WXXA-TV
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| WXXA-TV | |
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| Albany, New York | |
| Branding | FOX 23 |
| Slogan | We've Got It! (general programming) Coverage & Convenience (newscasts) |
| Channels | 23 (UHF) analog, 7 (VHF) digital |
| Affiliations | FOX (Since 1987) |
| Owner | Clear Channel Communications (sale pending) |
| Founded | July 30, 1982 |
| Call letters meaning | W XX (most recognizable letter combination) Albany |
| Former callsigns | none |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1982-1987) UPN (1995-1997, secondary) |
| Transmitter Power | 3.675 MW (analog) 8.10 kW (digital) |
| Website | fox23news.com |
WXXA-TV is the FOX television affiliate based in Albany, New York. The station serves the Albany / Schenectady / Troy / Saratoga Springs area, commonly known as New York State's Capital Region, as well as Western New England. Licensed to Albany, WXXA is owned by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 23 and its digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter located at the Helderberg Mountains tower farm in New Scotland, New York. WRGB, WTEN, WNYA-CA, and WCWN have their transmitters located at the same site. WXXA is known on-air as "FOX23".
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[edit] History
WXXA is the only Albany television station that never changed its affiliation, but started as an independent. WXXA signed on the air on July 30, 1982 as the market's first independent station. Before this, the channel 23 position existed for many years as a construction permit (originally as WPTR-TV) and prior to sign-on was rumored to get the NBC affiliation shed by WRGB prior to that network affiliating with WNYT. In 1987, WXXA became one of the sign-on affiliates of the fledgling FOX network and was sold from its original local owners to Heritage Broadcasting. In 1994, Heritage sold the station to Clear Channel Communications, preceding its radio entry into the market and its sizeable expansion of television assets in the Northeast by several years. Clear Channel would soon move WXXA from its original studios on Central Avenue in Albany (now replaced by a car dealership) to an expanded facility in Albany located in the Pine Bush area of the city. This moce and expansion allowed the station to begin producing newscasts in October of 1996.
When UPN launched in 1995, WXXA gained a secondary affiliation with the network and aired its programming at off-hours on the weekends (cable viewers in virtually the entire market were also able to watch the shows in-pattern on WSBK from Boston). This arrangement ended at the start of the 1997-1998 television season when UPN affiliated with WVBG-LP.
From January of 2000 to August of 2003, WXXA operated WEDG-TV, a cable-only UPN affiliate seen on Time Warner, Charter, and Mid-Hudson Cablevision cable systems in the market. Known on-air as "UPN 4", the station signed off concurrent with the sign-on of broadcast UPN affiliate WNYA.
WXXA-DT signed on the air in December of 2005 and began broadcasting at 10 kW ERP on VHF channel 7. The transmitter for the digital station is located adjacent to the analog transmitter. A combination of objections from analog co-channels in New York City, and Watertown, New York, all of which had signals at the fringes of the Albany market, was the primary reason for the late (and oft-delayed) sign-on.
On November 16, 2006, Clear Channel announced its intention to sell off all of its television stations, including WXXA, after the company was bought out by a private equity firm.
[edit] "The Variety Channel" (WXXA DT2)
In January of 2007, Clear Channel launched a digital channel known as The Variety Channel. The channel is part of a digital only television network broadcasting classic TV shows, auto showcase programming, and varoius home improvement programs. It began airing on WXXA's subchannel 2 in mid-January 2007. The channel can now also be received on Time Warner Digital Cable Channel 423.
[edit] Newscast History
On October 7, 1996, WXXA launched a 10 PM newscast. It was not the first in the market, as WMHQ's WNYT-produced newscast started earlier that year. Filling a niche in local news, the 10 PM newscast was expanded in early 2000 to an hour and was joined by a 6:30 PM newscast later that year. In 2001, WXXA took on the big 3 stations in the market for the first time by launching a 6 PM newscast that struggled to gain ratings. A change in upper management led to a realignment of early evening newscasts with the 6:30 PM newscast moving to 5 PM in September of 2002. The 6 PM newscast was cancelled in July of 2003.
In recent years, the station has made waves by putting a significant investment in its news operation. The biggest move was the signing of popular WNYT anchor John Gray in late 2003 and adding resources and capabilities behind the scenes and on-air. WXXA has also been on the forefront of changing technology. The station became one of the first to offer podcasts in 2005. [1]. It was also the first television station worldwide to provide video podcasts. [2]
On September 25, 2006, WXXA launched a weekday morning newscast which runs from 5 to 8 AM. [3] The announcement of this launch back in March led to a preemptive move in April by MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYA to begin airing an extension of WRGB's weekday morning newscast from 7 to 8 AM. At the same time, there were rumors circulating that WRGB would start producing a 10 PM newscast on WNYA. The rumors have now shifted to WCWN, which was purchased by WRGB's owner and made a sister station. As of 2007, the WRGB newscast extention has moved to WCWN. That shift was made because WCWN has higher ratings than WNYA.
