WSTQ-LP (channel 14) is a defunct
low-power television station in
Syracuse, New York, United States, which operated from 2000 to 2021. In its latter years, it was owned by
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...
as an affiliate of
The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
; it had common ownership with
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
affiliate
WSTM-TV
WSTM-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Syracuse, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to CBS affiliate WTVH (channel 5) through a local marketi ...
(channel 3) and was also
sister
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...
to
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliate
WTVH
WTVH (channel 5) is a television station in Syracuse, New York, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the only station whose broadcast license continues to be owned by Granite Broadcasting, a moribund company (controlled by Greenwich, C ...
(channel 5), which Sinclair operates through
joint sales and
shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with
Granite Broadcasting
Granite Broadcasting LLC is a broadcasting holding company in New York City which owns one television station in the United States, in Syracuse, New York. Granite was founded by W. Don Cornwell and Stuart Beck in 1988, .
WSTQ-LP's transmitter was located in the city's
Lakefront section. It did not transmit a
digital signal of its own, and its analog signal was only attainable in the immediate Syracuse area (northern and eastern boundary was roughly
NY 481/
Interstate 481
Interstate 481 (I-481) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that serves as an eastern bypass of Syracuse, New York, in the US. It begins at its parent, I-81, in the city's southern end and travels through the eastern Syracuse suburbs of Jame ...
; southwestern reach was
NY 173). Therefore, in order to reach the entire
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, an ...
, it was
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...
in
1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the scre ...
full
high definition on WSTM-TV's second
digital subchannel, which eventually became its permanent over-the-air conduit. WSTQ-LP's
broadcast license
A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary f ...
was canceled on February 5, 2021, at Sinclair's request, with improvements in WSTM-TV's
multiplexer
In electronics, a multiplexer (or mux; spelled sometimes as multiplexor), also known as a data selector, is a device that selects between several analog or digital input signals and forwards the selected input to a single output line. The sel ...
allowing two HD feeds over the same channel making the low-power license all but superfluous.
WSTM-DT2 is branded as CW 6 in reference to its universal channel position on area
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
systems (not over-the-air channel 6 which was held in the market by
WVOA-LD). Its operations are housed at the shared studios of WSTM-TV and WTVH on James Street/
NY 290 in the
Near Northeast section of Syracuse, with transmitter facilities in the town of
Onondaga, New York
Onondaga is a town in Onondaga County, New York, United States encompassing 65 square miles. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town had a population of 22,937. The town is named after the native Onondaga tribe, part of the Iroquois Confederacy. O ...
.
History
WSTQ-LP signed on
June 19, 2000, as WAWA-LP and was owned by
Venture Technologies Group
Venture Technologies Group, LLC is an American television broadcasting company that was founded in 1996 and based in Los Angeles, California. The company currently owns 14 television stations.
Stations owned
Stations owned through Four Season ...
,
LLC. The majority of the lineup consisted of
home shopping Home shopping is the electronic retailing and home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar television-based and e-commerce companies as Shop LC, HSN, Gemporia, TJC, QVC, eBay, ShopHQ, Buy.com and Amazon.com, as well as ...
and other
paid programming
Paid or PAID may refer to:
* ''Paid'' (1930 film), an American film starring Joan Crawford
* ''Paid'' (2006 film), a Dutch film
*''Personality and Individual Differences'', a journal
See also
* Paide
Paide is a town in Estonia and the ...
. On October 20, 2001, ten months after
WNYS-TV dropped its
UPN
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
affiliation, WAWA-LP picked it up. For two years, it asked for carriage on
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...
. Due to the station's schedule outside of prime time, the provider found no justification for doing so, and it was not obligated to carry WAWA-LP due to its status as a low-powered station which had no "
must-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.
North America Canada
Under current CRTC regulations, the lowest tier of service on ...
" protection.
Time Warner Cable added UPN
O&O WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV (channel 38) is an independent television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS owned-and-operated station WBZ-TV (channel 4). Both stations share studios on So ...
from
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
to its line-up on channel 6 in July 2001 in advance of the move of ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' to UPN's schedule two months later from
The WB
The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on terrestrial television, broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture be ...
, at the cost of $1 million a year in out-of-market licensing fees, but with a schedule fully filled with syndicated content and Boston sports outside of prime time. Despite this, WAWA-LP made no effort to improve their schedule outside of prime time to feature less paid programming and home shopping.
At one point, WAWA-LP even offered to pay Time Warner Cable for carriage. Low-powered outlets buying channel space on cable is commonplace due to the lack of "must-carry" protection. WAWA-LP took the case to the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) and asked them to adopt a rule that would require the provider to
black out WSBK's prime time UPN lineup whether it carried WAWA-LP or not, effectively nullifying the entire purpose by Time Warner to carry WSBK and likely angering viewers of UPN programming had they ruled for the blackout but disallowed WAWA-LP carriage. In the end, the FCC ruled against the station on both counts.
In 2003,
Raycom Media
Raycom Media, Inc. was an American television broadcasting company based in Montgomery, Alabama. Raycom owned and/or provided services for 65 television stations and two radio stations across 44 markets in 20 states. Raycom, through its Communi ...
(then the owner of WSTM-TV) purchased WAWA-LP from Venture Technologies for an undisclosed amount. The station had its
call letters
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
changed to the current WSTQ-LP (a disambiguation from WSTM-TV) and was given the on-air branding "UPN 6, The Q". Raycom used "6" to reflect its pending cable channel slot on Time Warner which was obtained July 1, 2003 (replacing WSBK) following WSTQ-LP's acquisition by the company; carriage of WSTQ-LP was now required by Raycom to carry WSTM-TV under FCC regulations giving full-powered stations the option of "
retransmission consent
Retransmission consent is a provision of the 1992 United States Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act that requires cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to obtain permission from commer ...
