Jump to content

WUTR: Difference between revisions

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit Android app edit
No edit summary
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit Android app edit
Line 34: Line 34:
}}
}}


'''WUTR''' is an [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]-[[network affiliate|affiliated]] [[television station]] [[city of license|licensed]] to [[Utica, New York|Utica]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[United States]] and serving [[Central New York|Central]] [[Upstate New York]]'s [[Mohawk Valley]]. It broadcasts a [[high-definition television|high definition]] [[digital terrestrial television|digital]] signal on [[ultra high frequency|UHF]] channel 30 (or [[virtual channel]] 20 via [[Program and System Information Protocol|PSIP]]) from a transmitter at its studios on [[Smith Hill (Oneida County, New York)|Smith Hill Road]] in [[Deerfield, New York|Deerfield]] (official address is Utica). The station can also be seen on [[Spectrum (cable service)|Charter Spectrum]] channels 7 and 1200 in both [[standard-definition television|standard]] and high definition.<ref>[http://tv.twcc.com/listings tv.twcc.com/listings (Via Entering The Appropriate Zip Codes)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229045926/http://tv.twcc.com/listings |date=December 29, 2016 }}</ref> Owned by [[Mission Broadcasting]], WUTR is operated through [[local marketing agreement|joint sales]] and [[shared services]] agreements by [[Nexstar Media Group]], making it [[sister station|sister]] to Nexstar's [[duopoly (broadcasting|duopoly]] of [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate [[WFXV]] (channel 33) and [[low-power broadcasting#Television|low-powered]] [[MyNetworkTV]] affiliate [[WPNY-LP]] (channel 11) and the three stations share studios.
'''WUTR''' is an [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]-[[network affiliate|affiliated]] [[television station]] [[city of license|licensed]] to [[Utica, New York|Utica]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[United States]] and serving [[Central New York|Central]] [[Upstate New York]]'s [[Mohawk Valley]]. It broadcasts a [[high-definition television|high definition]] [[digital terrestrial television|digital]] signal on [[ultra high frequency|UHF]] channel 30 (or [[virtual channel]] 20 via [[Program and System Information Protocol|PSIP]]) from a transmitter at its studios on [[Smith Hill (Oneida County, New York)|Smith Hill Road]] in [[Deerfield, New York|Deerfield]] (official address is Utica). The station can also be seen on [[Spectrum (cable service)|Charter Spectrum]] channels 7 and 1200 in both [[standard-definition television|standard]] and high definition.<ref>[http://tv.twcc.com/listings tv.twcc.com/listings (Via Entering The Appropriate Zip Codes)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229045926/http://tv.twcc.com/listings |date=December 29, 2016 }}</ref> Owned by [[Mission Broadcasting]], WUTR is operated through [[local marketing agreement|joint sales]] and [[shared services]] agreements by [[Nexstar Media Group]], making it [[sister station|sister]] to Nexstar's [[d
Duopoly (broadcasting|duopoly]] of [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate [[WFXV]] (channel 33) and [[low-power broadcasting#Television|low-powered]] [[MyNetworkTV]] affiliate [[WPNY-LP]] (channel 11) and the three stations share studios.


==History==
==History==

Revision as of 18:31, 24 July 2019

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.

WUTR is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Utica, New York, United States and serving Central Upstate New York's Mohawk Valley. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 (or virtual channel 20 via PSIP) from a transmitter at its studios on Smith Hill Road in Deerfield (official address is Utica). The station can also be seen on Charter Spectrum channels 7 and 1200 in both standard and high definition.[1] Owned by Mission Broadcasting, WUTR is operated through joint sales and shared services agreements by Nexstar Media Group, making it sister to Nexstar's [[d Duopoly (broadcasting|duopoly]] of Fox affiliate WFXV (channel 33) and low-powered MyNetworkTV affiliate WPNY-LP (channel 11) and the three stations share studios.

