. not to be confused with abc2 in australia . not to be confused with wsbt wsbk or ksbw . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wsb tv atlanta georgia united states branding wsb tv channel 2 general channel 2 action news newscasts slogan coverage you can count on primary ; live . local . latebreaking . secondary channels digital 39 uhf virtual 2 psip translators 31 2.5 6 athens 46 2.7 8 gainesville 17 permit newnan 14 application rome affiliations .1 abc .2 metv .3 laff owner cox media group georgia television llc first air date september 29 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 09 29 call letters meaning welcome south brother from am sister station sister station s walr fm wsb wsb fm wsbb fm wsrv wtsh fm former channel number s analog 8 vhf 1948 1950 2 vhf 1950 2009 former affiliations dt1 nbc 1948 1980 dt2 rtv 2008 2011 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 316 m 1 037 ft facility id 23960 transmitter coordinates 33 45 51 n 84 21 42 w 33.76417 n 84.36167 w 33.76417 ; 84.36167 wsb tv tower coordinates 33 45 51 n 84 21 42 w 33.76417 n 84.36167 w 33.76417 ; 84.36167 wsb tv tower licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wsbtv.com wsb tv virtual channel 2 uhf digital channel 39 is an abc affiliated television station located in atlanta georgia united states . the station maintains studios and offices located at the wsb television and radio group building on west peachtree street in midtown atlanta and its transmission tower is located on the border of the city s poncey highland and old fourth ward neighborhoods . wsb tv is the flagship television property of the cox media group division of cox enterprises which has owned the station since its inception . cox also publishes the atlanta journal constitution and owns sister radio stations wsb 750 am wsb fm 98.5 fm wsbb fm 95.5 fm wsrv 97.1 fm and walr fm 104.1 fm all of which are based out of wsb tv s studio facilities . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 2.3 broadcast translators 3 programming 4 news operations 4.1 current on air staff 4.1.1 notable former on air staff 5 out of market coverage 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit wsb tv first began broadcasting on september 29 1948 originally broadcasting on channel 8 . it is the second oldest station south of washington d.c. ; only richmond virginia s wtvr tv channel 6 is older . the station was founded by james m. cox publisher of the atlanta journal and who also owned wsb radio am 750 and 104.5 fm now on 98.5 fm . cox owned wsb am fm tv under the banner of miami valley broadcasting inc. which later changed its name to the current cox enterprises . the station was originally a primary nbc affiliate owing to its radio sister s longtime affiliation with nbc radio . it also carried some abc programming from 1949 shared with waga tv channel 5 until wlwa tv channel 8 ; now wxia tv channel 11 signed on in 1951 . at that time its present channel 2 allocation was licensed to the journal s rival newspaper the atlanta constitution who had a construction permit for wcon tv there . in 1950 the two newspapers merged . at the time the federal communications commission did not allow one entity to own two television stations in the same market . as a result wsb tv and wcon tv merged . the merged station operated under wsb tv s license but used the stronger channel 2 . this proved to be a fortunate decision as the fcc later collapsed a large and mostly mountainous swath of northern georgia into the atlanta market . the channel 8 allocation was eventually given to wlwa as an abc affiliate . when that station moved to channel 11 in 1953 channel 8 was reserved as a non commercial educational allocation by the federal communications commission fcc and is now wgtv the flagship television station of georgia public broadcasting . in 1956 the wsb stations moved into the noted white columns building designed and built according to the colonial revival style a defining characteristic of atlanta architecture . they would remain there for 43 years until a much more modernist concrete and glass facility was built adjacent to it on the same property in 1998 . the new building which has been dubbed digital white columns by some is located just off atlanta s famed peachtree street on the dead end northern portion of west peachtree street which is actually east of peachtree street . this is near the brookwood hills area and just east of the brookwood split a highway interchange where the downtown connector splits into interstates 75 and 85 on the north end . the older building was razed shortly after the new building was occupied . the original columns that stood on the front portico of the old building were placed in a garden area alongside the new building . brand new white columns have been placed inside the glass enclosed lobby of the newer building . wsb tv is located less than one block south of the building formerly utilized by wxia when that station moved its operations to watl s studios in 2008 . the station was the original local television broadcaster of the relocated atlanta braves baseball team carrying the games from 1966 to 1972 until the braves telecasts moved to wtcg now wpch tv in 1973 . its sister am station was the longtime radio flagship of the braves carrying the broadcasts for 38 