| Utica/Rome, New York | |
|---|---|
| Branding | My WPNY TV (general) WUTR Eyewitness News |
| Channels | Analog: 11 (VHF) Digital: WUTR-DT 30.2 (UHF) Virtual: 20.2 (PSIP) |
| Owner | Nexstar Broadcasting Group (Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| First air date | January 1, 1988 |
| Call letters' meaning | UPN New York (previous affiliation) |
| Sister station(s) | WUTR, WFXV, WROC-TV, WUHF |
| Former callsigns | W11BS (1988-1995) WUPN-LP (1995-1996) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1988-1995) UPN (1995-2006) |
| Transmitter power | 0.094 kW 50 kW (WUTR-DT2) |
| Height | 187 m 227 m (WUTR-DT2) |
| Class | LP |
| Facility ID | 43424 57837 (WUTR-DT2) |
WPNY-LP is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Central New York State's Mohawk Valley. Licensed to Utica, it broadcasts a low-powered analog signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter at studios on Smith Hill Road in Deerfield (official address is Utica). The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 12. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, WPNY is sister to Fox affiliate WFXV and ABC affiliate WUTR.
The latter is actually owned by Mission Broadcasting but operated by Nexstar through local marketing and joint sales agreements. Syndicated programming on this station includes The Office, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Judge Mathis and Divorce Court among others. It also simulcasts some New York Yankees games produced by the YES Network for fellow MyNetworkTV affiliate WWOR-TV in New York City.
Due to its low-powered status, the station does not currently air a digital signal of its own. However, there is one provided in standard definition on a second digital subchannel of WUTR from the same transmitter in Deerfield. This can be seen on UHF channel 30.2 which redirects to virtual channel 20.2 through PSIP. WPNY can also be seen in Utica on translator W53AM channel 53 from the Smith Hill Road transmitter.
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The station signed-on January 1, 1988 with the call sign W11BS licensed to Little Falls. It was a low-powered translator and general entertainment Independent outlet. The station joined UPN as a charter affiliate on January 16, 1995. On December 22 of that year, W11BS upgraded to low-lowered status and adopted the WUPN-LP calls. However, less than a year later, the station became WPNY-LP after a full-powered outlet in Greensboro, North Carolina took the call letters.
At some point in time, WPNY became a sister outlet to WFXV and began to be housed at the latter's facility on Greenfield Road in Rome. In 1996, both stations were sold to Sullivan Broadcasting which would itself be bought out by the Sinclair Broadcast Group only two years later. Instead of being acquired by that company, WPNY and WFXV were purchased by Quorum Broadcasting founded by former Sullivan head Dan Sullivan. [1]
The stations were acquired by current owner Nexstar in 2003. It was announced in December of that year Clear Channel Communications would sell WUTR to Nexstar subsidiary Mission Broadcasting. The sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on April 1, 2004 at which point Nexstar took over operations of WUTR under local marketing and joint sales agreements through the company's operational arrangement with Mission. Although the ABC affiliate was the subordinate entity, WPNY and WFXV were consolidated into WUTR's Deerfield studios.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS (the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On February 22, News Corporation announced it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television.
MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW. Since late-September 1998, NBC affiliate WKTV had been operating the area's cable-exclusive WB outlet "WBU" through The WB 100+. That station ultimately joined The CW on September 18 through similar national service The CW Plus. As a result, WPNY was left to either revert back to an Independent or join MyNetworkTV. The station exercised the latter option on September 5, 2006. Its analog translator W53AM has a construction permit to air a low-powered digital signal on channel 42 but would remain based on the Deerfield tower.
After WUTR's sale to Mission Broadcasting, speculation began circulating Nexstar would establish a combined news department for WUTR as well as WPNY and WFXV in order to take on longtime dominant WKTV. Progress was not made until March 31, 2011 when the company announced it would launch a news operation for the three stations by mid-September. Nexstar invested $1 million for new equipment and the hiring of twelve employees. On weeknights, there is an early evening newscast at 6 on WUTR that is repeated at 7 on WPNY.
The taped show on this station is the only offering of local news in the time slot since there is no broadcast seen on WKTV. Throughout the process of building a local news operation from scratch, WUTR consulted with viewers and businesses for input in developing the final product. The newscast replay on this station is known as WUTR Eyewitness News at 6 and debuted September 12, 2011. There is no sports department at the operation's inception. Due to WPNY only airing an analog signal, WUTR's show airs in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition on WPNY. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
News team
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