WJAR
Encyclopedia
WJAR is the NBC
-affiliated television station
for the state of Rhode Island
and Bristol County, Massachusetts
licensed to Providence
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 51 from a transmitter in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
. Owned by Media General
, the station shares studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston
with ZGS Communications
-owned Telemundo
affiliate WRIW-CA and Ion Television O&O affiliate WPXQ-TV. Syndicated
programming on WJAR includes: Extra
, Rachael Ray
, Oprah
, and Ellen
.
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 7. WJAR-DT2 had previously carried NBC Weather Plus
.
WJAR replaced RTV with Me-TV, a digital broadcast network owned by Weigel Broadcasting
and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, featuring sitcoms and dramas from the 1950s to the 1980s, which took the place of RTV on digital subchannel 10.2 on September 26, 2011, as part of a groupwide affiliation agreement with Media General; the channel replaced RTV on some Media General-owned stations in other markets.
originally scheduled for February 17, 2009 was postponed to June 12, WJAR made the transition as scheduled on February 17. This allowed ShopNBC
station WWDP
to begin operation of its permanent digital facility on channel 10.
. 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 occupied by WBRU
). It moved to channel 10 in 1953. WJAR initially carried programming from all four networks of the time (NBC, ABC
, DuMont
, and CBS
), but has always been a primary NBC affiliate due to WJAR radio's long affiliation with NBC Radio.
In 1952, after hearing about repeated instances of interference in Connecticut between WJAR and WPIX
New York
, the FCC changed the TV allocations for Providence, which mandated that WJAR move to Channel 10, which it did in the spring of 1953. After that date, WJAR was able to enjoy a much larger coverage area, since the interference with WPIX had ended.
Despite being a primary NBC affiliate, WJAR only carried a little more than half of NBC's program schedule during its early years on the air; WJAR also broadcast about half of the CBS network schedule and a couple of shows each from ABC and DuMont every week.
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 (now WLNE-TV
) signed on in 1963. During the late 1950s, WJAR-TV was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
. In 1954, WJAR-TV received national attention for its coverage of Hurricane Carol
; newsreel films shot by WJAR cameramen of the storm and its aftermath not only appeared on the station, but also fed to CBS and NBC for use on their evening news programs.
For many years in the 1970's, WJAR broadcast men's basketball games of Providence College
and the University of Rhode Island
, with the late and beloved Chris Clark calling play-by-play. In the early 1970's, when PC was one of the top teams in the country (and the top college basketball team in New England), their home games at the newly-opened Providence Civic Center were often sellouts, despite the fact that WJAR televised many of these home games live.
In November 1980, the Outlet Company left the department store business to concentrate on broadcasting. A year earlier, the station moved its studios from the Outlet Building 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 Federal Communications Commission
(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.
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.
For most of its history, WJAR has led the market with its top-rated newscasts. This can be attributed to being the oldest television channel in Rhode Island and an association early on with two well established radio stations. For the February and May 2010 Nielsen ratings
period, this station was number one in all time slots. Its news weeknights at 6 reached a reported 71,000 households which was an advantage of nearly 20,000 over nearest competitor WPRI. For the key audience measure of adult 18-4 9 and adult 25-54 viewers, WJAR out-delivered the competition in virtually all of its newscasts.
More recently, however, WPRI has mounted a spirited challenge to this channel's longtime dominance. For a period in late-2007 and again since early-2009, WPRI has traded ranks in the weeknight 5 and 11 time slots. Specifically, the broadcast weeknights at 11 has gained popularity. As of the November 2010 sweeps period, that newscast on WPRI is the most watched in Rhode Island while WJAR continues its dominance in all other time periods. For most of its history, WLNE has been and continues to be a distant third. This is despite recent significant format and personnel changes.