out of the 46 years that the franchise has been in atlanta dating back to 1966 . ernie johnson sr. a former braves pitcher and father of his namesake turner sports broadcaster with future hall of fame announcer milo hamilton who simultaneously pulled double duty anchoring channel 2 s sportscasts during this time were the main announcers for what was then the largest television network in baseball . in 1972 the station aired the name of a murdered rape victim in violation of georgia s shield law . the station successfully overturned the law before the u.s. supreme court in cox broadcasting corp. v. cohn . abc was the highest rated network for most of the late 1970s and at that time was looking for stronger affiliates across the country including atlanta . abc s longtime atlanta outlet wxia frequently traded second place with waga . however wsb tv was the far and away market leader despite being affiliated with last place nbc . during the summer of 1980 both stations conducted an experiment unusual for a large market wxia aired nbc daytime shows in the morning and abc daytime shows in the afternoon while wsb aired abc shows in the morning and nbc shows in the afternoons . by the time the experiment ended on september 1 1980 wsb tv officially swapped affiliations with wxia and joined abc . in january 1986 the station debuted the current number 2 logo it continues to use to this day . on march 12 2011 wsb tv and wgcl tv turned on their atsc m h signals for the first time becoming the first stations in the atlanta area to offer mobile dtv broadcasts . the station has carried games featuring the atlanta falcons on monday night football since 2006 when it moved from abc to espn under a syndication arrangement to provide a local broadcast outlet for those games . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 2.1 2.5 2.7 720p 16 9 wsb hd main wsb tv programming abc 2.2 2.6 2.8 480i 16 9 wsb sd metv 2.3 2.7 2.9 4 3 tba laff 2 wsb dt went on the air on april 17 1998 making it one of the first regular service digital television stations in the country the dt suffix is not mandated by the fcc thus it is wsb tv even for digital . the over the air digital subchannel 2.2 started carrying the retro television network on january 28 2008 . 3 prior to this the channel was blank or later with a small station id in the lower corner . rtv programming was replaced with metv on june 1 2011 . wsb tv also has a mobile dtv feed of subchannel 2.1 labelled wsb mh broadcasting at 1.83 mbit s. 4 5 analog to digital conversion edit wsb tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 2 on june 12 2009 at 12 30 p.m. during a live broadcast from the station s transmitter room on the noon newscast as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 6 the switchover was led by don mcclellan who was celebrating his 50th year at the station . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 39 7 using psip to display wsb tv s virtual channel as 2 on digital television receivers . during late august and into september 2009 the station removed its analog transmitter from the top of the tower and moved its side mounted digital antenna up from its previous lower location on the tower . broadcast translators edit city of license callsign channel transmitter power coordinates athens wsb tv 31 5 000 watts 34 7 32 n 83 51 32 w 34.12556 n 83.85889 w 34.12556 ; 83.85889 gainesville wsb tv 46 9 000 watts 32 55 51 n 83 47 0 w 32.93083 n 83.78333 w 32.93083 ; 83.78333 newnan wsb tv 17 10 000 watts cp 33 24 43 n 84 50 3 w 33.41194 n 84.83417 w 33.41194 ; 84.83417 cp rome wsb tv 14 1 000 watts cp 34 14 2 n 85 13 50 w 34.23389 n 85.23056 w 34.23389 ; 85.23056 cp in march 2009 the station filed applications for two digital fill in translators both of which also carry the wsb tv callsign due to expected loss of signal strength toward the east and northeast of atlanta as a result of the shortcomings of the atsc digital broadcast standard . the station s gainesville licensed translator broadcasts on uhf channel 46 and began operations on june 26 . it is located on the same radio tower as cox s wsrv fm and wsbb fm and reaches as far into atlanta s north northeastern suburbs as lilburn . the athens licensed translator broadcasts on uhf channel 31 with its transmitter located southwest of winder and its signal also reaches as far west as lilburn . wsb tv requested special temporary authority to begin immediate operation of these stations pending approval of its regular applications . the signal coverage of both stations largely overlap with one another and are almost entirely within the estimated coverage area of the main station however distributed transmission on channel boosters will not be used . the translators are intended to overcome the terrain obstructions caused by stone mountain to the east of the wsb transmitter and were in operation by january 2011 . the athens station uses virtual channels 2.5 and 2.6 instead of 2.1 and 2.2 while the gainesville station uses 2.7 and 2.8 allowing viewers to choose whichever station whose signal is better receivable at a given time certain atsc tuners may have trouble with two stations using the same virtual channel and even if not the user would have to enter the channel number and press channel up or channel down buttons to access the alternates which would