thereby leaving Patroon uncontested for channel 23. This deal was approved by the FCC on June 11, 1953, and re-affirmed on July 23 when the FCC rejected a protest by WABY in Albany. WABY had alleged the parties stifled competition through a merger agreement and questioned whether the involvement of the Schine and Stanley Warner theatre interests in channels 23 and 35 would result in a "tendency to monopolize the media of mass communications". Wilder was named president of the combined WTRY–Van Curler operation. WXKW left the air on July 31, with five station staff joining WPTR.
Channel 35, granted the call sign WTRI, won FCC approval that October to construct a transmission tower on Mount Rafinesque (Bald Mountain), northeast of Troy; permission to operate a temporary studio from the transmission site followed in January, after an earlier application to locate its studios in Menands, near Albany, was denied by the FCC; WTRI contended that operating from studios in Schenectady would cause its microwave relay to be disturbed by airplanes from Albany International Airport. WROW-TV (channel 41) in Albany opposed WTRI's Menands application, stating that as the channel 35 permit was for Schenectady, it should operate there, and that a second station in Albany would greatly affect WROW-TV's business. Undeterred, WTRI petitioned the FCC the following month to assign the channel 35 license to Albany–Schenectady–Troy, rather than Schenectady alone; the petition stated that, since the Greenfield, Massachusetts, allocation had moved from channel 42 to 58 on September 30, 1953, as a result of an error in constructing the original Television Table of Assignments, the limitation no longer applied to channel 35 in the Capital District.
While awaiting the results of the petition, WTRI began broadcasting on February 28, 1954, transmitting from a tower in Mount Rafinesque, operating with 262,000 watts average effective radiated power, with temporary studios there. WTRI originally operated as a secondary CBS affiliate, sharing programs with WRGB. Syndicated programs filled out other parts of WTRI's prime time schedule, including Liberace's half-hour program on Mondays and an hour-long professional wrestling program, Ringside with the Rasslers, on Wednesdays. Local programming during WTRI's first year included programs on golfing and skiing, telecasts of ice hockey matches from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Sheriff of Cactus County, with program director Fred Shavor introducing Western films as the title character. A mixed-breed dog, Teddy, who was found outside WTRI's transmitter building shortly after starting operations, began appearing in close-ups during the program and soon became a fan favorite; Teddy eventually became a regular part of the cast.
On May 12, 1954, the FCC granted WTRI's petition to reclassify it as an Albany–Schenectady–Troy station. On July 7, WTRI changed its city of license to Albany and received FCC approval to permanently house its studios in Menands; WROW-TV once again protested the move but withdrew its final protest in September. On November 1, WTRI moved into its new studios at North Pearl Street.
Despite the victory over WROW-TV, two events over the next few months would test WTRI's long-term survival. On October 14, 1954, it was reported that a consortium led by CBS commentator Lowell Thomas, a resident of Pawling, made an offer to purchase a controlling interest in the Hudson Valley Broadcasting Corporation, the parent of WROW-TV-AM. Frank J. Smith, former president of the State Tax Commission, Thomas's business manager and part of the consortium, hinted at the possibility of WROW-TV taking the CBS affiliation from WTRI should the FCC approve the deal. The offer was approved on November 3, with the Thomas group paying $298,800 for 83 percent of the company.
Immediately after the sale, WROW-TV, looking to improve service in the region, requested the addition of VHF channel 10 at Vail Mills, northwest of Schenectady, to the Television Table of Assignments. The station contended it was the only available area within the Capital District at least from any viable VHF channel. WTRI made a counter-proposal on November 17, asking the FCC to shift all commercial television in the Capital District to the UHF band by shifting the educational reservation to channel 6 and forcing WRGB to move to a UHF channel.
On December 3, WTRI filed a petition with the FCC to stay the approval of the sale of the WROW stations to the Thomas group and to call for a hearing on the matter. WTRI, who had been informed by CBS that its affiliation agreement had been withdrawn, described Thomas as a member of the CBS organization and charged that a "secret understanding" existed between Hudson Valley and CBS under which WTRI would soon lose its secondary CBS affiliation to WROW-TV; furthermore, WTRI general manager Richard B. Wheeler charged that WROW-TV salesmen damaged WTRI's business by telling WTRI's advertisers and local advertising agencies that WTRI's loss of CBS affiliation and WROW-TV's move to channel 10 would be inevitable. WTRI also called for an antitrust investigation, alleging that CBS would have "effective control" of the WROW stations. While the plea asking immediate relief was rejected by the FCC on December 22, two other phases of the petition—whether contractual or business relationships between Thomas and CBS violated FCC ownership rules, and whether existing understandings concerning network affiliations violated the Sherman or Clayton antitrust acts—were scheduled for oral arguments; originally scheduled for January 24, 1955, the hearings were postponed several times and were eventually scheduled for May 9, 1955.
The hearings did not bar WROW-TV from signing an affiliation agreement with CBS on December 30, 1954, assuming WTRI's secondary affiliation with CBS effective February 1; channel 41 retained its affiliation agreements with ABC and the DuMont Television Network. With no available network affiliations, WTRI announced it would sign off on January 31, 1955. 40 employees were laid off; Wilder helped them find work at other television stations, including WPRO-TV in Providence, Rhode Island. Teddy, the canine co-star of Sheriff of Cactus County, received many adoption offers after the station went dark; he eventually settled with a family on Lawn Avenue in Albany several blocks from the studio.
Dark times and deintermixture