History

WUTR signed on for the first time on February 28, 1970, as the second television station in the market, owned by Roy H. Park Communications. Park originally sought an affiliation with CBS, but the network turned the offer down due to objections from WHEN-TV (channel 5, now WTVH) in Syracuse. WHEN-TV claimed it would have faced substantial revenue losses had WUTR aligned with CBS; WHEN-TV had long claimed Utica–Rome as part of its market coverage area. However, a rivalry between the Syracuse-based Park and then-WHEN owner Meredith Corporation may also have been a factor. As a result, WUTR joined ABC (taking that affiliation from NBC affiliate WKTV, channel 2) and was the only affiliate with the network owned by Park at that time. WUTR was also the only Park TV station located outside Park's native Southern U.S. (although Park maintained his operations in Ithaca, New York, in the state's Southern Tier region).

Until the 1980s, WUTR was the default ABC affiliate for much of the Watertown market. It operated translators in Watertown and in Massena. The translators were shut down after WJCK (now WWTI, which later spent several years as a sister station to WUTR) began operations in 1985 on the Watertown translator allotment. After Roy Park died in 1993, the future of the group was put into doubt as his estate sold much of the group to corporate investor Gary Knapp. Knapp sold the remnants of the Park group to Media General in 1996.

With WUTR being one of the smallest of Park's stations and the sole station the group had in the Northeast, Media General spun it off in mid-1997 to the Ackerley Group (then-owner of ABC affiliate WIXT, now WSYR-TV, in Syracuse). With the purchase, Ackerley began to build a regional strategy called the "Central New York Station Group" (CNYSG) which eventually covered most of Upstate New York and acquired stations in markets the company did not initially enter. In October 2001, Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) announced its buyout of Ackerley closing on its purchase in 2002. Though initially no changes took place, market concentration concerns with Clear Channel's radio cluster in the Utica market put WUTR's future under the company in doubt.

Given the option between potentially selling WUTR or the four-station "Sports Stars" sports radio simulcast, Clear Channel reduced budgets and redistributed resources to other stations in the CNYSG. In December 2003, Clear Channel announced it would sell WUTR to Nexstar Broadcasting Group subsidiary Mission Broadcasting; the sale was completed on April 1, 2004. At that time, Nexstar (owner of WFXV and WPNY) took over operations of WUTR under local marketing and joint sales agreements, and the three stations were eventually consolidated into WUTR's studios in Deerfield. The station's broadcasts became digital-only, effective March 16, 2009.[2][3][4][5]

For a time in December 2010, WUTR was available in the Burlington, Vermont/Plattsburgh, New York area on Time Warner Cable systems. Due to an ongoing retransmission dispute, the provider dropped that market's ABC affiliate WVNY and added WUTR in its place. Rival WKTV, which at the time was co-owned with WVNY, was replaced with Nexstar-owned WBRE-TV from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on Time Warner Cable's systems in Utica for the same reason.[6] Eventually, the dispute was resolved and both stations were returned to the cable system. (In November 2012, Mission would acquire WVNY from Smith, placing that station in the same family as WUTR.[7])

On June 15, 2016, Nexstar announced that it has entered into an affiliation agreement with Katz Broadcasting for the Escape, Laff, Grit, and Bounce TV networks (the last one of which is owned by Bounce Media LLC, whose COO Jonathan Katz is president/CEO of Katz Broadcasting), bringing the four networks to 81 stations owned and/or operated by Nexstar, including WUTR and WFXV.[8]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP short name Programming [9]
20.1 720p 16:9 WUTR-DT Main WUTR programming / ABC
20.2 480i 4:3 WPNY-LP Simulcast of WPNY-LP
20.3 Grit
20.4 Bounce TV

Programming

WUTR clears the entire ABC schedule, including Litton's Weekend Adventure which is syndicated to the network's affiliates on Saturday mornings. Syndicated programming on WUTR includes Steve, Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Family Feud among others.[10]

News operation

For its entire history, Utica–Rome's NBC affiliate, WKTV, has been the dominant local news station in the Mohawk Valley according to Nielsen ratings. Among the factors contributed to its dominance: its longevity (it was the first television station to sign on in the market) and its signal strength (consistently broadcasting on channel 2 in the days when VHF stations were more easily received by potential viewers than UHF stations such as WUTR, which broadcast on channel 20). At various times in its history, WUTR has sought to compete for local news viewers—with varying degrees of success. Its highest ratings to date, perhaps, occurred during two periods: the late 1980s and the mid-1990s.

