WNYT

Contents

1954–1958	1958–1959	1959–1962	1962–1966	1966–1970	1970–1973


1973–1975	1975–1977	1977–1979	1979–1981	1981–1988	1988–1991


1991–1994	1994–1997	1997–2008	2008–present

WTRI

1954–1958

Originally signed on the air on February 17, 1954 as WTRI, a CBS affiliate licensed to Troy on UHF channel 35. The station was co-owned by Van Curler Broadcasting, a unit of the Stanley Warner Theaters chain, and Troy Broadcasting Company, owner of WTRY radio (AM 980, now WOFX). The station lost its CBS affiliation to Albany's WROW-TV (UHF channel 41, now WTEN on VHF channel 10) in January 1955.

WAST

1958–1959

In 1958, Van Curler sought Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permission to move the license to Albany, on VHF channel 13. By this time, the market had expanded to cover not only east-central New York, but also large swaths of southwestern Vermont and western Massachusetts. Not only is this market one of the largest east of the Mississippi River, but much of it is very mountainous. UHF stations have never covered large areas or rugged terrain very well. Van Curler thus jumped at a chance to move to the stronger VHF band. The FCC granted the request, and in December, the station took new call letters, WAST (for Albany, Schenectady, and Troy). Originally, the station had wanted to take the call sign WTAS (for Troy, Albany, and Schenectady) but the similarity of the letters TAS to the news agency of the Soviet Union (known as TASS) led to the use of WAST. As part of a dial realignment, WKTV in Utica moved from channel 13 to channel 2

1959–1962

1962–1966

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1966–1970

Van Curler sold WAST to Sonderling Broadcasting, a radio company based in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois in 1968.

1970–1973

1973–1975

1975–1979

1975–1977

1977–1979

While the same basic 1975 logo design was kept, on October 23, 1977, WAST and WTEN reversed their 1955 affiliation swap, returning channel 13 to CBS. In 1978, the original iteration of Viacom announced its purchase of Sonderling Broadcasting's holdings and made WAST the company's second television station (after WVIT in New Britain, Connecticut) when the sale was finalized two years later, in March 1980.

1979–1981

WNYT

1981–1994

1981–1988

On September 28, 1981, WAST became an NBC affiliate when CBS chose long-dominant WRGB (VHF channel 6), and coinciding with the network swap, became the current WNYT and gained a new logo.

1988–1991

LOGO MISSING

1991–1994

An extra horizontal line was added to the '1' of the 1981 logo. Viacom purchased Paramount Pictures in 1994, and merged its five-station group (WHEC-TV in Rochester, WVIT in New Britain, Connecticut, KMOV in St. Louis, and KSLA in Shreveport, Louisiana) into the Paramount Stations Group.

1994–present

1994–1997

After Paramount announced the formation of the United Paramount Network (UPN), which started operating on January 16, 1995, it also announced it would sell off all of its non-UPN stations. In June 1996, the Paramount Stations Group agreed to trade channels 10 and 13 to Saint Paul, Minnesota–based Hubbard Broadcasting in return for UPN affiliate WTOG (UHF channel 44) in St. Petersburg, Florida.