WSWG

WSWG
(semi-satellite of WCTV
Thomasville, Georgia/
Tallahassee, Florida)

Valdosta/Albany, Georgia
Branding	Southwest Georgia's CBS (general) WCTV Eyewitness News (newscasts) WSWG 2 (on DT2) Albany CW (on DT3)
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	Digital: 43 (UHF)
Subchannels	44.1 CBS 44.2 MyNetworkTV 44.3 The CW
Owner	Gray Television (Gray Television Licensee, Inc.)
First air date	December 24, 1980
Call letters' meaning	SouthWest Georgia
Sister station(s)	WCTV
Former callsigns	WVGA (1980-1992) WGVP (1995-2001) WVAG (2001-2005)
Former channel number(s)	44 (UHF analog, 1980-1992 & 1995-2007)
Former affiliations	ABC (1980-1992) silent (1992-1995) The WB (1995-2001) UPN (2001-2006)
Transmitter power	50 kW
Height	253 m (830 ft)
Facility ID	28155
Transmitter coordinates	31°10′18.9″N 83°21′57.1″W
Website	wctv.tv/wswg

WSWG is the CBS-affiliated television station for Southwestern Georgia, licensed to Valdosta. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 43 (PSIP virtual channel 44) from a transmitter northeast of Adel in Cook County. The station can also be seen on Mediacom channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 811. Owned by Gray Television, WSWG has studios on 2nd Avenue Southwest in Moultrie.

Overview

Although identifying as a separate station in its own right, WSWG is considered a semi-satellite of WCTV in Tallahassee, Florida. Master control and some internal operations are based at that station's facilities on Halstead Boulevard next to the I-10, SR 61/Thomasville Road, and US 319/Capitol Circle Northeast junction in the city's Carriage Gate section. It airs some of WCTV's syndicated programming but at different times. There are also programs that only air on WSWG while some are only seen on WCTV. This station airs separate station identifications and commercials. Syndicated programming exclusive to WSWG includes The Real Housewives of Orange County.

Digital programming

On WSWG-DT2 and Mediacom channel 7 is the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate. Like the main channel, it can be considered a semi-satellite of WCTV-DT2 which serves as Tallahassee's MyNetworkTV and This TV affiliate. However unlike that station, WSWG-DT2 does not air This TV because the network is cleared on a third digital subchannel of NBC affiliate WALB in Albany. Syndicated programming exclusive to the station includes: How I Met Your Mother, Friends, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, and America's Court with Judge Ross. On WSWG-DT3 and Mediacom channel 24 is The CW provided through The CW Plus.

Channels (physical/virtual)	Video	Aspect	Programming
43.1/44.1	1080i	16:9	main WSWG programming/CBS (HD)
43.2/44.2	480i	4:3	WSWG-DT2 "WSWG 2" (SD)
43.3/44.3	480i	4:3	WSWG-DT3 "Albany CW" (SD)

History

The station first began operating on Christmas Eve 1980 as WVGA and was an ABC affiliate for Southwestern Georgia (though Valdosta is part of the Tallahassee market). Prior to that time, it was one of the few areas in the eastern part of the country without a clear over-the-air signal from ABC. The nearest affiliate, WTXL-TV in Tallahassee, only provided Grade B coverage in Albany. At the time, ABC was the top network in the United States. WVGA was founded by Hi Ho Broadcasting which also owned fellow ABC affiliate WDHN in Dothan, Alabama. The station carried a typical slate of ABC and syndicated shows. In 1986, Hi Ho sold its stations to Morris Network, a broadcasting company owned by the Morris Newspaper Corporation.

The station was unable to make any headway against the region's two powerful VHF outlets, WALB and WCTV, and was also hampered by the region's poverty, as there were relatively few businesses able to advertise on the station. By the late-1980s, WVGA was in a battle for its survival. By the start of the 1990s, it had shut down its news department and began relying on infomercials and barter programming to fill the schedule. It also began signing-off following Nightline. The station's owners originally planned on selling it to the owners of WTXL which would then have made WVGA a semi-satellite. However, that deal fell through.

