WAGA (TV)

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For broadcast stations that previously used the WAGA call sign, see WAGA (disambiguation)

WAGA
Atlanta, Georgia
Branding	FOX5 Atlanta
Slogan	The Most Powerful Name In Local News.
Channels	5 (VHF) analog, 27 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	FOX
Owner	Fox Television Stations Group (via New World Communications of Atlanta)
Founded	March 8, 1949
Call letters meaning	W Atlanta, GA
Former affiliations	CBS (1949-94), DuMont (secondary: 1949-55), ABC (secondary, 1949-51)
Transmitter Power	100 kW/328 m(analog) 846 kW/332 m (digital)
Website	www.myfoxatlanta.com

WAGA ("FOX5 Atlanta") is currently the FOX-owned and operated television station (O&O) in Atlanta, Georgia. The station's transmitter is co-located with its studios on Briarcliff Road Northeast in Atlanta, just west of Emory University.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Logos since 1994 2 Newscasts 3 Other Local Programs 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] History

WAGA first began operations on March 8, 1949. It was the second television station in Atlanta, after WSB-TV. It was originally a CBS affiliate, with DuMont as a secondary affiliation from 1949 to 1955. It also shared ABC with WSB-TV until WLWA-TV (now WXIA-TV) signed on in 1953. It is the only VHF commercial station in Atlanta still on its original channel. It was originally owned by Storer Broadcasting, which also owned WAGA-AM 1480 (now WYZE-AM) and WAGA-FM 102.9 (now WVEE-FM 103.3).

From the time WAGA was launched, it broadcast from the original studios and transmission facilities located at 1018 Peachtree Street NW. This building would later became home to cable television pioneer WTBS channel 17. In 1966 or sometime after that, WAGA moved its broadcast facilities to its present-day location, which has an unusual design motif for a TV station's facilities. The building is a Georgia/Southern style mansion.

For many years, the station called its newscasts 5 News Scene. In the 1980s, this changed to Eyewitness News.

In 1985, WAGA, along with the other Storer stations, was sold in a group deal to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a New York-based private equity firm. Two years later, KKR sold the Storer stations to Gillett. After bankruptcy, Gillett restructured in the early 1990s, selling several stations, and changing its name to SCI.

In 1992, WAGA began pre-empting CBS This Morning in favor of a locally produced morning show, "Good Day Atlanta". Later that year, SCI would file for bankruptcy, putting their stations up for sale.

In 1993, New World Communications acquired the SCI stations, including WAGA. At the time, New World happened to be based out of Atlanta. Because of this WAGA was made the flagship station of New World for a short period of time.

In 1994, New World announced an affiliation agreement with FOX. This deal came because Fox had won the rights to air NFC football games from CBS, and FOX desired more VHF affiliates. This deal resulted in most of New World's stations, including WAGA, switching to FOX beginning in September 1994. However, in most markets, FOX Kids would stay on the existing FOX affiliate, because these stations were not interested in airing FOX Kids but rather more news. For example, in Atlanta, FOX Kids stayed on WATL instead of moving to WAGA. All but one station would retain their existing syndicated programming lineup. The lone exception was WGNX (channel 46, now WGCL-TV), which became the new CBS affiliate despite turning it down at first, and sold many of its syndicated shows over to WVEU, which became a charter affiliate of the UPN network in early 1995 (eventually becoming a UPN O&O). In the meantime, WATL would become independent until 1995 when it became a charter affiliate of The WB Television Network. At that time, FOX finalized the sale of WATL to Qwest Broadcasting (which was controlled by musician Quincy Jones), which merged with WB part-owner Tribune Company in 2000.

The affiliation switch occurred in December 1994. At that point, WAGA's 45-year stint as a CBS affiliate came to an end. Before the switch, WAGA was the longest running CBS affiliate south of Washington, D.C. -- an honor now held by WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina. As the new FOX station, WAGA began to air over 40 hours of local news a week -- as it was expected being that WAGA did not air FOX Kids, as well as FOX's push for its affiliates to air more news. Even so, the 11:00 news moved to 10:00, giving Atlanta a primetime newscast -- only soon after WGCL moved theirs up to 11:00. The station also ran first-run syndicated talk/reality shows, game shows and movies. It did not run any children's programming except for some educational shows on the weekends. Also, with the affiliation switch, WAGA remained the home station for the Falcons, as since the Falcons play in the NFC, the station had carried them as a CBS affiliate since the team's inception. In 2005, WAGA and the Falcons celebrated 40 years together for most regular season games.

