WSB-TV

WSB-TV, virtual channel 2.1 (digital channel 39), is the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship television station of Cox Enterprises and is co-owned alongside the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the WSB radio stations (although all three entities are operated independently of each other). Its offices and TV studios are located in midtown Atlanta at 1601 West Peachtree Street, along with the offices and studios of sister radio stations WSB AM 750, WSB-FM 98.5, WSBB FM 95.5, WSRV FM 97.1, and WALR-FM 104.1 (all of which transmit from other sites). In the Atlanta area, it is broadcast on channel 3 on local area cable systems.

The WSB-TV transmission tower is located immediately adjacent to Freedom Parkway, east of downtown Atlanta and just southwest of the Carter Center. It is so close to the highway that one of its three sets of guy wires passes over the road. Because freezing rain may accumulate in winter storms (especially since the tops of towers are colder than at ground level), the road is covered by a "tunnel" to prevent heavy ice from falling into the roadway or onto cars during and after storms. The tower has carried both analog and digital for WSB, but has no other FM or TV tenants listed by the FCC. The station has also applied for three digital broadcast translatorsdue to the poor performance of the ATSC digital TV standard, which has caused many viewers to lose the station's over-the-air signal.

WSB-TV is also available across Georgia to Cox Cable subscribers in the Macon area, although ABC programming is usually blacked-out by another local ABC affiliate, WGXA-DT2. WSB-TV is also available on cable TV systems in South Georgia (as far south as the Florida border) due to a lack of an ABC affiliate in the Albany media market covering southwest Georgia. This is possible because WSB-TV is uplinked to the AMC-10 TV satellite. The station is also the flagship of the Mega Millions multi-state lottery.

Early history
WSB-TV first began broadcasting on September 29, 1948. It is the second-oldest station south of Washington, D.C.; only Richmond, Virginia's WTVR-TV (channel 6) is older. James M. Cox, publisher of the Atlanta Journal, started the station; he also owned WSB radio (AM 750 and 104.5 FM, now on 98.5 FM). Cox owned WSB AM/FM/TV under the banner of Miami Valley Broadcasting Inc., which later on changed its name to the modern-day Cox Enterprises.

WSB-TV originally broadcast on channel 8. At that time, its present channel 2 allocation was licensed to the Journal's rival newspaper, theAtlanta Constitution, who had plans to start WCON-TV there. In 1950, the two newspapers merged. At the time, the Federal Communications Commission did not allow one entity to own two television stations in the same market. Accordingly, WCON-TV and WSB-TV merged, operating under WSB-TV's license but using the stronger channel 2. The channel 8 allocation was eventually given to WLWA as an ABC affiliate. When that station moved to channel 11 in 1953, channel 8 was reserved as non-commercial educational by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and is now WGTV, the flagship TV station of Georgia Public Broadcasting.

In 1955, the WSB stations moved into the noted "White Columns" building. They would remain there for 43 years, until a modern new facility was built adjacent to it on the same property in 1998. The new building, which has been called "Digital White Columns" by some, is located just off Atlanta's famed Peachtree Street, on the dead-end northern portion of West Peachtree Street which is actually east of Peachtree Street. This is near the Brookwood Hills area, and just east of the "Brookwood split", the well-known highway interchange where theDowntown Connector splits into I-75 and I-85. The older building was razed shortly after the new building was occupied. The original columns that stood on the front portico of the old building were placed in a garden area alongside the new building. Brand new white columns have been placed inside the glass-enclosed lobby of the newer building.

WSB-TV was originally a primary NBC affiliate, owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with NBC Radio. It also carried some ABC programming (from 1949, shared with WAGA-TV, channel 5) until WLWA-TV (channel 8, now WXIA-TV, channel 11) signed on in 1951.

The station was the original home to the relocated Atlanta Braves baseball team, carrying the games from 1966 to 1972 until the Braves moved to their current longtime home of what is now WPCH-TV, in 1973. Its sister AM station, was the longtime radio flagship of the Braves, carrying the broadcasts for a total of 38 of the 43 years that the franchise has been in Atlanta, dating back to 1966. Ernie Johnson, Sr., a former Braves pitcher and father of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Johnson,_Jr. his namesake] Turner Sports broadcaster, with future Hall of Fame announcer Milo Hamilton (who simutaneously pulled double-duty anchoring Channel 2's sportscasts during this time) were the main announcers for what was then the largest television network in baseball.