WVGA's fate was sealed in January 1992 when a plane crashed into its transmission tower and knocked the station off the air. Not having enough funds to rebuild the tower, Morris opted to close down WVGA instead. This left southwest Georgia as one of the only areas on the East Coast without an ABC affiliate. Cable systems in the area piped in either WSB-TV in Atlanta, WTVM in Columbus, WCJB-TV in Gainesville, Florida, or WTXL. This changed when WALB-DT2 switched its affiliation to ABC in April 2011.

In 1994, Morris sold the analog channel 44 license to Hutchens Communications which reopened the station on October 28, 1995 as a WB affiliate with the calls WGVP. However in 2001 when The WB insisted on going cable-only in most small markets including Albany, WGVP affiliated with UPN and renamed itself WVAG. The station moved its studios to Moultrie where they remain today. Hutchens sold WVAG to Padon Communications in 2004, who in turn, sold it to Gray Television soon afterward. Under Gray, the station was re-named WSWG and its operations were merged with those of WCTV. Ironically, Gray had been the founder and original owner of rival WALB, but was forced to sell it after buying WCTV because that station provides a city-grade signal to most of the Georgia side of the Tallahassee market.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS (the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On February 22, News Corporation announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be sister to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent as well as compete against The CW.

On September 4 one day before MyNetworkTV launched, WSWG dropped UPN and became affiliated with CBS as a semi-satellite of WCTV. This created a strong combined signal with just under 50% overlap. Previously, WCTV had been the default CBS affiliate in Albany for many years. At one point in time, there had been a plan where WSWG would move CBS to a new second digital subchannel and keep UPN on analog. On the same day the station joined CBS, it started a new second subchannel that became the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate. On September 18, the area's cable-exclusive WB affiliate joined The CW through similar cable service The CW Plus. On January 30, 2007, WSWG's analog signal on channel 44 went dark due to a damaged transmission line at the transmitter. Rather than incur the expense of restoring a signal that would only be temporary (analog broadcasting was due to end in the United States within two years), the station requested permission to surrender its analog license and broadcast only in digital on UHF channel 43.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted the request on one year later. However, unlike its old analog signal on channel 44 (which operated at 1.7 million watts) digital channel 43 operates at only 50,000 watts (roughly equivalent to 250,000 watts for an analog transmitter) in order to protect Alabama Public Television and PBS station WGIQ in Louisville, Alabama. Therefore, its broadcasting radius reaches just short of Albany proper and viewers must subscribe to cable in order to see the station. However, WCTV's current digital signal reaches Albany. At some point in early-2011, WSWG launched a new third digital subchannel to offer non-cable subscribers access to The CW after taking over operations of the area's cable-only affiliate.

Newscasts

WCTV bureau logos.

WSWG currently simulcasts all local newscasts from WCTV except for weeknights at 5 and 5:30. However, there is a separate title open featuring its own logo and identification. WCTV operates bureaus in Valdosta (on East Central Avenue/Wiregrass Georgia Parkway/US 84/SR 38) and another in Thomasville (on North Broad Street). There are five reporters assigned to Southwestern Georgia that do not use any WSWG branding. Originally, WSWG/WCTV pre-empted the first hour of CBS's The Early Show on weekday mornings to air another hour of local news.

On January 7, 2008, the network began to require all affiliates to show the program in its entirety to better compete with rivals Good Morning America and Today. As a result, the third hour of The Good Morning Show moved to MyNetworkTV affiliates WSWG-DT2 and WCTV-DT2. On August 3, 2009, WCTV became the second station in the market to upgrade newscasts to high definition and simulcast on WSWG were included. WCTV operates its own weather radar called "Pinpoint Megawatt Doppler" at its Tallahassee facilities. Like all CW Plus stations in the Eastern Time Zone, WSWG-DT3 airs the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 6 until 9.

Newscast titles

• Eyewitness News (1980s-2001)
• WCTV Eyewitness News (2001-present)

Station slogans

• "The Area's #1 News Team" (1980s-1990s)
• "Coverage You Can Count On" (2001-present)

Bureau reporters

• La'Tasha Givens - Thomasville
• Donnitra Gilbert - Thomasville
• Ann Mercogliano - Valdosta
• Gabrielle Sarann - Valdosta
• Deneige Broom - Valdosta

Additional personnel from WCTV is seen on this station. See that article for a complete listing.

External links

• WSWG "Southwest Georgia's CBS"
• WSWG-DT3 "Albany CW"
• WCTV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WSWG