WPTZ
Encyclopedia
WPTZ, virtual channel
5, is an NBC
-affiliated television station
located in Plattsburgh, New York, USA
. WPTZ is owned by Hearst Television, and has its studios in Plattsburgh and transmitter located on Mount Mansfield
in Vermont
.
Most of WPTZ's programming can also be seen over semi-satellite station WNNE
(channel 31), which is licensed to Hartford, Vermont
and serves the Upper Connecticut River
Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire
.
analog channel
5 as WIRI, licensed to the hamlet of North Pole, New York
. WIRI was owned by the Great Northern Broadcasting Company along with WIRY radio
(1340 AM), with its studios in Plattsburgh and transmitter on Terry Mountain in Peru, New York
. The station has been a primary NBC affiliate since its inception; it carried secondary affiliations with ABC
until 1968 when WVNY
(channel 22) signed-on, and with DuMont
until that network ceased operations in 1956.
Rollins Telecasting purchased WIRI in 1956. The new owners changed the station's call letters to the present WPTZ (for PlatTZburgh); the WPTZ calls had recently been dropped by the channel 3 facility
in Philadelphia following its controversial trade by Westinghouse Broadcasting
to NBC earlier in that year. Rollins merged with Heritage Broadcasting in 1987 to form Heritage Media. In 1991, Heritage Media purchased WNNE, which had been a separate station with its own news department. With Heritage's purchase, WNNE was made into a semi-satellite of WPTZ, significantly improving WPTZ's coverage in the southeastern part of the market. During the analog era, the station was the only one in the area that did not operate any translators. Heritage moved WNNE's master control to WPTZ in Plattsburgh in 2000.
The company sold all of its broadcasting properties to the Sinclair Broadcast Group
in 1997 prior to its merger with News Corporation
. The sale protected new Fox
affiliate WFFF-TV
which was initially operated by WPTZ under a local marketing agreement
(LMA) and shared the analog transmitter on Terry Mountain. Otherwise WPTZ/WNNE, along with then-sister stations in Pensacola, Florida
and Charleston, West Virginia
would have been forced to switch to Fox. Sinclair, in turn, sold WPTZ/WNNE along with the WFFF LMA to Sunrise Television in 1998. Sunrise then decided to swap all three stations, along with Smith Broadcasting-owned KSBW
in Salinas, California
to what was then known as Hearst-Argyle Television in return for WNAC-TV
in Providence, Rhode Island
and WDTN
in Dayton, Ohio
. The swap became official on July 2, 1998. WFFF began operating as an independently-owned and controlled station in 2000 when the LMA with WPTZ was terminated.
On June 23, 1999, WPTZ petitioned the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) to change its community of license (COL) from North Pole to Plattsburgh. The station cited the area's declining population as the reason for the change. The 2000 United States Census did not even count North Pole as a separate community, and instead included it in Lake Placid
. The community-of-license change was approved by the FCC on January 5, 2011. However, WPTZ had dropped North Pole from its station IDs some years earlier, instead identifying as "Plattsburgh/Burlington."
WPTZ was one of two television stations in the United States
with a "North Pole" community of license. The other is KJNP-TV
, a religious station licensed to North Pole, Alaska
in the Fairbanks
area. It was a subject of a blooper when Oprah Winfrey
taped a promo for her show
for WPTZ and started laughing after she spoke the station's community of license. David Letterman
in another promo during his NBC tenure, riffed on the station's request for him to pronounce the "Z" in WPTZ as "zed" instead of "zee" for the station's Canadian audience.
On February 17, 2009, the station shut down its analog signal and began to broadcast exclusively in digital. It was one of the first stations owned by Hearst to cease analog broadcasting (KITV
in Honolulu, Hawaii
was the other).
together as "5&31 Weather Plus". Starting in October, its studios in Plattsburgh underwent extensive renovations. During that time, its broadcasts were from a temporary set while the construction took place. While the studios as a whole were being upgraded, the weather department underwent the most change. In advance of the launch of NBC Weather Plus, the weather center was expanded to make room for new combined WPTZ/WNNE weather graphics and logos. The remodeling was completed by late-November.
WPTZ launched Weather Plus on a new second digital subchannel on November 15 after debuting a new digital signal from Mount Mansfield a day earlier. The service was never offered on WNNE's digital signal even though this had been airing since July 20, 2005. On digital cable, WPTZ-DT2 was carried on Comcast digital channel 169 (serving the Upper Valley), Telecom digital channel 305, and Time Warner digital channel 854. It was never offered on Charter systems in New York State.