As an ABC affiliate
ABC was the highest-rated network for most of the late 1970s and, at that time, was looking for stronger affiliates across the country, including Atlanta. ABC's longtime Atlanta outlet, WXIA, frequently traded second place with WAGA. However, WSB-TV was the far-and-away market leader despite being affiliated with last-place NBC. So during the summer of 1980, both stations conducted an experiment unusual for a large market: WXIA aired NBC daytime shows in the morning and ABC daytime shows in the afternoon, while WSB aired ABC shows in the morning and NBC shows in the afternoons. By the time it was over in September 1980, WSB-TV finally swapped affiliations with WXIA, and joined ABC.

On March 12, 2011, WSB-TV and WGCL-TV turned on their ATSC-M/H signals for the first time, becoming the first stations in the Atlanta area to offer Mobile DTV broadcasts.

Digital television
WSB-DT went on the air on April 17, 1998, making it one of the first regular-service digital TV stations in the country. (The -DT suffix is not mandated by the FCC, thus it is WSB-TV even for digital.) WSB-TV transmits digital TV on channel 39, but like other stations is remapped via virtual channels. WSB-TV also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 2.1, labelled "WSB MH", broadcasting at 1.83 Mbps.[1] [2]

WSB-DT passes-through network programming featuring 5.1 surround sound. It also uses 720p 60, the same high-motion HDTV used by ABC.

The over-the-air digital subchannel 2.2 started carrying the Retro Television Network on January 28, 2008.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-abizc_2-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[3] Prior to this, the channel wasblank, or later with a small station ID in the lower corner, and finally with the test pattern pictured at right. Weigel Broadcasting, the Chicago-based television group, and partner and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) announced April 4, 2011 that MeTV, the new digital classic television network, has surpassed the 45% clearance mark with the finalization of deals with 14 leading station groups nationwide of which Cox's WSB-TV is included. When carriage will begin is not yet known and if RTV will be dropped to make room for MeTV is also not yet known.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[4]

Analog-to-digital conversion
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Don McClellan, celebrating 50 years at the station, WSB-TV shut down its analog signal for last time on June 12, 2009 at 12:30 PM, live fromthe station's transmitter room on the noon newscast, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station permanently remained on digital channel 39,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FCCForm387_4-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[5] it uses PSIP to display WSB-TV's virtual channel as 2 on digital television receivers.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">During late August and into September 2009, the station removed its analog TV antenna from the top of the tower, and moved its side-mounted digital antenna up from lower on the tower.

Broadcast translators
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">In March 2009, the station filed applications for two digital fill-in broadcast translators, due to expected loss of signal toward the east and northeast because of the digital transition. One is to be on channel 46, which was being vacated by analog WGCL-TV on June 26 after two extra weeks as an analog nightlight station. It is located on the same radio tower as Cox's WSRV/WBTS FM, having Gainesville, Georgia as its city of license, but reaching as far into the north-northeastern Atlanta suburbs as Lilburn. The other is for channel 31, licensed to Athens, Georgia, but located only about halfway to there from Atlanta on a tower southwest of Winder, and again reaching as far west as Lilburn. It has also requested special temporary authority to begin operating these stations immediately, pending approval of its regular applications.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Most of both stations' broadcast range will overlap with each other, and are almost entirely within the predicted coverage area of the main station, however distributed transmission (on-channel boosters) will not be used. The translators are expected to overcome the terrain obstructions caused by Stone Mountain to the east of the WSB transmitter. In late June 2009, the station also applied for a translator on channel 14 just southwest of Rome, vacated by analog WPXA (channel 14). This covers a significant portion of northwest Georgia with only 1000 watts. There is no request for STA with this station, however.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">As of January 2011, the Athens & Gainesville translators are currently in operation.

