WLTZ (channel 38) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
in
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...
, United States, affiliated with
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
and
The CW Plus
The CW Plus is a secondary national programming service feed of The CW that is fully controlled and 75% owned by Nexstar Media Group, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery each owning a 12.5% stake in the network. It is intended primar ...
. It is owned by
SagamoreHill Broadcasting
SagamoreHill Broadcasting LLC is a privately held American holding company that owns 13 television stations based in the Great Lakes and southern United States regions. The company is a joint venture of the investment firm Duff Ackerman & Goodric ...
, which maintains a
shared services agreement (SSA)
with
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
, owner of
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate
WTVM
WTVM (channel 9) is a television station in Columbus, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Gray Television, which provides certain services to dual NBC/ CW+ affiliate WLTZ (channel 38, owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting ...
(channel 9), for the provision of certain services. Gray also operates
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate
WXTX
WXTX (channel 54) is a television station in Columbus, Georgia, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by American Spirit Media, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Gray Television, owner of ABC affiliat ...
(channel 54) under a separate SSA with owner
American Spirit Media
American Spirit Media, LLC is a broadcasting company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded by Thomas B. Henson in 2003 as Ottumwa Media Holdings, it owns television stations in several cities in the Southeastern United States.
History
In 2 ...
. WLTZ's studios and transmitter are located on NBC 38 Drive in the Vista Terrace section of
East Columbus (
postal address is actually Buena Vista Road in Columbus).
Master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as switc ...
and most internal operations are based at WTVM and WXTX's shared studios on Wynnton Road (
GA 22) in the
Dinglewood section of Columbus.
WLTZ went on the air in 1970 as WYEA-TV. An NBC affiliate from its first day on air, it had traditionally been a distant third in local news ratings in the Columbus market, despite attempts from several owners—most notably locally based insurer
American Family Corporation—to improve the situation. The station aired no regular local news service at all from 1993 to 2007. In 2020, it began to air newscasts produced by WTVM.
History
WYEA-TV: Early years
In late 1966 and early 1967, three groups applied for television stations in Columbus, which at the time had two VHF outlets.
One—Coastal Television—amended its application to specify channel 54 and received a construction permit, but it was never built. The other two, the Inland Broadcasting Company (a consortium of Georgia and Alabama residents) and Gala Broadcasting Company (led by Charles F. Grisham, owner of
WHNT-TV
WHNT-TV (channel 19) is a television station in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Florence-licensed CW owned-and-operated station WHDF (channel 15). Both stations share studios ...
in
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...
), merged their bids on the latter's application in July, opening the door for a construction permit to be issued in mid-August
to what became known as the Eagle Broadcasting Company.
It was obvious what the likely programming would be for the station. WTVM was a primary ABC affiliate and had first call rights on NBC programs, but
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliate
WRBL-TV (channel 3) also aired some NBC programming on a secondary basis.
A building permit was issued in December 1969 for a site on Buena Vista Road,
and ground was broken in early May.
While it was intended for the station to start in time for the
1970 World Series
The 1970 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1970 season. The 67th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League champion Baltimore Orioles (108–54 in the regula ...
, and WTVM had already discontinued airing NBC programs with the start of the new season, WYEA-TV was not completed on time because of a strike at
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
, which was fabricating the antenna; as a result, WTVM had to petition to carry the World Series.
WYEA-TV began broadcasting on October 29, 1970.
The station's second-floor offices suffered heavy damage in a January 1975 fire; the newsroom took water damage, and unprocessed news film was lost, but the station was back on the air within a day.
The first newscast aired by the station was a 5:30 p.m. newscast, ''1st Edition News'', chosen specifically to avoid the 6 p.m. broadcasts from WRBL and WTVM and counterprogram their offerings.
Over the years, the station focused on counterprogramming the two larger stations and also attempted to lure viewers with personalities that left those stations. In one extreme instance, the team presenting WLTZ's evening newscast in 1976 was the same four people that had presented WTVM's ''News Hour'' in 1969.
American Family ownership
![AFLAC Tower Columbus Georgia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/AFLAC_Tower_Columbus_Georgia.jpg)
The locally based American Family Corporation, the parent of insurer
AFLAC
Aflac Inc. (American Family Life Assurance Company) is an American insurance company and is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States. The company was founded in 1955 and is based in Columbus, Georgia. In the U.S., A ...
, announced in July 1977 that it would buy Eagle Broadcasting for $1.5 million and another $1.7 million in assumption of debts, making WYEA-TV its first broadcasting property with intentions to add more.
Under the subsidiary of American Eagle Broadcasting, American Family took ownership on March 1, 1978.
John B. Amos, president of American Family, had been looking into a media buy for some time, having analyzed a possible purchase of WRBL-TV and narrowly missing out on purchasing the
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...
radio network. WYEA-TV would prove to be a challenge as the group's first property, a station that was a distant third with only five full-time news staffers and just one newscast a day facing audience erosion from a new tower that had been erected by
WSFA
WSFA (channel 12) is a television station in Montgomery, Alabama, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WBXM-CD (channel 15). The two stations share studios on ...
, the NBC affiliate in
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
, which had upgraded its signal to reach some parts of channel 38's viewing area.
Under American Family, WYEA-TV opposed a proposed television station licensed to
Albany, WJFT-TV (channel 19), which had proposed a transmitting facility that would have also covered Columbus.
