the waga call sign see waga disambiguation . 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 waga tv atlanta georgia united states branding fox 5 atlanta general fox 5 news newscasts slogan dedicated determined dependable the most powerful name in local news news we are fox 5 general channels digital 27 uhf virtual 5 psip affiliations .1 fox o & o .2 movies .3 buzzr owner 21st century fox new world communications of atlanta inc. first air date march 8 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 03 08 call letters meaning we re in atlanta georgia sister station s fox sports south sportsouth former callsigns waga tv 1949 1998 waga 1998 2009 former channel number s analog 5 vhf 1949 2009 former affiliations primary cbs 1949 1994 secondary abc 1949 1951 as blue tv dumont 1949 1956 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 332 m 1 089 ft facility id 70689 transmitter coordinates 33 47 51 n 84 20 1.6 w 33.79750 n 84.333778 w 33.79750 ; 84.333778 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.fox5atlanta.com waga tv virtual channel 5 uhf digital channel 27 is a fox owned and operated television station located in atlanta georgia united states . the station is owned by the fox television stations subsidiary of 21st century fox . waga tv maintains studio and transmitter facilities located on briarcliff road in unincoporated dekalb county just east of atlanta proper . waga is available on comcast channel 4 and on directv and dish network in the atlanta metropolitan area . contents 1 history 1.1 as a cbs affiliate 1.2 as a fox station 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 out of market cable carriage 4 news operation 4.1 notable current on air staff 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit as a cbs affiliate edit waga tv first began operations on march 8 1949 . it was originally owned by storer broadcasting along with waga radio am 590 now wdwd ; and waga fm 102.9 now wvee at 103.3 all colloquially called wagga . it is atlanta s second oldest television station signing on seven months after wsb tv channel 2 . originally a cbs affiliate channel 5 also carried a secondary affiliation with the dumont television network from 1949 to 1956 . it also shared the abc affiliation with wsb tv until wlwa tv channel 11 now wxia tv signed on in september 1951 . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 1 waga was the only vhf commercial station in atlanta that was on the same channel from its launch along with wsb and wxia both having started on channel 8 . that allocation was later occupied by wgtv in 1960 of athens ga among with the mentioned stations using channels 2 and 11 respectively later on . storer sold the waga radio stations in 1959 ; however channel 5 retained the tv suffix for almost four decades longer before fox dropped it in 1998 only to pick it up the suffix again in 2009 . waga studios waga tv originally broadcast from studios and transmission facilities located at 1018 west peachtree street nw . this building would later become home to pioneering superstation and leading atlanta independent station wtbs channel 17 now wpch tv . sometime in the mid 1960s channel 5 moved to its current facilities on briarcliff road . the studio resembles an antebellum southern mansion a type of architecture that was typical for storer s broadcasting facilities . while this design was somewhat out of place in most of storer s other markets it was a perfect fit for atlanta . waga s original transmitter tower was later the site of a different tower for wpch tv s analog channel 17 signal and a backup for wwwq 99.7 fm . because storer cable became part of comcast the tower owned by competing cable television provider time warner along with wpch was to be removed by october 2009 ending the land lease . in 1985 waga along with the other storer stations were sold into a group deal to kohlberg kravis roberts & co. a new york based private equity firm . two years later in 1987 kkr sold the storer stations to gillett communications . after bankruptcy gillett restructured in 1991 selling several stations and changing its name to sci . the station s studios were used on location in the matlock episode called the reporter . in 1992 sci filed for bankruptcy and put its stations on the market . in 1993 new world communications acquired the sci stations including waga with the purchase becoming final on may 25 . at the time new world happened to be based in atlanta ; because of this waga became new world s flagship station . as a fox station edit on december 18 1993 fox outbid cbs for the rights to the nfl s national football conference television package . 2 fox then signed a long term deal with new world communications on may 23 1994 to affiliate with most of the company s major network affiliates effective that fall . 3 though fox already owned a station in atlanta watl tv channel 36 and was ready to launch local news on that station it found the chance to have its programming on a vhf station along with having a long respected local news operation too much to resist . additionally the move allowed waga to retain its status as the unofficial home station of the atlanta falcons ; waga had carried most falcons games as part of cbs nfc package since the team s inception in 1966 . waga tv switched to fox on december 11 1994 and ended its 45 year affiliation work with cbs which moved to longtime independent station wgnx channel 46 now wgcl tv which initially turned down cbs s offer to affiliate with the station . the switch was originally scheduled to occur on november 27 but was pushed two weeks later as negotiations between new world communications fox and cbs were ongoing . afterwards waga subtracted the tv suffix in 1998 . 