WTVM


WTVM is a television station in Columbus, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Gray Media, which provides certain services to dual NBC/CW+ affiliate WLTZ and Fox affiliate WXTX under separate shared services agreements. WTVM and WXTX share studios on Wynnton Road in the Dinglewood section of Columbus; WTVM's transmitter is located in Cusseta, Georgia.

History

The station signed on for the first time on October 6, 1953, as WDAK-TV airing an analog signal on UHF channel 28. It was a primary NBC station with a secondary ABC affiliation. WDAK was the first television station in the Columbus market and is the fifth-oldest in the state of Georgia and second-oldest outside Atlanta. During the late-1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. It was originally owned by Allen Woodall Sr., owner of WDAK radio, and Martin Theaters. Studios were located on 1st Avenue in downtown Columbus where Carmike's corporate headquarters were until December 2016.
Woodall sold his interest in the station to Martin Theaters in 1956 and the call letters were changed to the current WTVM. It moved to VHF channel 9 in 1960 in a three-way switch-and-move approved by the Federal Communications Commission in which WRBL moved from channel 4 to channel 3 and WTVY-TV in Dothan, Alabama, moved from channel 9 to channel 4. The moves were permitted because two years earlier Martin Theaters had bought WROM-TV in Rome, Georgia, and moved it north to Chattanooga, Tennessee, while changing its calls to WTVC. Eventually, WTVM's old channel 28 allotment was occupied by Georgia Public Broadcasting's WJSP-TV.
On the same day WTVM moved to channel 9, it switched its primary affiliation to ABC, while relegating NBC to secondary status shared with WRBL. This was very unusual for a then two-station market, especially one of Columbus' size. Usually, ABC, as the smallest and weakest network, was relegated to secondary status on one or both of existing stations. ABC would not be on the same footing with CBS and NBC until the 1970s, especially with markets of Columbus' size. However, Martin Theaters wanted to get WTVM in line with WTVC, which has always been an ABC affiliate. Additionally, fellow NBC affiliates WSB-TV in Atlanta and WSFA-TV in Montgomery, Alabama, both transmitted fairly clear Grade B signals to the region. In contrast, much of Western Georgia and Eastern Alabama did not have access to ABC full-time. The nearest ABC affiliate that put even a Grade B into Columbus was WLWA-TV in Atlanta, which easily covered much of the northern portion of the market. Martin realized that an ABC affiliation would not bring significant out-of-market competition. Augusta businessman J. B. Fuqua bought Martin Theaters in 1969, including both WTVM and WTVC.
Early in 1970, Fuqua moved WTVM to its present studios on Wynnton Road. The station switched to ABC full-time in October of that year when WYEA signed on and took over the NBC affiliation. Fuqua sold-off his broadcast interests in 1980, with WTVM going to Western Broadcasting. SFN Publishing eventually became the owner in 1984. A group of SFN managers formed Pegasus Broadcasting and purchased WTVM in 1986. AFLAC bought the station in 1989, making channel 9 AFLAC's flagship station. In 1997, AFLAC sold its entire broadcasting division, including WTVM, to an investment group that merged with Ellis Communications to form Raycom Media. On February 2, 2012, Chief Meteorologist Derek Kinkade hinted on the WTVM Weather Facebook page that major studio changes were on the way. On February 16, all WTVM newscasts and Fox 54 News at 10 moved to the newsroom, while a temporary weather office was constructed in the hallway between the editing bay and the newsroom. The new HD-ready set is to be completed in early March. On July 22, 2012, WTVM began airing newscasts in High Definition starting with Fox 54 News at 10.
WTVM-DT2 previously carried a 24-hour local weather channel. Programming consisted of current weather conditions with forecasts, a live feed of "Live Doppler 9", and severe weather alerts when conditions warrant. On Saturday mornings, the subchannel broadcast educational shows to fulfill an E/I requirement. Despite being called "Storm Team 9 Weather Now", it was not affiliated with The Local AccuWeather Channel. It was replaced with Bounce TV on September 26, 2011. The channel is available on all cable systems in the viewing area.

Sale to Gray Television

On June 25, 2018, Atlanta-based Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets under the former's corporate umbrella. The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion—in which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycom—resulted in WTVM gaining new sister stations in nearby markets, including CBS affiliate WTVY and NBC affiliate WRGX-LD in Dothan, Alabama. The sale was approved on December 20, and was completed on January 2, 2019.

News operation

WTVM presently broadcasts hours of locally produced newscasts each week.
In addition to the main studios, the station operates an East Alabama bureau near the campus of Auburn University. WTVM produces a nightly prime time show for sister station WXTX known as Fox 54 News at 10. At one point, there was also an hour long broadcast seen weekday mornings at 7 on that station. However, this production was canceled.

Raycom News Network and Raycom Alabama Weather Network

Since half of the viewing area includes eastern Alabama, WTVM is part of the Raycom News Network, a system designed to rapidly share information among Raycom's widespread group of television stations and websites in Alabama. A regional network has developed among Montgomery's WSFA, Huntsville's WAFF 48 News, and Birmingham's WBRC in which stations share information, equipment such as satellite trucks or even reporters' stories. Between them, these four stations cover most of the state of Alabama, with the exception of the Mobile–Pensacola DMA. The four stations also comprise the Raycom Weather Network and the Raycom Alabama Weather Blog, where meteorologists from all four stations post forecasts and storm reports, as well as live feeds from all of the cameras that the four stations operate. The site also has live feeds of "Live Doppler 9", "Doppler 12 StormVision", "FOX 6 VIPIR" and "Live StormTrack Doppler 48".

Live Doppler 9 Weather Center and ALFA Insurance Skycam Network

WTVM operates the Chattahoochee Valley's only live regional weather radar called "Live Doppler 9", located on top of WTVM's midtown studios. The station also has access to four different Level 2 NEXRAD radars branded as the "Doppler 9 Radar Network" which includes the capability to use 3-D graphics to track storms during newscasts. WTVM operates seven skycams throughout the viewing area, and is a component in Raycom's statewide skycam networks throughout Alabama and Mississippi. There are two in Columbus, and one each in Pine Mountain, Georgia; Auburn, Alabama; Opelika, Alabama and Eufaula, Alabama.

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:
ChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgramming
9.1720p16:9WTVMABC
9.2480i16:9BounceBounce TV
9.3720p16:9PSNPeachtree Sports Network
9.4480i16:9GritGrit
9.5480i16:9QuestQuest
9.6480i16:9WTVM365365BLK
9.7480i16:9OxygenOxygen