" for sister stations (and later, digital subchannels) or requesting compensation from cable systems to carry them. Also under Raycom ownership, the former surrounding home shopping and paid programs were drastically reduced and replaced with regular syndicated programming, and its operations were merged into WSTM's facilities.
Until 2005, WSTQ-LP carried the ''Bill Keeler Show'' (a daily and later weekly local comedy series that was based in
Utica and aired on
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate
WFXV
WFXV (channel 33) is a television station in Utica, New York, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Mohawk Valley. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate WPNY-LD (channel 11); Nexstar also ...
). When the show did not register in the
ratings and was losing money, Keeler yanked the show from the Syracuse market in 2005, also citing upcoming FCC requirements which required
closed captioning
Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio po ...
of all produced content, including his program.
On January 24, 2006,
CBS Corporation
The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, and ...
(which
split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, entertai ...
from
Viacom in December 2005) and
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
's
Warner Bros. Entertainment
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
(the division that operated The WB) announced that they would dissolve UPN and The WB, and move some of their programs to a newly created network operated as a joint venture between the companies,
The CW Television Network
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
. As a result of that announcement, WSTQ-LP revealed in March that it would become Syracuse's affiliate with the new network. The station became a CW affiliate on September 18 and changed its branding to "CW 6". On March 27, 2006, Raycom Media announced the sale of WSTQ-LP and WSTM-TV to
Barrington Broadcasting. Also in 2006,
Ion Television
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented en ...
affiliate
WSPX-TV filed an application with the FCC to broadcast its digital signal on channel 14 where WSTQ-LP's analog signal was located. This was eventually abandoned in favor of channel 15 on December 3, 2008. WSTQ-LP was largely unaffected by the consolidation of WSTM-TV with rival WTVH on March 2, 2009. On February 28, 2013, Barrington Broadcasting announced the sale of its entire group, including WSTQ-LP, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The sale was completed on November 25.
The station held an application to
flash-cut its analog signal to digital on UHF channel 14. Using the WSTQ-LD call sign (referring to low-powered digital), it would have drastically increased the station's coverage area, utilizing the WSTM tower in Onondaga. The application was withdrawn after the FCC slotted WSYT into the physical channel 14 position as part of their spectrum reallocation across the United States.
Newscast
After Raycom acquired WSTQ-LP, WSTM-TV began producing a half-hour prime time newscast called ''
Action News at 10 on UPN 6'' which competed with ''Fox 68
Eyewitness News at 10'' seen on
WSYT
WSYT (channel 68) is a television station in Syracuse, New York, United States, affiliated with the Fox network and owned by Imagicomm Communications. The station's studios are located on James Street/ NY 290 in Syracuse's Near Northeast sect ...
. That program, produced by WTVH, was seen every night for thirty minutes unlike WSTQ-LP's show which was only aired on weeknights. ''Action News at 10'' would eventually be expanded to a seven night operation on January 8, 2005. In April 2006, WTVH ceased producing all local news programming for WSYT in order to focus on its own newscasts that were cemented in third place by this point. Ironically, the 10 o'clock broadcasts on WSYT were WTVH's most successful having soundly beat WSTM-TV's effort on WSTQ-LP in the ratings.
Since dropping news programming from the CBS outlet, WSYT remains one of a handful of
Big Four network-affiliated stations throughout the United States that do not produce or air local newscasts. When WSTQ-LP became a CW affiliate, its newscast title changed to ''Action News at 10 on CW 6''. On August 30, 2010, the show's format was expanded to an hour on weeknights featuring more coverage and additional segments. Soon after, on September 7, rival
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate
WSYR-TV
WSYR-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Syracuse, New York, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on Bridge Street (off NY 290) in East Syracuse (a village of DeWitt), and i ...
added a prime time newscast to its second digital subchannel. Unlike traditional 10 o'clock broadcasts, however, this only airs live for fifteen minutes and is then repeated four times in the hour.
In mid-December 2010, WSTM-TV became the first station in the market to upgrade local newscasts to
16:9 enhanced definition widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
. Although the broadcast on WSTQ-LP was technically included, it was initially only seen in the updated resolution on Time Warner Cable
digital channel 866. This is because WSTM-DT2 (serving as WSTQ-LP's digital signal) only transmitted in
pillarboxed
4:3 standard definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
at the time. The situation changed in January 2013 when the subchannel was upgraded to high definition transmission thus allowing the WSTQ-LP broadcast to be seen terrestrially in HD. However, the WSTQ-LP newscast was still seen in downscaled 4:3 on the station's analog feed. Corresponding with the upgrade, the program received an updated graphic and music package while being renamed ''The CW 6 News at 10''.
See also
*
Channel 6 branded TV stations in the United States The following television stations in the United States brand as channel 6 (though neither using virtual channel 6 nor broadcasting on physical RF channel 6):
* KECY-DT3 in El Centro, California
* KEQI-LD in Dededo, Guam
* KONG in Everett, Washin ...
References
External links
WSTM-DT2 "CW 6"
{{Syracuse TV
Defunct television stations in the United States
Television channels and stations established in 2000
2000 establishments in New York (state)
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2021
2021 disestablishments in New York (state)
STQ-LP
STQ-LP