WJAR

WJAR
WJAR
WJAR10.png
Wjar dt2 2009.png
Providence, Rhode Island/
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Branding NBC 10 (general)
NBC 10 News
Slogan The Team You Trust
Channels Digital: 51 (UHF)
Virtual: 10 (PSIP)
Subchannels 10.1 NBC
10.2 Me-TV
Owner Media General
(Media General Communications Holdings, LLC)
First air date July 10, 1949
Call letters' meaning taken from former
sister radio stations
Former channel number(s) Analog:
11 (VHF, 1949-1953)
10 (VHF, 1953-2009)
Former affiliations CBS (1949-1955)
DuMont (1949-1956)
ABC (1949-1953, 1956-1963)
all secondary
NBC Weather Plus
(on DT2)
Transmitter power 974 kW
Height 286 m
Facility ID 50780
Transmitter coordinates 41°51′55.4″N 71°17′12.7″W / 41.865389°N 71.286861°W / 41.865389; -71.286861
Website turnto10.com

WJAR is the NBC-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 51 from a transmitter in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Owned by Media General, the station shares studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston with ZGS Communications-owned Telemundo affiliate WRIW-CA and Ion Television O&O affiliate WPXQ-TV. Syndicated programming on WJAR includes: Extra, Rachael Ray, Oprah, and Ellen.

Contents

Digital programming

Channel Name Programming
10.1 WJAR-DT Main WJAR programming / NBC
10.2 WJAR-DT2 Me-TV[1]

In January 2009, WJAR began broadcasting the Retro Television Network on its second digital channel and digital cable systems. On weekdays, this channel also carries Oprah at 4 and Extra at 7. WJAR-DT2 had previously carried NBC Weather Plus.

WJAR replaced RTV with Me-TV, a digital broadcast network owned by Weigel Broadcasting and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, featuring sitcoms and dramas from the 1950s to the 1980s, which took the place of RTV on digital subchannel 10.2 on September 26, 2011, as part of a groupwide affiliation agreement with Media General; the channel replaced RTV on some Media General-owned stations in other markets.[2]

Analog-to-digital transition

Although the analog television shutdown originally scheduled for February 17, 2009 was postponed to June 12, WJAR made the transition as scheduled on February 17. This allowed ShopNBC station WWDP to begin operation of its permanent digital facility on channel 10.

History

WJAR-TV signed on for the first time on July 10, 1949, broadcasting on channel 11. It was Rhode Island's first television station and the fourth in New England. It was owned by The Outlet Company, a department store chain headquartered in Providence, along with WJAR radio (AM 920, now WHJJ; and FM 95.5, now occupied by WBRU). It moved to channel 10 in 1953. WJAR initially carried programming from all four networks of the time (NBC, ABC, DuMont, and CBS), but has always been a primary NBC affiliate due to WJAR radio's long affiliation with NBC Radio.

In 1952, after hearing about repeated instances of interference in Connecticut between WJAR and WPIX New York, the FCC changed the TV allocations for Providence, which mandated that WJAR move to Channel 10, which it did in the spring of 1953. After that date, WJAR was able to enjoy a much larger coverage area, since the interference with WPIX had ended.

Despite being an primary NBC affiliate, WJAR only carried a little more than half of NBC's program schedule during its early years on the air; WJAR also broadcast about half of the CBS network schedule and a couple of shows each from ABC and DuMont every week.

It lost ABC in 1953 when WNET-TV signed on, and lost CBS in 1955 when WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV) launched. When WNET-TV went dark in 1956, WJAR shared ABC programming with WPRO-TV until WTEV (now WLNE-TV) signed on in 1963. During the late 1950s, WJAR-TV was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[3] In 1954, WJAR-TV received national attention for its coverage of Hurricane Carol; newsreel films shot by WJAR cameramen of the storm and its aftermath not only appeared on the station, but also fed to CBS and NBC for use on their evening news programs.

For many years in the 1970's, WJAR broadcast men's basketball games of Providence College and the University of Rhode Island, with the late and beloved Chris Clark calling play-by-play. In the early 1970's, when PC was one of the top teams in the country (and the top college basketball team in New England), their home games at the newly-opened Providence Civic Center were often sellouts, despite the fact that WJAR televised many of these home games live.