In December 2008, NBC shut down the national Weather Plus service. WPTZ continued to air a locally-derived version of Weather Plus until August 31, 2009 when it was replaced with This TV
. This marked the network's first foray into the Plattsburgh and Burlington area along with St. Lawrence County in New York and eastern portions of the adjacent Watertown market where WPTZ has long served as the default NBC affiliate on cable. WPTZ-DT2 remains on the three digital cable systems while being added to Charter digital channel 296 while still not being offered on WNNE-DT.
, it has a large audience in Southern Québec
, Canada
. This includes Montréal
, a city that is ten times more populous than all of WPTZ's entire American
viewing area combined. For many years, the channel identified on-air as "North Pole/Plattsburgh/Burlington/Montréal" to acknowledge its large cable viewership in Canada. It is widely carried on cable in the province of Québec as far north as Saguenay
and as far east as Gaspé
. On Vidéotron
systems in Montreal, it can be seen on: channel 23 (West Montreal), channel 18 (Central and East Montreal), and channel 52 (Illico digital).
During NBC prime time
programming, Canadian cable systems frequently cover up WPTZ's signal on cable systems in Montreal and, to a lesser extent, Quebec City
. This is done to satisfy the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's simsub
rules. The action benefits CFCF-TV
and CKMI-TV
. On the American side, WPTZ can be seen in New York State on Charter
channel 2 and in Vermont on Comcast
channel 5. It is the default NBC affiliate for Essex
, Franklin
, and Eastern St. Lawrence
Counties in Upstate New York where it is seen on Time Warner Cable
. In Ogdensburg
and Western St. Lawrence County, that system offers both WPTZ and Syracuse
's WSTM-TV
.
WNNE, licensed to Hartford, Vermont, operates as a semi-satellite of WPTZ. It simulcasts all local, syndicated, and network programming but airs separate station identifications and advertisements. WNNE has its own studios on Dewitt Drive in White River Junction
. The channel's coverage area includes the Connecticut River Valley (Upper Valley) area of Central and Western New Hampshire
as well as Southern Vermont. Most of WNNE's viewership comes from the Southern New Hampshire sub-market which is part of the Greater Boston
DMA. Additionally, the channel shares its coverage area with sister station WMUR-TV
.
affiliate WCAX-TV
. Traditionally, it focuses on the North Country and New York State while the other channel tends to cover more from Vermont. In order to cover that state, WPTZ operates secondary facilities known as the Vermont Bureau on Roosevelt Highway (U.S. 2
/U.S. 7
) in Colchester
. At one point, there had been more general assignment reporters based at the main studios in Plattsburgh. However in more recent times, additional reporters based at the Vermont Bureau have been hired.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, WNNE operated its own news department and aired local newscasts. This was progressively cut back after being bought by Heritage, eventually resulting in the elimination of a full news operation in 2007. Today, the only visual difference between the stations are different channel bugs during newscasts. Occasionally when WNNE has technical problems, WPTZ's logo will peek through. The two currently use the NewsChannel branding.
During newscasts on WPTZ, WNNE is referred to as the Upper Valley Bureau and features a full-time reporter based in its White River Junction studios. Contributions to the broadcasts on this channel includes a live headline from the Upper Valley weeknights at 5:30 as well as video footage for other time slots. In addition to the Upper Valley and Vermont Bureaus, WPTZ airs national news from Hearst Television's Washington, D.C.
bureau. It employs several reporters who give live reports to the various Hearst affiliates.
Although WPTZ and WNNE do not own or operate weather radar
s of their own, they use live NOAA National Weather Service
radar data from several regional sites. It is presented on-screen in a forecasting system known as "Storm Tracker 5000" (powered by the Supper Doppler Network). Unlike most NBC affiliates, WPTZ does not air a midday newscast during the week. It had aired a show at noon until 2005 but was dropped in favor of 5:30 Now that airs on weeknights. With the departure of Thom Hallock (whose contract was not renewed by station) on November 23, 2007, WPTZ was left with an all-woman weeknight anchor team. That changed with the arrival of Gus Rosendale. He left WPTZ in 2005 to report at sister station WTAE-TV
in Pittsburgh and made his debut back at this station in mid-December. Rosendale left the station again in December 2010 to join KSTP-TV
in Minneapolis – Saint Paul, with George Mallet taking his place shortly thereafter.
