WCTX
Encyclopedia
WCTX is the MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...

-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

 for the state of Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 that is licensed to New Haven. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...

 digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter in Hamden
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...

. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 affiliate WTNH
WTNH
WTNH is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of Connecticut that is licensed to New Haven. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 from a transmitter in Hamden. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX and the two...

 and the two share studios on Elm Street in Downtown New Haven. However, master control and some internal operations originate from hub facilities at NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 affiliate WWLP
WWLP
WWLP is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts that is licensed to Springfield. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter on Provin Mountain in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam. The station can also be seen...

 in Chicopee, Massachusetts
Chicopee, Massachusetts
Chicopee is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States of America. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 55,298, making it the second largest city in...

. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

 programming on WCTX includes: 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...

, Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...

, Dr. Phil, TMZ on TV
TMZ on TV
TMZ on TV, or simply TMZ and TMZTV, is an American syndicated entertainment and gossip news television show that premiered on September 10, 2007. The program is generally aired on Fox, The CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates, though a majority of the stations that carry the series are Fox affiliates...

, and The Insider
The Insider (TV series)
The Insider is an American tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information...

.

Like sister station WTNH that has a large Fairfield County
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Fairfield County is a county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The county population is 916,829 according to the 2010 Census. There are currently 1,465 people per square mile in the county. It is the most populous county in the State of Connecticut and contains...

 audience as well. This area is part of the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 DMA which is where MyNetworkTV flagship WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...

 is based. WCTX is available on channel 9 on almost all of Connecticut's cable systems and this is reflected in its on-air branding MyTV9.

Digital television

On WCTX-DT2, Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

 digital channel 240, and Charter
Charter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...

 digital channel 260 is TheCoolTV
TheCoolTV
THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...

.
Channel Video Aspect
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...

Programming
59.1 1080i
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...

 
16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...

 
Main WCTX programming / MyNetworkTV
59.2 480i
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...

 
4:3  TheCoolTV

History

As early as 1953, a construction permit for the analog UHF channel 59 allotment was issued by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 (FCC) and was originally owned by the Connecticut Radio Foundation. However, the group was never able to get the station on-the-air and sold the permit to Impart Systems in 1967. In 1980, Viacom
Viacom (1971–2005)
Viacom , stylized as VIACOM in its current logo, was an American media conglomerate. It was the owner of CBS, Nickelodeon & MTV, among others. Effective December 31, 2005, this corporate entity changed its name to CBS Corporation...

, then-owner of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 affiliate WVIT
WVIT
WVIT, virtual channel 30, is the NBC owned and operated television station for the state of Connecticut, licensed to New Britain. WVIT has its offices and studios located in West Hartford, and transmitter based in Farmington, Connecticut....

, built a low-power translator on UHF channel 59 in New Haven. Although WVIT had boosted its power to cover New Haven a few months earlier, some areas in Southern Connecticut still could not get a good signal from the station.

On November 5, 1994, this station finally began broadcasting as a stand-alone Independent with the calls WTVU. It initially operated at low-power running Shop at Home programming for most of the day and later adding coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. In April 1995, WTVU upgraded to full power operations. In June of that year, LIN TV took over control of the station through a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...

 (LMA) with WTNH. With the LMA came an affiliation with The WB, which until that point, had been airing its prime time programming on WTNH following its late newscast on Saturday nights.

The LMA also allowed WTVU to significantly upgrade its programming. It acquired stronger syndicated programs, mostly barter shows and second runs from WTNH. It also began running classic sitcoms such as: Perry Mason
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...

, I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

, Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....

, The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...

, The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...

, The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....

, I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...

, Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...

, and Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...

among others that fell off the schedules of WTXX and WTWS some years back. It also picked up Hartford Whalers
Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.. The club played in the World Hockey Association from 1972–79 and in the National Hockey League from 1979–97...

 hockey, which aired on the station until the team became the Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League , and play their home games at the 18,680-seat RBC Center...

 in 1997.

On April 1, 1996, the station changed its call letters to WBNE (for "WB New England"). After Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...

 (a minority owner of The WB) purchased then-UPN affiliate WTXX, WBNE and that station swapped network affiliations on January 1, 2001. With the new network relationship came the current WCTX calls and use of the on-air identity "The X". That identity was used in lieu of the conventional "UPN (channel number)" branding. LIN TV purchased WCTX outright in 2002. On September 19, 2005, WCTX became known as "UPN 9," highlighting its cable channel position in some areas. This branding was the same as WWOR in New York City, a station that is available over-the-air and on cable in Southwestern Connecticut.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that the networks would cease broadcasting and merge to create a new network called The CW. It was to be jointly owned by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

. WTXX was chosen as Connecticut's CW affiliate after its owner Tribune announced a ten year deal with the upcoming network leaving WCTX to tentatively become an Independent once again. However on April 26, WCTX announced it would join MyNetworkTV (a second new network launched by News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...

).

