3 slogan on your side channels digital 15 uhf virtual 3 psip subchannels 3.1 cbs 3.2 metv 3.3 ion television owner media general sale to nexstar broadcasting group pending media general communications holdings llc first air date november 15 1953 ; 62 years ago 1953 11 15 former channel number s analog 4 vhf 1953 1960 3 vhf 1960 2009 former affiliations both secondary abc 1953 1960 nbc 1960 1970 transmitter power 1000 kw height 507 m facility id 3359 transmitter coordinates 32 19 16.4 n 84 47 28.2 w 32.321222 n 84.791167 w 32.321222 ; 84.791167 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wrbl.com wrbl virtual channel 3 digital channel 15 is the cbs affiliated television station in columbus georgia . the station is owned by media general with studios located on 13th avenue in columbus . its transmitting antenna located in cusseta georgia once held the record as the tallest man made structure on earth . contents 1 digital channels 2 history 3 news operation 4 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 3.1 1080i 16 9 wrbl hd main wrbl programming cbs 3.2 480i 4 3 wrbl sd metv 1 3.3 ion ion television history edit wrbl first went on the air on november 15 1953 just over a month after nbc affiliate wdak tv channel 28 now wtvm on channel 9 . it is georgia s third oldest station outside of atlanta after macon s wmaz tv as well as the second oldest in columbus . it was owned by jim woodruff along with wrbl radio am 1420 now wrcg and fm 102.9 now wvrk . originally on channel 4 it moved to channel 3 in 1960 as part of a three city swap which saw wtvm move to channel 9 and wtvy in dothan alabama move to channel 4 . the station has always been a cbs affiliate owing to its radio sister s long affiliation with cbs radio but shared abc with wtvm until the channel switch of 1960 when wtvm switched to abc to get in line with then co owned wtvc also on channel 9 . at that time wrbl began sharing nbc with wtvm . wrbl is the only major station in columbus that has never changed its original affiliation . columbus was one of the very few two station markets in the 1960s without its own primary nbc affiliate although nbc affiliates in albany atlanta and montgomery could be picked up with relative ease . wyea now wltz took over the nbc affiliation when it opened in october 1970 . woodruff owned the station until his death in a car crash in the 1970s . after his death banks controlled the station until it was bought by malcolm glazier s avant corporation of rochester new york . he sold it to tcs television partners who in turn sold it to spartan communications . spartan merged with current owner media general in 2000 . because half of the station s viewing area is in the central time zone though much of it unofficially observes eastern time programming that is normally delayed an hour in this time zone is aired live and thus airs an hour earlier for viewers in alabama . wrbl replaced rtv with metv on digital subchannel 3.2 on september 26 2011 as part of a groupwide affiliation agreement with media general ; the channel replaced rtv on some media general owned stations in other markets . 2 in early 2016 wrbl relaunched 3.3 as the ion affiliate for the chattahoochee valley . 3.3 had been dark since the station closed the first alert 24 7 weather channel . news operation edit wrbl presently broadcasts 22 hours of locally produced newscasts each week 4 hours on weekdays 1 hour on weekends . due to economic conditions from 2008 through 2009 wrbl s owner media general enacted a series of staff reductions that noticeably affected the amount of news that wrbl offered . first 6 00 p.m. weekend newscasts were eliminated in fall 2008 and the remaining weekend newscasts were eliminated in early 2009 . soon after the 5 00 p.m. and noon newscasts were dropped . however as of august 2010 the noon newscast has been added back to the wrbl lineup . on october 17 2010 wrbl revived the sunday night edition of news 3 nightwatch . unlike the previous newscasts that were cancelled the duties of these newscasts are spread throughout remaining staff members including the anchor team . on september 12 2011 the station revived news 3 first edition weekdays at 5 00 p.m. on september 14 2013 wrbl revived the saturday edition of news 3 nightwatch at 11 00 and on september 29 2013 