In August 2009, the station introduced a new format and title to its weeknight newscast at 11. The re-formatted show called NewsChannel 5 Nightcast features more fast-paced and edgier news. Despite its logo which includes "HD", the newscasts were aired in pillar-boxed 4:3 standard definition and it was the only station in the market to not have upgraded local news to high definition. WPTZ was one of six remaining stations owned by Hearst that has yet to make the upgrade to 16:9
enhanced definition widescreen
or full HD, until on April 26, 2011, when WPTZ started airing newscasts in widescreen. However, unlike the newscasts on WCAX and WFFF/WVNY, the WPTZ newscasts are not in true HD—just ED widescreen. The simulcasts on WNNE remain in pillarboxed 4:3 due to that channel's lack of an HD master control facility.
NewsChannel 5 Weather Plus Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
Notable past personnel
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....
5, is an 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...
-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...
located in Plattsburgh, New York, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. WPTZ is owned by Hearst Television, and has its studios in Plattsburgh and transmitter located on Mount Mansfield
Mount Mansfield
Mount Mansfield is the highest mountain in Vermont with a summit that peaks at above sea level. The summit is in Underhill; the ridgeline, including some secondary peaks, extends into the town of Stowe, and the mountain's flanks also reach into the town of Cambridge.When viewed from the east or...
in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
.
Most of WPTZ's programming can also be seen over semi-satellite station WNNE
WNNE
WNNE is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Connecticut River Valley area of eastern Vermont and western New Hampshire that is licensed to Hartford, Vermont. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 25 from a transmitter on Mount Ascutney in Windsor County, Vermont...
(channel 31), which is licensed to Hartford, Vermont
Hartford, Vermont
Hartford is a town in Windsor County in the U.S. state of Vermont. It is located on the New Hampshire border, at the intersection of Interstates 89 and 91. It is the site of the confluence of the White River and the Connecticut River; the Ottauquechee River also flows through the town...
and serves the Upper Connecticut River
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
.
History
The station signed-on December 8, 1954 on VHFVery high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
analog channel
Analog television
Analog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
5 as WIRI, licensed to the hamlet of North Pole, New York
North Pole, New York
North Pole is a small hamlet located in the town of Wilmington, Essex County, New York in the Adirondack Mountains.- Geography :This tiny hamlet is situated in Adirondack Park at the northern edge of Essex County near Whiteface Mountain, 12 miles from Lake Placid, New York and approximately 30...
. WIRI was owned by the Great Northern Broadcasting Company along with WIRY radio
WIRY
WIRY is an AM radio station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York. The locally owned and operated radio station broadcasts at 1340 kHz in C-QUAM AM stereo with a full service variety format....
(1340 AM), with its studios in Plattsburgh and transmitter on Terry Mountain in Peru, New York
Peru, New York
Peru is a town in Clinton County in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 6,998 at the 2010 census. The town was named Peru because its mountainous nature suggested that country....
. The station has been a primary NBC affiliate since its inception; it carried secondary affiliations with ABC
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...
until 1968 when 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...
(channel 22) signed-on, and with DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
until that network ceased operations in 1956.
Rollins Telecasting purchased WIRI in 1956. The new owners changed the station's call letters to the present WPTZ (for PlatTZburgh); the WPTZ calls had recently been dropped by the channel 3 facility
KYW-TV
KYW-TV, virtual channel 3, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW-TV shares a studio facility with its sister station, CW flagship WPSG just north of Center City Philadelphia...
in Philadelphia following its controversial trade by Westinghouse Broadcasting
Westinghouse Broadcasting
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication....
to NBC earlier in that year. Rollins merged with Heritage Broadcasting in 1987 to form Heritage Media. In 1991, Heritage Media purchased WNNE, which had been a separate station with its own news department. With Heritage's purchase, WNNE was made into a semi-satellite of WPTZ, significantly improving WPTZ's coverage in the southeastern part of the market. During the analog era, the station was the only one in the area that did not operate any translators. Heritage moved WNNE's master control to WPTZ in Plattsburgh in 2000.
