WSYR-TV
Encyclopedia
WSYR-TV is the ABC
-affiliated television station
for Central
New York State that is licensed to Syracuse
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 17 from a transmitter on Sevier Road in Pompey
. The station can also be seen on Time Warner
channel 9 and in high definition on digital channel 889. Owned by Newport Television
, it is the flagship of the company's New York stations and has studios on Bridge Street in East Syracuse
. Syndicated
programming on WSYR includes: Entertainment Tonight
, The Insider
, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
, Dr. Oz
, and Rachael Ray
.
digital channel 460, and Time Warner
digital channel 890 is an Independent station. Programming includes repeats of newscasts from the main channel and a live feed of "Live Doppler 9" usually overnight. There is a re-airing of Central New York's Morning News with Joe Galuski and a simulcast of The Jim Reith Show from WSYR-AM
570. Syndicated programming on WSYR-DT2 includes: Storm Stories
, Everybody Hates Chris
, Entertainment Tonight
, and Better
.
, digital television receivers display WSYR's virtual channel
as 9.
and Rochester
's WHAM-TV
allowed a third analog VHF station in Syracuse. The original call letters were WNYS-TV (now assigned to Syracuse's MyNetworkTV
affiliate
). It signed-on under the ownership of a group of local investors. The station was later owned by The Coca-Cola Company
and has always been an ABC affiliate.
Fire overtook WNYS's studios in the basement of the Shopping Town Mall in DeWitt in April 1967 forcing the station to temporarily move to WCNY-TV
's studios in Liverpool
until its facilities were rebuilt. The station was sold to The Outlet Company
in 1978 and the call sign was changed to WIXT-TV with "IX" standing for Roman numeral
9. The Ackerley Group
bought it in 1982.
In 1986, WIXT implemented a digital central-casting
control hub for Ackerley's New York State cluster that includes stations in Rochester
, Watertown
, Binghamton
, Elmira
, and formerly Utica
to help with the upcoming digital television transition. The central-casting still exists today. Other stations throughout Ackerley's New York cluster have received updated studios. Clear Channel Communications
bought Ackerley in 2001 putting WIXT under the same ownership as WSYR-AM. The call sign was then changed to the current WSYR-TV in July 2005 creating a small amount of confusion as rival NBC
affiliate WSTM-TV
was known as WSYR-TV from February 15, 1950 until its sale to the Times Mirror Company in 1980.
On December 22, 2006, Nancy Duffy
(a former general assignment reporter for the station) died after a long illness. She became the first woman police reporter in Central New York after joining the Syracuse Herald-Journal
in 1966. She was Syracuse’s first female television reporter when she moved to WHEN-TV (now WTVH) in 1967. Duffy became the first woman to join the Syracuse Press Club and later served as its president. In 1970, Nancy served as press secretary at Syracuse City Hall. She returned to WTVH after a year and moved to WSYR as a weekday morning anchor and reporter in 1977. She had also founded the local St. Patrick's Day Parade and was active in the community.
On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Newport Television, a broadcasting group established by Providence Equity Partners
. WSYR radio was not part of the sale. Nevertheless, the WSYR-TV call letters were retained.
WSYR-DT2 was affiliated with the Variety Television Network
(operated by Newport Television) until its demise in early-January 2009. This station once served on cable as the default ABC affiliate in Northern New York State communities such as Ogdensburg
, Potsdam
, Massena
, and Malone
. Since then, most of those areas have been replaced with WSYR's sister station and fellow ABC affiliate WWTI
. However, both were available in these markets for a short time with WVNY
from Burlington, Vermont
now serving Malone. WSYR is one of very few American
television stations that broadcasts in mono
. This can easily be detected when comparing it to stereo
broadcasts especially using a surround sound
decoder because the mono signal cannot be unfolded. It is due to the fact that it broadcasts in digital audio
.
(a former WSYR anchor) was featured as a substitute co-host on Bridge Street filling in for Rick Gary. This was the first time Green was seen on the airwaves since being fired from her position at WTVH as main weeknight anchor in December 2007.
