nbc walb news 10 .2 walb abc slogan live . local . latebreaking . your abc for south georgia dt2 channels digital 10 vhf virtual 10 psip subchannels .1 nbc .2 abc .3 grit affiliations nbc secondary through 1980 owner raycom media walb license subsidiary llc first air date april 7 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 04 07 call letters meaning albany sister station s wdfx tv wpgx wtvm wxtx former callsigns walb tv 1954 2003 former channel number s analog 10 vhf 1954 2009 digital 17 uhf 2001 2009 former affiliations both secondary abc 1954 1980 dumont 1954 1955 .2 nbc wx 2005 2008 this tv 2008 2011 transmitter power 22 kw height 297 m class dt facility id 70713 transmitter coordinates 31 19 52 n 83 51 43 w 31.33111 n 83.86194 w 31.33111 ; 83.86194 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website walb.com walb is the nbc affiliated television station for southwestern georgia that is licensed to albany . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on vhf channel 10 from a transmitter east of doerun along the colquitt and worth county line . owned by raycom media walb has studios on stuart avenue in albany . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 4 references 5 external links history edit the station signed on the air on april 7 1954 as walb tv and was sister to walb am 1590 as well as the albany herald . when the radio station s studios were built back in 1953 stuart avenue was a dirt road running through a pecan grove . for its first three years on air walb tv transmitted an analog signal on vhf channel 10 from a tower at its studios . as the first television outlet in albany it was a primary nbc affiliate with secondary relations with abc and dumont . 1 the latter network was dropped in 1955 when it shut down and abc remained on walb until 1980 when wvga now wswg started up in valdosta . the station s first tower near doerun was built in 1957 . the radio station was sold in 1960 to allen woodall sr. and became known as walg to distinguish itself from the television station . in march 1976 a fire destroyed walb s main broadcasting facilities but did not damage its offices . 1 until 1983 it was the default nbc affiliate for tallahassee florida . although wtwc tv has been that area s affiliate since then walb still provides city grade coverage to almost all of the georgia side of the tallahassee market and grade b coverage to the city itself . walb dropped the tv suffix to its call sign in 1993 . 1 as a result of flash flooding caused by tropical storm alberto walb stayed on the air with non stop 24 hour coverage to alert citizens and provide a vital link between the public and government agencies . the station operated as the flagship of gray communications corporation now gray television until cosmos broadcasting bought the station in 1998 . that company later became known as liberty broadcasting corporation . although gray no longer operates walb the company currently maintains albany administrative offices located in the albany herald building and operates wswg in valdosta that serves albany . walb s original digital signal on uhf channel 17 started operating from the doerun tower in 2001 . 1 walb launched nbc weather plus in 2005 on a new second digital subchannel . known as walb 24 7 weather the service gave continuous forecasts for up to thirty cities around southwestern georgia . after nbc weather plus shut down in december 2008 walb dt2 became part of this tv . in march 2006 the station was sold to raycom media after that company merged with liberty . it violated federal communications commission fcc rules regarding station ownership because raycom already owned fox affiliate wfxl . as a result the company announced the sale of that station and eleven others to barrington broadcasting . on june 1 2006 a mh 47 chinook military chopper traveling from hunter army airfield in savannah georgia to fort rucker in alabama for a training mission hit a guy wire connected to wfxl s 1 000 foot tall 300 m tower resulting in a crash . while the tower remained standing and intact other than the guy wire the station was forced to temporarily cease its over the air signal although broadcasts on cable were not affected . if its tower collapsed this could have also caused the tower of walb to topple as both were only 150 feet 45 m apart.as a result raycom which at that time still operated wfxl while the sale to barrington awaited fcc approval acquired auxiliary transmitters and antennas for both walb and wfxl which were installed at the tower at walb s studios in albany . 2 on june 7 wfxl s tower was demolished but in doing so one of the tower s guy wires wrapped around one for walb s tower as feared . as a result this channel s tower collapsed in an incident shown on live television . since both stations were already transmitting signals from the tower at the walb studios the two were still on the air although at low power . thirteen months later the new walb and wfxl state of the art mega tower in doerun was completed and began broadcasting on july 3 at 11 35 p.m. it was announced on november 19 2010 that walb would begin airing abc on its second digital subchannel scheduled to begin in early 2011 . 