WRGB
Encyclopedia
WRGB, channel 6, is a 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...

 located in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...

, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. WRGB is owned by Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications, Inc. is a media conglomerate in the United States. It owns approximately 100 daily and weekly newspapers in the US, with a combined daily circulation of nearly one million subscribers, and also operates over seventy local news websites...

, and is the 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...

 affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...

 for the Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

-Schenectady-Troy
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...

 television market. The station shares its studio and office facility with co-owned WCWN
WCWN
WCWN is the CW-affiliated television station for New York State's Capital District and Western New England. Licensed to Schenectady, New York, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 43 from a transmitter southwest of New Scotland's Voorheesville section...

 (channel 45) in Niskayuna, New York
Niskayuna (town), New York
Niskayuna is a town in Schenectady County, New York. The population was 20,295 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the southeast part of the county, north and east of the city of Schenectady, and is the easternmost town in the county-History:...

, and its transmitter is located in an unincorporated area of the town of New Scotland, New York
New Scotland, New York
New Scotland is a town in Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 8,648 at the 2010 census.The town is southwest of Albany, New York, the state capital. New Scotland is centrally located in the county.-History:...

.

WRGB is most notable for being among the first experimental television stations in the world. It began with test broadcasts in early 1928. Later that year the first daily programs were broadcast. It later became one of a handful of television stations licensed for commercial broadcasting
Commercial broadcasting
Commercial broadcasting is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship...

 operation before the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The station launched the TV career of syndicated TV chef Mr. Food
Mr. Food
Art Ginsburg, commonly known as Mr. Food, is a television chef and best selling author of cookbooks who emphasizes simple recipes. He is the originator of "quick & easy cooking" who, for the past 30+ years, has paved the way for TV food personalities who have followed. With his enthusiastic style,...

 in 1975. More recently in the 1990s, the station also launched the television career of Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray
Rachael Domenica Ray is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a Day...

, who started the "30 Minute Meals
30 Minute Meals
30 Minute Meals is a Food Network show hosted by Rachael Ray. Her first of four shows on Food Network debuted in the fall of 2001. The show specializes in convenience cooking for those with little time to cook. The show is recorded live-to-tape, with Ray doing almost all preparation in real time...

" segment on WRGB's newscasts once a week before moving on to Food Network
Food Network
Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....

 and, eventually, a nationally-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...

 daytime talk show
Rachael Ray (TV series)
Rachael Ray, also known as The Rachael Ray Show, is a talk show starring Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006....

.

Digital programming

The station's signal is multiplexed.
Virtual
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
6.1 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 ...

 
CBS
6.2 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  This TV


Additionally, WRGB's main programming can be found as a subchannel on WCWN.

1928 to 1942

WRGB claims to be the world's first television station. It traces its roots to an experimental station founded on January 13, 1928
1928 in television
The year 1928 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1928.-Global television events:-Births:...

 from the General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

 facility under the call letters W2XB on channel 4. It was popularly known as "WGY Television" after its sister radio station (though WMAK, the predecessor of modern station WBEN
WBEN (AM)
WBEN is an AM and FM radio station serving the Niagara, Buffalo and Western New York area, broadcasting on 930 AM and, as of April 5, 2011, simulcasting on sister station WLKK at 107.7 FM. It previously simulcasted between 1946 and 1960 on 102.5 FM as WBEN-FM. Both stations retained the WBEN...

 in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

 also had partial control of the station, which was relinquished shortly after the station signed on). In 1939, it began sharing programs with W2XBS (forerunner of WNBC-TV) in 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...

, becoming 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...

's first television affiliate. That relationship would last for 42 years. The station initially broadcast on 790 kHz from a 380-meter antenna. The station also broadcast on the frequency of 379.5 MHz, with 24 vertical lines of resolution and 21 frames per second. Its call-sign was changed to W2XAD rather quickly in 1928 and moved to 31.4 MHz. Towards December 1928, the station would receive yet another change and upgrade with its call letters becoming W2XAF, keeping its frequency, frame rate and vertical lines.

Later on, the station received a further upgrade to broadcast 48 lines at 20 frames per second, with the call sign of W2XB on 2.1-2.2 MHz. In 1941, the station moved into a state-of-the-art studio on Washington Avenue in Schenectady. It was the first building in the nation specifically designed for television. On February 26, 1942, W2XB received a commercial license as WRGB, the fourth in the nation and only the second one outside of New York City. By then, it was operating on the VHF band with modern 525-line resolution and FM sound on a frequency of 66 to 72 MHz (then known as Channel 3, but redesignated Channel 4 after the Second World War).

