WXIA-TV
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WXIA-TV channel 11, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Atlanta, Georgia. Popularly known by its branding slogan 11Alive, WXIA is owned by the Gannett Company alongside WATL (channel 36), Atlanta's MyNetworkTV affiliate. The station's studios and offices are located at One Monroe Place on the north end of Atlanta's Midtown area, and its transmitter is located in the city's Northeast section. WXIA is also available to Dish Network customers nationally for those that cannot receive NBC over-the-air in their area.
History
The station signed on the air on September 30, 1951 as WLTV, an ABC affiliate on channel 8 (the second Atlanta station on this channel after WSB-TV moved to channel 2 a year later), by a group of Atlanta businessmen. In 1953, the station was bought by the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation, who changed its call letters to WLWA (often rendered as WLW-A). Crosley then moved it to channel 11 to alleviate interference with WROM, channel 9 in Rome (later moved north to Chattanooga as WTVC), with channel 8 being reallocated for educational use by the FCC in May 1960. (WGTV was started by the University of Georgia on channel 8 in 1960.) WLWA was purchased in 1962 by Richard Fairbanks of Indianapolis as part of a settlement between Crosley and Fairbanks. Crosley had started WLWI (now WTHR) in Indianapolis in 1957, but Fairbanks insisted that the last VHF allocation in Indianapolis should go to a local owner. Eventually, the two companies agreed to what amounted to a trade, in which Crosley kept WLWI while Fairbanks bought WLWA. The Atlanta station's calls then became WAII-TV, using the slogan "The Eyes of Atlanta" and the calls standing for Atlanta's 11 (II)".
The station began calling itself "News Watch 11" in 1963 and began broadcasting news in color for the first time in March 1967. The station was sold to Pacific & Southern Broadcasting of Phoenix, Arizona in 1968 and became known as WQXI-TV (the calls were originally used on Channel 36, currently WATL in 1954-1955). Pacific & Southern later merged with Combined Communications. The station assumed the WXIA-TV call letters in 1974 and first used the branding 11Alive in 1976. In 1979, Combined merged with Gannett in what became the biggest media merger in history up to that time.
On September 1, 1980, WXIA became an NBC affiliate, due to market leader WSB-TV's signing with ABC. This could be traced to ratings: NBC slid to a very poor third place; meanwhile, ABC was in first place for most of the late 1970s and was seeking out stronger and better affiliates in many markets including Atlanta. So during the summer of 1980, the two 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. When the experiment was over on that same day, both stations finally swapped affiliations for good.
WXIA also airs the NBC Weather Plus service on its digital on-air signal, as well as on Comcast's digital cable system in the Atlanta area. WXIA formerly had a partnership with The Weather Channel to use their weather forecasters and provide local forecasts.
WXIA began airing its daily local newscasts in HDTV, the first Atlanta station to do so, on February 2, 2006. To signal the conversion to HD, an HD-friendly new studio from Production Design Group, Ltd. was built and graphics from Giant Octopus were created.
On June 5, 2006, Gannett agreed to purchase WATL from the Tribune Company, now affiliated with MyNetworkTV. The purchase price was $180 million. [1]. Since WATL is not among Atlanta's four largest TV stations, the FCC permitted this sale. The sale was finalized on August 7 2006; as a result, Gannett is now the owner of Atlanta's first television duopoly, as well as duopolies in Denver and Jacksonville. WATL occasionally airs NBC programs when WXIA is not able to for news-related emergencies and other reasons.
Also as a result of the WATL acquisition, WXIA management decided to move the studios for both stations to WATL's old location at One Monroe Place, leaving WXIA's longtime location at 1611 West Peachtree Street behind competetor WSB-TV. WXIA and WATL began broadcasting from the new studios on July 27, 2008.
From the early 1970s onward, channel 11's newscasts waged a spirited battle with WAGA-TV for second place behind long-dominant WSB-TV. Since WAGA switched to Fox in 1994, WXIA has been a solid runner-up, usually finishing well ahead of perennial third-place finisher WGCL-TV.
Digital Television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels| Virtual Channel |
Physical RF Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11.1 | 10.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WXIA programming / NBC HD |
| 11.2 | 10.2 | 480i | 4:3 | NBC Weather Plus |
In 2009, WXIA-TV will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 10.[1] [2] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WXIA's virtual channel as 11.
"11Alive"
11Alive has been WXIA's on-air branding since 1976, when then-owner Combined Communications adopted the practice of using the word "Alive" as part of the monikers at most of their stations. The use of "Alive" in station names was popular in the mid-to-late-1970s. New York's WPIX used the legendary "11 Alive" nickname from 1977 to 1986. Pittsburgh's NBC affiliate WIIC (now WPXI) used the legendary "11 Alive" nickname in the mid to late 1970s.
After Gannett acquired Combined in 1979, many of the former Combined stations stopped using "Alive" in their names, though WXIA continued calling itself "11Alive," as it had established a very strong following under that name. Fort Wayne's WPTA, another ex-Combined station, continues to call itself "21 Alive" today.
In 1994, Gannett dropped the "11Alive" moniker as part of an image makeover. However, only a year later, WXIA began calling itself "11Alive" once again due to popular demand of its viewers.
News/Station Presentation
Newscast Titles
- News Watch 11 (1963-1966; as WAII-TV)
- Instant News (1966-1969)
- Eyewitness News (1969-1972; as WQXI-TV)
- Pro News (1972-1974 as WQXI-TV; 1974-1976 as WXIA-TV)
- 11 Alive Newsroom (1976-1984)
- 11 Alive News (1984-1994, 1996-present)
- 11 News (1994-1996)
Station Slogans
- The News You Expect. The Balance You Deserve. (2006-present)
- Atlanta's HD News Leader (2006-present)
- Home of the Eleven-Minute Advantage (1990s-2006)
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