The company sold all of its broadcasting properties to the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
in 1997 prior to its merger with News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
. The sale protected new Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliate WFFF-TV
WFFF-TV
WFFF-TV is the Fox-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 UHF channel 43 from a transmitter on Vermont's highest peak, Mount Mansfield...
which was initially operated by WPTZ under a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
(LMA) and shared the analog transmitter on Terry Mountain. Otherwise WPTZ/WNNE, along with then-sister stations in Pensacola, Florida
WEAR-TV
WEAR is the ABC affiliated television station for the Mobile, Alabama/Pensacola, Florida viewing area. It is licensed to Pensacola and is one of two major commercial stations in the market that is licensed on the Florida side of the market, the other being sister station WFGX, a MyNetworkTV affiliate...
and Charleston, West Virginia
WCHS-TV
WCHS-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia. This area is the second-largest market in terms of area east of the Mississippi River and consists of 61 counties in Central West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Southern Ohio...
would have been forced to switch to Fox. Sinclair, in turn, sold WPTZ/WNNE along with the WFFF LMA to Sunrise Television in 1998. Sunrise then decided to swap all three stations, along with Smith Broadcasting-owned KSBW
KSBW
KSBW is a television station in the United States and is the primary NBC affiliate for the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz, California market. The station is owned by Hearst Television. KSBW has its studios on John Street in downtown Salinas, which is mentioned occasionally during commercial breaks...
in Salinas, California
Salinas, California
Salinas is the county seat and the largest municipality of Monterey County, California. Salinas is located east-southeast of the mouth of the Salinas River, at an elevation of about 52 feet above sea level. The population was 150,441 at the 2010 census...
to what was then known as Hearst-Argyle Television in return for WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
and WDTN
WDTN
WDTN, virtual channel 2, is the NBC-affiliated television station for Ohio's Miami Valley. Licensed to Dayton, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter in the Frytown section of the city. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 2 and in...
in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
. The swap became official on July 2, 1998. WFFF began operating as an independently-owned and controlled station in 2000 when the LMA with WPTZ was terminated.
On June 23, 1999, WPTZ petitioned the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) to change its community of license (COL) from North Pole to Plattsburgh. The station cited the area's declining population as the reason for the change. The 2000 United States Census did not even count North Pole as a separate community, and instead included it in Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
. The community-of-license change was approved by the FCC on January 5, 2011. However, WPTZ had dropped North Pole from its station IDs some years earlier, instead identifying as "Plattsburgh/Burlington."
WPTZ was one of two television stations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with a "North Pole" community of license. The other is KJNP-TV
KJNP-TV
KJNP-TV Channel 4 is a full-service religious television station in North Pole, Alaska. Signing on on December 7, 1981 and becoming a Trinity Broadcasting Network affiliate in 1990, KJNP-TV became the fourth television station in the Fairbanks area after KUAC...
, a religious station licensed to North Pole, Alaska
North Pole, Alaska
North Pole is a small city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. It is part of the Fairbanks, Alaska metropolitan statistical area. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated its population as of July 1, 2009 at 2,226. The name "North Pole" is often applied to the entire area covered...
in the Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
area. It was a subject of a blooper when Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
taped a promo for her show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
for WPTZ and started laughing after she spoke the station's community of license. David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
in another promo during his NBC tenure, riffed on the station's request for him to pronounce the "Z" in WPTZ as "zed" instead of "zee" for the station's Canadian audience.
On February 17, 2009, the station shut down its analog signal and began to broadcast exclusively in digital. It was one of the first stations owned by Hearst to cease analog broadcasting (KITV
KITV
KITV is the American Broadcasting Company television station affiliate licensed to Honolulu, Hawaii. Based in Honolulu and broadcasting on digital channel 40, displayed as channel 4 the station is owned by Hearst Television and operates several satellites and translators on all the major Hawaiian...
in Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
was the other).
WPTZ-DT2
In September 2006, WPTZ established a daily web video forecast as part of a major revamping of its website. The feature, known as the "Weather Plus Update", introduced a logo showing WPTZ/WNNE offering NBC Weather PlusNBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus was a 24-hour, commercially sponsored, weather-oriented broadcast/cable television network jointly owned by NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC network. It debuted on November 15, 2004 and shut down on December 31, 2008...
together as "5&31 Weather Plus". Starting in October, its studios in Plattsburgh underwent extensive renovations. During that time, its broadcasts were from a temporary set while the construction took place. While the studios as a whole were being upgraded, the weather department underwent the most change. In advance of the launch of NBC Weather Plus, the weather center was expanded to make room for new combined WPTZ/WNNE weather graphics and logos. The remodeling was completed by late-November.
