WNAC-TV

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WNAC-TV
Providence, Rhode Island / New Bedford, Massachusetts
Branding	FOX Providence
Slogan	First On FOX Providence
Channels	64 (UHF) analog, 54 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	FOX (primary) MyNetworkTV (secondary)
Owner	LIN TV (WNAC, LLC)
Founded	August 29, 1953 (as WNET) September 5, 1981 (current WSTG/WNAC)
Former callsigns	WNET (1953-56) WSTG (1981-86)
Former affiliations	DuMont, ABC (1953-1956), Independent station (1981-1986)
Website	eyewitnessnewstv.com

WNAC-TV "FOX Providence" is a primary FOX and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliated station for the Providence, RI-New Bedford, MA television market. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 64 and its digital signal on UHF channel 54. The station is operated by the LIN TV Corporation as sister station to CBS affiliate WPRI-TV, however it is technically owned by WNAC, LLC in order to comply with FCC regulations that prohibits any company from owning two of the four highest ranking TV stations within a market area (in this case, WNAC cannot be co-owned directly with WPRI). Its transmitter is located in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and it shares a studio with WPRI in East Providence, Rhode Island. WNAC shares its website with WPRI.

WNAC carries a daily 10 PM newscast produced by sister station WPRI, titled Eyewitness News First on FOX Providence. During the weather portion of the newscast, the channel bug goes away, and the segment is labeled as the "Live Pinpoint Doppler 12 Futurecast" which refers to WPRI's doppler radar. The weathercast uses WPRI logos and forcast maps.

WNAC offers a 24-hour weather channel called Eyewitness News Pinpoint Weather Station on its DT2 subchannel and Cox Communications digital cable channel 106. [1] The weather channel is also offered on WPRI's DT2 subchannel. [2] Overnight on the weekends, when the main channels of WNAC and WPRI sign off, they simulcast the 24-hour weather channel.

Contents 1 History 1.1 As WNET-TV 1.2 As WSTG 2 Secondary MyNetworkTV Affiliation 2.1 Logos 3 Newscasts 3.1 Weekdays 3.2 Weekends 4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] As WNET-TV

The station's call letters were WNET-TV when it first signed on August 29, 1953. At that time, the station existed on channel 16 and was an ABC affiliate with a secondary DuMont affiliation. However, WNET struggled against dominant WJAR-TV because television manufacturers didn't have to include UHF tuning capability. To watch WNET, viewers had to buy an expensive converter, but even then picture was marginal at best. It didn't help matters that WBZ-TV and WNAC-TV in Boston both decently covered Providence.

The station's death knell, however, came when WPRO-TV (channel 12, now WPRI), signed on in 1955. Although WPRO was a CBS affiliate, ABC allowed it to cherry-pick some of ABC's most popular programming despite the fact that WNET was the ABC affiliate of record in the area. This move by ABC proved fatal for WNET, which had been badly undercapitalized from the start. With DuMont in its death throes and few other choices for programming available, WNET went off the air almost unnoticed in 1956.

The channel 16 license remained active for 25 years, largely because the FCC was wary of deleting silent UHF stations. In the 1960s, the FCC reassigned channels 14-20 for two-way radio use, and the license was moved to channel 64. However, the licensee remained "Channel 16 of Providence" for many years.

The WNET calls were picked up by the PBS station in New York City in 1970. At some point between then and 1980, channel 64 changed its calls to WSTG.

[edit] As WSTG

WSTG returned to the air on September 5, 1981, after a 25-year absence. For a while it ran religious programs, pre-1948 movies and old cartoons. It was only on the air two hours a day to cover the license. The station finally began full-time operations in 1984, after "Channel 16 of Providence" finally sold the station. It was the first general-entertainment independent in Rhode Island.

While WSTG got modest ratings, financial problems led WSTG's owners to sell the station again two years later, this time to Sudbrink Broadcasting, who changed the calls to the current WNAC-TV. Ironically, the WNAC-TV calls had last been used on channel 7 in Boston, which had been one of the stations that indirectly caused WNET's demise in 1956. That station is now WHDH-TV.

Under Sudbrink, WNAC-TV ran a lot of cartoons as well as some more recent sitocms, more recent movies, and a lot of drama shows. It became one of the charter affiliates for Fox in 1987. That year the station was sold to Price Communications. It was then sold to Northstar Television in 1989.

In the 1990's WNAC began to add more talk/reality shows to its lineup. The station was sold to Argyle Television in 1993. In 1996, Argyle entered into a local marketing agreement with WPRI-TV (then owned by Clear Channel) in which WPRI would take over the station's operations, and WNAC's operations were subsequently moved to WPRI's facility. Ironically again, WPRI's sign-on in 1955 as WPRO had been the death knell for WNET in 1956.

In 1998, after Argyle merged with Hearst Corporation's broadcasting unit (creating Hearst-Argyle Television), it sold WNAC to Sunrise Television due to a significant signal overlap with WCVB-TV in Boston, whose city-grade signal reaches Providence. FCC regulations at the time did not allow common ownership of two stations with overlapping city-grade signals.

Sunrise bought WPRI from Clear Channel in 2000 and sold WNAC to LIN Television in early 2001. When Sunrise merged with LIN in 2002, LIN transferred WNAC's license to an employee/investor group, but continues to operate the station today.

[edit] Secondary MyNetworkTV Affiliation

On February 22, 2006, FOX announced that it would start up a new brodacast television newtork called MyNetworkTV, which launched on September 5, 2006. This new sister network to FOX is operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division, Twentieth Television. MNTV was created to go up against another new broadcast television network, The CW, which is the result of The WB and UPN networks merging. MNTV was also created in order to give UPN and WB stations another option besides becoming a CW affiliate or an independent station. WLWC, which had been a primary UPN and secondary WB affiliate, has become the Providence-New Bedford CW affiliate. The CW launched on September 18, 2006.

On the main MyNetworkTV website, it has listed WNAC as being an affiliate since August 11, 2006, [3] and on August 24, 2006, it was confirmed that WNAC would become a secondary affiliate of the network. [4] On WNAC's programming website, information about the two primetime shows of MNTV have been added. [5] WNAC delays the broadcast of the MNTV primetime programming until 11:30 PM during the week and 1:30 AM on Saturdays. There is no separate logo or website for the secondary affiliation.

[edit] Logos

WNAC-TV 64 logo used from 1988-1989 season, the 64 font remained the same until Fall of 1995.

WNAC FOX 64 logo used from 1997-2002.

Current FOX Providence logo used since 2002.

Logo for WNAC DT2's Pinpoint Weather Channel.

[edit] Newscasts

[edit] Weekdays

Eyewitness News First on FOX Providence (10-10:45 PM, Fridays 10-10:30 PM)

• Anchor: Steve Aveson
• Anchor: Erin Kennedy
• Weather: Tony Petrarca

Sports Wrap (10:45-11:00 PM, Fridays 10:30-11 PM)

• Sports Anchor: Patrick Little

[edit] Weekends

Newsmakers (public affairs) (Sundays 10-10:30 AM)

• also airs on sister station WPRI Sundays 6:30-7 AM

Eyewitness News First on FOX Providence (10-10:35 PM)

• Anchor: Erin Kennedy
• Weather: T.J. Del Santo

(WNAC uses other staff from WPRI as well)

[edit] External links

• WNAC/WPRI TV
• WNAC/WPRI Wireless
• "The UHF Morgue": history of the old WNET
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WNAC