WXXA-TV

WXXA-TV

Albany/Schenectady/ Troy, New York
City of license	Albany
Branding	Fox 23 (general) Fox 23 News
Slogan	The 10 O'Clock News: Always at 10, Now Also at 11
Channels	Digital: 7 (VHF) Virtual: 23 (PSIP)
Subchannels	23.1 Fox 23.2 TheCoolTV
Owner	Newport Television (Newport Television License, LLC)
First air date	July 30, 1982
Sister station(s)	WSYR-TV, WWTI, WBGH-CA , WIVT, WETM-TV, WHAM-TV
Former channel number(s)	23 (UHF analog, 1982-2009)
Former affiliations	Independent (1982-1986) PTEN (secondary, 1993-1995) UPN (secondary, 1995-1997) Variety Television Network (on DT2, 2007-2009) Untamed Sports TV (on DT2, 2009-2011)
Transmitter power	10 kW
Height	434 m (1,424 ft)
Class	DT
Facility ID	11970
Transmitter coordinates	42°37′0.2″N 74°0′44.2″W
Website	www.fox23news.com

WXXA-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's Capital District and Western New England. Licensed to Albany, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 (or virtual channel 23.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter southwest of New Scotland's Voorheesville section. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Verizon FiOS channel 8. There is a high definition feed offered on Verizon FiOS digital channel 508, Comcast digital channel 708, and Time Warner Cable digital channel 1808.

Owned by Newport Television, WXXA has studios on Corporate Circle in Albany. However, master control and some internal responsibilities are based within centralcasting facilities at sister outlet WSYR-TV's studios on Bridge Street in East Syracuse. Syndicated programming on the station includes The Big Bang Theory, Family Guy, Judge Judy and The People's Court among others.

Digital programming

On WXXA-DT2, Time Warner Cable digital channel 423, and Verizon FiOS digital channel 467 is TheCoolTV. This service is currently not available on Comcast digital systems.

Channels (physical/virtual)	Name	Video	Aspect	Programming
7.1/23.1	WXXA-HD	720p	16:9	main WXXA programming/Fox (HD)
7.2/23.2	WXXA-DT2	480i	4:3	TheCoolTV (SD)

History

Its coverage area (primary in dark red).

The station signed-on July 30, 1982 and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 23. It was the market's first new commercial station to launch in the Capital District in 29 years. A construction permit had been issued for channel 23 in the 1950s with the calls WPTR-TV; that permit was canceled in 1960. Rumors had previously abounded that NBC would move its programming to the new channel 23 after WRGB switched to CBS in 1981. However, the network ended up affiliating with WNYT.

The station's parent company was Albany TV 23, Inc., which is owned by a group of investors led by Founding President and Station Manager Jim Boaz, Hollywood Director Arthur Penn, and former FDIC director William Seidman, with financial backing from movie production company Orion Pictures. On October 6, 1986, it became a charter affiliate of Fox and was sold from its original local owners to Heritage Broadcasting. The station became a secondary affiliate with Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN) in 1993.

In 1994, Heritage sold the station to Clear Channel Communications preceding its entry into the radio market and sizable expansion of television assets in the Northeast in the following years. Clear Channel soon moved WXXA from its original studios on Central Avenue/NYS Route 5 in Albany (now a car dealership) to an expanded facility on Corporate Circle. When UPN launched on January 16, 1995, WXXA dropped PTEN and added the new network as a secondary affiliation. The station aired programming from UPN 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, Massachusetts. WXXA's secondary affiliation ended at the start of the 1997-1998 television season when UPN affiliated with low-powered WVBG-LP in Greenwich. The network was picked up again by WXXA after this station, in partnership with Time Warner Cable, launched cable-only affiliate "WEDG-TV" in January 2000. Eventually known on-air as "UPN 4" after its channel location, the station signed-off in August 2003 concurrent with the sign-on of over-the-air UPN affiliate WNYA which was operated by WRGB.

WXXA-DT began airing on VHF channel 7 on December 20, 2005. A combination of objections from analog co-channels WABC-TV (in New York City) and WWNY-TV (in Watertown), both of which have signals at the fringes of the Albany area, was the primary reason for the late and delayed sign-on. On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television station group to Providence Equity Partners' Newport Television (the deal closed in March 2008). In January 2007, Clear Channel launched a digital-only network known as The Variety Channel. The service aired classic television shows (similar to the Retro Television Network), auto showcase programming and various home improvement programs.

WXXA-DT2 dropped the The Variety Channel on January 5, 2009 after the service was shut down replacing it with Untamed Sports TV. This programming service billed 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. WXXA turned-off analog transmissions on June 12, 2009 as part of the DTV transition in the United States. It remained on its pre-transition channel 7 but remains on virtual channel 23 using PSIP. WXXA is the only commercial television station in Albany that has never changed its primary network affiliation or call letters. On April 15, 2011, WXXA-DT2 dropped Untamed Sports TV in favor of TheCoolTV.

News operation

News open.