On two occasions, WJAR has produced a prime time newscast at 10. The first began in April 1997 (entitled TV 28 News at 10) and was seen weeknights on WLWC in competition to the WPRI-produced show on Fox affiliate WNAC-TV
. The broadcast was dropped that September when the LMA with WLWC ended. The second attempt has been airing on weeknights since October 1, 2007 when the station began producing NBC 10 News 10 at 10 on its NBC Weather Plus digital subchannel
. It was originally a live ten minute production consisting of top stories of the day along with an updated weather forecast.
When WJAR-DT2 switched to RTV, the show expanded to a half-hour and was renamed NBC 10 News 10 at 10 on RTV. A new segment was added called "Flashback" which features vintage footage of past personnel. WLNE will sometimes air news at that time on its 24-hour
cable news
television station, "NewsChannel 5", whenever significant news events occur or programming delays the WNAC broadcast. On September 6, 2010, WJAR began airing the area's second newscast weeknights at 7 joining WLNE. However, it also airs on Saturday nights unlike the other channel's weeknight production. WLNE's newscast was officially cancelled in April 2011.
WJAR is notable for having employed both a current co-host of Today, Matt Lauer
and former co-hostess Meredith Vieira
. Vieira started out as a reporter on the station in the late-1970s while Lauer was co-host of WJAR's version of PM Magazine
in the early-1980s. Other notable alumni include current host of ABC News
' This Week
Christiane Amanpour
(formerly CNN
Chief International Correspondent) and ESPN
anchor Steve Berthiaume
. In 2008, WJAR was awarded the National Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence for a small-market television station. In 2010, the station's website won another Murrow.
On May 16, 2011, WJAR became the first station in the Providence market to air newscasts in high-definition
. A new set was constructed for the transition to HD and debuted on NBC 10 News Sunrise that morning. Photos of the set as it was being built were posted on the station's Facebook page. During construction, newscasts were broadcast from a temporary set in the station's Studio B. Several technological upgrades were also made. Only in-studio video is in HD; the field cameras still shoot in 4:3 SD but the field video is enlarged and cropped to match the aspect ratio of HD television screens.
In addition to its main studios, WJAR operates three news bureaus. The Southeastern Massachusetts
Bureau is based at The Standard Times newsroom on Elm Street in New Bedford
. The South County
Bureau is in The Westerly Sun
newsroom on Main Street in Westerly. The Downcity Bureau is on Dorrance Street in Downtown Providence. The station uses a live weather radar
feed from the National Weather Service
's Local Forecast Office on Myles Standish
Boulevard in Taunton, Massachusetts
. In weather segments, this data is presented in a forecasting system known as "Storm Team 10 VIPIR
".
Storm Team 10 VIPIR HD Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
Contributors
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for the state of Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
and Bristol County, Massachusetts
Bristol County, Massachusetts
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 534,678 people, 205,411 households, and 140,706 families residing in the county. The population density was 962 people per square mile . There were 216,918 housing units at an average density of 390 per square mile...
licensed to Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 51 from a transmitter in Rehoboth, Massachusetts
Rehoboth, Massachusetts
Rehoboth is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,172 at the 2000 census.-History:It was incorporated in 1643 making it one of the earliest Massachusetts towns to be incorporated. The Rehoboth Carpenter Family is among the founding families...
. Owned by Media General
Media General
Media General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was...
, the station shares studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston
Cranston, Rhode Island
Cranston, once known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. With a population of 80,387 at the 2010 census, it is the third largest city in the state. The center of population of Rhode Island is located in Cranston...
with ZGS Communications
ZGS Communications
ZGS Communications, also referred to as the ZGS Group or ZGS Broadcasting, is a television and radio station operator in the United States, based in Arlington, Virginia. The company operates 18 stations: 15 television stations , and 3 radio stations...
-owned Telemundo
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
affiliate WRIW-CA and Ion Television O&O affiliate WPXQ-TV. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on WJAR includes: Extra
Extra (TV series)
Extra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It is produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution...
, Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray (TV series)
Rachael Ray, also known as The Rachael Ray Show, is a talk show starring Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006....