1942 to present

Several years later, WRGB took on secondary affiliations with the three other networks in operation (CBS, 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...

, and DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...

). In 1954, it moved from channel 4 to its current position on channel 6 to alleviate interference from WNBC-TV (then known as WRCA-TV) and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

's WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...

, and increased its radiated power approximately fourfold to 93,000 watts. WRGB dropped its secondary affiliations when WCDA (now WTEN
WTEN
WTEN is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Capital District of New York State and Western New England that is licensed to Albany. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter southwest of the Voorheesville section of New Scotland...

) and WTRI (now WNYT) took the CBS and ABC affiliations respectively. In 1957, WRGB moved to its current studio on Balltown Road in Niskayuna.

The longest-running locally-produced children's television
Children's television series
Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...

 show, Freihofer's "Breadtime Stories" was broadcast on the station starting November 21, 1949. WRGB produced two of the longest-running locally-produced programs in television history: a quiz show
Quiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...

 called Answers Please and a bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

 program entitled TV Tournament Time. After the cancellation of both by the late-1980s, WRGB's local programming has been variable and erratic, ranging from a local home shopping show to a weekly video countdown done with Top 40 stations WFLY
WFLY
WFLY is a Contemporary Hit Radio station licensed to Troy, New York and serving New York's Capital District as well as the surrounding areas, including the Adirondacks...

 and (later) WKKF
WKKF
WKKF is a Contemporary Hit Radio radio station licensed to Ballston Spa, New York and serving the Capital District and Adirondacks...

. On September 28, 1981, WRGB swapped affiliations with WAST (now WNYT) and became a CBS affiliate. Two years later, 55 years of General Electric ownership ended when it sold WRGB to Unicom Inc., a unit of Forstmann Little
Forstmann Little & Company
Forstmann, Little & Company is a private equity firm, specializing in leveraged buyouts . At its peak in the late 1990s, Forstmann Little was among the largest private equity firms globally...

.

Only three years later, Unicom sold WRGB to its current owner, Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications
Freedom Communications, Inc. is a media conglomerate in the United States. It owns approximately 100 daily and weekly newspapers in the US, with a combined daily circulation of nearly one million subscribers, and also operates over seventy local news websites...

. In 1987, WRGB was awarded the "Broadcast Pioneers Golden Mike Award" and shortly thereafter was awarded a "Presidential Citation" by Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

. WRGB changed its on-air name to "CBS 6" in October 2004 after decades of being known as either "TV 6" or "Channel 6" (most noticeably known as being NewsCenter 6 for the late 20th century). Since then, channel 6 has almost never used its call letters on-air, except during legal IDs. WRGB is carried on cable as far north as Long Lake, NY as well as several other Adirondack regional cable systems.

In September 2003, WRGB-DT (UHF channel 39) became the first full-market digital signal to sign on in the Albany region. Around December 2007, WRGB and WCWN became the first television stations in the Capital District that upgraded to high definition time delay and rebroadcast capability, and high definition local broadcasts. This allows broadcasting of syndicated shows in high definition.

Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments...

 owns a controlling stake in Newport Television
Newport Television
Newport Television, LLC is a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. In September 2007, Newport agreed to sell KFTY and KVOS-TV to LK Station Group LLC for $26.6...

 (formerly Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

' television division), the owner of local Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 affiliate WXXA. As a result, 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...

 granted conditional approval of Newport's acquisition of Clear Channel Television in late-November 2007, provided that Providence Equity Partners would follow through with its planned divestiture of its 16 percent share of Freedom Communications to another company (as required when Providence Equity Partners purchased a minority stake in the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...

 earlier in 2007) as soon as the deal was finalized. Freedom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most...

 in September 2009, emerging in April 2010. At that point, Providence Equity Partners relinquished its stake in Freedom Communications, making its purchase of WXXA legitimate.

Freedom announced on November 2, 2011 that it would bow out of television and sell its stations, including WRGB, to Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...

.

FM audio

On June 12, 2009, WRGB ceased analog transmissions on VHF channel 6 as part of the DTV transition in the United States
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...

. The station had been broadcasting a digital signal on channel 39 prior to then but moved back to channel 6 for its post-transition operations.

WRGB's former analog TV signal used an FM audio
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...

 carrier
Carrier wave
In telecommunications, a carrier wave or carrier is a waveform that is modulated with an input signal for the purpose of conveying information. This carrier wave is usually a much higher frequency than the input signal...

 which could be heard on 87.75 FM in areas where the video signal could be received (and some where it could not); the same was true of all analog channel 6 television stations in North America. However, this analog FM carrier no longer exists for full-powered stations after the June 12, 2009, conversion to digital, but still exists for analogue low-power television stations (see Pulse 87
Pulse 87
Pulse 87 is an American television franchise that operated as a radio branding. The brand was formerly owned and operated by Mega Media. As of February 2010, the format was resurrected as an online internet station under new management following the bankruptcy and liquidation of its former...

 for an example).

