...and speaking of anniversaries...

[Dan.Strassberg]

WTRI-TV was on Channel 35 on Bald Mountain, north of Troy. I don't
know where the WTRI-TV studios were, though. WTRI (AM) had its studios
in the (I think) Proctor's Theater Building at 92 Fourth St in
downtown Troy. The tower that was originally built by WROW-TV Channel
41 and for well over 40 years now has been home to WRPI (FM) 91.5 is
NOT in Troy; it's in North Greenbush, which, if I'm not mistaken, does
not even have a common border with Troy. Isn't Rensselaer between N
Greenbush and Troy (or is N Greenbush east of Rensselaer--and not
north of Rensselaer, as I seem to remember it)?

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Doherty" <dave@skywaves.net>
To: "Scott Fybush" <scott@fybush.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 11:20 PM
Subject: Re: ...and speaking of anniversaries...


> Hi Scott-
>
> Albany had a pretty confusing early TV history, too.
>
> My Dad worked for a short time in the late 40's at WTRI-FM, which
> was co-owned with WTRY (980, now WOFX)) and spawned WTRI-TV, which I
> think was a UHF that eventually morphed into channel 13. WTRI-FM
> went off the air in the early 50's, and AFAIK WTRY didn't have an FM
> partner again until the consolidation movement in the 90's. In the
> late 1950's, I went to the WTRI-FM site on Heldeberg Mountain with
> my Dad, and I recall the tower sections stacked on the ground with
> the weeds growing up over them.
>
> WROW (590) was co-owned with channel 10.
>
> Channel 10 was originally WROW-TV on channel 41, eventually became
> three UHF stations, WCDA(41), WCDB(29), and WCDC (originally WMGT on
> channel 74, but eventually WCDC on 19).
>
> WCDA was on the WRPI tower in Troy, WCDB was on a very early 1000'
> tower in Vail Mills (licensed to Hagaman), on the south end of
> Scanadaga Lake, and WCDC still exists on Mount Greylock in the
> Berkshires. When they got channel 10, WCDA and WCDB were abandoned.
> They removed the tower at Vail Mills, and I guess they donated the
> Troy tower to RPI. I visited the Vail Mills site years ago, and the
> concrete was still there. As a kid, I free-climbed the WRPI tower
> (yes, the statute of limitations passed a long time ago).
>
> Of course, GE Broadcasting was the powerhouse in the market from the
> beginning. WGY (reputedly named for Wirless General electric
> schenectadY) was arguably the first 50kW station in the world. WGFM
> was an obvious choice of call signs. Channel 6 was named for Dr.
> Walter Ransom Gail Baker, a GE and IRE engineering luminary who also
> spent some time at GE competitor RCA
> (http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Walter_Baker)
>
> Interestingly, there is a tie between the GE stations and channel 10
> involving none other than WRGBaker. It seems that old WRG was an
> entrepreneur who built some statons in upstate NY that were acquired
> by the Outlet Company. At one time, Cap Cities owned both WTEN and
> the Outlet Company's WPRO-TV (now WPRI).
>
> -d
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Scott Fybush" <scott@fybush.com>
> To: "Dave Doherty" <dave@skywaves.net>
> Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 9:44 PM
> Subject: Re: ...and speaking of anniversaries...
>
>
>>
>> Dave Doherty wrote:
>>> Hey Scott-
>>>
>>> RIP WHAM-TV analog: Age 60 years plus one day.
>>>
>>
>> With one confusing twist: the WHAM-TV that signed on in 1949 and
>> will sign off Friday at age 60 years plus a day is now
>> WROC-TV...while the station on channel 13 that now bears the
>> WHAM-TV calls is only 46+ years old, having signed on in 1962 as
>> WOKR(TV).
>>
>> It's a nearly identical situation to the two WHDH-TVs in Boston:
>> WHDH 850 spawned WHDH-TV 5, outlived those calls on its TV sister,
>> then went on to again loan its calls to a different station
>> (ex-WNAC-TV/WNEV on 7) years later.
>>
>> (And it gives rise to a trivia question: how many other such
>> examples exist out there? Hartford has had two WTIC-TVs, both
>> associated with WTIC 1080. Syracuse has had two WSYR-TVs over the
>> years, both associated with WSYR 570. There have been two WWJ-TVs
>> in Detroit, both associated with WWJ 950. I can't come up with any
>> others at the moment...)
>>
>> s
>>
>