, Oprah
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, and Ellen
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
.
Digital programming
| Channel | Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|
| 10.1 | WJAR-DT | Main WJAR programming / NBC |
| 10.2 | WJAR-DT2 | Me-TV |
In January 2009, WJAR began broadcasting the Retro Television Network
Retro Television Network
The Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs...
on its second digital channel and digital cable systems. On weekdays, this channel also carries Oprah at 4 and Extra
Extra (TV series)
Extra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It is produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution...
at 7. WJAR-DT2 had previously carried NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus was a 24-hour, commercially sponsored, weather-oriented broadcast/cable television network jointly owned by NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC network. It debuted on November 15, 2004 and shut down on December 31, 2008...
.
WJAR replaced RTV with Me-TV, a digital broadcast network owned by Weigel Broadcasting
Weigel Broadcasting
Weigel Broadcasting is an American locally based television broadcasting company. The company is based in downtown Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV , at the apt address of 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood.- History :The company was founded by Chicago...
and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, featuring sitcoms and dramas from the 1950s to the 1980s, which took the place of RTV on digital subchannel 10.2 on September 26, 2011, as part of a groupwide affiliation agreement with Media General; the channel replaced RTV on some Media General-owned stations in other markets.
Analog-to-digital transition
Although the analog television shutdownDTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
originally scheduled for February 17, 2009 was postponed to June 12, WJAR made the transition as scheduled on February 17. This allowed ShopNBC
ShopNBC
ShopNBC is an American broadcast and cable home shopping network, owned and operated by ValueVision Media, which is in turn 30% owned by GE Equity and NBC Universal...
station WWDP
WWDP
WWDP is a television station in the United States, serving the Boston, Massachusetts market. The station broadcasts on digital VHF channel 10. It is licensed to Norwell, Massachusetts, airs home shopping programs from ShopNBC, and is owned by ValueVision Media.-19861988: WRYT:WWDP first signed on...
to begin operation of its permanent digital facility on channel 10.
History
WJAR-TV signed on 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 EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. It was owned by The Outlet Company
The Outlet Company
The Outlet Company was a corporation based in Providence, Rhode Island, which owned holdings in both retail and broadcasting. The centerpieces of the group was its flagship Providence store and WJAR radio and television, also in Providence....
, a department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
chain headquartered in Providence, along with WJAR radio (AM 920, now WHJJ
WHJJ
WHJJ is a radio station in Providence, Rhode Island. The station was previously assigned the call letters WJAR, adopting its current call letters in 1980 when previous owner Outlet Communications sold the station.-History:...
; and FM 95.5, now occupied by WBRU
WBRU
WBRU is a commercial alternative rock radio station in Providence, Rhode Island that broadcasts on 95.5 FM. It was the first student-owned-and-operated campus radio station in the United States when it started as the Brown Network at Brown University in 1936...
). It moved to channel 10 in 1953. WJAR initially carried programming from all four networks of the time (NBC, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
, and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
), but has always been a primary NBC affiliate due to WJAR radio's long affiliation with NBC Radio.
In 1952, after hearing about repeated instances of interference in Connecticut between WJAR and WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the FCC changed the TV allocations for Providence, which mandated that WJAR move to Channel 10, which it did in the spring of 1953. After that date, WJAR was able to enjoy a much larger coverage area, since the interference with WPIX had ended.
Despite being a primary NBC affiliate, WJAR only carried a little more than half of NBC's program schedule during its early years on the air; WJAR also broadcast about half of the CBS network schedule and a couple of shows each from ABC and DuMont every week.
It lost ABC in 1953 when WNET-TV
WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
signed on, and lost CBS in 1955 when WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV
WPRI-TV
WPRI-TV is the CBS-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 VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
) launched. When WNET-TV went dark in 1956, WJAR shared ABC programming with WPRO-TV until WTEV (now WLNE-TV
WLNE-TV
WLNE-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Rhode Island and the South Coast of Massachusetts. It is licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, but is headquartered in and operates from studios at 10 Orms Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It is one of two major Rhode Island...