As WRGB has returned to channel 6, it has proposed an unconventional approach, by which it has requested to operate an analog FM radio transmitter at one edge of its digital TV allocation, using vertical polarization to retain compatibility with standard broadcast car radio receivers. According to WRGB's site, "We hope that the FCC will allow us to continue to operate on 87.7. We are building a unique transmitter for 87.7 that can operate simultaneously with our DTV signal on channel 6. TV transmissions always use horizontal antennas. Our new 87.7 transmitter will be vertically polarized. The use of vertical polarization for 87.7 will allow reception of our audio in a car radio or any other FM radio with a whip type antenna. "

WRGB is the only full-power station to propose such a solution. There are no other full-power TV broadcasters using channel 6 in New York state, either analog or digital. WPVI in Philadelphia, the nearest full-power channel 6, has expressed an interest in the technology, though it is concerned about rights issues.

The station received an experimental special temporary authorization from 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) to allow it to test the FM audio system but it had to cease operations when it was found to cause RF interference with the digital TV signal.

On July 7, 2009 WRGB resumed its radio simulcast broadcasts on a frequency of 87.9 FM, without explicit FCC authorization. Less than two months later, on August 24, the FCC ordered WRGB to turn off the 87.9 transmitter. Currently, the only two stations licensed by the FCC to use 87.9 are KSFH and K200AA. WITI, another former analog Channel 6 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

, restored its radio audio via a content agreement with Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

, which placed that station's audio on the HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...

 subchannel of WMIL-FM
WMIL-FM
WMIL-FM is a country music-formatted radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, licensed to Waukesha, Wisconsin. They are known on-air simply as "FM 106.1". WMIL is owned by Clear Channel Communications....

, and it is possible WRGB could consider this venue to restore the service.

Station's power boost and proposed translators

As noted above, on June 12, 2009, WRGB became a digital only station. The station vacated their digital transition UHF Channel 39 and moved their digital operations to their former analog channel assignment on VHF-low channel 6. Since the digital transition, some viewers in the Capital District had receptions issues with the WRGB's signal. So WRGB boosted their power twice. Once back in July 2009 at the power level of 11.5 kW with an interference agreement with WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...

 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, & Connecticut Public Television
Connecticut Public Television
Connecticut Public Television is the PBS member network for the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, who also owns Connecticut Public Radio. Together, the television and radio stations make up the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network...

 WEDY in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

. And in late January 2010, the FCC granted an STA for WRGB to boost their power again at their current level of 30.2 kW. An application was filed back in June 2009 to operate at the current level on a permanent basis. That application was granted on March 16, 2011.

WRGB has also filed applications for three digital replacement translators to fill-in some of the coverage-loss areas, which have all been granted construction permits. One will be in Glens Falls
Glens Falls, New York
Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States. Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census...

 on the station's pre-transition digital allotment on UHF Channel 39. Another one will be in Kingston
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...

 on UHF Channel 24. And the last one will be in Pittsfield
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...

 on UHF Channel 19. The Kingston translator became operational in May 2011.

WNYA and WCWN involvement

In April 2003, WRGB signed a joint sales agreement with the area's fledgling UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...

 affiliate WNYA
WNYA
WNYA is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for the Capital District of New York State and Western New England. Licensed to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, WNYA broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter northwest of New Salem, New York, along with a...

 several months prior to that station's sign-on in September. Under the agreement, WRGB handled advertising sales for WNYA and shared 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 with the station. The agreement, originally set to expire at the end of August 2006, was extended to the end of 2008, but was actually terminated in February 2007. Since September 5, 2006, WNYA has been the area's MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...

 affiliate.

On June 19, 2006, Freedom Communications announced the purchase of current CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...

 affiliate WCWN
WCWN
WCWN is the CW-affiliated television station for New York State's Capital District and Western New England. Licensed to Schenectady, New York, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 43 from a transmitter southwest of New Scotland's Voorheesville section...

 from 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...

 for $17 million. This purchase was finalized on December 6, 2006, giving the Capital Region market its first duopoly. Until the end of the JSA with WNYA, WRGB had control of three stations in the market.

During past airings of the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
The MDA Labor Day Telethon is an annual telethon in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association . The first MDA telethon was during the Thanksgiving Day weekend of 1952 and titled Party for MDA. It has been held annually since 1966...

