| WJAR | |
|---|---|
  |
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| Providence, Rhode Island / New Bedford, Massachusetts |
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| Branding | NBC 10 NBC 10 News RTV (on DT2) |
| Slogan | The Team You Trust |
| Channels | |
| Subchannels | 10.1 NBC 10.2 RTV |
| Owner | Media General (Media General Communications Holdings, LLC) |
| First air date | July 10, 1949 |
| Call letters’ meaning | taken from former sister radio stations |
| Former channel number(s) | 11 (VHF analog, 1949-1952) 10 (VHF analog, 1952-2009) |
| Former affiliations | CBS (1949-1955) DuMont (1949-1955) ABC (1949-1953, 1956-1963) all secondary NBC Weather Plus (on DT2) |
| Transmitter Power | 974 kW |
| Height | 286 m |
| Facility ID | 50780 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 41°51′55.4″N 71°17′12.7″W / 41.865389°N 71.286861°W |
| Website | turnto10.com |
WJAR is the NBC-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts that is licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 51 from a transmitter in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and is one of the NBC stations with a higher channel allocation. Owned by Media General, the station shares studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston with Telemundo affiliate and ZGS Communications-owned WRIW-CA. Syndicated programming on WJAR includes: Extra, Access Hollywood, Oprah, and Ellen.
Contents |
Digital television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed.
| Channel | Name | Programming | Digital cable channels |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51.1 | WJAR-DT | main WJAR programming / NBC HD | Cox 700 Full Channel 910 Verizon FiOS 510 Comcast 810 |
| 51.2 | WJAR-DT2 | "RTN 10.2" (Retro Television Network) | Cox 810 Full Channel 190 Verizon FIOS 460 Comcast 750 |
History
WJAR-TV signed on-air for the first time on July 10, 1949 broadcasting on channel 11. It was Rhode Island's first television station and the fourth in New England. It was owned by The Outlet Company, a department store chain headquartered in Providence, along with WJAR radio (AM 920, now WHJJ; and FM 95.5, now WBRU). It moved to channel 10 in 1952. WJAR signed on as an affiliate of all four networks of the time (NBC, ABC, DuMont, and CBS) but has always been a primary NBC affiliate due to WJAR-AM's long affiliation with NBC Radio. It lost ABC in 1953 when WNET-TV signed on and lost CBS in 1955 when WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV) launched. When WNET-TV went dark in 1956, WJAR shared ABC programming with WPRO-TV until WTEV-TV (now WLNE-TV) signed on in 1963. During the late 1950s, WJAR-TV was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[1] In 1954, WJAR-TV received national attention for its coverage of Hurricane Carol. In November 1980, the Outlet Company left the department store business to concentrate on broadcasting. The station kept its studios in the Outlet Building until 1979 when it moved to a three-story modern production facility next door. The department store remained standing until 1986 when it burned to the ground in a spectacular fire.
WJAR cameras perched on the neighboring rooftop captured the most dramatic footage. In 1996, Outlet Communications merged with NBC. It was around this time that the station's studios were moved to their current location in an industrial area of Cranston just south of Providence. In April 1997, WJAR began to operate primary WB and secondary UPN affiliate WLWC (which was owned by Fant Broadcasting) under a local marketing agreement (LMA). Even by the time that station signed on, the future of the LMA was in doubt given the fact that NBC, which inherited the arrangement from Outlet, did not want to run stations outside their core owned-and-operated outlets. The network, during this time, pushed Fant to sell WLWC. In September 1997, NBC came up with a three-way swap in which Fant exchanged WLWC and sister station WWHO in Columbus, Ohio to Paramount / Viacom for that group's NBC affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut, WVIT. WJAR was one of four NBC O&Os in smaller markets that were put up for sale on January 9, 2006 along with stations in Columbus, Birmingham, Alabama, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Except for the Birmingham station, these were also once owned by Outlet. On April 6, 2006, NBC Universal and Media General announced that Media General would purchase WJAR as part of a $600 million dollar four station deal between the two companies. The deal was approved by the FCC on June 26. As a result, WJAR became Media General's first television station in New England. For all intents and purposes, this undid the NBC-Outlet merger a decade earlier.
