station known as wnyt . for former fm and current internet radio station known as wnyt see wnyt internet radio . not to be confused with wmyt tv . wnyt albany schenectady troy new york united states city albany new york branding wnyt 13 general newschannel 13 newscasts metv capital region on dt2 newschannel 13 now on dt3 slogan coverage you can trust channels digital 12 vhf virtual 13 psip subchannels 13.1 nbc 13.2 metv 13.3 heroes & icons translators 18 troy 21 w21cp d gloversville 28 w28da d pittsfield ma 38 w38dl d adams ma 45 glens falls owner hubbard broadcasting wnyt tv llc first air date february 17 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 02 17 call letters meaning w new york state television sister station s wnya wept ca & whec tv former callsigns wtri 1954 1958 wast 1958 1981 former channel number s analog 35 uhf 1954 1958 13 vhf 1958 2009 former affiliations abc 1954 1977 cbs 1977 1981 dt2 nbc weather plus 2005 2008 dt3 local weather 2009 2013 transmitter power 15 kw height 435 m class dt facility id 73363 transmitter coordinates 42 37 31.3 n 74 0 36.3 w 42.625361 n 74.010083 w 42.625361 ; 74.010083 wnyt licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website http wnyt.com index.shtml wnyt is the nbc affiliated television station for the capital district of new york state and western new england . licensed to albany it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on vhf channel 12 or virtual channel 13.1 via psip from a transmitter on the helderberg escarpment west of new salem a hamlet of new scotland . owned by hubbard broadcasting wnyt is sister to mynetworktv affiliate wnya and the two outlets share studios at the wnyt broadcast center on north pearl street along ny 32 in menands with an albany postal address . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 translators 4 programming 5 news operation 6 notable past personnel 7 references 8 external links history edit its former analog transmitter and current doppler weather radar on bald mountain outside of troy . the station began broadcasting on february 17 1954 as abc affiliate wtri licensed to troy . the station was co owned by troy broadcasting co. owner of wtry radio 980 am now wofx and van curler broadcasting corp. a unit of the stanley warner theaters chain which operated the station . the station originally operated on uhf channel 35 . wtri s studios and transmitter were east of troy on bald mountain in the town of brunswick new york . when the station lost its cbs affiliation to albany s wrow tv now wten in january 1955 channel 35 went silent . van curler broadcasting purchased the station and put wtri back on the air in 1956 this time as an abc affiliate . in december 1958 van curler was granted by the fcc moved the license to albany under the new call letters wast for albany schenectady troy and as part of a dial realignment the station got a new channel location channel 13 from wktv utica which was assigned to channel 2 . originally the station had wanted to take the wtas call sign for troy albany schenectady but the similarity of the letters tas to the news agency of the soviet union led to the use of wast . shortly after the upgrade wast moved to a converted warehouse on the albany menands line on 715 north pearl st. which previously housed selective service records . channel 13 still operates from this location today . despite the increased transmitter power wast s signal was still significantly weaker in some directions than the other capital district television stations . this was because as a condition of being allowed to move to the vhf band it remained on its original transmitter on bald mountain a legacy of the days when it was licensed to troy and use a somewhat directional signal to protect wnta tv now wnet in new york city . the other stations in the market had their transmitters at a common location southwest of voorheesville . this forced wast to build several translators to expand its coverage . combined with the fact it was affiliated with abc the smallest and weakest of the three major networks channel 13 was not really on par with rivals wrgb and wten until cable arrived in the capital district in the early 1970s . in 1969 wast was sold to sonderling broadcasting . on october 23 1977 the station switched affiliations with wten and became the capital district s cbs affiliate . in 1978 viacom purchased sonderling which made wast the company s first television station holding . on september 28 1981 wast swapped affiliations with wrgb and became the area s nbc affiliate . seeking a fresh start and a new identity viacom decided to mark the affiliation change with the current call sign of wnyt . it is one of the few stations in the united states to have been a primary affiliate of all of the big three networks . in 1994 after viacom bought paramount pictures viacom transferred all of its television stations to paramount s broadcasting arm the paramount stations group . not long after that paramount announced formation of the united paramount network . it also announced it would sell off all of its non upn stations . in 1996 paramount viacom traded wnyt and whec tv in rochester to hubbard broadcasting in exchange for upn affiliate wtog in the tampa bay area . wnyt signed on its digital signal in october 2003 on vhf channel 12 . unlike the station s analog signal wnyt dt s transmitter was and continues to be southwest of voorheesville with the market s other stations . on february 25 2013 hubbard announced that it would purchase wnya from venture technologies to form a duopoly with wnyt for 2.3 million pending federal communications commission fcc approval . hubbard sought a failed station waiver to acquire the station ; 1 2 venture had put wnya up for sale in 2009 but no other potential buyers came forward . 