On October 7, 1996, the station established a news department and began airing a nightly half-hour prime time newscast known as Fox News at 10. It was not the time slot's first show in the market as WMHQ (now WCWN) aired a WNYT-produced broadcast which has started earlier in the year. In 1998, that production was canceled due to a lack of support leaving WXXA as the only outlet for a prime time show. Filling a niche in local newscasts, its prime time broadcast was expanded on weeknights to an hour in early-2000 and renamed Fox 23 News at 10. Since launching the newscast, WXXA has been very successful in the time slot with high ratings and viewership. This cannot be said for other local news offerings from this station which have consistently struggled against Albany's big three stations.

In late-2000, the station took on the area's big three outlets for the first time with the launch of Fox 23 News at 6:30. This show offered a local alternative to the national news broadcasts seen in the time slot. This was followed by another show weeknights at 6 that directly competed with the other stations. Right from its start, the broadcast struggled to gain ratings and viewership from the Capital District's other long-established news departments. A change in upper management led to a realignment of early weeknight shows with the 6:30 broadcast moving to 5 in September 2002 and an expansion to an hour. Fox 23 News at 6 would eventually be dropped in July 2003 due to poor performance against its competitors.

WXXA re-focused its efforts to improve its popular prime time newscast at 10 by putting a significant investment in its news operation beginning in late-2003. The biggest move was the signing of former WNYT news anchor John Gray. Additional resources and capabilities were added to the station behind the scenes as well as on-the-air. On April 17, 2006, it was announced WNYA would begin airing an hour-long extension of WRGB's weekday morning show from 7 until 8. This action could be seen as a pre-emptive move by WRGB to fend off a challenge by WXXA which had announced its own plans to launch a weekday morning newscast two weeks earlier. The actual launch of Fox 23 News Mornings occurred September 25, 2006 and it initially ran for three hours from 5 until 8. As a result, WRGB moved the sixty minute extension of its morning show from WNYA to WCWN in order to stay competitive and take advantage of higher ratings on the latter station. WXXA reduced its weekday morning broadcast to the current two hour format (from 6 until 8) in Summer 2009 due to low viewership.

Soon after, rumors began circulated that WRGB would add prime time news at 10 on WCWN to offer a second choice in the time slot and directly compete with long-time dominant WXXA. However, the moving of a second run of Dr. Phil to 10 on WCWN temporarily put those plans on hold. WRGB eventually followed through with the plans and started producing a weeknight prime time update on WCWN. Originally airing for ten minutes, this featured top stories of the day along with an updated weather forecast. On October 18, 2010, this would be expanded to a full thirty minutes. The format on WCWN is now unique to the market in order to distinguish itself from WXXA and WRGB. It show is presented in a flashy, fast-paced format (stories are rarely more than one or two minutes in length) with an emphasis on entertainment and lifestyle features from several contributors.

A final addition to newscast offerings on WXXA occurred June 29, 2009 when it launched a half-hour broadcast weeknights at 11 following a national trend by other Fox affiliates. Although Fox 23 News at 10 has remained popular with viewers, its weekday morning show and Fox 23 News at 11 have continued to struggle in the ratings against long running newscasts on competing stations. Fox 23 News at 5 (seen on weeknights) has since been cut to a half-hour for that same reason. Since WNYT upgraded its newscasts to high definition on April 24, 2012, WXXA is now the only remaining news department in the Capital District that has yet to upgrade its local newscasts to 16:9 widescreen or full high definition level. During weather forecasts, the station features live NOAA National Weather Service Doppler radar data from four regional sites including one locally on Woodstock Road south of East Berne.

Newscast titles

• Fox News at 10 (1996–2000)
• Fox 23 News (2000–present)

Station slogans

• "Channel 23, Your Super Station" (1982–1987)
• "Fox 23, Your #1 Choice for Entertainment" (1987–1995)
• "Catch The Excitement" (1995–2001)
• "Right to the Point" (2001–2005)
• "We've Got It!" (general, 2005–2007)
• "Coverage and Convenience" (news, 2005-November 2008)
• "The 10 O'Clock News" (news with "The" emphasized, November 2008–present)

News team

Anchors

• Stephanie Grady - weekday mornings and reporter
• John Gray - weeknights and "Good Day, Bad Day" segment producer
• Ann Hughes - weeknights at 10 and 11 (also health reporter and "Buddy Check 23" segment producer)
• Kristin Lowman - weekends and reporter

First Alert Weather Where You Live

• Steve Teeling - Chief seen weeknights
• Jason Caterina - weekday mornings and weekday morning news anchor
• Craig Flint - weekends and fill-in

Sports (all seen on Fox 23 High School Sports Show and Fox 23 Fast Track)

• Kristian Read - Director seen weeknights at 10 and 11
• Scott Morlock - weekends and sports reporter
• Liana Bonavita - sports reporter and photographer (also fill-in sports anchor)

Reporters

• Andy Guzzetti - "Money Monday" segment producer
• Tiffany Price - "Fit Friday" segment producer
• Walt McClure - fill-in news anchor
• Katherine Underwood
• Julie Tremmel
• Meagan Farley

External links

• Fox23News.com - Official Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WXXA-TV