wrbl added a sunday edition of news 3 evening edition at 6 30 p.m. wrbl launched high definition newscasts on march 21 2014 with news 3 nightwatch at 12 30 am ran late after ncaa march madness coverage . notable former on air staff edit rece davis sports director ; now at espn janice huff meteorologist science reporter ; now chief meteorologist at wnbc tv and weekend today 1996 2012 anne montgomery sports reporter early mid 1980s ; later at espn and is now a teacher at south mountain high school in phoenix arizona blaine stewart anchor reporter 2001 06 ; now morning anchor at wtkr tv references edit where to watch me tv wrbl me tv beefs up roster with 10 new stations tvnewscheck september 15 2011 . external links edit official website metv columbus website query the fcc s tv station database for wrbl biafn s media web database information on wrbl tv v t e television stations in the columbus ga phenix city auburn al area reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television stations wrbl 3.1 cbs 3.2 metv 3.3 ion w06bh 6.1 religious wciq 7 wgiq 43 x. 1 pbs apt x. 2 world x. 3 create wtvm 9.1 abc 9.2 bounce tv 9.3 grittv wybu cd 16.1 ctn wacs tv 25.1 pbs gpb 25.2 create 25.3 gpb knowledge wjsp tv 28.1 pbs gpb 28.2 create 28.3 gpb knowledge wltz 38.1 nbc 38.2 the cw wxtx 54.1 fox 54.2 this tv 54.3 escape wlga 66.1 antenna tv defunct wwcg lp 11 wstv georgia broadcast television areas by city albany atlanta augusta chattanooga tn columbus greenville sc jacksonville fl macon savannah tallahassee fl see also montgomery tv birmingham tv dothan tv note gpb tv subchannel x. 2 now carrying the create channel although its psip id may still display as gpb kids v t e cbs network affiliates in the state of georgia wrbl 3 columbus wctv 6 wswg 44 thomasville valdosta albany wtoc 11 savannah wrdw 12 augusta wmaz 13 macon wgcl 46 atlanta see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in georgia v t e cbs network affiliates in the state of alabama wtvy 4 dothan wkrg 5 mobile waka 8 montgomery wrbl 3 auburn wmdn 24 demopolis whnt 19 huntsville wiat 42 birmingham see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in alabama v t e media general inc. corporate directors j. stewart bryan iii cob marshall n. morton o. reid ashe jr. john a. schauss diana f. cantor charles a. davis thompson l. rankin rodney a. smolla walter e. williams coleman wortham iii h. graham woodlief jr. james a. zimmerman kirk read stephen y. dickinson george l. mahoney lou anne j. nabhan john a. schauss james f. woodward abc network affiliates ktka tv 1 wate tv wbay tv 2 whtm tv wjbf wjhl dt2 wlaj 1 wkrn tv wotv wric tv wten wcdc tv wtnh wytv 1 cbs network affiliates kelo tv kclo tv kdlo tv kplo tv kimt 2 klfy tv koin krqe kbim tv krez tv wane tv wbtw whlt wiat wivb tv wjhl tv wjtv wkbn tv wkrg tv wlfi tv 2 wlns tv wncn wnct tv wpri tv wrbl wspa tv wthi tv 2 cw network affiliates khon tv knva 1 ktka tv 1 kwbq krwb tv 1 kxtu ld wbdt 1 wcbd dt2 wfna whlt wish tv wjtv wlaj dt2 1 wnct dt2 wnlo wwlp dt2 wfxq cd wycw fox network affiliates kasa tv khon tv khaw tv kaii tv ktmj cd kxrm tv wnac tv 1 wthi dt2 wvbt wxxa tv 1 wyfx ld mynetworktv affiliates kasy tv 1 kbvo kelo tv kdlo tv kplo tv kimt kron tv wbtw wctx wnac dt2 1 wndy tv wsav dt2 wthi dt2 2 wtta wxsp cd wytv dt2 1 nbc network affiliates ksnt ksnw ksnc ksng ksnk ksnl ld kwqc tv 2 kxan tv wavy tv wcbd tv wcmh tv wdtn wfla tv wood tv wsav tv wsls tv 2 wwlp wfxq cd acquisitions lin media new vision television park communications spartan communications young broadcasting other assets professional communications systems lin digital sale of company pending to nexstar broadcasting group . 1 media general operates this station through an ssa . 2 station in the process of being resold to another company due to nexstar ownership conflicts . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wrbl & oldid 737125449 categories cbs network affiliatesmedia generaltelevision channels and stations established in 1953television stations in columbus georgiame tv affiliates1953 establishments in georgia u.s. state ion television affiliateshidden categories official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 31 august 2016 at 22 30 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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