3 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 4 10.1 1080i 16 9 walb dt main walb programming nbc 10.2 720p walb ab walb dt2 abc 10.3 walb dt3 grit analog to digital conversion edit walb shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 10 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 17 to vhf channel 10 for post transition operations . 5 news operation edit along with wfxl walb is one of two stations in albany but the only big three affiliate to produce local news that actually focus on the city . despite wswg technically being the market s cbs affiliate it serves as a semi satellite of wctv in tallahassee and simulcasts most newscasts from the florida based station with no southwestern georgia specific segments . on wswg there is no news coverage of albany itself provided by wctv as there is more of a focus on events in thomasville and especially valdosta and moultrie . walb supplies secondary coverage of those areas by operating news bureaus on north broad street in thomasville and on north patterson street sr 31 in valdosta . in 2004 walb gave its news operation a complete makeover renaming itself from newscenter 10 to walb news 10 . it also changed its logo as part of a graphics change . however it kept the little one big zero 10 which has been part of the logo since the late 1970s at the earliest . this is similar to sister station wis in columbia south carolina . the station also changed its music from a theme composed by collier concepts to the tower composed by 615 music used by many other nbc affiliates . continuing its modernization walb built a new set in 2005 replacing the previous one used for at least twelve years . its weekday morning show today in georgia was expanded to a full two hours from 5 until 7 a.m. beginning september 10 2007 coinciding with the expansion of today to a four hour program . on august 4 2012 walb upgraded local news production to high definition level . the change made it the second station in the market to perform the upgrade wswg s simulcast of wctv s news programs was first back on august 3 2009 . with the addition of abc to walb dt2 there are simulcasts of local newscasts from the main nbc channel . more specifically this includes the second hour of today in georgia its midday show at noon as well as weeknight newscasts at 6 and 11 . in addition the area s first prime time broadcast at 7 was added on weeknights that is exclusive to the abc subchannel . weekend newscasts are simulcasted on both of walb s nbc and abc channels although there can be a delay or pre emption on one due to network obligations . references edit a b c d history of walb http www.walb.com global story.asp s 4986005 malone michael november 19 2010 . raycom to launch abc on walb .2 . broadcasting and cable . retrieved june 29 2016 . rabbitears tv query for walb dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . external links edit walb query the fcc s tv station database for walb v t e television stations viewable in albany georgia reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations walb 10.1 nbc 10.2 abc 10.3 grit wabw 14 wacs 25 x. 1 pbs gpb x. 2 kids x. 3 knowledge wfxl 31.1 fox 31.2 bounce 31.3 comet wswg 44.1 cbs 44.2 mntv metv 44.3 the cw wsst 51.1 ind youtoo america adjacent locals columbus wrbl 3.1 cbs 3.2 metv 3.3 ion wtvm 9.1 abc 9.2 bounce tv 9.3 grit macon wmaz 13.1 cbs 13.2 the cw 13.3 justice network wgxa 24.1 fox 24.2 abc 24.3 comet wpga 58.1 ind 58.2 metv 58.3 this tv tallahassee wctv 6.1 cbs 6.2 mntv decades atlanta wsb 2.1 abc 2.2 metv 2.3 laff defunct stations w34cz 34 tbn georgia broadcast television areas by city albany atlanta augusta chattanooga tn columbus greenville sc jacksonville fl macon savannah tallahassee fl v t e television stations in the big bend and southwest georgia regions including tallahassee thomasville and valdosta reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television tallahassee area wctv 6.1 cbs 6.2 mntv decades wwrp lp 9 ind rel wfsu tv 11.1 pbs wtlf 24.1 the cw wtxl tv 27.1 abc 27.2 bounce tv 27.3 wxnow 27.4 qvc wtwc tv 40.1 nbc 40.2 fox 40.3 gettv wbxt ca 43 mtv2 wvup cd 45 ctn wtlh 49.1 metv 49.2 the cw outlying areas wsfd ld 15 ind perry wswg 44.1 cbs 44.2 mntv metv 44.3 the cw valdosta wfxu 57.1 soul of south live oak adjacent locals albany walb 10.1 nbc 10.2 abc wabw tv 14.1 pbs gpb 14.2 kids 14.3 knowledge panama city wjhg tv 7.1 nbc 7.2 the cw 7.3 cbs wmbb 13.1 abc 13.2 metv wecp ld 18.1 cbs 18.2 mynetworktv jtv 18.3 accuwx dothan wtvy 4.1 cbs 4.2 mynetworktv metv 4.3 the cw 4.4 nbc wrgx ld 23.1 nbc jacksonville wjxt 4.1 ind. 4.2 3 this tv wjct 7 pbs wxga tv 8.1 pbs gpb 8.2 kids 8.3 knowledge gainesville wuft 5 pbs wcjb tv 20.1 abc 20.2 the cw atlanta wsb tv 2.1 abc 2.2 metv 2.3 laff cable channels 4fsu the florida channel wcot fox sports sun fox sports southeast fox sports south fox sports florida defunct channels w03ao 3 ind rel madison w17ab 17 ind. w22bp w25cp tbn wtbc lp 65 fn florida knowledge network florida s news channel georgia broadcast television areas by city albany atlanta augusta chattanooga tn columbus greenville sc jacksonville fl macon savannah tallahassee fl florida broadcast television areas by city fort myers gainesville jacksonville miami orlando pensacola panama city tallahassee tampa st. petersburg west palm beach v