WNYZ-LP

WNYZ-LP was a low-power television station licensed to New York City, owned by the Island Broadcasting Company. WNYZ's television signal was broadcast in analog on VHF channel 6. It had transmitted a digital signal over channel 6 with a virtual channel of 1.1.

Programming consisted of Silent Films starring Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The station aired this programming without commercials. Viewers could hear the audio of WWRU in Jersey City, which is likewise intended for the radio audience listening on 87.7FM.

During most of its life while operating on channel 6, the station has been operated more as a radio station than a television station. WNYZ-LP broadcasts video, usually silent movies which are repeated throughout the day, for the likely reason to fulfill the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirement that some sort of video be broadcast on the frequency because WNYZ-LP is licensed as a television facility.

WNYZ-LP was the last remaining analog television station in New York City.

History

As W33BS Darien (Connecticut)

The station's history originated in 1987. However, it first signed on in 1998 as W33BS Darien (Connecticut), then on UHF channel 33. The station was subsequently moved to VHF channel 6 in 2003. Rev. Dr. Carrie L. Thomas, the original owner, sold the station to Island Broadcasting Company after its transition to channel 6. After the transition, it was re-licensed to New York City, and dropped its religious format. It had, since moving to channel 6, effectively operated as an FM radio station. As is true in most other major U.S. cities, the New York City FM radio dial is significantly crowded. As such, the market had not added a station to the FM band since 1985, effectively necessitating the rather unconventional extension of the FM band.^[1]

As WNYZ-LP New York

The call sign changed to WNYZ in 2003 and moved to its current channel 6 making it the seventh station to be added to VHF dial next to WBQM-LP. The audio programming on WNYZ was originally Russian Top 40 (Radio Vsyo - Russian for "Radio Everything"). Late in 2007, it was announced that the station would be changing the audio format to a Dance-intensive Rhythmic Top 40 format as "Pulse 87". After several delays, the station flipped to the new format on February 11, 2008 at Midnight.

Brief digital operation

In November 2008, Island Broadcasting installed an Axcera DT325B digital VHF transmitter with the Axciter/Bandwidth Enhancement Technology (BET) option, which permitted WNYZ-LP to simultaneously transmit a single 480i SD digital stream using virtual channel 1.1, along with the analog audio carrier on 87.75 MHz. This allowed the station to serve both its radio and television audiences. At first, WNYZ broadcast color bars, a legal ID, and a message telling viewers to listen to 87.7 FM. Then in 2009, the station broadcast The Jared Whitham Channel featuring Jared Whitham, a bespectacled local area comic/musician. The station operated in this hybrid analog/digital mode for just over one year.

Pulse 87

From 2008 to October 30, 2009, WNYZ-LP operated as the dance music format Pulse 87.

Joel Salkowitz, the station's program director and a former employee of WQHT during their early days told the online website All Access about Pulse 87's musical direction: "The station is a Top 40/Rhythmic, leaning away from Rock and Rap and more towards Club and Dance sounds in their place. Familiar, rhythmic hits mixed with the very best new music. This is a current/recurrent-based radio station." The station's format, which features more cutting-edge dance music, is unique in New York City as WKTU currently plays a more classic Rhythmic Adult Contemporary dance format. The format is also rarely seen in the US as only a handful of stations carry this format in America." Its transmitter is on top of the Citicorp Building in Long Island City, Queens, and Pulse 87.7 IDs alluded to it as "that big blue building in Queens".^[2]

The station's audio signal reached the five boroughs, Nassau and Western Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland and Northeastern New Jersey. Before June 12, 2009, the signal of ABC's WPVI-TV Channel 6 in Philadelphia made WNYZ-LP unavailable in most of central and parts of Northern New Jersey; WRGB Channel 6 in Albany also had similar effects in parts of the Hudson Valley in New York. After the transition to digital TV on June 12, 2009, reception of WNYZ improved in Central New Jersey and the Hudson Valley. However, it continued to impact reception of WPVI and WRGB's digital signals in these areas because they stayed on the channel 6 frequency.

On March 10, 2008, the station made a deal with Arbitron that would allow the station to be rated in its PPMs, but because it is a television station, WNYZ could not be rated in the official Arbitron radio books for the New York Metropolitan market. On March 31, 2009 it was announced that, according to a Mega Media press release, "due to the recent policy change at Arbitron, effective April 1, 2009 Pulse 87 will now be included and measured under the standard PPM Radio Ratings report effective April 2009 survey period." Pulse 87 was later added to the Rhythmic and Dance panels at Mediabase, while Billboard/Nielsen BDS had the station monitored as a reporter on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay panel.

