WNYT (TV) - News Operation

News Operation

For many years, WNYT was a distant third in the area behind WRGB and WTEN. This was not only because it was the youngest station in the market but also because of its signal issues. Under Viacom ownership, the station expanded and modernized its studios, newsroom, and offices (including the market's first modern computers), becoming a factor in the Capital District ratings for the first time. The company also made a significant investment in electronic equipment including a satellite receiving news truck. Investment in talent increased with the building of its own talent and acquiring key personalities from other stations in the area.

WNYT had overtaken WTEN for the runner-up spot by the late-1980s, and in 1992, scored its first late news victory. Gradually, the station overtook longtime leader WRGB in other time slots. In Viacom's last sweeps period owning WNYT, the station won every time slot. It remained the overall market leader under Hubbard ownership until mid-2009 when it lost the lead weeknights at 11 to WRGB in the May 2009 sweeps period. In November 2009, WNYT's weekday evening newscasts slipped to third place largely due to the station's decision to terminate many of its popular personalities. Since then, it has regained the lead in most newscasts.

Two years after Hubbard bought WNYT, it won the distinction of being the first and only station outside of New York City to win a regional Emmy award for best newscast in New York State. With the re-branding of the station's newscasts from News 13 to NewsChannel 13 in 1991, WNYT became the first station to use the "Live. Local. Late Breaking." tag line slogan which is now commonplace throughout the country.

In the mid-1990s, the station began an alliance with PBS affiliate WMHT. This led to WNYT producing several programs for WMHT including semi-regular town hall meetings, the weekly call-in show Health LINK (which continues today) and for two years the market's first 10 p.m. newscast on WMHT's then-secondary station WMHQ (now WCWN). This production was canceled due to a lack of support. From 2001 until 2004, WNYT also maintained a joint sales agreement (JSA) with Pax affiliate WYPX that included rebroadcasts of newscasts and local non-news programming. In 2001, WNYT opened the Berkshire County Bureau on South Church Street in Downtown Pittsfield to cover the Massachusetts side of the market. At that time, the bureau was the first of a Capital District station. After forging an alliance with the (Glens Falls) Post-Star, the Saratoga/North Country Bureau was opened on Broadway in Downtown Saratoga Springs in early-2004.

In December 2005, WNYT began broadcasting NBC Weather Plus on its second digital subchannel with a full launch coming two months later on Time Warner digital channel 556. On March 24, 2008, WNYT replaced its weekday noon news with an hour-long broadcast at 11 in the morning entitled Midday. Family Feud, which originally aired for a half-hour at that time, moved to the noon time slot and was eventually dropped. WNYT operates its own weather radar, known as "NewsChannel 13 First Warning Live Doppler" at its former analog transmitter site on Bald Mountain.

On April 24, 2012, WNYT became the third station in Albany to launch newscasts into high definition. Although three other Hubbard-owned stations have already been broadcasting their local news shows in 16:9 widescreen, WNYT is only the second Hubbard-owned station (after company flagship KSTP-TV in Saint Paul, Minnesota) to have made the upgrade to full high definition level.

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