Under American Family, the station briefly made a major overhaul of its local news. It adopted the name ''NewsCenter'' for its newscasts, and in 1979, it debuted the station's first-ever 11 p.m. newscast.
However, many of these changes were later trimmed back for economic reasons by Lewis.
Lewis ownership
By the start of 1981, American Family owned six stations, WYEA-TV and five outlets in larger markets. Citing its audience share, market size, and signal strength, as well as its status as the least profitable station in the group,
American Family opted to sell WYEA to
Julius Curtis Lewis Jr., whose Lewis Broadcasting owned
WJCL-TV in its headquarters of
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
and
WLTX
WLTX (channel 19) is a television station in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Garners Ferry Road (US 76– 378) in southeastern Columbia, and its transmitter is ...
in
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
.
Years later, Leroy Paul, who presided over AFLAC's broadcast division, quipped, "We learned we could never become the city's news leader on a UHF station."
AFLAC would return to the Columbus market in 1989 with the purchase of WTVM.
Lewis took control on July 1, 1981; the station's 11 p.m. newscast was immediately cut,
along with several staff dismissals in the news department.
The station changed its call sign to WLTZ, beginning to brand as "Z-38", on August 31.
The station had better ratings for its entertainment programming in the Columbus metro area than it did in the larger
designated market area
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
, which included counties where WRBL and WTVM were received but not WLTZ.
Under Lewis, the station briefly had the first Black anchor on Columbus television, future state senator
Ed Harbison
Eddie Harbison (born August 25, 1941) is an American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals ...
.
The lack of a late newscast or weekend newscasts, plus many resources their competitors had and the frequent confusion of their reporters with those from other stations, slighted the channel 38 news staff: Mick Walsh, the television writer for ''The Columbus Enquirer'', called WLTZ "the
Rodney Dangerfield of local news".
In one instance, WLTZ passed on the opportunity to send a media member to witness an execution because it would have been too late on a Friday to have a story for any newscast; it was the first time that a media representative had failed to show up for an execution in Georgia since 1976.
Ratings remained stubbornly low. In February 1993, four percent of Columbus metro households watched WLTZ's 6 p.m. newscast, a sharp contrast to ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation'' on WXTX (15 share) and the newscasts on WRBL (18 share) and WTVM (52 share).
On November 15, 1993, station management announced the WLTZ news department would be dissolved on November 24, 1993, citing low ratings and lack of "wide market acceptance". The news came as a shock to the seven-member news staff, all but one of whom were laid off; anchor Suzanne Hudson said the news was "like taking a knife to our throat" and left her "absolutely floored".
The station had no regular local newscasts for the next 14 years, though it did invite Fleming back to produce short news breaks to air during NBC's coverage of the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
.
Lewis announced it would sell WLTZ in 1994 to Piney Creek Broadcasting, headed by
Ruth Allen Ollison, which would contract with Jack Pezold, owner of Fox affiliate WXTX, to provide its programs under a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
(LMA).
Pezold would also finance the sale for Piney Creek. The proposed transaction led to a petitions to deny by WRBL and WTVM.
While the sale appeared to be "almost a done deal" by February 1995, when the FCC rejected the challenges from the competing local stations,
the deal fell through that April after Congress ended a tax certificate program that encouraged the sale of broadcast stations to minorities.
SagamoreHill ownership
Lewis kept WLTZ until 2007, when it was sold to SagamoreHill Broadcasting; it was the last television property owned by Lewis. In November 2007, the station brought back weeknight newscasts (seen at 6, 7, and 11 p.m., or 5, 6, and 10
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
) in partnership with the
Independent News Network
News HUB (formerly known as Independent News Network) is a production company based in Little Rock, Arkansas, which syndicates "localized" news programs for broadcast television stations in the United States, that have budgets limiting their ...
(INN) of
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...
. Originally, the early evening shows aired in traditional half-hour formats, while the late newscast ran for 11 minutes. The Iowa-based news presenters read stories prepared by local reporters in Columbus; WLTZ also partnered with the ''
Ledger-Enquirer
The ''Ledger-Enquirer'' is a newspaper headquartered in downtown Columbus, Georgia, in the United States. It was founded in 1828 as the ''Columbus Enquirer'' by Mirabeau B. Lamar who later played a pivotal role in the founding of the Republic of ...
'' newspaper for local coverage.
WLTZ converted to digital-only broadcasting February 17, 2009. That same year, the station added
The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
to a subchannel after the network discontinued its relationship with
Pappas Telecasting
Pappas Telecasting Companies was a diversely organized broadcasting company headquartered in Visalia, California, United States. Founded in 1971, it was one of the largest privately held broadcasting companies in the country, with its stations ...
, owner of
WLGA (channel 66), then the region's CW affiliate.
In 2012, the station restored local news production from Columbus.
In September 2020, SagamoreHill entered into an eight-year shared services agreement with Gray to provide back-office services including master control, engineering services, and promotional services, as well as newscasts for WLTZ. On November 24, 2020, television industry website FTVLive.com reported that WLTZ had produced its final newscast on November 20 and that many employees were then
laid off
A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the ...
. WLTZ now simulcasts newscasts produced by WTVM.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is
multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:
References
External links
WTVM official websiteCW-GABama.com(DT2)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wltz
SagamoreHill Broadcasting
Gray Television
Television channels and stations established in 1970
LTZ
NBC network affiliates
Antenna TV affiliates
Court TV affiliates
1970 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)