) signed on in 1963. During the late 1950s, WJAR-TV was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
NTA Film Network
The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios...
. In 1954, WJAR-TV received national attention for its coverage of Hurricane Carol
Hurricane Carol
Hurricane Carol was among the worst tropical cyclones to affect the New England region of the United States. It developed from a tropical wave near the Bahamas on August 25, 1954, and gradually strengthened as it moved northwestward. On August 27, Carol intensified to reach winds of , but weakened...
; newsreel films shot by WJAR cameramen of the storm and its aftermath not only appeared on the station, but also fed to CBS and NBC for use on their evening news programs.
For many years in the 1970's, WJAR broadcast men's basketball games of Providence College
Providence College
Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...
and the University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
, with the late and beloved Chris Clark calling play-by-play. In the early 1970's, when PC was one of the top teams in the country (and the top college basketball team in New England), their home games at the newly-opened Providence Civic Center were often sellouts, despite the fact that WJAR televised many of these home games live.
In November 1980, the Outlet Company left the department store business to concentrate on broadcasting. A year earlier, the station moved its studios from the Outlet Building 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
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
and secondary UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
affiliate WLWC
WLWC
WLWC is the CW-affiliated television station licensed to New Bedford but which operates out of Providence and acts largely as a Rhode Island station despite its licensing. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 from a transmitter in the Ashley Heights section of East...
(which was owned by Fant Broadcasting) under a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
(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
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
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
WWHO
WWHO is the Columbus, Ohio television affiliate for The CW Television Network. The station is licensed to Chillicothe, though it operates out of a facility in Columbus with its transmitter located in Williamsport, halfway between Columbus and Chillicothe...
in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
to Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
/ Viacom for that group's NBC affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, WVIT
WVIT
WVIT, virtual channel 30, is the NBC owned and operated television station for the state of Connecticut, licensed to New Britain. WVIT has its offices and studios located in West Hartford, and transmitter based in Farmington, Connecticut....
.
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
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, and Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
. Except for the Birmingham station, these were also once owned by Outlet. On April 6, 2006, NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
and Media General
Media General
Media General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was...
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 Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, 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.
During the April 2007 Nor'easter
April 2007 Nor'easter
The April or Spring Nor’easter of 2007 was a nor'easter that affected mainly the eastern parts of North America during its four day course April 14 to April 17, 2007. The combined effects of high winds, heavy rainfall, and high tides led to flooding, storm damages, power outages, and evacuations,...
, 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
Rhode Island Red
The Rhode Island Red is a breed of chicken . They are a utility bird, raised for meat and eggs, and also as show birds. They are a popular choice for backyard flocks because of their egg laying abilities and hardiness. Non-industrial strains of the Rhode Island Red are listed as recovering by the...
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
WCAU
WCAU, channel 10, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WCAU has its studios on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter in the...
in Philadelphia. A modified version, used on newscasts since 2007, is designed and arranged similarly to other Media General station logos.
News operation
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
period, this station was number one in all time slots. Its news weeknights at 6 reached a reported 71,000 households which was an advantage of nearly 20,000 over nearest competitor WPRI. For the key audience measure of adult 18-4 9 and adult 25-54 viewers, WJAR out-delivered the competition in virtually all of its newscasts.
More recently, however, WPRI has mounted a spirited challenge to this channel's longtime dominance. For a period in late-2007 and again since early-2009, WPRI has traded ranks in the weeknight 5 and 11 time slots. Specifically, the broadcast weeknights at 11 has gained popularity. As of the November 2010 sweeps period, that newscast on WPRI is the most watched in Rhode Island while WJAR continues its dominance in all other time periods. For most of its history, WLNE has been and continues to be a distant third. This is despite recent significant format and personnel changes.
