WBNL

**WBNL**, virtual and UHF digital channel 22, is a New Line Network owned-and-operated station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The station is owned by the New Line Stations subsidiary of Warner Bros. Entertainment. Its studios and master control center are located at 180 Pearl Street in Braintree.

## History

WBTT started broadcasting on February 17, 1969. It was one of the very first affiliates of the then-fledgling New Line Network, originally owned by Pearl Broadcasting and broadcast from studios at 141 Needham Street in Newton, near it's transmitter.

In 1986, Pearl Broadcasting declared bankruptcy and sold off their stations, including WBTT, which was sold to New Line Stations, which made channel 22 a New Line owned-and-operated station of New Line, and the call letters were changed to WBNL to match other New Line owned-and-operated stations. On June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate, the station's analog transmitter was permanently shutdown, ceasing broadcasts on analog UHF channel 22, and it's pre-transition digital signal relocated from UHF channel 52 (which was among the high-band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from television use after the transition) to UHF channel 22.

In November 2014, WBNL moved into a freshly-vacated Shaw's Supermarket/Cardi's Furniture building on Pearl Street in Braintree. Slightly larger than WBNL's previous building, studio spaces are consequently larger and therefore continues accommodating the popular New Line series *Comedy School*, which has been produced at WBNL since it's debut in 1992.

## Gallery

WBNL ID from 1992, with the 1992-1994 "America's Favorites Are on New Line!" promo and portion of the fall 1992 schedule.
## Studio setup at Pearl Street

* Studio 50 - northwest corner of building. This is the largest, and one of the only, dedicated non-news multi-camera television production studios in New England. Studio 50 (and it's predecessor in Newton, Studio 1), has also been used for non-New Line productions. The studio is fully equipped for HD production. Currently, it hosts *Comedy School* during the primary fall-spring season, and the multi-camera dramatic anthology series *Pitch Black! Camera! Action* during the summer.
* Studio 51 - Used for WBNL's television news broadcasts.
* Studio 52 - Used for WBNL's television weather reports.
* Studio 53 - northeast corner of building. Multipurpose television and radio production studio, capable of handling multi-camera television shows or radio productions. The nationally televised competition series *Battle for the Oscars* is taped here, as well as several other local and national programs.

## Productions

The station has been responsible for the production of numerous regional and national programs, including the long-running *Comedy School* (1992 - present).

### News programming

News programming has been a major component of the station's efforts since its founding. On weekdays, WBNL airs a 60-minute 6:00am newscast, *Sunrise New England*; a 60-minute noon newscast, a 120-minute early-evening newscast between 5:00pm and 7:00pm; and a 90-minute late-evening newscast between 10:00pm and 11:30pm. On weekends, WBNL airs newscasts at 6:00pm on Saturdays and at 10:00pm on Sundays.

In 2000, its local 5:00pm-6:00pm newscast, *Boston Now at 5/5:30*, was cancelled and replaced with *New Line Live*, anchored in Boston by Dave Black. The latest version of the newscasts are branded under the umbrella title *New Line News 22*, hosted by Steven Wilkerson and Jan Carter, along with meteorologist Amanda Pena, who also does the weather forecast for *New Line Sunrise Saturday* and *New Line Sunrise Sunday* via satellite from WBNL's studio in Braintree.

### News theme history

* November 1, 1998-present: Magnum (V.1, V.2, V.3) (615 Music)

## Former on-air staff

* Lorena Barrett
* Fredrick Walsh (now at KNLN)
* Karen Stokes (later *From New Line* correspondent, now retired)