On March 20, 2009, Keith Kobland (former weekday morning and noon anchor on WTVH until its consolidation with WSTM) joined Carrie Lazarus to co-host Bridge Street filling in for Rick Gary. On April 24, WSYR announced that Rick Gary had left the station after serving for more than two decades. Dan Cummings and Keith Kobland joined Carrie Lazarus as temporary replacements until February 1, 2010 when Bridge Street was relaunched with a new look hosted by Chris Brandolino and Tanja Babich.
As of July 2008, WSYR remains number one in Nielsen ratings
in Central New York for the whole day-part. However, this station and WSTM are in a tight battle for weekday mornings and weeknights at 11. WSYR makes up for this with huge leads during the week at noon, 5, 5:30, and 6. With the consolidation of WTVH and WSTM on March 2, 2009, there has been a noticeable decline in viewership especially on WTVH which now only airs separately-branded newscasts on weeknights with the same coverage. As a result, WSYR has seen increased viewership. Currently, there are only three news operations that cover the area including cable-only YNN Central New York.
Sister station WWTI in Watertown was hit by across the board cuts from Newport Television in June 2009. Eventually, it began simulcasting WSYR's news every night at 11 and added half-hour reports from the Buffalo Bills
training camp produced by fellow ABC affiliate and sister station WHAM in Rochester
. On September 8, 2009, WWTI began simulcasting WSYR's weekday morning and nightly 6 o'clock newscasts. After letting go the few on-air news staff that it had, the station became a news bureau of WSYR with contributions of content from the North Country
from a single reporter.
On September 7, 2010, WSYR added a prime time newscast weeknights at 10 on WSYR-DT2. However, unlike the hour-long weeknight and half-hour weekend broadcasts on low-power CW affiliate WSTQ-LP
(produced by WSTM), WSYR-DT2's newscast only airs live for the first fifteen minutes and is then repeated four times in the 10 p.m. hour. The station also added a half-hour to the weekday morning show, which now starts at 4:30, becoming the first station outside of New York City
to make such a launch. WSYR was an affiliate of CNN Newsource
but in a late-2008 cost-cutting move Newport Television chose to terminate all station affiliations with the network. That leaves ABC NewsOne as its lone source of national and world material.
Unlike weekday broadcasts that air on the main channel, weekend newscasts are not repeated on WSYR-DT2. However when the weekend news at 6 is delayed or pre-empted
altogether by live ABC Sports programming, the broadcast may occasionally air live at the regular time on WSYR-DT2. The station operates its own weather radar
at its transmitter site known as "Live Doppler 9" making it the only local weather radar based in the Syracuse area. It exists due to a perceived inability of the NOAA National Weather Service
radars in Montague
, Binghamton
, and Buffalo to pick up lake-effect snow. There is a live streaming video feed of "Live Doppler 9" on its website. WSYR also offers a live video stream of its weekday newscasts.
On January 29, 2011, WSYR became the first and only station in Central New York to broadcast local news in true high definition. With the switch to HD came a new set, a new logo (which uses the same "Circle 9" design as fellow ABC affiliate KMBC-TV
in Kansas City, Missouri
, though with the 2007 version of the ABC logo placed on the bottom right side), and a new slogan ("The Local Station"). WRGB
in Albany, New York
, in January 2008, became the first station in upstate New York to broadcast their local newscasts in high definition. Back in mid-December 2010, rivals, WSTM and WTVH became the first two stations in the market to offer local newscasts in 16:9
enhanced definition widescreen
. Although not truly high definition, the broadcasts match the aspect ratio
of HD television screens.
Since 1993, the station has used many versions of Frank Gari
's "News Station" music package including customized vocal versions of the theme using old station slogans, "Making A Difference" and "Central New York's News Source".
On June 27, 2011, WSYR's 25-year-duo Rod Wood and Carrie Lazarus were inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. As one of the longest-running anchor teams in the United States, their names join those of Walter Cronkite, Barbara Walters, and other broadcast legends.
NewsChannel 9 Storm Team
Sports team
Reporters
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...