[edit] Newscasts
Weekdays
- FOX 23 News Daybreak at 5 AM (5 to 6 AM)
- FOX 23 News Daybreak at 6 AM (6 to 7 AM)
- FOX 23 News Daybreak at 7 AM (7 to 8 AM)
- anchored by Diane Lee and Mark Baker... weather with Brandon Hertell... and traffic with Kaitlyn Barto
- FOX 23 News at 5 PM (5 to 5:30 PM)
- anchored by John Gray and Ann Hughes... weather with Steve Teeling... and sports with Rich Becker
- FOX 23 News at 10 PM (10 to 10:30 PM)
- FOX 23 News at 10:30 PM (10:30 to 11 PM)
- same team as at 5 PM
Weekends
- FOX 23 News at 10 PM (10 to 10:30 PM)
- anchored by ????... weather with Chris Silveri... and sports with Brent Martineau
Special Programming
- FOX 23 High School Sports Show (Fridays 11 to 11:30 PM and Saturdays 10:30 to 11 PM)
- September to March
- hosted by Rich Becker and Brent Martineau
- FOX 23 In Focus (Sundays 10 to 10:30 AM)
- hosted by John Gray and Ann Hughes
- Capital Region Bowling Show (Sundays 11 AM to 12 PM)
- hosted by Rich Becker and former PBA Touring Pro Kenny Hall
- FOX 23 Fast Track (Sundays 10:30 to 11:30 PM)
- April to October
- hosted by Rich Becker and Scott Morlock
[edit] News Team
Present
- Mark Baker (Morning anchor)
- Kaitlyn Barto (TimeSaver Traffic weekday mornings)
- Rich Becker (Sports Director)
- Chris Silveri (Weekend Meteorologist)
- John Gray (Weekday anchor/consumer reporter)
- Kathryn Hauser (Morning reporter)
- Brandon Hertell (Weather Now Morning Meteorologist)
- Ann Hughes (Weekday anchor/health reporter)
- Diane Lee (Morning anchor)
- Brent Martineau (Weekend sports)
- Walt McClure (reporter)
- Jill Montag (Swing fill-in anchor)
- Scott Morlock (Swing sports and co-host of FOX 23 Fast Track)
- Nathan O'Leary (reporter/fill-in anchor)
- Matt Ryan (sports reporter)
- Steve Teeling (Chief Meteorologst)
- Jeff Saperstone (Nightside reporter)
Past
- Dan Bazile (Former reporter/fill-in anchor, now weekend morning anchor at WNYT)
- Greg Floyd (Original lead anchor and managing editor, downgraded to weekends upon John Gray's arrival, left for WRGB in December 2005)
- Noah Francis (Chief meteorologist 1996-2006 and the last on-air talent from the news department's launch to leave the station)
- Molly Line (Reporter and fill-in anchor in the early 2000s, now is a reporter at Fox News Channel)
- Natalie Martinez (Weeknight co-anchor from 1998 to 2000, previously reporter and then weekend anchor.) Now a reporter and fill-in anchor at WMAQ in Chicago)
- Marci Natale (Former reporter, now weekend morning anchor at WRGB)
- Allison Seymour (Original co-anchor, now early morning anchor at WTTG in Washington DC)
- Kristin Stinar (Reporter and 6:30 co-anchor with Ann Hughes in the early 2000s, now reporter and fill-in anchor at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis)
- David Wade (Original weekend anchor, now weeknight anchor at WFXT in Boston)
- Brian Pastiglione-Former reporter and fill-in anchor
- Stephanie Gorin (Anchor from 1996-1998, now the lead anchor out of WPTZ in Plattsburgh)
Outside the realm of news, a few other personalities in WXXA-TV's past could be considered notable
- "Ranger Danger": Played by veteran radio DJ Gary Locatelli (better known as "Uncle Vito" of WPYX), the character of Ranger Danger was a cartoon host/children's show character who developed a cult following until the show was cancelled upon Clear Channel's purchase of the station.
- John Mulrooney, by then working for WPYX as morning show sidekick, briefly was a host of the station's late night comedies in 2001.
[edit] External links
- WXXA Website
- WXXA Wireless
- "The Variety Channel" (WXXA DT2) Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WXXA-TV
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Local television stations |
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| Local cable television channels
TW3 - TWTV7 - Capital News 9 |
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| Defunct television channels
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| See also: |
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| Fox Network Affiliates in the state of New York | |
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WNYW 5 (New York City) - WXXA 23 (Albany) - WWNY-DT 7.2 / WNYF-CA & WNYF-LP 28 (Watertown) - WUTV 29 (Buffalo) - WUHF 31 (Rochester) |
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| See also: ABC, CBS, CW, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in New York | |
