please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message wrgb schenectady albany troy new york united states city schenectady new york branding cbs 6 general cbs 6 news newscasts slogan wrgb news channels digital 6 vhf virtual 6 psip subchannels 6.1 cbs 6.2 this tv 6.3 comet translators 19 uhf pittsfield ma 24 uhf kingston 39 uhf schenectady 45.3 uhf wcwn dt3 schenectady affiliations cbs primary since 1981 ; secondary 1948 1953 owner sinclair broadcast group wrgb licensee llc founded january 13 1928 1928 01 13 as experimental station w2xb first air date february 26 1942 ; 74 years ago 1942 02 26 call letters meaning walter ransom gail baker ge engineer and head of ntsc sister station s wcwn former channel number s analog 3 vhf 1938 1946 4 vhf 1946 1954 6 vhf 1954 2009 digital 39 uhf 2003 2009 former affiliations primary nbc 1942 1981 secondary abc 1948 1954 dumont 1946 1954 transmitter power 30.2 kw height 383 m facility id 73942 transmitter coordinates 42 37 31 n 74 0 38 w 42.62528 n 74.01056 w 42.62528 ; 74.01056 coordinates 42 37 31 n 74 0 38 w 42.62528 n 74.01056 w 42.62528 ; 74.01056 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cbs6albany.com wrgb channel 6 is a television station licensed to schenectady new york usa . wrgb is owned by the sinclair broadcast group and is the cbs affiliate for the albany schenectady troy television market . the station shares its studio and office facility with co owned wcwn channel 45 in niskayuna new york and its transmitter is based near voorheesville new york . wcwn additionally carries a simulcast of wrgb s main channel for the convenience of uhf viewers unable to receive wrgb s vhf signal . wrgb is most notable for being among the first experimental television stations in the world . it began with test broadcasts in early 1928 . later that year the first daily programs were broadcast . it later became one of a handful of television stations licensed for commercial broadcasting operation before the end of world war ii . the station launched the on camera careers of tv chefs art mr. food ginsburg in the mid 70s ; and of rachael ray who launched her 30 minute meals segment on wrgb s newscasts in the mid 90s . contents 1 history 1.1 1928 to 1942 1.2 1942 to present 1.3 fm audio 1.4 power boost and proposed translators 1.5 wnya and wcwn involvement 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 cable and satellite carriage 4 news operation 4.1 weather coverage 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit 1928 to 1942 edit one of the first television stations in the world wrgb traces its roots to an experimental station founded on january 13 1928 broadcast from the general electric facility in schenectady under the call letters w2xb . it was popularly known as wgy television after its sister radio station though wmak the predecessor of modern station wben in buffalo also had partial control of the station which was relinquished shortly after the station signed on . in 1940 it began sharing programs with w2xbs forerunner of wnbc in new york city receiving the new york station directly off the air from a mountaintop and rebroadcasting the signal becoming nbc s first television affiliate . later the new york connection was achieved via coaxial cable and eventually by satellite . the nbc affiliation would last for 42 years . the station initially broadcast on 790 khz from a 380 meter antenna . the station also broadcast on the frequency of 379.5 khz with 24 vertical lines of resolution and 21 frames per second . its call sign was changed to w2xad rather quickly in 1928 and moved to 31.4 mhz . towards december 1928 the station would receive yet another change and upgrade with its call letters becoming w2xaf keeping its frequency frame rate and vertical lines . later on the station received a further upgrade to broadcast 48 lines at 20 frames per second with the call sign of w2xb on 2.1 2.2 mhz . late in the 1930s it moved into the vhf band using a 6 mhz wide channel band and increasing visual resolution gradually increasing from 343 to 441 to 525 lines . in 1941 the station moved into a state of the art studio on washington avenue in schenectady . it was the first building in the nation specifically designed for television . on february 26 1942 w2xb received a commercial license as wrgb the fourth in the nation and only the second one outside of new york city . by then it was operating on the vhf band with modern 525 line resolution and fm sound on a frequency of 66 to 72 mhz then known as channel 3 but redesignated channel 4 after the second world war . 1942 to present edit wrgb s 1954 promo alerting viewers that the station would relocate to channel 6 on the vhf dial beginning on january 4 wrgb logo until 2016 in 1948 wrgb took on secondary affiliations with the three other networks in operation cbs abc and dumont . at the time of the announcement the station only broacasted 28 hours a week . 1 on january 4 1954 it moved from channel 4 to its current position on channel 6 to alleviate interference from wnbc tv then known as wrca tv and boston s wbz tv and increased its radiated power approximately fourfold to 93 000 watts . wrgb dropped its secondary affiliations when wcda and wtri took the cbs and abc affiliations respectively . from 1939 till 1957 the station s studio were located on 73 washington avenue in downtown schenectady . in 1957 wrgb moved to its current studio on balltown road in niskayuna ; the old studio is currently occupied by schenectady county community college . the longest running locally produced children s television show freihofer s breadtime stories was broadcast on the station starting november 21 1949 . 