-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 Central
Central New York
Central New York is a term used to broadly describe the central region of New York State, roughly including the following counties and cities:...
New York State that is licensed to Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
. 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 17 from a transmitter on Sevier Road in Pompey
Pompey, New York
Pompey is a town in the southeast part of Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 6,159 at the 2000 census. The town was named after the Roman general and political leader Pompey by a late 18th-century clerk interested in the Classics in the new federal republic.- History :The...
. The station can also be seen on Time Warner
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
channel 9 and in high definition on digital channel 889. Owned by 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...
, it is the flagship of the company's New York stations and has studios on Bridge Street in East Syracuse
East Syracuse, New York
East Syracuse is an incorporated village and a suburb of the City of Syracuse in eastern Onondaga County, New York. United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the village had a population of 3,178....
. 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 WSYR includes: Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
, 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...
, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (US game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television quiz show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 for correctly answering 14 consecutive multiple-choice questions of random difficulty. Until 2010, the format required contestants to correctly answer 15 consecutive questions of increasing...
, Dr. Oz
The Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated television talk show, hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and teaching professor at Columbia University who became famous for his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 2004 until 2009....
, and Rachael Ray
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
On WSYR-DT2, Verizon FiOSVerizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...
digital channel 460, and 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...
digital channel 890 is an Independent station. Programming includes repeats of newscasts from the main channel and a live feed of "Live Doppler 9" usually overnight. There is a re-airing of Central New York's Morning News with Joe Galuski and a simulcast of The Jim Reith Show from WSYR-AM
WSYR (AM)
WSYR is a 5,000 watt radio station licensed to Syracuse, New York. Owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications, it broadcasts a talk radio format under the moniker "Newsradio 106.9 WSYR." It was previously billed as "Newsradio 570 WSYR" until it became a simulcast with WPHR-FM in January...
570. Syndicated programming on WSYR-DT2 includes: Storm Stories
Storm Stories
Storm Stories is a non-fiction television series aired on The Weather Channel and Zone Reality hosted and narrated by meteorologist and Storm-Tracker Jim Cantore. Storm Stories showcases various types of severe weather, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards. Each episode features a famous...
, Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris is an African American television period sitcom inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock , while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York . The show is set from 1982 to 1987; however, Rock himself was a teenager during years...
, Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
, and Better
Better (TV series)
Better is a syndicated lifestyle television show. It airs weekdays on 80 stations across the United States. The program is produced and distributed by Meredith Corporation which was first founded as a publishing company back in 1902. Better gets its name from Meredith's flagship publication, Better...
.
| Channels | Programming |
|---|---|
| 9.1 | Main WSYR programming / ABC |
| 9.2 | WSYR-DT2 "9.2" |
Analog-to-digital transition
On June 12, 2009, WSYR ceased analog television service on VHF channel 9. It remained on UHF channel 17 after the transition. Through the use of PSIPProgram and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
, digital television receivers display WSYR's virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 9.
History
It was the last of Syracuse's major network affiliates to sign-on September 9, 1962 after a channel shuffle involving rival WHEN-TVWTVH
WTVH is the CBS-affiliated television station for Central New York State licensed to Syracuse. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 47 from a transmitter in LaFayette. The station can also be seen on Time Warner and Verizon FiOS channel 5. There is a high definition feed...
and Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
's WHAM-TV
WROC-TV
WROC-TV, virtual channel 8, is a CBS affiliate based in Rochester, New York, USA, owned and operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group. WROC-TV operates Fox affiliate WUHF through a shared services agreement. The two share studios on Humboldt Street in Rochester...
allowed a third analog VHF station in Syracuse. The original call letters were WNYS-TV (now assigned to Syracuse'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
WNYS-TV
WNYS-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Central New York that is licensed to Syracuse. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 44 from a transmitter in LaFayette. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 7 and in high definition on digital...
). It signed-on under the ownership of a group of local investors. The station was later owned by The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...
and has always been an ABC affiliate.