For several months after the owner switch, WJAR's website remained in the format of an NBC O&O station. WJAR's redesigned website, which launched in early-December 2006, now credits Media General in its copyright notice and is no longer powered by Internet Broadcasting. During the April 2007 Nor'easter, WJAR's over-the-air digital transmitter was damaged. Both digital signals, WJAR-HD and WJAR-DT2, were knocked off-the-air. The outage did not affect digital cable or satellite services as they do not get the signal from the digital transmitter. In its earliest days, WJAR's logo included a Rhode Island Red rooster, the state bird of Rhode Island. Prior to WJAR's purchase by NBC, it had included various versions of a different stylized "10" above the WJAR call letters. This had been in effect for the previous twenty years. The stylized "10" was initially retained after the purchase but with the NBC peacock attached to the right-hand side and the call letters removed. This was dropped in 2002 in favor of its current logo which was first used on former sister station WCAU in Philadelphia. A modified version, used on newscasts since 2007, is designed and arranged similarly to other Media General station logos. In January 2009, WJAR began broadcasting the Retro Television Network on its second digital channel and digital cable systems. On weekdays, this channel also carries Oprah at 4 and Extra at 7pm. WJAR-DT2 had previously carried NBC Weather Plus. Although the analog television shutdown originally scheduled for February 17, 2009 was postponed to June 12, WJAR received FCC consent to transition on February 17. This allowed ShopNBC station WWDP to begin operation of its permanent digital facility on channel 10.
News operation
For most of its history, WJAR has led in the market in terms of local newscast ratings. More recently, WPRI has mounted a challenge for viewership. For a time in 2007, that station beat WJAR in the weeknight 5 and 11 o'clock time slots. In April 1997, WJAR launched a 10 P.M. newscast on WLWC known as TV 28 News at 10 in competition to the WPRI-produced 10 o'clock news on FOX affiliate WNAC-TV. It was dropped that September when the LMA with WLWC ended. As of September 13, 2006, WJAR has two notable alumni of its news personnel, Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, who host NBC's weekday Today show. Meredith Vieira started out as a reporter on the station in the late-1970s and early-1980s. Matt Lauer was co-host of WJAR's version of PM Magazine in the early-1980s. Another notable past staff member is Christiane Amanpour. Amanpur is currently CNN's Chief International Correspondent. She has won nine Emmy awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Distinguished Achievement in Broadcast Journalism. Forbes magazine has named her one of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women. Amanpour was an electronic graphics designer during her time at WJAR.
On October 1, 2007, the station began producing a weeknight 10 o'clock newscast on its NBC Weather Plus subchannel. Known as NBC 10 News 10 at 10, it was a live 10 minute production consisting of top stories of the day and an updated weather forecast. In 2008, WJAR was awarded the National Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence for a small-market television station. When WJAR-DT2 switched to RTN in 2009, the 10 P.M. news was expanded to a half-hour and renamed NBC 10 News 10 at 10 on RTN. In addition to their main studios, WJAR operates three news bureaus. The Southeastern Massachusetts Bureau is located in The Standard Times newsroom in New Bedford. The South County Bureau is located in The Westerly Sun newsroom in Westerly. The Downcity Bureau is located on Dorrance Street in downtown Providence. The station uses live, NOAA National Weather Service radar data that originates from their Local Forecast Office in Taunton, Massachusetts. In weather segments, this data is presented in a forecasting system known as "Storm Team 10 VIPIR". WJAR offers a live video stream of their weekday Noon, 5, 5:30, 6, 10, and 11 o'clock newscasts on its website. Its nightly 6 o'clock news is simulcasted on WPRO-AM 630, WEAN-FM 99.7, and WSAR-AM 1480.
