WNGN-LD,

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...

38 ( UHF digital channel 36), is a low-powered Heartland- affiliated

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...

, United States and serving the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any poli ...

of New York. WNGX-LD (virtual channel 42, UHF digital channel 33) in

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

serves as a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

of WNGN. The stations are owned by Brian A. Larson.

History

WNGN-LD

WNGN-LP started as W04AT, then received the call-sign and channel W26BL on channel 26 on September 21, 1994, before receiving its current channel and call-sign on December 23, 1994. In 1992, Larson acquired WNGN-LP (then W26BL), a small TV translator in Hoosick Falls, New York, that rebroadcast educational programming for the Hoosick Falls Central School District. He applied to switch the

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American br ...

(COL) to Troy, and eventually moved the transmitter to its current site on Bald Mountain. For the station's entire history, WNGN was affiliated with FamilyNet. FamilyNet ceased network operations in 2017 when it transitioned to the subscription-only

The Cowboy Channel The Cowboy Channel (formerly FamilyNet) is an American cable television network in over 42 million cable and satellite homes, which carries Western and rodeo sports. The network was founded in 1979 as the National Christian Network, and took th ...

WNGX-LD

WNGX-LD started with an experimental license and callsign of 940414FX on January 18, 1996. It was upgraded to become W04DA on channel 4 later that same day. On July 13, 1998, the station was upgraded again to become WNGX-LP and gained its current channel allocation. On September 11, 2009, the station converted to digital broadcasting and its call sign changed to WNGX-LD.

Channel 35

The table of allotments for the Albany–Schenectady–Troy metro originally designated channel 35 as a reserved non-commercial channel. Local public station

WMHT WMHT can refer to the following broadcasting stations in the Albany, New York area: *WMHT (TV), UHF channel 17 *WMHT-FM WMHT-FM (89.1 MHz) is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station licensed to Schenectady, and serving the Capital D ...

had expressed interest in the allotment for years but switched focus to digital upgrades on channel 17. Prior to being reserved for noncommercial use, channel 35 originally signed on the air in 1952 as the first UHF station in the region. After only two years on the air the station failed because most television receivers were incapable of receiving UHF signals. The owners switched to VHF channel 13 in

Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over ...

which later moved to Albany, where today they still operate as

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 WNYT. WNGN-LP also transmits on channel 35 from the same tower and transmitter building as the original 35 used.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

: WNGN-LD broadcasts four digital subchannels, while WNGX-LD does not broadcast any programming.

Analog-to-digital conversion

Larson holds a construction permit to convert the station to a Low-power Digital (-LD) transmitter with an effective radiated power of only 0.14 kW. He will retain the analog channel number by using what is known as digital flash. ABC affiliate WTEN-DT (channel 10) has decided to use channel 35 for its digital home, thus displacing WNGN-LP from the dial. Under the Commission's rules, low power stations must surrender their channel to a full power applicant. On February 2, 2007, WNGN-LP applied to move its analog channel to 38. This is the second time WTEN has displaced WNGN-LP. For over ten years, WNGN-LP broadcast on channel 26 until that was designated for WTEN to use for digital transmissions causing WNGN-LP to move to channel 35.

References

{{Other New York Stations NGN-LP Low-power television stations in the United States