Fire overtook WNYS's studios in the basement of the Shopping Town Mall in DeWitt in April 1967 forcing the station to temporarily move to WCNY-TV
WCNY-TV
WCNY-TV is Syracuse, New York's public television station and PBS member station. WCNY-TV's programming is also seen in Utica on low-powered repeater W22DO-D channel 24 Digital...
's studios in Liverpool
Liverpool, New York
Liverpool is a village located in Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 2,505 at the 2000 census. The name was adopted from the city of Liverpool in the United Kingdom...
until its facilities were rebuilt. The station was sold to The Outlet Company
The Outlet Company
The Outlet Company was a corporation based in Providence, Rhode Island, which owned holdings in both retail and broadcasting. The centerpieces of the group was its flagship Providence store and WJAR radio and television, also in Providence....
in 1978 and the call sign was changed to WIXT-TV with "IX" standing for Roman numeral
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
9. The Ackerley Group
Ackerley Group
The Ackerley Group was an American media company that owned several television stations that was taken over by Clear Channel Communications in 2001. Its chairman was Seattle-based businessman Barry Ackerley.-Stations list :...
bought it in 1982.
In 1986, WIXT implemented a digital central-casting
Centralcasting
In terrestrial radio and television broadcasting, centralcasting refers to the use of systems automation by which customised signals for broadcast by multiple individual stations may be created at one central facility.- :...
control hub for Ackerley's New York State cluster that includes stations in Rochester
WHAM-TV
WHAM-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Rochester, New York. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on Pinnacle Hill on the border between Rochester and Brighton. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 13 and in high definition...
, Watertown
WWTI
WWTI is the ABC-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's North Country. Licensed to Watertown, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 21 from a transmitter on Hayes Road in Copenhagen. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 5 and in high...
, Binghamton
WIVT
WIVT is the ABC-affiliated television station for Upstate new York's Eastern Southern Tier licensed to Binghamton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter at its studios on Ingraham Hill Road southwest of Downtown Binghamton. The station can also be seen...
, Elmira
WETM-TV
WETM-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's Central Southern Tier licensed to Elmira. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 18 from a transmitter on Hawley Hill in West Elmira. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 3 and in...
, and formerly Utica
WUTR
WUTR is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central Upstate New York's Mohawk Valley. Licensed to Utica, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter at its studios on Smith Hill Road in Deerfield...
to help with the upcoming digital television transition. The central-casting still exists today. Other stations throughout Ackerley's New York cluster have received updated studios. 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...
bought Ackerley in 2001 putting WIXT under the same ownership as WSYR-AM. The call sign was then changed to the current WSYR-TV in July 2005 creating a small amount of confusion as rival 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 WSTM-TV
WSTM-TV
WSTM-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Central New York State licensed to Syracuse. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter on Sentinel Heights Road in LaFayette. The station can also be seen on Verizon FiOS channel 3 and Time Warner channel 4...
was known as WSYR-TV from February 15, 1950 until its sale to the Times Mirror Company in 1980.
On December 22, 2006, Nancy Duffy
Nancy Duffy
Nancy Duffy was a longtime newspaper/television personality and co-founder of the Syracuse St. Patrick's Parade, Syracuse, New York in 1983.-Journalism:...
(a former general assignment reporter for the station) died after a long illness. She became the first woman police reporter in Central New York after joining the Syracuse Herald-Journal
Syracuse Herald-Journal
The Syracuse Herald-Journal was an evening newspaper in Syracuse, New York, with roots going back to 1839 when it was named the Western State Journal. The final issue — volume 124, number 37,500 — was published on September 29, 2001...
in 1966. She was Syracuse’s first female television reporter when she moved to WHEN-TV (now WTVH) in 1967. Duffy became the first woman to join the Syracuse Press Club and later served as its president. In 1970, Nancy served as press secretary at Syracuse City Hall. She returned to WTVH after a year and moved to WSYR as a weekday morning anchor and reporter in 1977. She had also founded the local St. Patrick's Day Parade and was active in the community.
On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Newport Television, a broadcasting group established by Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments...
. WSYR radio was not part of the sale. Nevertheless, the WSYR-TV call letters were retained.
