Construction and early history
In 1951, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a draft of TV channel assignments, it allocated two commercial TV channels to Columbus, Georgia: VHF channel 4 and UHF channel 28. There was only one television application on file with the commission at that time, from Columbus radio station WGBA. WDAK and WRBL opted to wait until the FCC lifted its then-pending freeze on new stations.[2] After the commission lifted the freeze, all three announced they would file for TV stations, as did Martin Theaters, a chain of movie houses.[3] WRBL and WGBA sought channel 4, while WDAK and Martin Theaters filed for channel 28.[4]
WDAK and Martin merged their channel 28 applications as Television Columbus on September 24, 1952, an action that promised to hasten the arrival of television to the city.[5] Those hopes were dashed when WPNX in Phenix City, Alabama, filed its own channel 28 application on October 8, sending the matter back to the hearing stage and leading to statements of frustration from Television Columbus officials.[6] Civic groups in Columbus, Phenix City, and other areas petitioned WPNX to withdraw so as to speed the arrival of television in Columbus on the WDAK–Martin application, a petition WPNX heeded on March 4, 1953.[7] Eight days later, on March 12, the FCC awarded a construction permit to Television Columbus.[8] A site on the edge of Phenix City was selected for the transmitter facility, while studios were set up in a former car dealer building at 13th Street and First Avenue in downtown Columbus.[9] The station signed for affiliation with all four networks: NBC, CBS, ABC, and the DuMont Television Network.[10]
The first test patterns were broadcast on September 13.[11] October 6 was Television Day in Columbus as WDAK-TV formally went on the air with its first regular programs.[12] It was the only television station in Columbus for just over a month, as WRBL-TV began on channel 4 on November 15.[13] It took the CBS affiliation, leaving WDAK-TV with NBC, ABC, and DuMont.[14] In May 1954, Columbus's stations were linked directly to live national programming.[15] That year, Martin became the 75-percent owner of WDAK-TV. DuMont ceased its existence as a network in 1955.[16] Martin acquired the remainder of WDAK-TV in April 1957, resulting in the station changing call signs to WTVM (Television Martin[17]
Though Columbus now had two television stations, they operated on unequal footing. Early UHF stations, such as WDAK-TV/WTVM, struggled, particularly in "intermixed" markets like Columbus where they competed with VHF stations. National advertisers were unconvinced of their selling power, even though channel 28 had higher ratings and most sets in the market were converted to receive UHF.[19][20] The FCC's attempts to propose deintermixture in markets nationwide divided WRBL and WTVM. WTVM first proposed making Columbus an all-UHF market, but it later changed its stance to suggest a second VHF channel be allocated.[21] Though WRBL fought to retain channel 4, WTVM's plan called for moving WRBL to channel 3, giving channel 4 to WTVY at Dothan, and moving channel 9 from Dothan to Columbus for use by WTVM.[22] WRBL joined in WTVM's plan with a proposal to build a joint transmission tower at Cusseta, Georgia, for regional coverage.[23] What started as a routine application at one point looked in doubt when four FCC commissioners balked at the two-VHF plan and supported moving WRBL-TV to UHF, which would have removed an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 viewers from its service area.
The FCC broke the logjam at the start of June 1959 and voted to enact the WTVM plan, granting Columbus and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a second VHF channel each.[27] There were two problems that delayed action on the change. WTVY protested, claiming it could not move to channel 4 at its present transmitter site, and one possible tower site for WRBL and WTVM was ruled out when officials building the Georgia Educational Television network opted to move the planned transmitter for Savannah, also on channel 9, to the west—an action that broke necessary separation.[28] However, final approval for the channel changes and Cusseta transmitter site was granted in February 1960.[29] WRBL was the first station to use the Cusseta tower, moving to channel 3 on October 27, 1960.[30] WTVY moved to channel 4 on November 3 and WTVM to channel 9 the next day.[31] The expanded coverage area of WTVM when it moved to the VHF band prompted station management to rethink their network affiliation. Citing higher duplication of NBC programming by stations in surrounding cities and that ABC "offered more and greater, unduplicated programs", in 1960 WTVM flipped from primary NBC, secondary ABC affiliation to primary ABC, secondary NBC.
The tower, completed to a height of 1260 ft, was raised to 1749 ft in 1962.[34][35] It was the tallest tower until 1964, when a 2,000-foot tower was erected for a TV station in North Dakota.[36][37]
Aflac ownership
On October 7, 1988, the American Family Life Assurance Company (Aflac), a Columbus-based insurer whose headquarters are across the street from the WTVM studio, announced it was buying WTVM from Pegasus Broadcasting for $45 million. It was a return to local broadcasting for Aflac, which had from 1978 to 1981 owned channel 38 as WYEA-TV. Though company president John Amos had feared that owning a local TV station would cause people to view its news reporting as a house organ for the insurer, he no longer held the same qualms.[60] WTVM differed from WYEA in one respect: it was the number-one TV station in the city, like other stations American Family owned, whereas WYEA—in spite of a serious upgrading of the news department—was hampered by its signal and poor competitive position.[61] Leroy Paul, who presided over Aflac's broadcast division, quipped in 1995 that the experience of owning channel 38 prompted the company to learn "we could never become the city's news leader on a UHF station".[62]
Under Aflac, WTVM continued to be the dominant TV news station in Columbus, regularly attracting more than half of the 6 p.m. news audience. In November 1990, WTVM's 6 p.m. news earned an audience share of 59%, a 24-percentage-point increase from May 1988, and it commanded 43% of news viewers at 11 p.m.[63]
