CBS Southwest Georgia (WSWG)

[gartv]

WSWG-44 may now be a primary CBS affilaite for South Georgia.

Their website www.wswg.tv

The station was "UPN Southwest Georgia" on broadcast Channel 44 and had announced last spring that it would become a MyNetwork TV affliate and would carry CBS on a digital subchannel. It now appears to be the other way around. CBS with MYNetwork on the digital subchannel.

The station is now owned by Gray Communicaitons along with Tallahassee's CBS station WCTV-6 (licensed to Thomasville, GA with studios at the Florida side of the state line).

WCTV-Thomasville/Tallahassee has long been the CBS station covering Southwest Georgia. So if channel 44 is now a (primary) CBS affliate, then we have two "local" CBS channels covering Southwest Georgia. There will be a lot of signal overlap. Both stations were on area cable systems. Perhaps cable systems will replace one of the stations with other programing-maybe MyNetwork.

The history of channel 44 in South Georgiia: Originally WVGA-44 in Valdosta as an ABC affiliate from 1980 until being shut down in 1992. It was owned by (a very low budget at the time) Morris Multimedia (owners of WMGT, former owners of WDHN-18 Dothan, Alabama). WVGA suffered from financial problems and could not afford to repair a damaged transmitter after a plane crashed into it forcing it off the air for several years.

Channel 44 returned to the air under new ownership as a WB affilaite in the late 1990's and later became a UPN affliate serving Valdosta and Albany.

[atlnewsfan03]

Back in the old days... Tallahassee didn't have its own NBC affiliate, until 1983. Before 1983, viewers saw NBC on WALB.

Now... Tallahassee has its own ABC, CBS/MNT, FOX, and NBC affiliate. Albany has its own CBS/MNT, FOX, and NBC affiliate; however, no ABC affiliate. Viewers in Albany would only be able to see ABC on WTXL. I could see WSST becoming an ABC affiliate.

Panama City has its own ABC, FOX, and NBC/MNT affiliate... no CBS affiliate. Dothan has its own ABC, CBS/MNT, and FOX affiliate... no NBC affiliate. Dothan would only be able to get NBC from WJHG... like Panama City would only be able to get CBS from WTVY. I doubt that Dothan will be getting its own NBC affiliate and Panama City getting its own CBS affiliate anytime soon.

I doubt that merging the Albany, GA and Tallahassee, FL market would work out. It would pretty much be the same with Dothan, AL and Pamama City, FL. Back during the mid '90s... Tusculoosa, Anniston, and Birmingham went from being their own separate TV markets to becoming 1 TV market of its own. I don't particularly under the "ABC 33/40" concept that WCFT-33, WJSU-40, and WBMA-58 have in place.

[gartv]

Over the air, Albany can recieve the Tallahassee stations but only WCTV is on their cable system. I can personally attest to recieving the Tallahassee and Columbus stations clearly on a portable TV while working in Dawson, GA (north of Albany) so I really don't get the idea of channel 44 becoming a primary CBS affilate. Mind you that WSWG-44 is actually licensed to Valdosta. I have no idea where their transmitter is located. The original channel 44 was in the Valdosta area.

Albany gets ABC programs via cable from WSB and WTVM (Columbus). WSST-55 is actually a great little TV station out of Cordele, Ga. They even have a local news for that small area. They always had great potential as a network affiliate but never chose to go that route.

WTVM's siginal over the air reaches much of the Albany market as well. I can recieve WTVM over the air from my home south of Macon.

In Dothan, they do get a very strong signal from Montgomery's WSFA-12 which has a very tall tower located south of Montgomery providing a signal that covers a very wide distance. So Dothan has NBC options from both Montgomery and Panama City. Last time I stayed in a Motel while working in Dothan, they had both WJHG and WSFA on the local cable system. And WSFA does cover news all over South Alabama even towns in the Dothan market.

I always thought that the whole ABC 33/40 thing was a raw deal for the viewers in Alabama, espcially Tuscaloosa and Anniston which had their own identity and local coverage. And a low power station in the middle for the large city of Birmingham? Broadcasters assume everyone has cable or satalite. Not so.