WSYR-DT2 was affiliated with the Variety Television Network
Variety Television Network
Variety Television Network was a digital subchannel operated by Newport Television on various US DTV stations; each station broadcast a similar programming schedule except for some local programming...
(operated by Newport Television) until its demise in early-January 2009. This station once served on cable as the default ABC affiliate in Northern New York State communities such as Ogdensburg
Ogdensburg, New York
Ogdensburg is a city in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 11,128 at the 2010 census. In the late 18th century, European-American settlers named the community after American land owner and developer Samuel Ogden....
, Potsdam
Potsdam (village), New York
Potsdam is a village located in the Town of Potsdam in St. Lawrence County, New York, USA. The population was 9,425 at the 2000 census.The Village of Potsdam is in the eastern part of the town and is northeast of Canton, the county seat....
, Massena
Massena (village), New York
Massena is a village in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 13,589 at the 2000 census. The village is named after Andre Massena, one of Napoleon's generals....
, and Malone
Malone (village), New York
-Notable natives:Notable natives include:*William Almon Wheeler served as Vice President of the United States under Rutherford Hayes. Is buried at Morningside Cemetery in Malone....
. Since then, most of those areas have been replaced with WSYR's sister station and fellow ABC affiliate WWTI
WWTI
WWTI is the ABC-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's North Country. Licensed to Watertown, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 21 from a transmitter on Hayes Road in Copenhagen. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 5 and in high...
. However, both were available in these markets for a short time with WVNY
WVNY
WVNY is the ABC-affiliated television station for Vermont's Champlain Valley and Upstate New York's North Country. Licensed to Burlington, Vermont, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on Vermont's highest peak Mount Mansfield. The station can also be...
from Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
now serving Malone. WSYR is one of very few American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television stations that broadcasts in mono
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
. This can easily be detected when comparing it to stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
broadcasts especially using a surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
decoder because the mono signal cannot be unfolded. It is due to the fact that it broadcasts in digital audio
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
.
Bridge Street
In 2004, WIXT premiered the area's only locally produced daytime talk/entertainment/lifestyle magazine show known as Bridge Street (named from the address of the studios). The program airs every weekday morning at 10 from a secondary set and is replayed on WSYR-DT2 weekdays at noon and weeknights at 9. In July 2008, 46-year station veteran Mike Price retired. The station's news studio was renamed the "Mike Price Studio" on July 9 in dedication to his work on Bridge Street. On December 29, Maureen GreenMaureen Green
Maureen Green was a prominent news anchor on WTVH-TV Syracuse. Maureen originally started on WSYR-TV in 1982. In 1983 she joined the WTVH team at the anchor desk. Through Green's 22 years at WTVH she worked with the likes of Mike Tirico, David Muir, and Ron Curtis...
(a former WSYR anchor) was featured as a substitute co-host on Bridge Street filling in for Rick Gary. This was the first time Green was seen on the airwaves since being fired from her position at WTVH as main weeknight anchor in December 2007.
On March 20, 2009, Keith Kobland (former weekday morning and noon anchor on WTVH until its consolidation with WSTM) joined Carrie Lazarus to co-host Bridge Street filling in for Rick Gary. On April 24, WSYR announced that Rick Gary had left the station after serving for more than two decades. Dan Cummings and Keith Kobland joined Carrie Lazarus as temporary replacements until February 1, 2010 when Bridge Street was relaunched with a new look hosted by Chris Brandolino and Tanja Babich.