In November 1980, the Outlet Company left the department store business to concentrate on broadcasting. A year earlier, the station moved its studios from the Outlet Building to a three-story modern production facility next door. The department store remained standing until 1986, when it burned to the ground in a spectacular fire. WJAR cameras perched on the neighboring rooftop captured the most dramatic footage. In 1996, Outlet Communications merged with NBC. It was around this time that the station's studios were moved to their current location in an industrial area of Cranston just south of Providence.

In April 1997, WJAR began to operate primary WB and secondary UPN affiliate WLWC (which was owned by Fant Broadcasting) under a local marketing agreement (LMA). Even by the time that station signed on, the future of the LMA was in doubt given the fact that NBC, which inherited the arrangement from Outlet, did not want to run stations outside their core owned-and-operated outlets. The network, during this time, pushed Fant to sell WLWC. In September 1997, NBC came up with a three-way swap in which Fant exchanged WLWC and sister station WWHO in Columbus, Ohio to Paramount / Viacom for that group's NBC affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut, WVIT.

WJAR was one of four NBC O&Os in smaller markets that were put up for sale on January 9, 2006, along with stations in Columbus, Birmingham, Alabama, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Except for the Birmingham station, these were also once owned by Outlet. On April 6, 2006, NBC Universal and Media General announced that Media General would purchase WJAR as part of a $600 million dollar four station deal between the two companies. The deal was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 26. As a result, WJAR became Media General's first television station in New England. For all intents and purposes, this undid the NBC-Outlet merger a decade earlier.

During the April 2007 Nor'easter, WJAR's over-the-air digital transmitter was damaged. Both digital signals, WJAR-HD and WJAR-DT2, were knocked off the air. The outage did not affect digital cable or satellite services, as they do not get the signal from the digital transmitter.

In its earliest days, WJAR's logo included a Rhode Island Red rooster, the state bird of Rhode Island. Prior to WJAR's purchase by NBC, it had included various versions of a different stylized "10" above the WJAR call letters. This had been in effect for the previous twenty years. The stylized "10" was initially retained after the purchase, but with the NBC peacock attached to the right-hand side and the call letters removed. This was dropped in 2002 in favor of its current logo, which was first used on former sister station WCAU in Philadelphia. A modified version, used on newscasts since 2007, is designed and arranged similarly to other Media General station logos.

News operation

News open.

For most of its history, WJAR has led the market with its top-rated newscasts. This can be attributed to being the oldest television channel in Rhode Island and an association early on with two well established radio stations. For the February and May 2010 Nielsen ratings period, this station was number one in all time slots. Its news weeknights at 6 reached a reported 71,000 households which was an advantage of nearly 20,000 over nearest competitor WPRI. For the key audience measure of adult 18-4 9 and adult 25-54 viewers, WJAR out-delivered the competition in virtually all of its newscasts.

More recently, however, WPRI has mounted a spirited challenge to this channel's longtime dominance. For a period in late-2007 and again since early-2009, WPRI has traded ranks in the weeknight 5 and 11 time slots. Specifically, the broadcast weeknights at 11 has gained popularity. As of the November 2010 sweeps period, that newscast on WPRI is the most watched in Rhode Island while WJAR continues its dominance in all other time periods. [4] For most of its history, WLNE has been and continues to be a distant third. This is despite recent significant format and personnel changes.

On two occasions, WJAR has produced a prime time newscast at 10. The first began in April 1997 (entitled TV 28 News at 10) and was seen weeknights on WLWC in competition to the WPRI-produced show on Fox affiliate WNAC-TV. The broadcast was dropped that September when the LMA with WLWC ended. The second attempt has been airing on weeknights since October 1, 2007 when the station began producing NBC 10 News 10 at 10 on its NBC Weather Plus digital subchannel. It was originally a live ten minute production consisting of top stories of the day along with an updated weather forecast.