After Clear Channel reduced funding for local news gathering, WUTR became more reliant on content originating from its sister stations in Upstate New York (particularly flagship WIXT in Syracuse), ending weekday morning and weekend newscasts in June 2002. Weeknight newscasts were discontinued and remaining news staff members were terminated in August 2003. For the rest of Clear Channel's ownership, the station simulcast news programs from WIXT, which provided some limited coverage of the Utica and Rome area.[11][12] After Nexstar/Mission assumed ownership of WUTR, the simulcasts of WIXT's newscasts were replaced with syndicated programming.

After WUTR's sale to Mission Broadcasting, insiders speculated that Nexstar would establish a combined news department for WUTR and its sister stations, WFXV and WPNY. In March 2011, the company announced it would launch a news operation for the three stations by mid-September, and said it would invest $1 million for staff and equipment. WUTR's Eyewitness News operation began on September 12, 2011, and broadcast in true high definition, making it the first station in the Utica-Rome market to air full high-definition news broadcasts. (WFXV would become the second such station four hours later, when its 10 p.m. newscast launched.)[13] Late-evening newscasts are broadcast at 10 p.m. on WFXV and at 11 p.m. on WUTR. [14][15][16][17][18] As of July 6, 2015, the audio of WUTR's 6 p.m. newscast also simulcasts on Townsquare Media-owned radio station WIBX.[19]

WUTR has announced no plans for morning, noon, afternoon (4:00, 5:00 or 5:30), or weekend newscasts. As a result, the station offers the fewest weekly hours of local news of any ABC affiliate in the state of New York, surpassing WENY-TV, which carries a one-hour morning newscast in addition to news at 6:00 and 11:00 on weeknights, but like WUTR, no news at noon, in the afternoon or on weekends.

Notable former on-air staff

References

  1. ^ tv.twcc.com/listings (Via Entering The Appropriate Zip Codes) Archived December 29, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ WUTR, WFXV will switch to digital March 16, Observer-Dispatch, February 6, 2009
  3. ^ Local stations begin transition to digital, MONTANETTE MURPHY, Observer-Dispatch, February 17, 2009
  4. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "CDBS Print". fcc.gov.
  6. ^ Harry A. Jessell. "Denied Locals, TWC Importing Distant Signals". tvnewscheck.com.
  7. ^ "Nexstar Adding Stations In CA, VT". TVNewsCheck. November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  8. ^ "Bounce TV, Grit, Escape, Laff Multicast Deal Covers 81 Stations, 54 Markets". Broadcasting & Cable. June 15, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  9. ^ http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WUTR#station
  10. ^ "WUTR schedule". Archived from the original on October 5, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Fybush, Scott (July 15, 2002). "Clear Channel Faces Hearings on Augusta Purchase". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  12. ^ Fybush, Scott (August 4, 2003). "WUTR Pulls Plug on Local News". NorthEast Radio Watch. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  13. ^ WUTR AND WFXV TO LAUNCH HIGH DEFINITION EYEWITNESS NEWS ON SEPTEMBER 12 Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. News release (August 15, 2011). Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "Utica's WUTR to Revive Local News Operation". CNYRadio.com / CNYTVNews.com.
  16. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved April 5, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ^ DAN MINER. "Local news coming to ABC and FOX in Utica and Rome". Uticaod. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 10, 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ^ Ana Rivera. "WUTR/WFXV and WIBX Announce Partnership". CNYHOMEPAGE. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved July 9, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ "Jim Axelrod bio". CBS News. October 8, 2002. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  21. ^ "Jeff Rossen bio". NBC News. February 19, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  22. ^ "Bob Van Dillen bio". HLN. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WUTR&oldid=907705873"