History WPTZ

1 history

1.1 years
1.2 renamed wptz
1.3 changes
1.4 recent years
1.5 full-time satellite

history
early years

the station signed on air on december 8, 1954 wiri, licensed hamlet of north pole, new york. owned great northern broadcasting company along wiry radio (1340 am). station s first studio facilities located on cornelia street/route 3 in plattsburgh; transmitter located on terry mountain in peru, new york. station have had call letters wiry-tv match radio sister, @ time federal communications commission regulations did not allow 2 stations share same base call letters if licensed different cities.

the station has been primary nbc affiliate since inception; carried secondary affiliations abc until 1968 when wvny (channel 22) signed-on, , dumont until network ceased operations in 1956.

renamed wptz

rollins telecasting purchased wiri in 1956. new owners changed station s call letters present wptz (for plattzburgh); wptz call had been dropped channel 3 facility in philadelphia following controversial trade westinghouse broadcasting nbc earlier in year. in 1979, station relocated studios new building located on old moffitt road in plattsburgh. rollins merged heritage broadcasting in 1987 form heritage media. in 1991, heritage media purchased wnne, had been separate station own news department. heritage s purchase, wnne made semi-satellite of wptz, improving wptz s coverage in southeastern part of market. during analog era, wptz station in area did not operate translators. wnne s master control transferred wptz in 2000.

the changes

heritage sold of broadcasting properties sinclair broadcast group in 1997 prior merger news corporation. sale protected new fox affiliate wfff-tv, operated wptz under local marketing agreement (lma) , shared analog transmitter on terry mountain. otherwise wptz/wnne, along then-sister stations in pensacola, florida , charleston, west virginia have been forced switch fox. sinclair, in turn, sold wptz/wnne along wfff lma sunrise television in 1998. sunrise decided swap wptz/wnne, along smith broadcasting-owned ksbw in salinas, california known hearst-argyle television in return wnac-tv in providence, rhode island , wdtn in dayton, ohio. swap became official on july 2, 1998. wfff began operating independently-owned , controlled station around same time hearst took on wptz/wnne when lma wptz terminated.

wptz logo used 2000 2016. earlier variation of logo used between 1995 , 2000.

on june 23, 1999, wptz petitioned fcc change community of license (col) north pole plattsburgh. station cited area s declining population reason change. 2000 united states census did not count north pole separate community, instead folding lake placid. community-of-license change approved fcc on january 5, 2011. time before then, station had dropped north pole legal station identifications.

recent years

on july 9, 2012, wptz s parent company hearst television involved in dispute time warner cable, leading wptz being pulled time warner cable , temporarily replaced nexstar broadcasting group station wbre-tv of wilkes-barre, pennsylvania; time warner opted such distant signal wbre, not have rights carry nbc affiliate closest them. substitution of wbre in place of wptz lasted until july 19, 2012, when deal reached between hearst , time warner.

on august 2, 2016, before summer olympics in rio, wptz changed logo , on-air branding newschannel 5 nbc5 .

full-time satellite

wnne in hartford, vermont operates full time satellite of wptz extending nbc signal upper valley of east-central vermont , west-central new hampshire. station airs same broadcast schedule parent, airs limited advertising specific upper valley. although master control , internal operations of wnne based out of wptz s facility, operate advertising sales office on dewitt drive in white river junction, vermont (a village of hartford).

from mid-1990s onward, wnne s operations progressively cut back, culminating in 2016 when separate branding , idents eliminated. wnne still mentioned in wptz s legal ids.

wnne serves southern , eastern portions of plattsburgh/burlington market including sullivan , grafton counties in new hampshire. additional viewership comes surrounding counties in southern new hampshire sub-market part of greater boston designated market area. result, wnne within reach of home territories of sister stations wmur-tv in manchester, new hampshire, wmtw in portland, maine hearst s new england flagship, wcvb-tv in boston.