WNYE Channel 25
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WNYE-TV (channel 25) is a
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independent television station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast network. As such, it only broadcasts syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered programming, for which a third party pays t ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. It is operated by
NYC Media NYC Media is the official public radio, television, and online media network and broadcasting service of New York City, which has been called the media capital of the world. The network oversees four public television channels, a public radio sta ...
, a division of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, alongside
public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...
station WNYE (91.5 FM). The two stations share studios at the
City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...
's
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in
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
, while WNYE-TV's transmitter is located at
4 Times Square 4 Times Square (also known as 151 West 42nd Street or One Five One; formerly the Condé Nast Building) is a 48-story skyscraper at Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Located at 1472 Broadway, b ...
.


History


Instructional use (1967–2004)

WNYE-TV operates on New York City's original educational television allocation, one of ten awarded by the
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(FCC) in 1952 to the
University of the State of New York The University of the State of New York (USNY, ) is the state governmental umbrella organization that oversees all educational institutions, including schools, libraries, and museums in New York State. It is governed by the Board of Regents. D ...
, the state's overall educational governing body. After initial plans to build a statewide network were abandoned, the construction permits were transferred to local educational interests; channel 25 was reassigned to the city's Board (now Department) of Education, operators of WNYE radio. However, it was obvious soon after the FCC opened up the UHF band that a UHF station would not be nearly strong enough to cover a market that had grown to take in large swaths of southwestern
Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
and northern
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, as well as southern
upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...
and
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
. Moreover, until 1964 UHF stations were usually unviewable without a separate converter. For this reason, in September 1962,
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–based commercial
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
WNTA-TV (channel 13) was converted into non-commercial WNDT (now
WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...
), which would become the
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's main educational outlet. The Board of Education finally put WNYE-TV on the air on April 5, 1967. Originally, it was primarily focused on providing instructional programming that could be used in classrooms, while channel 13 served as the New York area's
National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It op ...
(NET) outlet. In its early years, channel 25's operational hours were exclusively limited to school hours (roughly from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays), with limited programming on weekends, holidays, and during the summer. The operational hours were extended gradually from 1970 onward as the station began to add programming from the Public Broadcasting Service (
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
) to its schedule. The instructional PBS format carried WNYE-TV through its first three and-a-half decades of service. Along with the instructional shows, channel 25 aired programs that focused on the individual school districts located within the Board of Education, featuring participation from students as well as educators (some of these programs included ''District 2 Schoolvision'', ''District 6 Speaks'', ''District 9 at a Glance'', ''District 10 Presents'' and ''Bronx High School Magazine''). As the station's on-air hours expanded, leased-time foreign-language programming (from outside producers) was also added to the schedule, and by the mid-1990s, more (second-hand) PBS and other instructional shows replaced the local school district programs. When municipally-owned WNYC-TV (channel 31, now
WPXN-TV WPXN-TV (channel 31) is a television station in New York City, serving as the local Ion Television outlet. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company, the station maintains offices on Seventh Avenue in Midtown ...
) was sold by the City of New York in 1996, WNYE-TV picked up that station's long-running series ''
Video Music Box ''Video Music Box'' is an American music television program. The series is the first to feature hip hop videos primarily, and was created in 1983 by Ralph McDaniels and Lionel C. Martin, who also serve as the series' hosts. It aired on the New Y ...
'', as well as additional hours of leased-time ethnic programs that were previously aired on WNYC-TV. In the immediate aftermath of the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
in 2001, the station temporarily broadcast the programming of
WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, WABC-TV maintains studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood ...
.


NYC Media (2004–present)

