WTBS-LD, virtual and VHF digital channel 6, is a low-powered

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 eart ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, United States. The station has been owned by Prism Broadcasting since 1991. The station's

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

and antenna are located in

downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts ( Midtown and Buckhead), it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county ...

atop the American Tower Site located at 315 Chester Avenue, Atlanta. The original WTBS-LD,

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...

26 ( UHF digital channel 30), was a low-powered

Estrella TV Estrella TV () is an American Spanish-language broadcast television network owned by the Estrella Media subsidiary of HPS Investment Partners, LLC. The network primarily features programs, the vast majority of which are produced by the network ...

- affiliated television station also licensed to Atlanta. The station, which broadcast six subchannels, was a digital

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

of the current WTBS-LD, then known as WTBS-LP. The digital transmitter, which signed on in early January 2011, was, with its sister station

WANN-CD WANN-CD, virtual channel 32 (UHF digital channel 20), is a low-powered, Class A television station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous c ...

, located just northeast of the city on one of the two large towers on Briarcliff Road, at the same site along with Independent station

WPCH-TV WPCH-TV (channel 17), branded on-air as Peachtree TV, is an independent television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is owned by locally based Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate and company flagship WANF (channel 46), and ...

(channel 17),

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

affiliate

WUVG-DT WUVG-DT (channel 34) is a television station licensed to Athens, Georgia, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Univision and UniMás networks to the Atlanta area. Owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision, the station maintains studios ...

(channel 34),

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

WANF WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Television and is co-owned with independent station WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Clas ...

(channel 46), TBN affiliate WHSG-TV (channel 63), and several other stations. The original WTBS-LD's license was cancelled by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

on March 17, 2021.

History

The station signed on as W56CD in Rome, Georgia; then W26BT; WANX-LP in January 2000; and WTBS-LP on October 15, 2007. The WANX call letters were formerly used by CBS affiliate WANF. In 2014, the analog WTBS-LP reappeared under special temporary authority on TV channel 6, which can also be received on 87.75

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

of the FM dial. All analog television channels had been scheduled to cease broadcasting in September 2015; this was suspended by the FCC in April of that year. In 2017, it was announced that July 13, 2021 would be the new analog low-power television transmission shutoff date. Analog channel 6 later broadcast an

urban AC Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

format branded as "Mix 87.7", which is also heard via stereo audio on 87.75 FM. Steve Hegwood, the operator of Mix 87.7 announced it would cease using the WTBS frequency on January 31, 2019 due to financial shortfalls and an overcompetitive market for radio targeted at Atlanta's black community.EXCLUSIVE: Steve Hegwood to shut off Mix 87.7 at end of January
from '' Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (January 26, 2019) As of February 1, 2019, WTBS-LP became a Regional Mexican station called "La Invasora." WTBS-LP was licensed for digital operation on July 14, 2021, and changed its call sign to WTBS-LD. On July 16, the station received special temporary authority from the FCC to provide an ancillary audio signal at 87.7 FM.

Digital channels

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

{{Other Georgia Stations Estrella TV affiliates TBS-LD Television channels and stations established in 1988 TBS-LD Low-power television stations in the United States ATSC 3.0 television stations