4 prior to the switch waga was cbs s longest tenured affiliate south of washington d.c. wusa ; an honor now held by charlotte north carolina s wbtv . wgnx sold much of its syndicated program inventory to wveu channel 69 now wupa which became a charter affiliate of upn on january 16 1995 eventually becoming an owned and operated station of that network ; as a result wgnx was the only atlanta station that did not retain its entire existing syndicated programming lineup following the switch . watl became an independent station before becoming a charter affiliate of the wb on january 11 1995 . at that time fox finalized the sale of watl to qwest broadcasting which was controlled by musician quincy jones which merged with the wb s part owner the tribune company in 2000 watl is now owned by the gannett company as part of a duopoly with wxia . with the affiliation switch the station acquired additional first run syndicated talk and reality shows game shows and movies . as with its sister stations under new world waga opted not to carry children s programming from fox kids which remained on watl due to waga s interest in airing more local news programming . the switch also continued waga s status as the unofficial home station of the falcons aside from the first three months of the 1994 season which aired on watl . fox television stations bought ten of new world s stations on july 17 1996 ; 5 the purchase was finalized on january 22 1997 turning waga into a fox owned and operated station the second in atlanta ; the station then rebranded itself as fox 5 atlanta per the network s branding guidelines . however as with the other former new world communications stations that are still owned by fox the new world name continues in use as channel 5 s licensee . digital television edit digital channel edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 6 5.1 720p 16 9 waga hd main waga tv programming fox o & o 5.2 480i waga sd movies 5.3 4 3 buzzr buzzr waga tv has plans for a mobile dtv feed of subchannel 5.1 . 7 8 channel 5.2 originally was for the benefit of smaller cable providers which were taking the fullscreen sd signal straight from the air and did not want problems due to the widescreen or scan conversion on 5.1 ; this lasted until the end of april 2009 . the channel then stayed blank with no electronic program guide data for several weeks until late june when it again had identical programming but this time in widescreen . the 704 480i anamorphic format is unusual as most standard definition digital channels use a fullscreen 640 480i format by comparison widescreen ntsc dvds use 720 480p . channel 5.2 again went blank in late july but continued to have the same program data as 5.1 until it was deleted entirely on december 3 . analog to digital conversion edit waga shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 5 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 9 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 27 10 using psip to display waga s virtual channel as 5 on digital television receivers . the station s first chief broadcast engineer from 1949 paul cram 99 years of age at the time ; now deceased was given the duty of permanently turning off the analog transmitter live on the air at 12 30 p.m. on june 12 . wsb tv wxia tv and watl also went off the air at the same time with wsb and wxia also live in their transmitter rooms like waga . out of market cable carriage edit waga is carried in parts of cherokee and macon counties of western north carolina both bordering georgia . cherokee is part of the chattanooga media market of southeast tennessee and northwest georgia while macon is part of the asheville greenville spartanburg dma of the western carolinas and northeast georgia . although clearly outside of the must carry obligations that apply within the atlanta dma both counties are popular with visitors and summer home residents from the atlanta area . wsb tv 2.1 is also carried in those counties . in the 1970s and 1980s waga once had cable carriage in aiken and clemson in west central and upstate northwestern south carolina . 11 waga also had significant carriage on storer cable and liberty cable systems later tci now mediacom in south ga during the 1970s into the early and mid 80 s news operation edit waga former newscast title card . this section needs expansion with further information on waga s news department history . you can help by adding to it . august 2010 waga s saturday and sunday 6 p.m. newscasts are subject to delay due to network sports coverage . waga also provides news reports and weather forecasts for news radio station wyay 106.7 fm through a partnership between waga and wyay s owner cumulus media struck in may 2012 . for many years as a cbs affiliate the station called its newscasts 5 news scene . in the 1980s this changed to eyewitness news . in 1992 waga dropped cbs this morning through 1994 in favor of a three hour locally produced morning news program called good day atlanta . 12