News operation
After going from third to first place in Syracuse news ratings, work commenced on a new facility on Bridge Street in East Syracuse in 1985. Construction was completed in 1986 and WIXT moved there soon afterward. In 2000, a new news set and newsroom built by NewSet debuted. Also that year in response to declining ratings, WIXT began a new segment called "Your Stories". This feature is where viewers can call the station, not an automated phone system, and get right on-line with a staffer for help with questions. The most popular topics are turned into segments which air at 5:16 during the weeknight news at 5. "Your Stories" was reinvented in 2007 when WSYR started the "Consumer Protection Unit". This is divided into three different parts: "Your Stories", "The Real Deal", and "Consumer Reports".As of July 2008, WSYR remains number one in Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
in Central New York for the whole day-part. However, this station and WSTM are in a tight battle for weekday mornings and weeknights at 11. WSYR makes up for this with huge leads during the week at noon, 5, 5:30, and 6. With the consolidation of WTVH and WSTM on March 2, 2009, there has been a noticeable decline in viewership especially on WTVH which now only airs separately-branded newscasts on weeknights with the same coverage. As a result, WSYR has seen increased viewership. Currently, there are only three news operations that cover the area including cable-only YNN Central New York.
Sister station WWTI in Watertown was hit by across the board cuts from Newport Television in June 2009. Eventually, it began simulcasting WSYR's news every night at 11 and added half-hour reports from the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
training camp produced by fellow ABC affiliate and sister station WHAM in Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
. On September 8, 2009, WWTI began simulcasting WSYR's weekday morning and nightly 6 o'clock newscasts. After letting go the few on-air news staff that it had, the station became a news bureau of WSYR with contributions of content from the North Country
North Country, New York
The North Country is a region of the U.S. state of New York that encompasses the state's extreme northern frontier, bordering Lake Ontario on the west, the Saint Lawrence River and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec on the north and northwest, and Lake Champlain and Vermont on the east...
from a single reporter.
On September 7, 2010, WSYR added a prime time newscast weeknights at 10 on WSYR-DT2. However, unlike the hour-long weeknight and half-hour weekend broadcasts on low-power CW affiliate WSTQ-LP
WSTQ-LP
WSTQ-LP is the low-powered CW-affiliated television station for Central New York State licensed to Syracuse. It broadcasts an analog signal on UHF channel 14 from a transmitter on West Kirkpatrick Street alongside WOLF-FM's tower in the city's Lakefront section. Due to the low-powered status, the...
(produced by WSTM), WSYR-DT2's newscast only airs live for the first fifteen minutes and is then repeated four times in the 10 p.m. hour. The station also added a half-hour to the weekday morning show, which now starts at 4:30, becoming the first station outside of 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...
to make such a launch. WSYR was an affiliate of CNN Newsource
CNN Newsource
CNN Newsource is an affiliation video service from CNN. The service is subscription based and provides CNN content to television stations affiliated with CNN, including terrestrial stations and international stations....
but in a late-2008 cost-cutting move Newport Television chose to terminate all station affiliations with the network. That leaves ABC NewsOne as its lone source of national and world material.
Unlike weekday broadcasts that air on the main channel, weekend newscasts are not repeated on WSYR-DT2. However when the weekend news at 6 is delayed or pre-empted
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
altogether by live ABC Sports programming, the broadcast may occasionally air live at the regular time on WSYR-DT2. The station operates its own 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...
at its transmitter site known as "Live Doppler 9" making it the only local weather radar based in the Syracuse area. It exists due to a perceived inability of the 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...
radars in 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....
, 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...
, and Buffalo to pick up lake-effect snow. There is a live streaming video feed of "Live Doppler 9" on its website. WSYR also offers a live video stream of its weekday newscasts.
On January 29, 2011, WSYR became the first and only station in Central New York to broadcast local news in true high definition. With the switch to HD came a new set, a new logo (which uses the same "Circle 9" design as fellow ABC affiliate KMBC-TV
KMBC-TV
KMBC-TV virtual channel 9 is a television station affiliated with the ABC television network, located in Kansas City, Missouri. KMBC-TV is owned by Hearst Television and its studios are located on Winchester Ave. near Swope Park in Kansas City, Missouri. The station's high guyed mast broadcast...
in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, though with the 2007 version of the ABC logo placed on the bottom right side), and a new slogan ("The Local Station"). WRGB
WRGB
WRGB, channel 6, is a television station located in Schenectady, New York, USA. WRGB is owned by Freedom Communications, and is the CBS affiliate for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy television market...
in Albany, New York
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...
