From The TV IV

WGCL-TV is the CBS affiliate for Atlanta, Georgia, broadcasting over the air on digital channel 19 and displayed as virtual 46. It has a subcarrier used to carry games of the NCAA Basketball "March Madness" Tournament from CBS each year.

WGCL-TV started in 1971 on analog channel 46 as independent WHAE and aired religious programming under the ownership of Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. It slowly began airing more mainstream fare but rejected or altered any programming that they deemed offensive to their beliefs (no witchcraft, hypnotism, etc.). They changed calls to WANX in 1977 (they would air some college basketball games and the weekday Captain Kangaroo from CBS in 1981 as they were passed up by regular affiliate WAGA/channel 5), and then were bought by Tribune in 1984 and their call changed to WGNX (a hybrid of Chicago's WGN and New York's WPIX).

1985 logo as independent WGNX.

In 1994, WGNX was in line to be an affiliate of the then-new The WB network which would start up in January of 1995. But due to a shake-up caused by a deal which would make WAGA switch from their longtime affiliation with CBS to the FOX network, WGNX wound up being the market's new CBS affiliate. (The WB would wind up on WATL/channel 36.)

In 1997, channel 46 was bought by the Meredith Corporation, and in 2000 they changed calls to WGCL. Their studios, in which they moved in 2000, are just west of midtown Atlanta, on 14th Street. Before that, they were in northeast Atlanta (unincorporated) in the Briarcliff Road building occupied by WATL/channel 36 in 1969.

Back when they were WHAE, channel 46 had a local newscast which was aired from that point up to when their independent status ended. At becoming a CBS affiliate, they have had trouble building a sizeable audience for their news, usually coming in fourth in the ratings against WSB, WAGA and WXIA. Their 11 PM newscast does very well, thanks to CBS's primetime lead-in. They had chucked their 5-7 AM newscast in late 2006 and replaced it with CBS Morning News, and then raised the current on Better Mornings, a two-hour show focusing mainly on light fare, pop culture/celebrity news as well as supplying weather and traffic reports. Twice now since affiliating with CBS has WGCL branded themselves first as CBS 46 then CBS Atlanta. By the end of 2009, WGCL will serve as the network programming control hub for WSMV (digital 10, virtual 4), the NBC affiliate in Nashville, Tennessee, and WHNS (digital 21), the Fox affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina. In 2010, WGCL will also control programming for three CBS affiliates--KCTV in Kansas City MO (digital 24, virtual 5), WFSB in Hartford CT (digital 33/virtual 3), and WNEM in Flint MI (digital 22/virtual 5). WGCL also provides weather updates on sports talk radio station WCNN (680 khz) on their morning show.

WGCL began their digital transmissions on channel 19 in 2000, simultaneously with their analog 46. They shut down their analog on June 12, 2009.

[edit] Digital programming

Virtual	Physical	Name	Programming
46.1	19.1	WGCL-DT	Main WGCL (CBS)
46.2	19.2	WGCL-DT2	March Madness (from CBS)

[edit] Current Prime-Time Schedule

Day	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	11:00
Monday	Extra	Inside Edition	How I Met Your Mother	Accidentally on Purpose	Two and a Half Men	The Big Bang Theory	CSI: Miami		CBS Atlanta News at 11
Tuesday	Extra	Inside Edition	NCIS		NCIS: Los Angeles		The Good Wife		CBS Atlanta News at 11
Wednesday	Extra	Inside Edition	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Gary Unmarried	Criminal Minds		CSI: NY		CBS Atlanta News at 11
Thursday	Extra	Inside Edition	Survivor		CSI		The Mentalist		CBS Atlanta News at 11
Friday	Extra	Inside Edition	Ghost Whisperer		Medium		NUMB3RS		CBS Atlanta News at 11
Saturday	CBS Atlanta Sportsline Saturday		Crime Time Saturday		Crime Time Saturday		48 Hours Mystery		CBS Atlanta News at 11
Sunday	60 Minutes		The Amazing Race		Three Rivers		Cold Case		CBS Atlanta News at 11

[edit] External Links

Official website for WGCL-TV

• Query the FCC's TV station database for WGCL