, WNYA took on the responsibility of airing WRGB's local and network lineup. This role has since shifted to WCWN, which also airs CBS' coverage of the U.S. Open Tennis Championship.

News operation

For many years, WRGB was the dominant news station in the Capital District. Its newscasts were anchored for many years by the venerable Ernie Tetrault (who was immortalized in the 1992 film Sneakers
Sneakers (film)
Sneakers is a 1992 caper film directed by Phil Alden Robinson, written by Robinson, Walter F. Parkes, and Lawrence Lasker and starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier and David Strathairn...

directed by one-time WRGB intern Phil Alden Robinson
Phil Alden Robinson
Phil Alden Robinson is an American film director and screenwriter whose films include Field of Dreams, Sneakers and The Sum of All Fears.-Life and career:...

). After Tetrault's retirement in 1993, the station was quickly eclipsed by WNYT and for several years in the mid-1990s fell to third place. For the most part, the station has stabilized at a steady second place although for a period in the early-2000s it fell back to third.

From April 2003 until mid-2004, WNYA aired replays of WRGB's weekday noon show at 1, weeknight 11 o'clock news at 11:35, and this station's former public affairs
Public affairs (broadcasting)
Public affairs, a broadcasting industry term, refers to television programs which focuses on matters of politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications Commission regulatory expectations and are not scheduled in prime time...


television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 Sunday Morning with Liz Bishop. On April 17, 2006, it was announced that WNYA would begin airing an hour long extension of WRGB's weekday morning newscast at 7 known (at the time) as CBS 6 First News on UPN Capital Region. This could be seen as a pre-emptive move by WRGB to fend off a challenge by WXXA who had announced their plans to launch weekday morning news two weeks earlier. Rumors of WRGB producing a 10 p.m. broadcast on WNYA had circulated as well. However, the pickup of a second run of Dr. Phil to air at that hour killed the rumors. At the start of 2007, the news on WNYA moved to WCWN (because that station had higher ratings overall) becoming CBS 6 First News on The Capital Region's CW.

In 2007 and 2008, WCWN aired WRGB's 11 o'clock news during CBS's coverage of the NCAA March Madness Basketball
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...

. On January 13, 2008, it began producing its newscasts in high definition becoming the first in the market to do so. This was exactly 80 years to the date after its first experimental broadcasts. The WCWN broadcast was upgraded the next day. After becoming a sister station, it was rumored that WCWN would add a WRGB-produced 10 p.m. broadcast to challenge WXXA's long time dominance at that hour. This became a reality on September 24 when WRGB launched a weeknight 10 minute block in high definition featuring the top stories of the day along with an updated weather forecast. Accordingly, it was known as The CBS 6 News 10 at 10. The success of the 10 minute newscast resulted in the expansion to a full 30 minute newscast in October 2010, currently anchored by Dori Marlin and Jerry Gretzinger.

WRGB delays the weeknight broadcast of the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....

until 7 in favor of an extra half hour of local news. In addition to their main studios, it operates an Albany Bureau at One Commerce Plaza in downtown Albany.

Weather coverage

As with its heritage of being the first station in the Capital Region, WRGB has also had several firsts in the weather field, given the unpredictable weather of the Northeast
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...

. In February 1996, it became the first Capital District station to put forecasts on the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...

 with the launch of a website. A severe weather outbreak in late May 1998 led to further developments in the station's weather coverage. WRGB won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 for Chief Meteorologist Steve Lapointe's near-nonstop work over two days which made sure there were no fatalities in the otherwise devastating weather.

In May 1999, the station started "WeatherNet 6" which allows viewers to submit weather observations around the area. The public is allowed to report anything from current conditions to snowfall totals. In 2000, the station became the first in the market to offer a station-owned 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 "Instant Doppler 6" that was installed next to their studios. This exclusive distinction was held until 2004 when WNYT set up its own live radar. In recent times, WTEN and WXXA have also updated their radar outputs to so-called "live" capabilities. They do not own their own radars but decided to re-brand the live NOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...

 NEXRAD
NEXRAD
NEXRAD or Nexrad is a network of 159 high-resolution Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the United States Department of Commerce...

 Level II radar data as their own. Data is used from four regional sites in Albany, Binghamton
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...

, Montague
Montague, New York
Montague is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 108 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Mary Montague Pierpont, the daughter of the original owner....

, and Upton
Upton, New York
Upton, New York is a hamlet on Long Island in the town of Brookhaven. It is the home of Brookhaven National Laboratory, and a National Weather Service station.Upton is located in Suffolk County, New York in the USA....

. This government data is also used on WRGB known as "WeatherScan Radar".