On two occasions, WJAR has produced a prime time newscast at 10. The first began in April 1997 (entitled TV 28 News at 10) and was seen weeknights on WLWC in competition to the WPRI-produced show on Fox affiliate WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV
WNAC-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
. The broadcast was dropped that September when the LMA with WLWC ended. The second attempt has been airing on weeknights since October 1, 2007 when the station began producing NBC 10 News 10 at 10 on its NBC Weather Plus digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
. It was originally a live ten minute production consisting of top stories of the day along with an updated weather forecast.
When WJAR-DT2 switched to RTV, the show expanded to a half-hour and was renamed NBC 10 News 10 at 10 on RTV. A new segment was added called "Flashback" which features vintage footage of past personnel. WLNE will sometimes air news at that time on its 24-hour
24-hour news cycle
The 24-hour news cycle arrived with the advent of television channels dedicated to news, and brought about a much faster pace of news production with increased demand for stories that can be presented as news, as opposed to the day-by-day pace of the news cycle of printed daily newspapers...
cable news
United States cable news
Cable news refers to television channels devoted to television news broadcasts, with the name deriving from the proliferation of such networks during the 1980s with the advent of cable television. In the United States, early networks included CNN in 1980, Financial News Network in 1981, and CNN2 ...
television station, "NewsChannel 5", whenever significant news events occur or programming delays the WNAC broadcast. On September 6, 2010, WJAR began airing the area's second newscast weeknights at 7 joining WLNE. However, it also airs on Saturday nights unlike the other channel's weeknight production. WLNE's newscast was officially cancelled in April 2011.
WJAR is notable for having employed both a current co-host of Today, Matt Lauer
Matt Lauer
Matthew Todd "Matt" Lauer . is an American television journalist best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997. He was previously a news anchor in New York and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond...
and former co-hostess Meredith Vieira
Meredith Vieira
Meredith Louise Vieira is an American journalist, television personality, and game show host. She is best known for her roles as the original moderator of the ABC talk program The View and co-host of the long-running NBC News morning news program, Today...
. Vieira started out as a reporter on the station in the late-1970s while Lauer was co-host of WJAR's version of PM Magazine
PM Magazine
PM/Evening Magazine was a television series with a news and entertainment format. It was syndicated to stations throughout the United States...
in the early-1980s. Other notable alumni include current host of ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
' This Week
This Week (ABC TV series)
This Week is ABC's Sunday morning political affairs program.The Sunday morning talk show has aired on Sunday mornings on ABC since 1981; the program is initially aired at 9:00 AM ET, although many stations air the program later, especially those in other time zones...
Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour, CBE is anchor of ABC News's This Week and formerly chief international correspondent at CNN, where she worked for 27 years. She is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Early years:...
(formerly CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
Chief International Correspondent) and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
anchor Steve Berthiaume
Steve Berthiaume
Steve Berthiaume is an anchor on ESPN and a former sportscaster for SportsNet New York . He is married to current SportsCenter anchor Cindy Brunson...
. In 2008, WJAR was awarded the National Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence for a small-market television station. In 2010, the station's website won another Murrow.
On May 16, 2011, WJAR became the first station in the Providence market to air newscasts in high-definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
. A new set was constructed for the transition to HD and debuted on NBC 10 News Sunrise that morning. Photos of the set as it was being built were posted on the station's Facebook page. During construction, newscasts were broadcast from a temporary set in the station's Studio B. Several technological upgrades were also made. Only in-studio video is in HD; the field cameras still shoot in 4:3 SD but the field video is enlarged and cropped to match the aspect ratio of HD television screens.
In addition to its main studios, WJAR operates three news bureaus. The Southeastern Massachusetts
Southeastern Massachusetts
Southeastern Massachusetts is a term that refers to those portions of Massachusetts which are, by their proximity, economically and culturally linked to Providence, Rhode Island as well as Boston.-Definition:...
