states branding nbc 3 general nbc 3 news newscasts cny central weekend simulcasts with wtvh cw 6 dt2 slogan we know what s central to you tv now dt2 channels digital 24 uhf virtual 3 psip subchannels 3.1 nbc 3.2 the cw 3.3 comet tv affiliations nbc dt1 the cw via the cw plus dt2 owner sinclair broadcast group wstq licensee llc first air date february 15 1950 ; 66 years ago 1950 02 15 call letters meaning syracuse times mirror former owner sister station s wstq lp wtvh former callsigns wsyr tv 1950 1980 former channel number s analog 3 vhf 1950 2009 digital 54 uhf former affiliations nbc weather plus dt3 the tube dt4 transmitter power 210 kw height 393 m class dt facility id 21252 transmitter coordinates 42 56 42.9 n 76 7 5.9 w 42.945250 n 76.118306 w 42.945250 ; 76.118306 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cnycentral.com wstm tv is the nbc affiliated television station for central upstate new york that is licensed to syracuse . it originally signed on the air as wsyr tv on vhf channel 3 on february 15 1950 . its call letters changed to wstm in 1980 and its original call letters were assigned to wixt channel 9 in 2005 . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 24 or virtual channel 3.1 via psip from a transmitter in the town of onondaga . owned by the sinclair broadcast group the station is sister to low powered cw affiliate wstq lp and cbs affiliate wtvh . however the latter is actually owned by the granite broadcasting corporation but operated by sinclair through joint sales and shared services agreements . all three outlets share studios together on james street ny 290 in the near northeast section of syracuse . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 notable former on air staff 4 references 5 external links history edit the station began operations on february 15 1950 with the call sign wsyr tv . it was owned by advance publications the newhouse family s company along with the syracuse post standard syracuse herald journal and wsyr radio am 570 and fm 94.5 now wyyy . it was syracuse s second television station signing on a year and three months after when tv now wtvh . it originally had facilities at the kemper building in downtown syracuse . in 1958 wsyr am fm tv moved to new studios on james street . unlike most nbc affiliates in two station markets wsyr tv did not take a secondary abc or dumont affiliation . wsyr tv doubled as the nbc affiliate for binghamton until winr tv now wicz tv signed on in 1957 . the station also operated a satellite station in elmira until 1980 ; that station first known as wsye tv and now wetm tv is now owned by nexstar broadcasting group and fed via centralcasting facilities of a syracuse cross town rival which ironically now holds the wsyr tv call letters . it remains affiliated with nbc . the newhouse family largely exited broadcasting in 1980 and sold wsyr tv to the times mirror company . since the company was not interested in the radio stations it changed the television station s calls to wstm tv for syracuse times mirror on march 28th and kept the james street studios . under times mirror ownership wstm tv was sister to fellow nbc affiliate wvtm tv in birmingham alabama which later became network owned and operated and is now owned by hearst television as well as later fox o & o s ktvi in st. louis missouri kdfw in dallas fort worth and ktbc in austin texas ktvi is now owned by tribune broadcasting . in 1986 times mirror sold wstm tv to sjl broadcast management a broadcast holding company controlled by george lilly . sjl then sold wstm tv to federal broadcasting in 1992 . that company was bought out by raycom media in 1997 . the wsyr tv calls returned to syracuse in 2005 after clear channel communications purchased wixt tv formerly wnys tv as part of the ackerley group acquisition three years earlier . the company changed wixt tv s calls to match wsyr radio which it had owned for several years . on march 5 1996 wstm tv general manager charles bivins died after collapsing at the syracuse track and racquet club . he was 48 and had previously suffered a mild heart attack two years earlier . bivins was also a visiting professor at syracuse university s s.i. newhouse school of public communications teaching television programming . in 2003 raycom media purchased syracuse s low powered upn affiliate wawa lp from venture technologies group llc for an undisclosed amount of money . the station had its call letters changed to wstq lp derived from wstm tv and given the on air branding of upn 6 the q . raycom used 6 to reflect its cable slot as a result of the station becoming offered on the basic lineup of time warner on july 1 . before the purchase time warner had refused to carry wawa lp . the same must carry rules that kept the station off the cable system eventually got wstq lp on . the must carry rules give full powered stations the option of retransmission consent or requiring compensation from cable systems as a condition of carrying a station s signal . in this case full powered wstm tv can require cable systems like time warner to offer wstq lp on their systems as a condition of carrying wstm tv . on march 27 2006 raycom media announced the sale of wstm tv and wstq lp to barrington broadcasting . the sale was finalized that august . on march 2 2009 as a result of low ratings and slow advertising sales it was announced that wtvh would enter into joint sales and shared service agreements with wstm tv . 