WPTZ launched Weather Plus on a new second digital subchannel on November 15 after debuting a new digital signal from Mount Mansfield a day earlier. The service was never offered on WNNE's digital signal even though this had been airing since July 20, 2005. On digital cable, WPTZ-DT2 was carried on Comcast digital channel 169 (serving the Upper Valley), Telecom digital channel 305, and Time Warner digital channel 854. It was never offered on Charter systems in New York State.
In December 2008, NBC shut down the national Weather Plus service. WPTZ continued to air a locally-derived version of Weather Plus until August 31, 2009 when it was replaced with This TV
This TV
This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies....
. This marked the network's first foray into the Plattsburgh and Burlington area along with St. Lawrence County in New York and eastern portions of the adjacent Watertown market where WPTZ has long served as the default NBC affiliate on cable. WPTZ-DT2 remains on the three digital cable systems while being added to Charter digital channel 296 while still not being offered on WNNE-DT.
Overview
Like the other network stations that serve Plattsburgh and BurlingtonBurlington, 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....
, it has a large audience in Southern Québec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. This includes Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, a city that is ten times more populous than all of WPTZ's entire American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
viewing area combined. For many years, the channel identified on-air as "North Pole/Plattsburgh/Burlington/Montréal" to acknowledge its large cable viewership in Canada. It is widely carried on cable in the province of Québec as far north as Saguenay
Saguenay, Quebec
Saguenay is a city in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, on the Saguenay River, about north of Quebec City....
and as far east as Gaspé
Gaspé, Quebec
Gaspé is a city at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of eastern Quebec, Canada. As of the 2006 census, the city had a total population of 14,819....
. On Vidéotron
Vidéotron
Vidéotron GP is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Currently, the company primarily serves Quebec, as well as the francophone...
systems in Montreal, it can be seen on: channel 23 (West Montreal), channel 18 (Central and East Montreal), and channel 52 (Illico digital).
During NBC prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
programming, Canadian cable systems frequently cover up WPTZ's signal on cable systems in Montreal and, to a lesser extent, Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. This is done to satisfy the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's simsub
Simultaneous substitution
Simultaneous substitution is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requiring Canadian cable, direct broadcast satellite and multichannel multipoint distribution service television distribution companies to substitute the signal of a foreign or...
rules. The action benefits CFCF-TV
CFCF-TV
CFCF-DT is a CTV-owned and operated station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
and CKMI-TV
CKMI-TV
CKMI-DT-1 is the Global Television Network owned-and-operated station in Quebec.Originally a privately owned CBC Television affiliate in Quebec City, the station moved most of its operations to Montreal in 1997 after launching a rebroadcaster there and becoming a Global affiliate as Global Quebec...
. On the American side, WPTZ can be seen in New York State on Charter
Charter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...
channel 2 and in Vermont on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
channel 5. It is the default NBC affiliate for Essex
Essex County, New York
Essex County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 39,370. Its name is from the English county of Essex. Its county seat is Elizabethtown...
, Franklin
Franklin County, New York
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 51,599. It is named in honor of American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin...
, and Eastern St. Lawrence
St. Lawrence County, New York
St. Lawrence County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 111,944. The county seat is Canton. The county is named for the Saint Lawrence River, which in turn was named for the Catholic saint on whose Feast day the river was discovered by...
Counties in Upstate New York where it is seen on Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
. In 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....
and Western St. Lawrence County, that system offers both WPTZ and 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...
's 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...
.
WNNE, licensed to Hartford, Vermont, operates as a semi-satellite of WPTZ. It simulcasts all local, syndicated, and network programming but airs separate station identifications and advertisements. WNNE has its own studios on Dewitt Drive in White River Junction
White River Junction, Vermont
White River Junction is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Hartford in Windsor County, Vermont, United States...
. The channel's coverage area includes the Connecticut River Valley (Upper Valley) area of Central and Western New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
as well as Southern Vermont. Most of WNNE's viewership comes from the Southern New Hampshire sub-market which is part of the Greater Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
DMA. Additionally, the channel shares its coverage area with sister station WMUR-TV
WMUR-TV
WMUR-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the state of New Hampshire that is licensed to Manchester. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter on the south peak of Mount Uncanoonuc in Goffstown. Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios...