Early in 1997, New World sold all of its FOX affiliates, including WAGA, to FOX, while selling its two NBC affiliates -- KNSD in San Diego, and WVTM-TV in Birmingham (the latter of which is now owned by Media General) -- to NBC itself. Upon becoming a Fox O&O (the second in Atlanta), the station adopted the "FOX5" branding, per the network's branding guidelines. However, at the end of WAGA's newscast, the copyright notice says the station is still owned by "New World Communications of Atlanta" -- similar situations exist in most other ex-New World markets.

[edit] Logos since 1994

WAGA-TV5 logo in 1997. This incorporates the numeric "5" logo used from 1983 to 1997.

FOX5 Atlanta logo 1997 to 1998

Current station logo on the air.

FOX5 News Logo used on myfoxatlanta.com

[edit] Newscasts

In the late 1990s, WAGA changed its news branding from FOX5 Eyewitness News to FOX5 News. However, it still runs a promo verbally encouraging viewers to "call Eyewitness News" if they see news happen.

Weekdays:

• FOX5 Morning News - 5-7AM
  • Anchored by Mark Hayes and Suchita Vadlamani... Weather with Jeff Hill... and TrafficWatch with Cheryl White

• Good Day Atlanta - 7-9AM
  • Same as FOX5 Morning News... and featuring Brett Martin

• FOX5 News at Noon - NOON-1:00PM
  • Anchored by Lisa Rayam... and Weather with Jeff Hill

• FOX5 News at 5 p.m. - 5-6PM
  • Anchored by Russ Spencer and Lisa Rayam... and Weather with Ken Cook

• FOX5 News at 6 p.m. - 6-7PM
  • Anchored by Russ Spencer and Amanda Davis... Weather with Ken Cook... and Sports with Ken Rodriguez

• FOX5 News at 10 p.m. - 10-11PM**
  • Same as FOX 5 News at 6 p.m.

Note** - Tape delayed broadcast of FOX5 News at 10 p.m. airs from 1-2AM (7 nights a week).

Saturdays:

• FOX5 News at 6 p.m. - 6-7PM
  • Anchored by Art Franklin and Lisa Crane... Weather with Orelon Sidney... and Sports with Karen Mayes Graham
• FOX5 News at 10 p.m. - 10-11PM**
  • Same as FOX5 News at 6 p.m.

Sundays:

• FOX5 News at 6 p.m. - 6-6:30PM
  • Anchored by Art Franklin and Lisa Crane... Weather with Orelon Sidney... and Sports with Karen Mayes Graham
• FOX5 News at 10 p.m. - 10-11PM**
  • Same as FOX5 News at 6 p.m.

[edit] Other Local Programs

• Good Day Atlanta - Monday-Friday (7-9AM)
  • Produced by FOX5's news department.
• The Georgia Gang - Sundays (9:30-10AM)
  • Hosted by Dick Williams... and featuring Jeff Dickerson, Phil Kent, Alexis Scott, Bill Shipp, and Martha Zoller

Other current WAGA-TV produced shows and specials include...

• Pit-Pass, which can be seen during NASCAR season.
• Falcons 5th Quarter, which can be seen during NFL Football season.
• The Running of the Peachtree Roadrace, which can be seen on the morning of July 4th every year.

Past WAGA-TV produced newscasts, shows, and specials include...

• Channel 5 Eyewitness News Conference (During the CBS era), which would later be replaced by The Georgia Gang.
• Channel 5 Eyewitness News on MediaOne (During the mid '90s), which was a short-lived news share agreement on the then MediaOne/now Comcast cable network. Rival station WXIA-TV would later begin a short-lived news share agreement with the cable network.
• That's Atlanta (During the mid '90s), which was a locally produced quiz/game show.

[edit] See also

• WAGA-TV personalities

[edit] External links

• MyFOX Atlanta Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WAGA