This began broadcasting on September 5, and as a result, the station did not carry the final two weeks of programming from UPN. With its new network affiliation, the station changed its branding to the current "My TV 9". As of the 2007/2008 season, University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...

 men's college basketball games now air primarily on WCTX while a handful of games air on sister station WTNH. It recently signed a multi-year television deal with the WNBA's Connecticut Sun
Connecticut Sun
The Connecticut Sun is a professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded in Orlando, Florida before the 1999 season began; the team moved to Connecticut before the 2003 season...

 to broadcast select regular season games as well.

Until March 31, 2008, WCTX served as the default MyNetworkTV affiliate on Comcast and Charter cable systems for the Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

/Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range of mountains. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 39,880...

 market as that area did not have an affiliate of its own. On that date, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 affiliate WGGB-TV
WGGB-TV
WGGB-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts licensed to Springfield. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 40 from a transmitter on Mount Tom in Holyoke. The station can also be seen on Charter and Comcast channel 4...

 added the network as a secondary affiliation on its new Fox second
WGGB-DT2
WGGB-DT2 is the primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Western Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley. The station is a second digital subchannel of ABC affiliate WGGB-TV owned by Gormally Broadcasting. Over-the-air, it broadcasts a standard definition digital signal on UHF...

 digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...

. Although WCTX was dropped from Comcast, it is still seen on Charter. This station was also repeated on W11BJ (now WFXQ-CD) from a transmitter on Rattlesnake Mountain
Rattlesnake Mountain (Connecticut)
Rattlesnake Mountain is a traprock mountain, above sea level, located southwest of Hartford, Connecticut in the town of Farmington. It is part of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut, north through the Connecticut River Valley of...

 in Farmington
Farmington, Connecticut
Farmington is a town located in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census. It is home to the world headquarters of several large corporations including Carrier Corporation, Otis Elevator Company, and Carvel...

 from 2004 until 2006 while LIN TV built a new transmitter for that channel and moved its city of license to Springfield.

On June 12, 2009, WCTX left channel 59 and moved to channel 39 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. It is considered an alternate ABC affiliate airing that network's programs when WTNH is unable to do so such as during a breaking news emergency or local special. Until TheCoolTV was added on WCTX-DT2, this aired a 24-hour live feed of WTNH's regional weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...

 known as the "SkyMax Doppler Network".

Newscasts

Since the start of the local marketing agreement with WCTX in 2000, WTNH has been producing a nightly prime time newscast at 10 on this channel. It has competed right from the start with WTIC-TV
WTIC-TV
WTIC-TV, channel 61, is a television station in Hartford, Connecticut. Owned by the Tribune Company, WTIC-TV is a charter affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company...

's 10 o'clock broadcast which established itself as a viewer favorite since going on-the-air in 1989. As of the February 2008 ratings period, that channel's weeknight newscast is actually the most watched 10 or 11 p.m. broadcast in the market even gathering more viewership that the big three stations
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...

 in Connecticut.

In 2005, WCTX began simulcasting the second hour of WTNH's weekday morning show (at 6) followed by a third hour from 7 until 8 seen exclusively on WCTX except for simulcasted Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...

cut-ins on WTNH. The second hour was eventually dropped for an unknown reason. The 7 a.m. hour received competition on March 3, 2008 when WTIC made its initial weekday morning show launch. On April 26, 2010; WTNH re-branded from News Channel 8 to News 8. In addition, WTNH began broadcasting newscasts in 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...

 widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....

 enhanced definition, with WCTX's newscasts being included in the upgrade. On October 4, 2010; WTNH began broadcasting newscasts in high definition, becoming the third station in the market to do so. WCTX's newscasts also made the transition.

Anchors
  • Kristen Cusato - weekday mornings
  • Chris Velardi - weekday mornings
  • Darren Kramer - weeknights
  • Ann Nyberg - weeknights
  • Sara Welch - weekends and reporter
  • Ted Koppy - Sundays and reporter


Storm Team 8 Meteorologists
  • Gil Simmons
    Gil Simmons
    Gil Simmons is the weekday morning meteorologist for WTNH and MyTv9, and is the newest member of Storm Team 8.Gil served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps as a meteorologist/oceanographer for six years . He then moved back to Connecticut to forecast the weather locally...

     (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist
    Certified Broadcast Meteorologist
    Certified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...

    ) - weekday mornings


Sports
  • Noah Finz - Director seen weeknights
  • John Pierson - weekends
  • Marc Robbins - reporter


Reporters
  • Mark Davis - Chief Political Correspondent based at Hartford Bureau
  • Jocelyn Maminta - health and medical correspondent
  • Erin Cox - investigative and general assignment
  • Teresa LaBarbera - weekday morning traffic
  • Tina Detelj - New London Bureau
  • Crystal Haynes
  • Keith Kountz
  • Annie Rourke
  • Jamie Muro
  • Bob Wilson
  • Kent Pierce

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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