In December 2004, the Department of Education transferred the licenses of the WNYE stations to the
New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications The New York City Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI), formerly known as the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT), is the department of the government of New York City that oversees the City's "use of existing ...
. The transfer integrated WNYE-FM-TV's operations with those of the city-owned cable television services
CUNY TV CUNY TV is a non-commercial educational station of the City University of New York, based in New York City. It offers telecourse programming in various subjects ranging from mathematics, physics, and biology to history, art, and social studies ...
and Crosswalks Television Network (now
NYC Media NYC Media is the official public radio, television, and online media network and broadcasting service of New York City, which has been called the media capital of the world. The network oversees four public television channels, a public radio sta ...
), combining them to form the NYC Media Group. A few months prior to the transfer, the NYC Media Group began gradually phasing out WNYE-TV's PBS and instructional programs in favor of locally themed programming. By 2005, the primetime lineup was composed entirely of original productions. In the present day, WNYE-TV's offerings range from shows distributed by
American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and indepen ...
, various ethnic programs, and a prime time lineup of shows aimed at a young, affluent urban audience. The majority of these offerings are produced in-house by NYC Media, including '' Cool in Your Code'', ''
Full Frontal Fashion ''Full Frontal Fashion'' is an American television program of the 2000s that gives complete coverage of designer fashion shows and other aspects of the fashion industry. It has aired on a variety of television channels and cable networks, espec ...
'' and ''
Eat Out NY ''Eat Out NY'' is a local television series that explores New York City's restaurants. The program runs in the New York City area on WNYE-TV (channel 25) and on WNBC (channel 4). Hosted and produced by former Ford model '' Kelly Choi'', the show h ...
''. Among other WNYE-related productions, ''
Secrets of New York ''Secrets of New York'' is an American documentary television series created by Arick Wierson and presented by Kelly Choi. The series premiered on February 2, 2005 and is produced by NYC Media, the official public broadcast service of New York ...
'' has been syndicated nationally to public television stations, and it and ''Blueprint: New York City'' have been offered to the now-defunct digital cable and satellite network The Documentary Channel (both it and
Halogen TV Halogen TV was an American digital cable and satellite television channel that aired feature-length films, documentaries, short films, and original reality programs that centered on making positive social changes and making the world a better pl ...
were replaced by
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in August 2013), which in turn has provided some programming to WNYE from its library. With the format change, WNYE-TV also moved from its longtime studios at 112 Tillary Street in
Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...
, in the now-demolished Klitgord Hall at the
New York City College of Technology The New York City College of Technology (City Tech) is a public college in New York City. Founded in 1946, it is the City University of New York's college of technology. Its main urban campus is located in Downtown Brooklyn. History City Tech ...
(a branch of the
City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...
). Both WNYE television and radio (which was housed in
Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is a public specialized high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is on ...
) now have offices at NYC Media's headquarters in the
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in lower
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and operate from the CUNY Graduate Center at
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and
34th Street 34th Street most commonly refers to 34th Street (Manhattan) 34th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs the width of Manhattan Island from the West Side Highway on the West Side to FDR Drive on t ...
.


Programming

NYC Media programming on its flagship channel 25 is focused principally on actuality formats such as lifestyle, documentary and reality entertainment. The show formats range from programs like ''
Globe Trekker ''Globe Trekker'' (sometimes called ''Pilot Guides'' in Australia, Spain and Thailand, and originally broadcast as ''Lonely Planet'') is a British adventure tourism television series produced by Pilot Productions. The British series was ins ...
'', ''VideoFashion News'', and ''Endless Feast'', to NYC Media original programs such as ''Eat Out NY'', ''New York 360*'', and ''Cool in Your Code'' as well as the nationally syndicated show, ''Secrets of New York''. Other popular programs, like ''
New York Noise ''New York Noise'' is a one-hour indie-rock music video television program which aired from 2003–2009 on NYC Media in New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. It was created, produced, and edited by Shirley Braha and funded by ...
'' and ''
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'' focus on the city's music scene. ''New York Noise'' has a loyal following among musicians.
Tommy Ramone Thomas Erdelyi (born Tamás Erdélyi, ; January 29, 1949 â€“ July 11, 2014), known professionally as Tommy Ramone, was an American musician. He was the drummer for the influential punk rock band the Ramones from its debut in 1974 to 1978, ...
was the host of an episode and the show has featured such bands as Fischerspooner, Animal Collective, Cat Power and the National. Well known Indie and electronica stars such as Moby are known to pop in for surprise appearances and performances. Artists like Beirut and groups such as
Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chr ...
and the Plain White T's openly credit their big break to the show and its producer,
Shirley Braha Shirley Braha (born December 26, 1982) is the adoptive owner of popular internet dog Marnie the Dog. She has also been a TV producer and creator of the music television show New York Noise (2003–2010) and MTV Hive's indie music video show Weird ...
. The show is filmed around the city, from longtime clubs like Irving Plaza to the accordion shop Main Squeeze. Below is a list of some of the original series on NYC Media: * ''$9.99'': a guide to free and cheap attractions. * ''Blueprint NYC'': tours of New York's iconic locations (the
Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...
, City Hall,
Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...
). * ''Backdrop NYC'': focuses on short films shot in and set in New York City. The host interviews filmmakers about the challenges of making their documentaries, animations, or films in the city. * '' Cool in Your Code'': suggestions on places for people to meet and things to do in the city's 200-plus ZIP codes. * ''
Eat Out NY ''Eat Out NY'' is a local television series that explores New York City's restaurants. The program runs in the New York City area on WNYE-TV (channel 25) and on WNBC (channel 4). Hosted and produced by former Ford model '' Kelly Choi'', the show h ...
'': an insider's guide to popular places to eat, as well as interviews with chefs. * ''Healthy Soul with
Gina Keatley Gina Keatley (born March 9, 1980) is an American nutritionist, Celebrity, media personality, and television host. She is better known for her food-focused television shows and her approach to health and weight loss. Keatley was awarded the Presid ...
'': takes you to some unlikely locations on ingredient hunts and explores the "soul" of different foods before facing the challenge to recreate the menu with All of the Passion, None of the Pounds. * ''It's My Park'': highlights the features of New York City's of parkland. * ''NYC 360'': takes viewers through trends in music, fashion, advertising, and blogging. * ''NYC Paradetown USA'': features the city's many parades. * ''
Secrets of New York ''Secrets of New York'' is an American documentary television series created by Arick Wierson and presented by Kelly Choi. The series premiered on February 2, 2005 and is produced by NYC Media, the official public broadcast service of New York ...
'': the host explores the city's sewers, subway tunnels, and history, teaching viewers about infrastructure and neighborhood history. * ''
The Bridge The Bridge may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Art * ''The Bridge'' (sculpture), a 1997 sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia, US * Die Brücke (''The Bridge''), a group of German expressionist artists * ''The Bridge'' (M. C. Escher), a lithograph ...
'': chronicles hip-hop's early days (hip-hop began in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
). Each episode features vintage video of the New York scene. * ''
We Speak NYC ''We Speak NYC'' is an American television series that depicts the lives of working class immigrants who come from all over the world to make New York City their home. It's created by the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and City University o ...
'': an Emmy Award-winning drama series that depicts the lives of working class immigrants who come from all over the world to make New York City their home.


