A Community Need

In the early 1960’s the Onondaga County School Boards Association saw a need in the community for a television station devoted to educational content. By spring of 1962 the association created an Educational Television planning committee. This committee was to work with the educational institutions in the area to form an Educational Television Council to serve Central New York. 

The committee recognized that stimulation of local interest in public affairs, the humanities, religion, science, and sports was healthy for a community. They sought to create a media outlet for programming to promote the intellectual growth of the community. The goal was to meet the educational, cultural, and civic demands of the area, and to provide instructional, training, and information services to schools, colleges, and public, civic, and cultural agencies.

In December 1962, at a regular meeting of the Board of Regents of the State of New York, the Council was granted an absolute charter.

On The Air

“We have the resources of the world to draw upon,” said Thomas Petry, our first General Manager. And with that, on December 20, 1965, WCNY-TV signed on the air for the first time with nine hours of black and white broadcasts.

The founding trustees were an impressive bunch, including Kenneth Bartlett, dean of public affairs at Syracuse University, John MacAllister, president of Syracuse Heat Treating Corporation, Thomas Petry, WCNY’s first General Manager, the Rev. Msgr. Thomas Costello, superintendent of schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, and Dr. Franklyn Barry, superintendent of schools for the Syracuse School District.

Our first local production was “Straight Down the Middle”, a golfing series in cooperation with the Syracuse Area PGA. Today we pride ourselves on the multitude of local content produced within the station. Staying true to the original vision, our programs are all mission-related, whether they are educational (“Double Down”, “Financial Fitness”), civic-minded (“Central Issues”, “Ivory Tower Half-Hour”), cultural (“WCNY’s Concert Series”), or community-centered (“Food For Thought”, “Business Close-Up”).

A staple of our local productions is TelAuc: The Great TV Auction. The first TelAuc was aired in 1968, and today it continues to be one of our largest fundraisers and connections to the community, bringing over 500 members of the community into our building to fill the 1500 openings we need to achieve this event.

Members…We Couldn’t Do It Without Them

Our first membership drive was held in July 1966 to strengthen community support for the station. At that time an individual membership was $10, and a family membership was $25. Today we have almost 20,000 members whose support allows us to continue serving the Central New York community. In 2005 we announced our intention to eliminate televised pledge drives within two years in response to our members’ wishes. The need for member support at WCNY is not going away however, and without the on-air pledge drives we are implementing less intrusive and more value-added opportunities for viewers to become members.

Volunteering For a Good Cause

We have always relied heavily on members of the community who graciously volunteer their time and expertise to help us fulfill our mission. In February 1976 the volunteers organized and created Friends of WCNY, a steering committee whose purpose was to work hand-in-hand with the WCNY staff to achieve station goals, provide a unique service to WCNY, and assure the future of public broadcasting in Central New York. Today our dedicated volunteers accumulate hundreds and thousands of hours participating in events and daily activities both in and out of the station.

Expansions Through the Years

In 1971, public radio service was inaugurated on WCNY-FM Syracuse. Branded CLASSIC FM, it is the only classical music radio station in Central New York. To read more about WCNY-FM history click here

Visit Classic FM History Photo Gallery

As a service to our visually-impaired listeners, READ-OUT was started in 1982 so that listeners could use a special radio to hear volunteers reading newspapers, articles, and daily advertisements.

In 1996, through a partnership with Time Warner Cable, we launched a full-time cable channel, WCNY2, which is predominantly programmed with “how-to” shows. In 2003 we began digital broadcasting and today we can be found on the digital cable tier with our regular WCNY and WCNY2 programming, along with Encore for repeat performances, and WCNY HD for programs in high-definition.