1 2 3 initially the station continued to operate out of its own jame street studios a block away but was eventually merged into this station s facilities . wtvh was also integrated into wstm tv s website . 4 on september 6 2009 wtvh s transmitter was damaged after a power failure . while granite broadcasting worked to fix the signal wstm tv s third digital subchannel carried that station . 5 on september 12 the signal was restored . 6 on february 28 2013 barrington broadcasting announced the sale of its entire group including wstm tv and the ssa for wtvh to sinclair broadcast group which announced that it would not renew the ssa with wtvh when it expires in march 2017 . to comply with federal communications commission fcc ownership regulations sinclair initially announced its intent to transfer its existing syracuse station wsyt and the lma for wnys tv to cunningham broadcasting . 7 had the transfer been approved sinclair would have continued to effectively own wsyt because nearly all of cunningham s stock is controlled by trusts in the names of the children of sinclair s principals . however in an updated filing that august sinclair would instead sell wsyt and the lma for wnys tv to bristlecone broadcasting a company owned by stainless broadcasting company owner brian brady . upon the completion of the sale sinclair will continue to operate wsyt and wnys tv through a transitional services agreement for six months until may 2014 . those transactions were finalized on november 25 . 8 through cable coverage this station serves as the de facto nbc affiliate for the watertown and ithaca finger lakes region of new york state . wstm tv provides some news coverage of these areas . interestingly the channel also carries substantial news stories from utica and herkimer county even though that area has its own affiliate wktv that produces local news . wstm tv s analog signal reached parts of southeastern ontario and was carried on cogeco systems in kingston until february 2009 when it was replaced with buffalo s wgrz tv . 9 it is still after customer protest carried on time warner systems in ogdensburg and gouverneur along with replacement wptz . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 10 3.1 720p 16 9 wstm main wstm tv programming nbc 3.2 wstq simulcast of wstq lp 3.3 480i 4 3 cny comet tv due to its low powered status wstq lp s off air signal is only attainable in the immediate syracuse area northern and eastern boundary is roughly ny 481 interstate 481 ; southwestern reach is ny 173 . therefore in order to expand the station s broadcasting radius it is simulcasted in 720p high definition on wstm s second digital subchannel . analog to digital conversion edit wstm tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 3 on june 14 2009 two days later . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 54 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition to uhf channel 24 . 11 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 3 . news operation edit local news offerings on this station originally consisted of ten minute long capsules ; this effort would not be expanded to thirty minute full newscasts until the 1960s . for the past two decades wstm tv s newscasts have been second overall in the viewership ratings behind longtime dominant wsyr tv . as of july 2008 that station remains number one in central new york for the whole day part . however it remains in a tight battle with wstm tv for weekday mornings and weeknights at 11 . wsyr tv makes up for this with huge leads during the week at noon 5 5 30 and 6 . in two periods during its broadcasting history wstm tv station have used the popular action news branding . from 1996 until 2000 through a news share agreement this nbc outlet produced a prime time newscast for fox affiliate wsyt . known as fox 68 news at 10 the broadcast could be seen every night for thirty minutes . after wstm tv declined to renew the arrangement wsyt then partnered with wtvh to keep the broadcasts continuing . meanwhile in 2003 wstm tv brought back a weeknight prime time news show for newly acquired sister station wstq lp . although wtvh would terminate its arrangement with wsyt in april 2006 the nightly 10 o clock broadcasts were wtvh s most successful having soundly beat wstm tv s effort on wstq lp . after becoming operated by wstm tv wtvh shut down its separate news department and merged it with the nbc outlet . this resulted in the elimination of forty jobs at the cbs station . only michael benny was retained to solo anchor the weeknight newscasts on wtvh from its separate studios less than a block away on james street from wstm tv s facility using other personalities from wstm tv for all other content . 12 the system set up by wtvh to use all videotaped footage including interviews shot by wstm tv was filled with problems with staffers from wstm tv actually walking to wtvh s old studios to deliver raw video to be edited for its weeknight news programs . neither station attempted to offer newscasts outside traditional time slots to compete with wsyr tv such as weekdays at 11 a.m. 12 30 p.m. or weeknights at 4 and 7 despite a plan originally announced . 4 13 however wstm tv eventually expanded wstq lp s weeknight prime time newscast to an hour on august 30 2010 . in