Bureau is based at The Standard Times newsroom on Elm Street in New Bedford
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
. The South County
South County (Rhode Island)
South County is a common vernacular name for Washington County, Rhode Island. The term "South County" can also include nearby towns such as West Greenwich, as well as East Greenwich, and Coventry, which are located in Kent County.- Notes :...
Bureau is in The Westerly Sun
The Westerly Sun
The Westerly Sun is a seven-day daily newspaper published in Westerly, Rhode Island, USA, covering portions of Washington County, Rhode Island, and New London County, Connecticut. The Sun is issued in the afternoon on weekdays, Monday through Friday, and in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays...
newsroom on Main Street in Westerly. The Downcity Bureau is on Dorrance Street in Downtown Providence. The station uses a live weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
feed from the National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
's Local Forecast Office on Myles Standish
Myles Standish
Myles Standish was an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims as military advisor for Plymouth Colony. One of the Mayflower passengers, Standish played a leading role in the administration and defense of Plymouth Colony from its inception...
Boulevard in Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the seat of Bristol County and the hub of the Greater Taunton Area. The city is located south of Boston, east of Providence, north of Fall River and west of Plymouth. The City of Taunton is situated on the Taunton River...
. In weather segments, this data is presented in a forecasting system known as "Storm Team 10 VIPIR
VIPIR
Volumetric Imaging and Processing of Integrated Radar, known by the acronym VIPIR, is a type of post-processing program applied to traditional radar systems and is distributed by Baron Weather Solutions...
".
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 (1970–1973)
- NewsWatch 10 (1973–1994)
- NewsChannel 10 (1994–2005)
- NBC 10 News (2005–present)
Station slogans
- "Southern New EnglandNew EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
's Leading News Station" (1982–1990) - "Southern New EnglandNew EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
's Leading News Channel" (1990–1994) - "Turn to 10" (1994–2006)
- "The Team You Trust" (2006–present)
News team
Anchors- Frank Coletta - weekday mornings and noon
- Barbra Morse Silva - weekday mornings
- Patrice Wood - weeknights at 5, 6, and 11
- Dan Jaehnig - weeknights at 5, 5:30, and 7 (also reporter weeknights at 11)
- Gene Valecenti - weeknights at 5:30, 6, 10 and 11 (also heard on WPRO-AM 630/WEAN-FM 99.7)
- Allison Bologna - weeknights at 7 and reporter
- Mario Hilario - weekend mornings and reporter
- Frank Carpano - weekend evenings (also sports director)
Storm Team 10 VIPIR HD Meteorologists
- Mark Searles (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights - Gary Ley (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings and noon
- Kelly Bates (NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seal of Approval) - weekend mornings - R.J. Heim (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekend evenings also environmental and features reporter
Sports
- Frank Carpano - DirectorSports DirectorA sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
seen weeknights at 6, 7, 10, and 11 (also First and 10, The Providence CollegeProvidence CollegeProvidence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...
Coach's Show, and Varsity Life host) - Joe Kayata - weekend evenings and reporter
- Erin Cofiell - reporter and producer
Reporters
- Brian Crandall - Southeastern Massachusetts Bureau
- Jim TaricaniJim TaricaniJim Taricani is a US-based reporter, who served a sentence of six months of home confinement for refusing a court order to divulge a source.Taricani, an investigative reporter for WJAR television, an NBC affiliate in Cranston, Rhode Island, refused to reveal who leaked a surveillance tape to him...
- investigative - Bill Rappleye - politics
- Audrey Washington
- Parker Gavigan
- Katie Davis
Contributors
- John DePetro - Making Waves and heard on WPRO-AM 630/WEAN-FM 99.7
- Tom Stewart - weekday morning traffic
- Frank Terranova - Cooking With Class
- Sejal Lanterman - garden professional
- Bruce Morris - home professional
- Paul Giacobbe - ombudsmanOmbudsmanAn ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...