.
News operation
For most of its history, WPTZ's newscasts have been a distant second in the ratings behind long-dominant CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate WCAX-TV
WCAX-TV
WCAX-TV, virtual channel 3, is a television station in Burlington, Vermont, USA. WCAX is affiliated with the CBS Television Network and has been locally owned by the Hasbrook/Martin family and their company, Mount Mansfield Television, since the station's inception...
. Traditionally, it focuses on the North Country and New York State while the other channel tends to cover more from Vermont. In order to cover that state, WPTZ operates secondary facilities known as the Vermont Bureau on Roosevelt Highway (U.S. 2
U.S. Route 2 in Vermont
U.S. Route 2 is a part of the U.S. Highway System that is split into two segments. Its eastern segment runs from Rouses Point, New York, to Houlton, Maine. In Vermont, US 2 extends from the New York state line in Alburgh to the New Hampshire state line in Guildhall. West of Vermont,...
/U.S. 7
U.S. Route 7 in Vermont
U.S. Route 7 is a mostly rural two-lane road running along the western side of the state, with a few, short expressway sections. It is known as the Ethan Allen Highway for much of its path through the state. US 7 ends at I-89 in the northern part of the town of Highgate, just south of the Canadian...
) in Colchester
Colchester, Vermont
Colchester is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. The population was 17,067 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-largest municipality and second-largest town in Vermont by population.-Geography:...
. At one point, there had been more general assignment reporters based at the main studios in Plattsburgh. However in more recent times, additional reporters based at the Vermont Bureau have been hired.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, WNNE operated its own news department and aired local newscasts. This was progressively cut back after being bought by Heritage, eventually resulting in the elimination of a full news operation in 2007. Today, the only visual difference between the stations are different channel bugs during newscasts. Occasionally when WNNE has technical problems, WPTZ's logo will peek through. The two currently use the NewsChannel branding.
During newscasts on WPTZ, WNNE is referred to as the Upper Valley Bureau and features a full-time reporter based in its White River Junction studios. Contributions to the broadcasts on this channel includes a live headline from the Upper Valley weeknights at 5:30 as well as video footage for other time slots. In addition to the Upper Valley and Vermont Bureaus, WPTZ airs national news from Hearst Television's Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
bureau. It employs several reporters who give live reports to the various Hearst affiliates.
Although WPTZ and WNNE do not own or operate 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...
s of their own, they use live 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...
radar data from several regional sites. It is presented on-screen in a forecasting system known as "Storm Tracker 5000" (powered by the Supper Doppler Network). Unlike most NBC affiliates, WPTZ does not air a midday newscast during the week. It had aired a show at noon until 2005 but was dropped in favor of 5:30 Now that airs on weeknights. With the departure of Thom Hallock (whose contract was not renewed by station) on November 23, 2007, WPTZ was left with an all-woman weeknight anchor team. That changed with the arrival of Gus Rosendale. He left WPTZ in 2005 to report at sister station WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV is the ABC affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh, broadcasting on UHF channel 51 and identifying via PSIP as channel 4 . It also serves as an ABC affiliate for the Wheeling/Steubenville and Clarksburg/Weston, West Virginia market areas...
in Pittsburgh and made his debut back at this station in mid-December. Rosendale left the station again in December 2010 to join KSTP-TV
KSTP-TV
KSTP-TV, channel 5, is the ABC affiliate for the Twin Cities. Its transmitter is located at the Shoreview Telefarm. It is the flagship station of Hubbard Broadcasting, which also owns several other broadcasting properties across the United States....
in Minneapolis – Saint Paul, with George Mallet taking his place shortly thereafter.
In August 2009, the station introduced a new format and title to its weeknight newscast at 11. The re-formatted show called NewsChannel 5 Nightcast features more fast-paced and edgier news. Despite its logo which includes "HD", the newscasts were aired in pillar-boxed 4:3 standard definition and it was the only station in the market to not have upgraded local news to high definition. WPTZ was one of six remaining stations owned by Hearst that has yet to make the upgrade to 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....
or full HD, until on April 26, 2011, when WPTZ started airing newscasts in widescreen. However, unlike the newscasts on WCAX and WFFF/WVNY, the WPTZ newscasts are not in true HD—just ED widescreen. The simulcasts on WNNE remain in pillarboxed 4:3 due to that channel's lack of an HD master control facility.
