WXXA-TV

WXXA-TV, channel 23, is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Capital District of New York State and western New England that is licensed to Albany. Its transmitter is located 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 "The Variety Channel" on its second digital subchannel and Time Warner digital cable channel 423. syndicated shows on the station includes: Tyra, Montel, The People's Court, Everybody Loves Raymond, and The Simpsons.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Virtual Channel	Physical RF Channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
23.1	7.1	720p	16:9	main WXXA programming / Fox HD
23.2	7.2	480i	4:3	"The Variety Channel"

In 2009, WXXA-TV will continue digital broadcasts on channel 7 when the analog to digital transition is complete.

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 former founding President and station manager Jim Boaz and Orion Pictures). However, it 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.

In 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 sizeable 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. This move and expansion allowed the station to begin producing newscasts in October 1996. When UPN launched in 1995, WXXA gained a secondary affiliation with the network and aired its programming at off-hours on the 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 UPN programs off-pattern from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. weeknights. Albany UPN affiliation would then switch to WVBG-LP in September 1999 to 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, the station signed off concurrent with the sign-on of broadcast UPN affiliate WNYA. WXXA's digital signal began broadcasting in December of 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 broadcasts classic TV shows, auto showcase programming, and various home improvement programs. WXXA also inserts some local programming including newscast rebroadcasts. It began airing on WXXA's second digital subchannel in mid-January 2007. 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 TV.

News operation

On October 7, 1996, WXXA launched a 10 P.M. newscast. It was not the first in the market as WMHQ's WNYT-produced newscast started earlier that year. Filling a niche in local news broadcasts, the 10 o'clock newscast was expanded in early-2000 to an hour and was joined by a 6:30 P.M. edition later that year. In 2001, WXXA took on the big three stations in the market for the first time by launching a weeknight 6 o'clock news that struggled to gain ratings. A change in upper management led to a realignment of early evening newscasts with the 6:30 news moving to 5 in September of 2002. The 6 o'clock news was canceled in July of 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. WXXA has also been on the forefront of changing technology. The station became one of the first to offer podcasts in 2005.

It was also the first television station worldwide to provide video podcasts. On September 25, 2006, WXXA launched a weekday morning newscast which currently runs from 5 to 8 A.M. The announcement of this launch back in March of that year led to a preemptive move in April by WRGB. That station added an extension of its weekday morning news from 7 to 8 A.M. on MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYA. At the same time, there were rumors circulating that WRGB would start producing a 10 P.M. newscast on WNYA. The rumors shifted to WCWN when it was purchased by WRGB's owner and made a sister station. At the start of 2007, the WRGB morning news extension moved to WCWN. That shift was made because WCWN has higher ratings than WNYA. On September 24, 2008, WRGB started producing a weeknight 10 o'clock newscast in high definition. Airing for 10 minutes, it features the top stories of the day along with an updated weather forecast. During weather forecasts, WXXA uses live, NOAA National Weather Service radar data from four regional sites.

Newscast Titles

Fox News at Ten (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)
Coverage & Convenience (2005-present)

News team

Anchors
(in alphabetical order)

Personality	Position	WXXA Since
Mark Baker	Fox23 News Daybreak	2006
John Gray	Fox23 News at 5, Fox23 News at 10/Consumer Reporter	2004
Ann Hughes	Fox23 News at 10/Health Reporter	1998
Diane Lee	Fox23 News Daybreak	2006
Jeff Saperstone	Fox23 News at 10 (Interim Weekend Anchor)	2003

Fox 23 Weather Where You Live Meteorologists
(in order of rank)

Sports
(in order of rank)

Personality	Position	WXXA Since
Steve Teeling	Fox23 News at 5, Fox23 News at 10, Fox23 News Chief Meteorologist	2006
Brandon Hertell	Fox23 News Daybreak Meteorologist	2006
Ryan Finn	Fox23 News Weekend/Fill-in Meteorologist	2008

Personality	Position	WXXA Since
Rich Becker	Sports Director, Fox23 News at 5, Fox23 News at 10/Host of: Fox23 Times Union High School Sports Show, Fox23 Fast Track	1999
Scott Morlock	Weekend Sports Anchor/Host of: Fox23 Fast Track Fox23 Times Union High School Sports Show	1997

Reporters
(in alphabetical rrder)

Personality	Position	WXXA Since
Kathryn Hauser	Fox23 News Daybreak General Assignment Reporter	2006
Kristin Lowman	General Assignment Reporter	2007
Walt McClure	General Assignment Reporter	2005
Cait McVey	General Assignment Reporter	2007
Paul Merrill	General Assignment Reporter	2007

Previous personnel

Megan Baker (Former reporter and anchor, worked for Capital News 9 2003-2006, now head of her own public relations firm in Albany.
Dan Bazile (Former reporter/fill-in anchor, was formerly at WNYT, now spokesman for New York State Assemblyman Jim Tedisco)
Greg Floyd (Original lead anchor and managing editor, downgraded to weekends upon John Gray's arrival, left for WRGB in December 2005)
Noah Francis (Chief meteorologist 1996-2006 and the last on-air talent from the news department's launch to leave the station)
Molly Line (Reporter and fill-in anchor in the early 2000s, now is a reporter at Fox News Channel)
Brent Martineau (Weekend sports anchor from 2002 to 2008, now at WTEV-TV/WAWS-TV in Jacksonville, Florida)
Natalie Martinez (Weeknight co-anchor from 1998 to 2000, previously reporter and original weekend anchor). Now a reporter and fill-in anchor at WMAQ in Chicago)
Marci Natale (Former reporter, now weekend morning anchor at WRGB)
Nathan O'Leary (Former reporter/fill-in anchor, now news anchor for INN-Independent News Network)
Tim Drawbridge (Former weekend meteorologist at Fox23 and WNYT. He left WNYT in May 2008 to become the Public Relations Manager & Spokesperson for the Great Escape)
Jill Montag (Former reporter and fill-in anchor)
Allison Seymour (Original co-anchor, now early morning anchor at WTTG in Washington DC)
Gary Somerset (reporter in the late 1990s)
Kristin Stinar (Reporter and 6:30 co-anchor with Ann Hughes in the early 2000s, now reporter and fill-in anchor at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis)
David Wade (Original weekend reporter, then becoming reporter and weeknight anchor at WFXT in Boston)
Brian Pastiglione (Former reporter and fill-in anchor.)
Stephanie Gorin (Anchor from 1996-1998, now the lead anchor at WPTZ in Plattsburgh)
Keith Galley (Former weekend meteorologist.)

Outside the realm of news, a few other personalities in WXXA-TV's past could be considered notable

"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.
John Mulrooney, by then working for WPYX as morning show sidekick, briefly was a host of the station's late night comedies in 2001.