| WXXA-TV | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Albany / Schenectady / Troy, New York |
|
| City of license | Albany |
| Branding | FOX 23 (general) FOX 23 News (news) |
| Slogan | The 10 O'Clock News |
| Channels | Digital: 7 (VHF) Virtual: 23 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 23.1 FOX 23.2 Untamed Sports TV |
| Owner | Newport Television, LLC (Newport Television License, LLC) |
| First air date | July 30, 1982 |
| Call letters’ meaning | FOX Albany |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 23 (UHF, 1982-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1982-1987) UPN (secondary, 1995-1997) |
| Transmitter Power | 10 kW |
| Height | 434 m (1,424 ft) |
| Facility ID | 11970 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 42°37′0.2″N 74°0′44.2″W / 42.616722°N 74.012278°W |
| Website | fox23news.com |
WXXA-TV is the FOX-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 VHF channel 7 from a transmitter on Mount Pinnacle in New Scotland. Owned by Newport Television, the station has studios on Corporate Circle on the border of Albany suburbs Colonie and Guilderland. WXXA broadcasts "Untamed Sports TV" on its second digital subchannel and Time Warner digital channel 423. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Judge Judy, The People's Court, Frasier, and Everybody Loves Raymond.
Contents |
Digital programming
The station's signal is multiplexed.
| Virtual channel |
Physical channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23.1 | 7.1 | 720p | 16:9 | main WXXA programming / FOX HD |
| 23.2 | 7.2 | 480i | 4:3 | WXXA-DT2 "Untamed Sports TV" |
History
WXXA is the only Albany television station that has never changed its network affiliation or call letters. The original owners were a group of investors led by the station's founding President and Station Manager Jim Boaz and movie production company Orion Pictures under the name "Albany TV-23, Inc." The station however, started as an independent.
WXXA began broadcasting on July 30, 1982 as the market's first independent station. Before this, the channel 23 position existed for many years as a construction permit (originally as WPTR-TV) and prior to sign-on was rumored to get the NBC affiliation shed by WRGB prior to that network affiliating with WNYT. On October 6, 1986, WXXA became one of the sign-on affiliates of the fledgling FOX network and was sold from its original local owners to Heritage Broadcasting.
In 1994, Heritage sold the station to Clear Channel Communications preceding its radio entry into the market and its sizable expansion of television assets in the Northeast by several years. Clear Channel would soon move WXXA from its original studios on Central Avenue in Albany (now a car dealership) to an expanded facility in Albany located near the Westmere area of the city. When UPN launched on January 16, 1995, WXXA gained a secondary affiliation with the network and aired its programming off-hours on weekends. Cable viewers in virtually the entire market were also able to watch the shows in-pattern on WSBK-TV from Boston. WXXA's secondary affiliation ended at the start of the 1997-1998 television season when UPN affiliated with WYPX who would show programming off-pattern during the week from 11 at night to 1 in the morning. Albany UPN affiliation was shared with Pax 55 , with WVBG airing shows in pattern. WVBG started as an affiliate in October 1998 and stay until January 2000.
From January 2000 until August 2003, WXXA operated "WEDG-TV", a cable-only UPN affiliate seen on Time Warner, Charter, and Mid-Hudson Cablevision cable systems in the market. Known on-air as "UPN 4" after its channel location, the station signed-off concurrent with the sign-on of broadcast UPN affiliate WNYA.
On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Providence Equity Partners' Newport Television. However, Providence Equity Partners currently owns a 16 percent stake in Freedom Communications, the owner of CBS affiliate WRGB. As a result, the FCC granted conditional approval of the deal in late-November provided that Providence Equity Partners follows through with its planned divestiture of its share in Freedom Communications (as required when Providence Equity Partners purchased a minority stake in the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision earlier in 2007) to another company before the group deal can be finalized. In the interim, WXXA was moved over to the Aloha Station Trust (alongside assorted for-sale Clear Channel radio stations) until a divestiture can be made. Once the share of Freedom Communications is spun off, WXXA will be fully transferred to Newport Television.
Digital television
WXXA's digital signal began broadcasting in December 2005 on VHF channel 7. A combination of objections from analog co-channels in New York City and Watertown, both of which have signals at the fringes of the Albany market, was the primary reason for the late and delayed sign-on.
In January 2007, Clear Channel launched a digital-only network known as "The Variety Channel". The network broadcasted classic television shows, auto showcase programming, and various home improvement programs. WXXA-DT2 dropped the "The Variety Channel" on January 5, 2009 replacing it with "Untamed Sports TV". This programming service bills itself as the only outdoor adventure sports channel offering a multitude of risk-taking sports to those daring enough to explore a superb voyage in the great outdoors.
On June 12, 2009, their digital signal remained on channel 7 when the analog to digital conversion completed. PSIP is used to display WXXA-DT's virtual channel as 23.
News operation
On October 7, 1996, WXXA launched a 10 P.M. newscast known as FOX News at 10. It was not the first in the market as WMHQ's WNYT-produced news started earlier that year. Filling a niche in local news broadcasts, the 10 o'clock show was expanded in early-2000 to an hour and renamed FOX 23 News at 10. In the most recent ratings periods, March and May 2009 WXXA was the market's most watched late newscast. The 10 P.M. news was joined by a 6:30 o'clock edition in late-2000.