3 the sale did not include class a repeater wnya ca which will remain with venture technologies . 4 under a clause of the sale of wnya that required wnya ca to use a new call sign that does not feature the letters n or y 2 that station became wept ca on march 8 2013 . on may 29 2013 the fcc approved the sale of wnya to hubbard with venture retaining ownership of wept ca. 5 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 6 13.1 1080i 16 9 wnyt hd main wnyt programming nbc 13.2 480i 4 3 wnyt me metv 13.3 wnyt wx heroes & icons analog to digital conversion edit wnyt shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 13 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition vhf channel 12 . 7 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 13 . translators edit wnyt operates five additional repeaters . until the early 1990s it maintained a translator in kingston . this was first located on channel 63 but moved to channel 36 after the launch of wtza in 1985 . the translators were all built because wnyt s analog signal was not as strong as the other major television stations in the capital district see below . all stations have since been converted from analog to digital even though the law currently exempts low power repeaters to conduct such a switch . channels 18 and 45 are licensed under the wnyt call sign but designated as low powered . call letters channel city of license transmitter location note wnyt 18 troy bald mountain located on former analog tower w21cp d 21 gloversville southwest of town center until 2006 it had the call letters w07aj but changed after wxxa dt began broadcasting on digital channel 7 w28da d 28 pittsfield south mountain until 2006 it had the call letters w07ai and was also changed due to sign on of wxxa dt w38dl d 38 adams mount greylock until 2005 it had the call letters w51ae and was changed due to the launch of wnya in pittsfield wnyt 45 glens falls queensbury programming edit syndicated programming on the station includes the insider entertainment tonight the dr. oz show and the rachael ray show among others . news operation edit for many years wnyt ran a distant third in the area s nielsen ratings behind wrgb and wten . this was not only because it was the youngest station in the market but also because of its signal reception issues . under viacom ownership the station expanded and modernized its studios newsroom offices etc. including the market s first modern computers becoming a factor in the capital district ratings race for the first time . the company also made a significant investment in electronic equipment including a satellite receiving news truck . investment in talent increased with the building of its own talent and by acquiring key personalities from other stations in the area . wnyt had overtaken wten for the runner up spot by the late 1980s and in 1992 scored its first late news victory . gradually the station overtook longtime leader wrgb in other time slots . in viacom s last sweeps period owning wnyt the station won every time slot . it remained the overall market leader under hubbard ownership until mid 2009 when it lost the lead weeknights at 11 to wrgb in the may 2009 ratings period . in november 2009 wnyt s weekday evening newscasts slipped to third place largely due to the station s decision to terminate many of its popular personalities . two years after hubbard bought wnyt it won the distinction of being the first and only station outside of new york city to win a regional emmy award for best newscast in new york state . with the re branding of the station s newscasts from news 13 to newschannel 13 in 1991 wnyt became the first station to use the live . local . late breaking . tag line slogan which is now commonplace throughout the country . in the mid 1990s the station began an alliance with pbs affiliate wmht . this led to wnyt producing several programs for the public broadcaster including semi regular town hall meetings the weekly call in show health link which continues today and for two years the market s first 10 p.m. newscast on wmht s then secondary station wmhq now wcwn . this production was canceled due to a lack of support . from 2001 until 2004 wnyt also maintained a joint sales agreement jsa with pax affiliate wypx that included rebroadcasts of newscasts and other local non news programming . in 2001 wnyt opened the berkshire county bureau on south church street in downtown pittsfield to cover the massachusetts side of the market . at that time the bureau was the first of a capital district station . the berkshire county bureau began to be staffed only on an occasional basis in 2009 8 and subsequently closed altogether as a result of the 2008 recession though the station still covers berkshire county . interestingly wcdc a full time satellite of rival wten has never established any sort of physical presence in pittsfield despite being licensed to that city . with the acquisition of wnya hubbard has indicated that it would produce newscasts on wnya with an increased emphasis on news from berkshire county .