Ratings

The once-overlooked station has soared in the ratings with an average 150,000 viewers for its most popular shows, making it one of the most-watched local stations in the New York market. Its success in attracting viewers is largely viewed as having translated into commercial success. NYC Media now has a wide range of sponsors and underwriters supporting the station's shows. Companies such as
Subaru is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first largest aut ...
,
American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...
,
Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...
and
Snapple Snapple is a brand of tea and juice drinks which is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, based in Plano, Texas, United States. The original producer of Snapple, a company that was known as Unadulterated Food Products, was founded in 1972. The brand achieved ...
, as well as many local establishments, have been active in underwriting NYC Media programs. In 2006, NYC Media became the first public broadcaster in the United States to enter into a deal with a major commercial broadcast network,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
, to air its shows. NYC Media aired weekdays on
WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey†...
and on digital channel 4.4 / 28.4.
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, Delta, and South African airlines have featured NYC Media on their flights.
Carnival Cruise Lines Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue color scheme. This ...
launched an NYC Media closed-circuit channel on its New York-bound cruises in 2006. In that same year, NYC Media programming became available for purchase on DVD.


Criticism

Since the relaunch of the station, the station's popularity has been reflected in ratings, underwriter support, and press coverage. Despite these successes, the station has come under some degree of criticism from the New York City Council, and Councilmember
Gale Brewer Gale Arnot Brewer (born September 6, 1951) is an American Democratic politician from the state of New York who has represented the 6th New York City Council district since January 2022, a position she previously held from 2002 to 2013. From Janu ...
who has called NYC Media "too hip and flashy." Although Brewer's rhetoric has subsided since former general manager Arick Wierson huddled with Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler and agreed to produce a new news program entitled ''City Scoop'', Brewer still contends that NYC Media has strayed from its original mission in search of audience share and advertising dollars. On August 4, 2009, the Village Voice published a cover article criticizing the station's founder, Arick Wierson, for his many outside business interests, and his close relationship to the Mayor and other wealthy businessmen.


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's 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— ...
: , WNYE-TV broadcasts its main channel in 1080i
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.


Analog-to-digital conversion

WNYE-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
channel 25, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 24, using
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 as digits on a receiver's ...
25.CDBS Print
blank form


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wnye-Tv 1967 establishments in New York City Government of New York City Independent television stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1967 NYE-TV