WRGB was the last in the market to bring a degree-holding meteorologist onto its staff with the purchase of the station by Freedom, not doing so until several years after WTEN and WNYT did. On January 6, 2009, veteran meteorologist Neal Estano returned to the area airwaves for his third tour of duty with WRGB. He had worked for the station twice before leaving to pursue new opportunities in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

 and Baltimore, Maryland.

Newscast titles

  • The General Electric Newsreel (1928–1942)
  • The News at War (1942–1945)
  • The Big Newsreel (1945–1954)
  • Your Esso Reporter (1954–1960)
  • The Television 6 News (1960–1966)
  • TV-6 News (1966–1976)
  • NewsCenter 6 (1976–1998)
  • Channel 6 News (1998–2004)
  • CBS 6 News (2004–present)

News music packages

  • NBC Newspulse
  • And You
  • Signature News
  • Spirit of 1982
  • WRGB News
  • Making A Difference
  • In Sink
  • CBS Enforcer Music Collection
  • News in Focus
  • Impact

News team

Anchors
  • Ed O'Brien - weekday mornings
  • Theresa Priolo - weekday mornings and "Crime Tracker" segment producer
    • reporter weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, and 6:30
  • Liz Bishop - weekdays at noon, 5, and 5:30
  • Jerry Gretzinger - weeknights at 5, 5:30, and 10
    • reporter
  • Dori Marlin - weeknights at 6, 6:30, 10, and 11
  • Greg Floyd - weeknights at 6, 6:30, and 11
    • reporter
  • Ashe Reardon - weekend mornings and reporter
    • investigative reporter
  • Craig Smith - weekends evenings and reporter


CBS 6 Instant Doppler Meteorologists
  • Steve LaPointe (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,...

    ) - Chief seen weeknights
  • Neal Estano - weekday mornings and noon
  • Erik Thorgersen - weekend mornings and fill-in
  • Chris Gloninger (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - weekend evenings


Sports
  • Doug Sherman - Director seen weeknights at 6, 6:30, and 11
  • Kelly O'Donnell - weekend evenings and sports reporter


Reporters
  • Steve Flamisch - State Capitol
    New York State Capitol
    The New York State Capitol is the capitol building of the U.S. state of New York. Housing the New York State Legislature, it is located in the state capital city Albany, on State Street in Capitol Park. The building, completed in 1899 at a cost of $25 million , was the most expensive government...

     Correspondent and investigative
  • Art Ginsburg - "Mr. Food
    Mr. Food
    Art Ginsburg, commonly known as Mr. Food, is a television chef and best selling author of cookbooks who emphasizes simple recipes. He is the originator of "quick & easy cooking" who, for the past 30+ years, has paved the way for TV food personalities who have followed. With his enthusiastic style,...

    " segment producer
  • Ken Screven - Albany News Chief
  • Alexandra Field
  • Randy Simons

Notable former staff

  • Kelly (Cass) Boland, (Weekend meteorologist, and later promoted to mornings from 1993–2000) now a key weekend meteorologist at The Weather Channel; she originally started out as a "Weathercaster" at WRGB before becoming a full-fledged meteorologist while at the station.
  • Paul Dandridge (1968–1972, later worked in Los Angeles at KNBC, KABC and KCBS/KCAL)
  • Dr. Alan Chartock (Controversial director of WAMC
    WAMC
    WAMC is a public radio network headquartered in Albany, New York. As of April, 2011, the network comprised 11 transmitters and 11 translators. The organization's legal name is "WAMC" and it is also known as "WAMC Public Radio" or "WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network."In addition, the station...

    , was a political analyst until dropped in 1994 at which point he went to WNYT)
  • Howard Reig
    Howard Reig
    Howard Reig was an American radio and television announcer. His last name was pronounced "reeg."-Personal life:...

     (announcer for WGY radio and WRGB from 1943–1952, later a staff announcer for 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...

     from 1952 to 2005); deceased
  • Joe Tessitore
    Joe Tessitore
    Joe Tessitore is a national sports TV broadcaster.-Recent work:Joe Tessitore is a well known football, horse racing and boxing TV broadcaster. In 2011 Tessitore also was named executive producer of the new ESPN Film Roll Tide, War Eagle set to premiere in November. Among his primary assignments...

     (Sports anchor) now at ESPN after a career at WFSB
    WFSB
    'WFSB, channel 3, is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, owned by the Meredith Corporation. WFSB's studios and offices are located in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and its broadcast transmitter is based on Talcott Mountain in Avon, Connecticut. Syndicated...

     in Hartford, Connecticut
    Hartford, Connecticut
    Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...


External links

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