When WJAR-DT2 switched to RTV, the show expanded to a half-hour and was renamed NBC 10 News 10 at 10 on RTV. A new segment was added called "Flashback" which features vintage footage of past personnel. WLNE will sometimes air news at that time on its 24-hour cable news television station, "NewsChannel 5", whenever significant news events occur or programming delays the WNAC broadcast. On September 6, 2010, WJAR began airing the area's second newscast weeknights at 7 joining WLNE. However, it also airs on Saturday nights unlike the other channel's weeknight production. WLNE's newscast was officially cancelled in April 2011.

WJAR is notable for having employed both a current co-host of Today, Matt Lauer and former co-hostess Meredith Vieira. Vieira started out as a reporter on the station in the late-1970s while Lauer was co-host of WJAR's version of PM Magazine in the early-1980s. Other notable alumni include current host of ABC News' This Week Christiane Amanpour (formerly CNN Chief International Correspondent) and ESPN anchor Steve Berthiaume. In 2008, WJAR was awarded the National Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence for a small-market television station. In 2010, the station's website won another Murrow.

On May 16, 2011, WJAR became the first station in the Providence market to air newscasts in high-definition.[5] A new set was constructed for the transition to HD and debuted on NBC 10 News Sunrise that morning. Photos of the set as it was being built were posted on the station's Facebook page. During construction, newscasts were broadcast from a temporary set in the station's Studio B. Several technological upgrades were also made.[6] Only in-studio video is in HD; the field cameras still shoot in 4:3 SD but the field video is enlarged and cropped to match the aspect ratio of HD television screens.

In addition to its main studios, WJAR operates three news bureaus. The Southeastern Massachusetts Bureau is based at The Standard Times newsroom on Elm Street in New Bedford. The South County Bureau is in The Westerly Sun newsroom on Main Street in Westerly. The Downcity Bureau is on Dorrance Street in Downtown Providence. The station uses a live weather radar feed from the National Weather Service's Local Forecast Office on Myles Standish Boulevard in Taunton, Massachusetts. In weather segments, this data is presented in a forecasting system known as "Storm Team 10 VIPIR".

Newscast titles

  • Your Esso Reporter (1949–1954)
  • Tele News Daily (1954–1962)
  • The 6 O'Clock Report/The 11 O'Clock Report (1962–1970)
  • 10 Extra Effort News (1970–1973)
  • NewsWatch 10 (1973–1994)
  • NewsChannel 10 (1994–2005)
  • NBC 10 News (2005–present)

Station slogans

  • "Southern New England's Leading News Station" (1982–1990)
  • "Southern New England's Leading News Channel" (1990–1994)
  • "Turn to 10" (1994–2006)
  • "The Team You Trust" (2006–present)

News team

Anchors

  • Frank Coletta - weekday mornings and noon
  • Barbra Morse Silva - weekday mornings
  • Patrice Wood - weeknights at 5, 6, and 11
  • Dan Jaehnig - weeknights at 5, 5:30, and 7 (also reporter weeknights at 11)
  • Gene Valecenti - weeknights at 5:30, 6, 10 and 11 (also heard on WPRO-AM 630/WEAN-FM 99.7)
  • Allison Bologna - weeknights at 7 and reporter
  • Mario Hilario - weekend mornings and reporter
  • Frank Carpano - weekend evenings (also sports director)

Storm Team 10 VIPIR HD Meteorologists

  • Mark Searles (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights
  • Gary Ley (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings and noon
  • Kelly Bates (NWA Seal of Approval) - weekend mornings
  • R.J. Heim (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekend evenings also environmental and features reporter

Sports

  • Frank Carpano - Director seen weeknights at 6, 7, 10, and 11 (also First and 10, The Providence College Coach's Show, and Varsity Life host)
  • Joe Kayata - weekend evenings and reporter
  • Erin Cofiell - reporter and producer

Reporters

  • Brian Crandall - Southeastern Massachusetts Bureau
  • Jim Taricani - investigative
  • Bill Rappleye - politics
  • Audrey Washington
  • Parker Gavigan
  • Katie Davis

Contributors

  • John DePetro - Making Waves and heard on WPRO-AM 630/WEAN-FM 99.7
  • Tom Stewart - weekday morning traffic
  • Frank Terranova - Cooking With Class
  • Sejal Lanterman - garden professional
  • Bruce Morris - home professional
  • Paul Giacobbe - ombudsman

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

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