Newscast titles
- TV-5 News (1970s)
- NewsCenter 5 (1970s-1980s)
- Nightly News on 5 (1980s)
- News 5 (1980s-early 1990s)
- NewsChannel 5 (1995–present)
- Nightcast (weeknight 11 p.m. news, 2009–present)
Station slogans
- "Coverage You Can Count On" (1998-2003)
- "Where the News Comes First" (2003-present)
News team
Anchors- Mary Morin - weekday mornings "NewsChannel 5 Today" and consumer reporter
- George Mallet - weeknights at 5, 6, and 11
- Stephanie Gorin - weeknights at 5, 6, and 11
- Bridget Shanahan - weeknights at 5:30
- David Schneider - weekends and New York State reporter
NewsChannel 5 Weather Plus Meteorologists
- Tom Messner (Certified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
) - Chief seen weeknights and "Hometown Hero Award" segment producer- heard on WOKOWOKOWOKO is an American radio station broadcasting a Country music format. Licensed to Burlington, Vermont, USA, the station serves the Burlington-Plattsburgh area...
-FM 98.9, WKOLWKOLWKOL is a radio station broadcasting a Classic Hits format. Licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, USA, the station serves the Burlington-Plattsburgh area. The station is currently owned by Hall Communications, Inc..-History:...
-FM 105.1, WJOYWJOYWJOY is a radio station broadcasting an adult standards format. Licensed to Burlington, Vermont, USA, the station is currently owned by Hall Communications, Inc....
-AM 1230, WSLPWSLPWSLP is a radio station broadcasting a Adult Contemporary format. Licensed to Saranac Lake, New York, USA, the station is currently owned by North Country Radio, Inc....
-FM 93.3, and CKON-FMCKON-FMCKON-FM is a radio station located in Akwesasne, a Mohawk nation territory that straddles the Canada-United States border ....
97.3
- heard on WOKO
- Hayley Lapoint (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - Weekday mornings "NewsChannel 5 Today"
- Gib Brown - weekends
Sports
- Ken Drake - weeknights at 6 and 11
- Friday Night Lights host
- Damien Quinlan - weekends and sports reporter
Reporters
- Stewart Ledbetter - Vermont Bureau Chief and host of Vermont This Week on VPTVermont Public TelevisionVermont Public Television is a state network of Non-commercial educational Public television stations throughout the state of Vermont, affiliated with Public Broadcasting Services . It has been operational since October 16, 1967...
- Kate Amara - weekday morning national correspondent
- Laurie Kinney - national correspondent
- Nikole Killion - national correspondent
- Mia Moran - Vermont Bureau
- Jill Glavan - Vermont Bureau
- Lauren Victory - Vermont Bureau
Notable past personnel
- Chris OrtloffChris OrtloffGeorge C. "Chris" Ortloff is a former New York state Republican politician and admitted pedophile, who had served in the New York State Assembly from 1986 to 2006. He subsequently served on the state parole board, after being appointed by Governor George Pataki...
- early-1980s- served in the New York State AssemblyNew York State AssemblyThe New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
from 1986 until 2007 - on December 24, 2008 pleaded guilty to felonyFelonyA felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
charge of online enticement of minors and sentenced April 23, 2009
- served in the New York State Assembly
- Jeanne MoosJeanne MoosJeanne Moos is a national news correspondent for CNN. She is based at the network's studios in Manhattan.A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Moos originally wanted to pursue a career in print journalism, but while attending Syracuse University , she decided to go into the television business...
- now reporter for CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
- in 1976 Moos became WPTZ's first female correspondent
- Dawn FratangeloDawn FratangeloDawn Fratangelo is a reporter based in New York City and reports for NBC News, including Dateline, Today, Nightly News and MSNBC. She has held this position since January 1996....
- now NBC NewsNBC NewsNBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
correspondent - Michael French - now Hearst Television and Freelance Photographer
- Bob Solarski - now anchor at WEAR-TV, Pensacola
- Erin Clark - now anchor at KSBW, Salinas, CA
- Tim Singer - now reporter at Television Sports
- Rob Hayes - now reporter at KABC
- Blaine Applegate - now owner of Plan B Bistro, Washington Crossing, PA
- Mark Sudol - now at NECN
- Chris Kelly - now freelance sports photographer