Albany’s Time Warner Cable news channel YNN has turned 10, and marked its decade on the air with a series of specials. The channel, which debuted as Capital News 9, picked 10 stories that had a giant, lasting impact on DMA No. 58, such as one on Nathan Brown, a National Guard member who was one of the first casualties of the war in Iraq, and another tragic tale about a nine year old girl who was shot and killed while sitting on her doorstep.
The latter, says news director Gary Holmes, sparked substantial gun buybacks in the market.
You can see the 10 segments here.
Yesterday, the actual anniversary, YNN did a series of behind the scenes reports from different spots at the station. “It gave us a chance to showcase some of the bells and whistles while giving some well deserved recognition to the hard working people on the other side of the cameras,” says Holmes.
The issue of B&C out Monday features an Albany-Schenectady-Troy market profile. While broadcast GMs in other markets at times make light of the cable news outfits in their region, the Albany station GMs give YNN some credit for its dedication to local staples such as politics, weather and hyper-local sports. “They do a good job being a convenience product,” says Andy Alford, VP/GM at WTEN.”They’re good competition, for what they do.”