News operations
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Currently, WSB-TV broadcasts a total of 41 hours of local newscasts every week (with six hours on weekdays and Sundays, and five hours on Saturdays); as such, WSB-TV is one of the few Big Three network affiliates to offer more than 35 hours of local news content each week and one of the few Big Three affiliates to carry a midday newscast on weekends. In addition, WSB-TV's weekend newscast output is larger than that of Fox owned-and-operated station WAGA (channel 5), which offers a larger overall weekly (and weekday) newscast output than WSB-TV. Appropriately for a station with roots in a newspaper, WSB-TV has a strong TV news tradition. It has led the news TV ratings in Atlanta for as long as records have been kept.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">One factor behind its dominance is talent continuity. Many of the station's personalities have been on the air for 15 years or more. Monica Pearson (known as Monica Kaufman until 2005) has been the station's top anchorwoman since 1975, and was one of the first African-American female anchors in the South. Since 1994, her anchor desk partner has been John Pruitt, who started at channel 2 in 1973 before beginning a 16-year run at WXIA. Glenn Burns has been the main weatherman since 1981. Chuck Dowdle (previously in TV in Miami) served as sports director from 1985 until his December 2009 retirement. Pearson, Pruitt, Burns and Dowdle had been together since Pruitt's return to channel 2 in 1994—longer than any news team in Atlanta. On December 17, 2010, Pruitt retired after 46 years in the business, as he anchored his final 6PM newscast.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">WSB-TV debuted local newscasts in high definition during its noon broadcast on September 27, 2006. It was the second in the Atlanta market to do so, behind WXIA-TV. It is also the second Cox station behind WFTV in Orlando to switch to HD. With the switch to HD came a new HD set and HD graphics from Giant Octopus, which are similar to those seen on WFTV.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">In mid-November 2009, reporter Tom Jones and a cameraman escaped serious injury when the telescoping radio mast of their electronic news-gathering van (holding a microwave TV antenna for the remote pickup unit used for outside broadcasting) contacted 115-kilovolt high-voltage powerlines while leaving the Fulton County Jail. Georgia Power staff were surprised anyone survived, but the two were treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation at Grady Memorial Hospital and released later in the day. The massive electric spark caused an explosion, left a crater underneath the van, arced to and broke a water main, and caused a brief power outage; the vehicle was a total loss.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[6] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[7] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[8]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">In July 2010, WSB-TV expanded its weekday morning newscast to 2½ hours, with the start time moved to 4:30 a.m. On September 29, 2010 beginning with the noon newscast, WSB-TV fully switched its graphics package from the 2006 Giant Octopus graphics to a new graphics package.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[9] WSB had already been using this graphics package since late 2009 for its promos. It features a sleeker "2" logo, located in the bottom right hand corner that is not solid but gray (later changed to gold). The news ticker used during the morning newscasts is a similar design to the one on Charlotte sister station WSOC-TV. Coverage by 615 Music is still used as the station's news theme with the package, but now news opens feature an animated "News Chopper 2" flying across the screen while views of Downtown Atlanta are displayed in the background; the graphics still consist of blue and red colors.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[10]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">On November 23, 2010, WSB-TV announced that it will debut an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast in September 2011, replacing Oprah when the daytime talk show ends its 25-year run; along with the additional newscast, WSB-TV announced that it will hire additional on-air and behind-the-scenes news staff members.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[11] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[12] On April 26, 2011, WSB-TV announced that the start date for the 4 p.m. newscast has been pushed up to May 26.