, in January 2008, became the first station in upstate New York to broadcast their local newscasts in high definition. Back in mid-December 2010, rivals, WSTM and WTVH became the first two stations in the market to offer local 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 ...
enhanced definition 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....
. Although not truly high definition, the broadcasts match the aspect ratio
Aspect ratio (image)
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...
of HD television screens.
Since 1993, the station has used many versions of Frank Gari
Frank Gari
Frank Gari is a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a performer are "Utopia" , "Lullaby of Love" and "Princess" , all of which hit the U.S. Top 40 in 1961. He co-wrote with Roger McGuinn the song Beach Ball for Bobby Darin...
's "News Station" music package including customized vocal versions of the theme using old station slogans, "Making A Difference" and "Central New York's News Source".
On June 27, 2011, WSYR's 25-year-duo Rod Wood and Carrie Lazarus were inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. As one of the longest-running anchor teams in the United States, their names join those of Walter Cronkite, Barbara Walters, and other broadcast legends.
Newscast titles
- Charles Hammond and the News (1962–1972)
- 9 News (1972–1974 and 1989–1996)
- Channel 9/ 9 Eyewitness NewsEyewitness NewsEyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
(1974–1989) - NewsChannel 9 (1996–present)
Station slogans
- "You and Me and WIXT" (1980–1981, localized version of ABC campaign)
- "Now is The Time, Channel 9 is the Place" (1981–1982; localized version of ABC campaign)
- "The News Team That's Making a Difference" (1989–1992)
- "Your 24-Hour News Source24 Hour News SourceThe 24 Hour News Source brand was a common name used by American television stations starting in the early 1990s for brief hourly news updates, usually running 30 seconds to a minute in length. At its peak, dozens of stations across the U.S. were producing these brief news updates...
" (1989–1992) - "Making A Difference, Central New York's News Source" (1989–1996)
- "Coverage You Can Count On" (1996–2007)
- "The News That Matters from the People You Trust" (2005-2011)
- "The Station That Tells Your Stories" (2005-2011)
- "Anytime, Anywhere: NewsChannel 9 is Everywhere" (2007–2011)
- "The Local Station" (2011–present)
News team (as of July 2011)
Anchors- Tanja Babich - weekday mornings
- Staci-Lyn Honda - weekend mornings
- Christie Casciano - weeknights at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.Eleven @ 11:00Eleven @ 11:00 is the title of the 11:00 p.m. newscast on many local television stations in the United States. The name is based on the fact that the newscast will run for at least eleven minutes before the first commercial break, a summarized weather forecast segment will air during that time, or...
; also crime reporter - Dan Cummings - weekday mornings; also 'Your Stories' reporter
- James Gaddis - weekend evenings; also reporter and producer
- Carrie Lazarus - weekdays at noon, 5, 5:30, and 6 p.m.; also "Family Healthcast" segment producer
- Rod Wood - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, and 11 p.m.Eleven @ 11:00Eleven @ 11:00 is the title of the 11:00 p.m. newscast on many local television stations in the United States. The name is based on the fact that the newscast will run for at least eleven minutes before the first commercial break, a summarized weather forecast segment will air during that time, or...
; also consumer reporter
NewsChannel 9 Storm Team
- Dave Longley (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights - Chris Brandolino - meteorologist; weekday mornings; also Bridge Street host
- Jim Teske (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; noon
Sports team
- Steve Infanti - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m., also Friday Night Fever, Rewind and Reload, SUSyracuse UniversitySyracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
Shootaround, and Orange All Access host - Sal Maneen - sports anchor; weekend evenings, also sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor
- Lindsay Liquori - sports reporter, fill-in sports anchor; covers News Channel 9 High School Athlete of the Week
Reporters
- Racquel Asa
- Holly Boname - North Country reporter (based at WWTI)
- Jan Carabeo
- Tim Fox - also news producer
- Staci-Lyn Honda
- Leigh Isaacson
- Keith Kobland - also news producer
- Jeff Kulikowsky - senior reporter
- Kaylea Nixon - traffic reporter and Bridge Street co-host
- Tammy Palmer
- Kelly Quinn - also fill-in news anchor