| Thomasville, Georgia-Tallahassee, Florida | |
|---|---|
| Branding | WCTV Eyewitness News |
| Slogan | Coverage You Can Count On |
| Channels | Digital: 46 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 6.1 CBS 6.2 MyNetworkTV (Primary) ThisTV (Secondary) |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Gray Television (Gray Television Licensee, Inc.) |
| First air date | September 15, 1955 |
| Call letters' meaning | Capital TeleVision |
| Sister station(s) | WSWG |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 6 (1955-2009) |
| Former affiliations | NBC (primary, 1955-1956) CBS (secondary, 1955-1956) ABC (secondary, 1955-1976) |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 566 m (1,857 ft) |
| Class | DT (Digital Television) |
| Facility ID | 31590 |
| Website | www.wctv.tv |
WCTV is the CBS-affiliated television station for southwest Georgia and Tallahassee, Florida that is licensed to Thomasville, Georgia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 46 from a transmitter in Metcalf along the Georgia and Florida state line. This is 609.6 meters high and is the tallest man-made structure in Georgia. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on Halstead Boulevard in Tallahassee along I-10. Syndicated programming on WCTV includes: Jeopardy![1], Wheel of Fortune and Oprah. It operates the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate on a second digital subchannel as well as Comcast digital cable channels 14 and 227.
Syndicated programming on WCTV-DT2 includes: Jerry Springer, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, One on One and Judge Alex. WCTV operates a semi-satellite, WSWG in Valdosta, Georgia. That station serves as the CBS affiliate for Albany, Georgia. Master control and most operations of WSWG are located WCTV's facilities although it has its own studios on 2nd Avenue Southwest in Moultrie. As a semi-satellite, it airs most of this station's non-network programming although sometimes at different times. There are also programs that only air on WSWG and some are only seen on WCTV. It also airs separate station identifications and commercials.
Contents |
The station's digital signal is multiplexed.
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 6.1 | Main WCTV programming / CBS |
| 6.2 | MyNetworkTV |
The station first signed-on September 15, 1955 from studios on North Monroe Street in Tallahassee. WCTV was originally owned by John H. Phipps. Although it has always considered itself a Tallahassee station, it was licensed to Thomasville because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had allocated only one VHF channel to Tallahassee, channel 11. Florida State University had managed to have the FCC designate that channel for noncommercial use so it could put WFSU-TV on-the-air. UHF was not considered viable at the time. Until the FCC required all sets to have all-channel capability in 1964, UHF stations were un-viewable without a converter. Even with one, the picture quality was marginal at best. Hoyt Wimpy, owner and founder of WPAX radio in Thomasville, persuaded the FCC to grant the Phipps family a license for channel 6 in Thomasville, the nearest city to Tallahassee that had a VHF allocation available. This could provide city-grade coverage of Tallahassee and north central Florida as well as southwestern Georgia. WCTV operated a live studio in Thomasville for many years and still has a bureau there. It was the only commercial station in the area until WECA-TV (now WTXL-TV) began operations in 1976. The station originally carried programming from all three networks but was a primary NBC affiliate.
After only a year on-the-air, it switched to CBS and has been affiliated with that network ever since. However, it carried a secondary ABC affiliation until WECA signed-on. It is still the only commercial VHF station in the market (the only other VHF stations are PBS members WFSU-TV, still on channel 11, and Georgia Public Broadcasting's WXGA-TV on channel 8). It was owned by the Phipps family until being sold to Gray Communications, now Gray Television, in 1996. Gray's purchase of WCTV forced the company to sell WALB-TV, its flagship station in Albany, because WALB's signal has city-grade quality in most of the Georgia side of the market (including Thomasville and Valdosta). WALB had doubled as the NBC affiliate for Tallahassee until WTWC signed-on in 1983. However in 2004, Gray purchased WSWG in Valdosta, a UPN affiliate for the Albany market. The station dropped UPN in September of that year and is now a semi-satellite of WCTV. The acquisition created a strong combined signal with just under 50% overlap. This station had been the default CBS affiliate for Albany for many years. In March 2006, WCTV moved from its longtime studios on County Road 12 in northern Leon County to new facilities on Halstead Boulevard in Tallahassee. The Halstead Boulevard location used to house the now-defunct Florida's News Channel, a cable-only operation. On February 17, 2009, WCTV shut off its analog signal on channel 6 [2], even after the analog television shutdown deadline was extended to June 12,[3] and remained on channel 46[4] using PSIP to display its virtual channel as 6 on digital television receivers.
WSWG simulcasts every WCTV newscast except weeknights at 5. However, it has a separate news open. There are two news bureaus in southwest Georgia. This includes in Valdosta (on East Central Avenue) and Thomasville (on North Broad Street). There are five WCTV personalities that cover the area and do not use WSWG branding. It also operates a Marianna Bureau.
Originally, the station pre-empted the first hour of CBS's The Early Show on weekday mornings to air another hour of its local news. On January 7, 2008, the network began to require all affiliates to show the program in its entirety. As a result, the third hour of the Good Morning Show moved to MyNetworkTV affiliates WCTV-DT2 and WSWG-DT2.
They produce a weeknight 10 o'clock newscast on Fox affiliate WTLH. That station promotes the broadcast as local news airing one hour earlier. It is the first and only prime time show in the market. WCTV airs the news from a secondary set at its studios. The first segment of the show is posted on WTLH's website. It operates its own weather radar called "Pinpoint Megawatt Doppler" at its facilities.
On August 3, 2009, WCTV became the second station in Tallahassee to broadcast local news in high definition.
In October 2011 a now-defunct Tallahassee children's center, Ollie Wallie's, sued WCTV claiming that the station and reporters Jerry Askin and Candace Sweat defamed the center by reporting on unfounded allegations of a sexual assault of a child by a staff member. WCTV stated that the suit had no merit and intended to vigorously defend itself.[5]
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