Pulse 87 has since been relaunched as an Internet station at http://www.pulse87ny.com/ ;the station is operated by Salkowitz, who purchased the Pulse 87 automation equipment and the intellectual property in a bankruptcy auction.^[3]

Financial troubles and bankruptcy

Mega Media had been in serious financial trouble long before it launched Pulse 87. This came to a head on August 12, 2009 when Mega Media filed for bankruptcy, reporting $3.5 million in liabilities against assets of just $180,000. Mega says it hopes to continue operating Pulse while it restructures under Chapter 11.^[4]

On October 30, 2009, the current lease between Mega Media Group and Island Broadcasting ended because Island Broadcasting did not receive the $500,000 it was owed according to the Stipulation and Order regarding the Time Brokerage Agreement. Island Broadcasting was under no obligation to continue allowing Pulse 87 to use their signal without payment for the lease. However, there was a tentative deal in place for a new company to buy out Mega Media and pay off the debt owed to Island Broadcasting. The new company planned to continue the dance format but nothing ever came to fruition. The WNYZ-LP license was offered for sale by Island Broadcasting for $15 million. Pulse 87 went off the air on October 30, 2009 at 5:00 PM.

Former Pulse 87 on-air staff

• Glenn Friscia (2008–2009)
• Jonathan Peters (2008–2009)
• DJ Yonny (2008–2009)

Party 105 era

A new format for WNYZ was announced on November 2, 2009, at 6 am. JVC Broadcasting's WPTY "Party 105" took over the 87.7 frequency. The same programming airing on WPTY, Party 105, in Suffolk County was heard on 87.7, but the music was not the same that the Pulse 87 audience had grown accustomed to. It was a hip-hop based format, with some dance music, but mostly nostalgic 1980s and 1990s rhythmic hits and current R&B and hip-hop. The studios and programming originated on Long Island, while WNYZ served as a simulcast to WPTY. Pulse 87's audience, which had grown to over 1 million listeners per week before they went off the air, eventually stopped tuning into this new format, and the inability of many potential listeners in the New York area to tune into the 87.7 signal made the simulcast unprofitable for JVC Broadcasting. On January 21, 2010, WPTY stopped simulcasting on WNYZ-LP. Island Broadcasting let the signal go silent for one day and then began playing dance music for two hours the next morning. Due to a non-compete agreement, Island Broadcasting was not allowed to broadcast the dance music. Later in the day, a filler format of Jazz and Blues standards with station identification aired until January 27, 2010.

Indie Darkroom and Russian Radio

The following day, the station later implemented an independent music format on its audio channel known as the Indie Darkroom.^[5]

On March 21, 2010, the station announced that Indie Darkroom would soon be relegated to the overnight hours on weekends. During other hours of Saturdays and Sundays, the station becomes CaribStar 87.7FM (Sat/Sun 6am-midnight). Although a number of stations offer brokered programming for New York's estimated 1.5 million English/French Caribbean nationals (including a number of pirate stations in Bronx and Brooklyn), CaribStar represents the most significant effort to develop programing for this consumer market.

On March 31, 2010, the station added Russian language programming ("Danu Radio", a successor of "Radio Vsyo"). "Danu Radio" airs on weekdays 5am-8pm, and Fridays until 3am.^[6]

On May 2, 2010, the station began airing Hindi-language programming on Sunday mornings.

On July 25, 2010, the station began airing Korean programing simulcasted from WWRU in Jersey City.

Accidental license cancellation

On June 29, 2011, the FCC cancelled the license of WNYZ-LP and deleted its call sign; the station had filed an extension for its Construction Permit (CP) for its digital facilities, after the original CP had expired. According to FCC regulations, a CP extension could only be filed only if the current CP is still valid.^[7] According to Scott Fybush, the cancellation was eventually undone due to the cancellation being a mistake on the FCC's part; the FCC meant to only deny the digital CP extension, not revoke the analog one as they had mistakenly done. The station's license was renewed in 2015 for an 8-year term.

References

External links

• Query the FCC's TV station database for WNYZ-LP
• Official IndieDarkroom Radio
• Official IndieDarkroom Magazine