Newscast titles

 * The Esso Reporter (1948–1959)
 * Newsroom/WSB News (1959–1965)
 * Channel 2 News (1965–1972; except for 11 p.m. newscast)
 * The World Tonight (1965–1968; 11 p.m. newscast)
 * 24 Hours (1968–1972; 11 p.m. newscast)
 * Channel 2 Action News (1972–present)

Station slogans

 * Channel 2, Proud as a Peacock! (1979–1980; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * You and Me and Channel 2 (1980–1981; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * 2 Steps Ahead (1980–1983)
 * Now is the Time, Channel 2 is the Place (1981–1982; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Come on Along with Channel 2 (1982–1983; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * That Special Feeling on Channel 2 (1983–1984; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * We're With You on Channel 2 (1984–1985; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * You'll Love it on Channel 2 (1985–1986; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Together on Channel 2 (1986–1987; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Georgia's News Leader (1986–1994)
 * Something's Happening on Channel 2 (1987–1990; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Georgia's Watching Channel 2 (1990–1992; local version of "America's Watching ABC" ad campaign)
 * Coverage You Can Count On (1991–present)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[10]
 * If It's Georgia, It Must Be Channel 2 (1992–1993; local version of "It Must Be ABC" ad campaign)
 * Watch By More Georgia, Channel 2, ABC (1993-1996; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Nobody Does It Like Channel 2 (1996-1997; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * TV is Good, on Channel 2 (1997-1998; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * Live, Local, Latebreaking (1998–present; used in news opens)
 * We Love TV on Channel 2 (1998-1999; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
 * WSB-TV Channel 2, Start Here (2008-present; localized version of ABC ad campaign)

News Music Packages

 * Move Closer to Your World by Mayoham Music (1972-1978)
 * News People by Tuesday Productions (1978-1980)
 * WSB 1980 News Theme by Unknown Composer (1980-1983)
 * Newschannel by Gari Communications Inc. (1983-1986)
 * WSB 1986 News Theme by Unknown Composer (1986)
 * Turn to News by Gari Communications Inc. (1986-1988)
 * News Leader BY VTS Productions (1988-1991)
 * WSB 1991 News Theme by Unknown Composer (1991-1993)
 * Image VIII by NewsMusic Central (1993-1998)
 * News 2000 by Music Partners (1998-2009)
 * Coverage by 615 Music (2009-present)

Current on-air staff (as of May 26th, 2011)
Anchors
 * John Bachman - weeknights at 4 p.m.
 * Fred Blankenship - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and noon
 * Erin Coleman - weekend mornings and noon
 * Justin Farmer - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
 * Monica Pearson - weeknights at 4 and 6 p.m.
 * Carol Sbarge - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.)
 * Linda Stouffer[5] - weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.

Severe Weather Team 2

 * Glenn Burns (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 4, 6 and 11 p.m.
 * David Chandley (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weeknights at 5 p.m.
 * Karen Minton (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon
 * Brad Nitz (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend mornings, weekends at noon, 6 and 11 p.m.

Sports team

 * Zach Klein - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.
 * Autumn Sam - sports anchor; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m., also sports reporter
 * Anthony Amey - sports reporter

Hosts

 * Heather Catlin - multi-platform journalist; host of Hot Topics
 * John Crow - Georgia Lottery
 * Jocelyn Dorsey - host of People 2 People; also community affairs director
 * John Pruitt - Georgia's Hidden Treasures and other special features

Reporters
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;"> Consumer

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;"> Investigative
 * Clark Howard - consumer advisor; also hosts weekly consumer program on HLN
 * Jim Strickland - consumer investigative reporter

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;"> Health
 * Richard Belcher - also fill-in anchor
 * Jodie Fleischer
 * Mark Winne

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;"> Triple Team Traffic
 * Dr. Randy Martin

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;"> Multi-platform journalists
 * Mark Arum - weekday mornings
 * Captain Herb Emory - weekday mornings
 * Doug turnbell - weekday mornings
 * Scott kimbeler - weekend mornings

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;"> General assignment reporters
 * Heather Catlin - "Hot Topics" host
 * Nelson Hicks


 * Manuel Bojorquez
 * Ross Cavitt
 * Diana Davis
 * Jason Durden - "NewsChopper 2" Reporter/Photographer
 * Jeff Dore
 * Richard Elliot
 * Lori Geary - also fill-in anchor
 * George Howell
 * Tom Jones
 * Darren Lyn
 * Pam Martin
 * Don McClellan
 * Darryn Moore
 * Joyce Oscar
 * Mike Petchenik
 * Eric Philips - also fill-in anchor
 * Tom Regan
 * Tony Thomas
 * Ryan Young