In 2001, WXXA took on the big three stations in the market for the first time by launching a weeknight 6 o'clock newscast that struggled to gain ratings. A change in upper management led to a realignment of early evening news with the 6:30 broadcast moving to 5 in September 2002. The 6 o'clock news was canceled in July 2003. In recent years, the station has made waves by putting a significant investment in its news operation. The biggest move was the signing of popular WNYT anchor John Gray in late-2003 and adding resources and capabilities behind the scenes and on-air. The station became one of the first to offer pod-casts in 2005. It was also the first television station worldwide to provide video pod-casts.
On September 25, 2006, WXXA launched a weekday morning newscast (known as FOX 23 News Daybreak) running from 5 to 8. The time of the newscast changed to 6 to 9 in Fall 2008 and then to 6 to 8 in Summer 2009. As of June 29, WXXA airs a half-hour newscast weeknights at 11.
News/Station Presentation
Newscast Titles
- FOX News at 10 (1996-2000)
- FOX23 News (2000-present)
Station slogans
- Channel 23, Your Super Station (1982-1987)
- FOX 23, Your #1 Choice for Entertainment (1987-1995)
- Catch The Excitement (1987-1992)
- Right to the Point (2001-2005)
- We've Got It! (general programming, 2005-2007)
- Coverage and Convenience (2005-November 2008)
- The 10:00 News (November 2008-present)
News music packages
- "WXXA 1996 News"
- "WXXA 2001 News"
- "News Matrix"
- "FOX Affiliate News Theme"
News team
Current personalities
Anchors
- Mark Baker - weekday mornings
- John Gray - weeknights at 5, 10 and 11PM
- Ann Hughes - weeknights at 10 and 11PM and "Buddy Check 23" segment producer
- Kristin Lowman - Saturday evenings and reporter
- Jeff Saperstone - Sunday evenings and reporter
FOX 23 Weather Where You Live Meteorologists
- Steve Teeling (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; seen weeknights
- John DiPasquale (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings
- Tom Esterguard - weekend evenings
Sports
- Rich Becker - Sports Director; seen weeknights at 10 and 11 and FOX 23 High School Sports Show and FOX 23 Fast Track co-host (heard on WPYX-FM 106.5 and ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team)
- Scott Morlock - weekend evenings and FOX 23 High School Sports Show and FOX 23 Fast Track co-host
- James Hill - sports reporter and photographer
Reporters
- Walt McClure - also fill-in anchor
- Kristen Lowman
- Cait McVey
- Paul Merrill
- Jeff Saperstone
- Torie Wells
Past personnel
- Megan Baker - anchor/reporter (later worked for Capital News 9, 2003-2006; now head of her own public relations firm in Albany)
- Dan Bazile - reporter/fill-in anchor; was formerly at WNYT, now spokesman for New York State Assemblyman Jim Tedisco)
- Tim Drawbridge - weekend meteorologist (2006; was a temporary hire and ended up joining WNYT in January 2007, left WNYT in May 2008 to become the Public Relations Manager & Spokesperson for the The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom but would return to that station in November 2008 as weekend morning meteorologist)
- Ryan Finn - weekend meteorologist (resigned from post in March 2009 for a full time job at News 10 Now in Syracuse)
- Greg Floyd - original lead anchor and managing editor, downgraded to weekends upon John Gray's arrival (now at WRGB)
- Noah Francis - chief meteorologist (1996-2006; He was the last on-air talent from the news department's launch to leave the station)
- Stephanie Gorin - anchor (1996-1998; now lead anchor at WPTZ in Plattsburgh)
- Brandon Hertell - weekday morning meterologist (resigned from post at the end of March 2009. He is now forecasting for a power company)
- Kathryn Hauser - reporter (2006-August 2009; now a reporter at News 12 Connecticut)
- Diane Lee - morning anchor (left the station in June 2009, now a freelance anchor/reporter at WTEN)
- Molly Line - reporter/fill-in anchor (early 2000s; now a reporter at Fox News Channel)
- Brent Martineau - weekend sports anchor (2002-2008; now at WTEV-TV/WAWS-TV in Jacksonville, Florida)
- Natalie Martinez - weeknight co-anchor (1998-2000; previously reporter and original weekend anchor; Now a reporter and fill-in anchor at WMAQ in Chicago)
- Jill Montag - reporter/fill-in anchor
- Allison Seymour - original co-anchor (now early morning anchor at WTTG in Washington, D.C.)
- John Mulrooney - reporter (by then working for WPYX as morning show sidekick, briefly was a host of the station's late night comedies in 2001)
- Marci Natale - reporter (now at WRGB)
- Nathan O'Leary - reporter/fill-in anchor (now anchor for WMYD in Detroit/Independent News Network)
- Brian Pastiglione - reporter/fill-in anchor
- "Ranger Danger" - played by veteran radio DJ Gary Locatelli (better known as "Uncle Vito" of WPYX), the character of Ranger Danger was a cartoon host/children's show character who developed a cult following until the show was canceled upon Clear Channel's purchase of the station)
- Gary Somerset - reporter (late 1990s, currently Media and Public Relations Manager at the U.S. Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.)
- Kristin Stinar - reporter and 6:30 co-anchor with Ann Hughes (early 2000s; now reporter and fill-in anchor at KSTP-TV in St. Paul/Minneapolis)
- David Wade - weekend reporter (later reporter and weeknight anchor at WFXT in Boston)
- Charnel Wright - reporter (2000-2004; founded women's crime safety and awareness organization Scared Safe NOW and now television host of the bi-weekly show of the same name)
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