News/Station Presentation
Newscast titles
- Your Esso Reporter (1949-1954)
- Tele News Daily (1954-1962)
- The 6 O'Clock Report / The 11 O'Clock Report (1962-1970)
- 10 Extra Effort News (1970-1974)
- NewsWatch 10 (1974-1994)
- NewsChannel 10 (1994-2005)
- NBC 10 News (2005-present)
Station Slogans
- The Team You Trust (2005-present)
News team
Anchors
- Frank Coletta, Weekday Mornings and Noon
- Dan Jaehnig, Weeknights at 5
- Reporter
- Patrice Wood, Weeknights at 5, 6 and 11
- Gene Valicenti, Weeknights at 5:30, 6, 10 (RTN) and 11
- Barbara Morse Silva, Weekends
- Health
Storm Team 10
- Mark Searles (AMS Seal of Approval), Weeknights
- Kelly Bates (NWA Seal of Approval), Weekday Mornings and Noon
- R.J. Heim, Weekends
- Feature and Science
Sports
- Frank Carpano, Sports Director/ Weeknights
- Sunday Evenings News Anchor
- Joe Kayata, Weekend Evenings and Reporter
- Harry Cicma, Producer and Reporter
Reporters
- Bill Rappleye, Politics
- Jim Taricani, Investigative
- Brian Crandall, Southeastern Massachusetts Bureau
- Mario Hilario
Contributors
- Chef Frank Terranova, "Cooking With Class" Host
- Paul Giacobbe, Ombudsman
- Tom Stewart, Weekday Morning Traffic
- Marion Gold, Plant Pro
- Bruce Morris, Home Pro
Past personalities
- Christiane Amanpour - electronic graphics designer (1980s), now chief international correspondent for CNN
- Caterina Bandini - reporter (1991-1996), former WHDH-TV anchor
- Ken Bell - sports (1977-1979), now at WLNE-TV
- Steve Berthiaume - sports (1990s), now at ESPN
- Alison Bolonga - reporter (?-2006), now at WFXT-TV
- Steve Bousquet- News reporter (1970s), columnist Miami Herald
- Andrea Brody - weekend anchor (1996-1998), now at George Michael Sports Machine
- Bob Cain - anchor (1960s), former CNN anchor
- Tim Carr - reporter (1982-1989)
- Ginger Casey - anchor (1992-1997)
- Chris Clark - sports director (1970-1983)(d)
- George Colajezzi- News reporter (1970s)
- Clay Cole - (see Al Rucker, below)
- Tony Conigliaro - Sports (1970s), former Boston Red Sox outfielder. (deceased)
- Ted Daniel - reporter (2004-2005), now at WFXT-TV
- Dylan Dryer - weather (2004-2006), now at WHDH-TV
- Jack Edwards - sports (1983-1985)
- Stephen Frazier - anchor (1970s), now at CNN Headline News
- Vince Gibbens - anchor (1975-1978) (d)
- John Ghiorse- weather, (1968-1983, 1998-2009), retired
- Bill Gile - weather (1997-2004)
- Tim Gray - sports (1999-2004)
- Ann Halloran - weekend anchor (1992-1996)
- Carrie Jackson- News anchor/reporter (1979-1982)
- Jack Kavanaugh - weekend anchor/ reporter (1973-1980)
- Tom Kierein - Meteorologist (1978-1983) Now at WRC-TV
- Dyanna Koelsch- political reporter (1982-2001)
- Tom Kole- political reporter (1980-1988)
- Art Lake- WJAR(AM) radio host (1944-1949) initially anchor, then weather (1949-2003) first birthdays announcer (2003-2005); now retired
- Matt Lauer- PM Magazine host (1981-1985), now co-host of NBC's Today show
- Franz Laubert- anchor (1960s)
- Mike Lawrence- Reporter (1973-1977) Subsequently worked at WTHR-TV and WHDH-TV
- Dave Layman - anchor (1973-1976)
- Gary Ley - chief weather (1984-2009)
- Greg Liggins - anchor (1993-1995)
- Nicole Livas - anchor (1997-2001), now at WAVY-TV
- Kelly McGee - anchor, education reporter (1996-2009)
- Mary Maguire - consumer reporter (1980s and 1990s)
- Ken Malloy- anchor (1990-1992), now at KGPE
- Pat Mastors - anchor (1982-1989)
- Paul McGonagle - Mass. Bureau reporter/assistant news director (1995-2004) now at WFXT-TV
- Martin Morenz- reporter (1989-1994), now at WFXT
- Bill Northup- Reporter (1970s)
- Margie O' Brien - reporter Now at WFXT-TV
- Cathy Ray - anchor/ medical reporter (1983-1992),
- Karin Reed - anchor/reporter (1993-2004)
- Rhondella Richardson - reporter (1992-1994), now at WCVB
- Joe Rocco - sports (1984-1996)
- John Rooke - sports (1992-1996), also play-by-play man for Providence College basketball on WEEI-FM
- Al Rucker - Al Rucker & the Seven Teens (1958 - 59), Al became Clay Cole on New York City television stations (1959-1968)
- Keith Russell - sports (1996-1999), now at WPVI
- Stacy Sager - reporter (1990s)
- Frank Sommerville - anchor (1986-1991), now at KTVU-TV in San Francisco
- Maria Stephanous - reporter (1990s), now WFXT-TV
- John Sweeney - anchor (1970s-1981), worked at CNN
- Kathryn Tappen - sports (2004-2006), now at NESN
- Meredith Vieira - anchor/reporter (1976-1979), now co-host of NBC's Today show
- Bob Ward- reporter/anchor (1988-1996), now at WFXT-TV
- Doug White - anchor (1978-2005), died on August 15, 2006
- Dick Wood - anchor (1970-1973)
- Sara Wye- anchor (1973-1981) first Female Anchor in Providence
- Tony Zarrella- sports (1988-1989) Now at WOIO-TV
References
- ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956, http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1
External links
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