2 wrgb produced two of the longest running locally produced programs in television history a quiz show called answers please and a bowling program entitled tv tournament time . after the cancellation of both by the late 1980s wrgb s local programming has been variable and erratic ranging from a local home shopping show to a weekly video countdown done with top 40 stations wfly and later wkkf . on september 28 1981 wrgb swapped affiliations with wast now wnyt and became a cbs affiliate . in april 1983 55 years of general electric ownership ended when it sold wrgb to universal communications corporation which was owned by forstmann little and john d. backe a former cbs president and then president of tommorrow entertainment . 3 wrgb was sold to freedom communications in march 1986 . in 1987 wrgb was awarded the broadcast pioneers golden mike award and shortly thereafter was awarded a presidential citation by ronald reagan . wrgb changed its on air name to cbs 6 in october 2004 after decades of being known as either tv 6 or channel 6 most noticeably known as being newscenter 6 for the late 20th century . since then channel 6 has almost never used its call letters on air except during legal ids . wrgb is carried on cable as far north as long lake ny as well as several other adirondack regional cable systems . in september 2003 wrgb dt uhf channel 39 became the first full market digital signal to sign on in the albany region . around december 2007 wrgb and wcwn became the first television stations in the capital district that upgraded to high definition time delay and rebroadcast capability and high definition local broadcasts . this allows broadcasting of syndicated shows in high definition . providence equity partners owns a controlling stake in newport television formerly clear channel communications television division the owner of local fox affiliate wxxa . as a result the federal communications commission granted conditional approval of newport s acquisition of clear channel television in late november 2007 provided that providence equity partners would follow through with its planned divestiture of its 16 percent share of freedom communications to another company as required when providence equity partners purchased a minority stake in the spanish language broadcaster univision earlier in 2007 as soon as the deal was finalized . 4 freedom filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in september 2009 emerging in april 2010 . at that point providence equity partners relinquished its stake in freedom communications making its purchase of wxxa legitimate . freedom announced on november 2 2011 that it would bow out of television and sell its stations including wrgb to sinclair broadcast group . 5 the group deal closed on april 2 2012 after which sinclair obtained a waiver allowing the company to keep both wrgb and wcwn . fm audio edit wrgb s former analog tv signal used an fm audio carrier which could be heard on 87.75 fm in areas where the video signal could be received and some where it could not ; the same was true of all analog channel 6 television stations in north america . however this analog fm carrier no longer exists for full powered stations after the june 12 2009 conversion to digital but still exists for analogue low power television stations see pulse 87 for an example . as wrgb has returned to channel 6 it has proposed an unconventional approach by which it has requested to operate an analog fm radio transmitter at one edge of its digital tv allocation using vertical polarization to retain compatibility with standard broadcast car radio receivers . 6 according to wrgb s site we hope that the fcc will allow us to continue to operate on 87.7 . we are building a unique transmitter for 87.7 that can operate simultaneously with our dtv signal on channel 6 . tv transmissions always use horizontal antennas . our new 87.7 transmitter will be vertically polarized . the use of vertical polarization for 87.7 will allow reception of our audio in a car radio or any other fm radio with a whip type antenna . 7 wrgb is the only full power station to propose such a solution . there are no other full power tv broadcasters using channel 6 in new york state either analog or digital . wpvi in philadelphia the nearest full power channel 6 has expressed an interest in the technology though it is concerned about rights issues . 6 the station received an experimental special temporary authorization from the federal communications commission fcc to allow it to test the fm audio system but it had to cease operations when it was found to cause rf interference with the digital tv signal . on july 7 2009 wrgb resumed its radio simulcast broadcasts on a frequency of 87.9 fm without explicit fcc authorization . 8 less than two months later on august 24 the fcc ordered wrgb to turn off the 87.9 transmitter . 9 currently the only two stations licensed by the fcc to use 87.9 are ksfh a high school station in mountain view california ; and k200aa a csn international repeater in sun valley nevada . witi another former analog channel 6 in milwaukee wisconsin restored its radio audio via a content agreement with clear channel communications which placed that station s audio on the hd radio subchannel of wmil fm and it is possible wrgb could consider this venue to restore the service . power boost and proposed translators edit as noted above on june 12 2009 wrgb became a digital only station . the station vacated its digital transition uhf channel 39 and moved