please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message not to be confused with wvtm tv . wtvm columbus georgia united states branding wtvm news leader 9 slogan coverage you can count on channels digital 11 vhf virtual 9 psip subchannels 9.1 abc 9.2 bounce tv 9.3 grittv affiliations abc owner raycom media wtvm license subsidiary llc first air date october 6 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 10 06 call letters meaning television martin from martin theaters former owner sister station s wxtx waff tv wsfa wbrc former callsigns wdak tv 1953 1956 former channel number s analog 28 uhf 1953 1960 9 vhf 1960 2009 digital 47 uhf until 2009 former affiliations nbc dumont 1953 1960 transmitter power 50 kw height 507 m facility id 595 transmitter coordinates 32 19 25.1 n 84 46 45.5 w 32.323639 n 84.779306 w 32.323639 ; 84.779306 website www.wtvm.com wtvm is the abc affiliated television station for columbus georgia . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on vhf channel 11 from a transmitter in cusseta . the station can also be seen on charter knology and mediacom channel 10 . there is a high definition feed offered on charter digital channel 707 mediacom digital channel 810 and knology digital channel 901 . owned by raycom media wtvm operates fox affiliate wxtx owned by american spirit media through a shared services agreement ssa . the two share studios on wynnton road ga 22 in the dinglewood section of columbus . syndicated programming on this channel includes entertainment tonight inside edition the doctors and ellen . contents 1 digital channels 2 history 2.1 raycom news network and raycom alabama weather network 2.2 live doppler 9 weather center and alfa insurance skycam network 3 news operation 4 references 5 external links digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 9.1 720p 16 9 wtvm dt main wtvm programming abc 9.2 480i 4 3 bounce bounce tv 9.3 480i 4 3 grit grittv history edit the station signed on for the first time on october 6 1953 as wdak tv airing an analog signal on uhf channel 28 . it was a primary nbc station with secondary abc affiliation . wdak was the first television station in the columbus market beating rival wrbl by just over a month and is the fifth oldest in the state of georgia and second oldest outside atlanta . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 1 unreliable source it was originally owned by allen woodall sr. owner of wdak am 540 and martin theaters forerunner of carmike cinemas . studios were located on 1st avenue in downtown columbus where carmike s corporate headquarters are today . woodall sold his interest in the station to martin theaters in 1956 and the call letters were changed to the current wtvm . it moved to vhf channel 9 in 1960 in a three way switch and move approved by the federal communications commission fcc in which wrbl moved from channel 4 to channel 3 and wtvy tv in dothan alabama moved from channel 9 to channel 4 . the moves were permitted because two years earlier martin theaters had bought wrom tv in rome georgia and moved it 70 miles north to chattanooga tennessee while changing its calls to wtvc . eventually wtvm s old channel 28 allotment was occupied by georgia public broadcasting s wjsp tv . on the same day wtvm moved to channel 9 it switched its primary affiliation to abc while relegating nbc to secondary status shared with wrbl . this was very unusual for a then two station market especially one of columbus size . usually abc as the smallest and weakest network was relegated to secondary status on one or both of existing stations . however martin theaters wanted to get wtvm in line with wtvc which has always been an abc affiliate . also a large number of viewers in western georgia and eastern alabama did not have access to abc full time ; the nearest abc affiliate that put a decent signal into columbus was wlwa tv in atlanta now nbc affiliate wxia tv . by contrast nbc had strong outlets in atlanta s wsb tv and montgomery alabama s wsfa with both transmitting fairly clear grade b signals to the region . therefore martin realized that an abc affiliation would not bring significant out of market competition . augusta businessman j. b. fuqua bought martin theaters in 1969 including both wtvm and wtvc . early in 1970 fuqua moved wtvm to its present studios on wynnton road . the station switched to abc full time in october of that year when wyea now wltz signed on and took over the nbc affiliation . fuqua sold off his broadcast interests in 1980 with wtvm going to western broadcasting . sfn publishing eventually became the owner in 1984 . a group of sfn managers formed pegasus broadcasting and purchased wtvm in 1986 . aflac which had owned wyea at one point during the 1970s bought the station in 1989 making channel 9 aflac s flagship station . in 1997 aflac sold its entire broadcasting division including wtvm to an investment group that merged with ellis communications to form the station s current owner raycom media . on february 2 2012 chief meteorologist derek kinkade hinted on the wtvm weather facebook page that major studio changes were on the way . on february 16 all wtvm newscasts and fox 54 news at ten moved to the newsroom while a temporary weather office was constructed in the hallway between the editing bay and the newsroom . the new hd ready set is to be completed in early march . on july 22 2012 wtvm began airing newscasts in high definition starting with fox 54 news at 10 . wtvm dt2 previously carried a 24 hour local weather channel . programming consisted of current weather conditions with forecasts a live feed of live doppler 9 and severe weather alerts when conditions warrant . on saturday mornings the subchannel broadcast educational shows to fulfill an e i requirement . despite being called storm team 9 weather now it was not affiliated with the local accuweather channel . it was replaced with bounce tv on september 26 2011 . the channel is available on all cable systems in the viewing area . raycom news network and raycom alabama weather network edit since half of the viewing area includes eastern alabama wtvm is part of the raycom news network a system designed to rapidly share information among raycom s widespread group of television stations and websites in alabama . a regional network has developed among montgomery s wsfa12 news huntsville s waff 48 news and birmingham s fox 6 news wbrc in which stations share information equipment such as satellite trucks or even reporters stories . between them these four stations cover most of the state of alabama with the exception of the mobile pensacola dma . the four stations also comprise the raycom weather network and the raycom alabama weather blog where meteorologists from all four stations post forecasts and storm reports as well as live feeds from all of the cameras that the four stations operate . the site also has live feeds of live doppler 9 wtvm doppler 12 stormvision wsfa fox 6 vipir wbrc and live stormtrack doppler 48 waff . live doppler 9 weather center and alfa insurance skycam network edit news leader 9 operates the chattahoochee valley s only live regional weather radar called live doppler 9 formerly known as trueview doppler 9 located on top of wtvm s midtown studios . the station also has access to four different level 2 nexrad radars branded as the doppler 9 radar network formerly known as trueview tracker which includes the capability to use 3 d graphics to track storms during newscasts . wtvm operates seven skycams all but one the columbus gov t center skycam are sponsored by alfa insurance throughout the viewing area . there are two in columbus st. francis hospital and columbus park crossing and one each in pine mountain georgia ; auburn alabama ; opelika alabama and eufaula alabama . news operation edit wtvm presently broadcasts 27 hours of locally produced newscasts each week 4 hours on weekdays 3 hours on saturday and 2 hours on sunday . this section needs expansion . you can help by adding to it . september 2014 in addition to the main studios the station operates an east alabama bureau near the campus of auburn university . wtvm produces a nightly prime time show for sister station wxtx known as fox 54 news at 10 . at one point there was also an hour long broadcast seen weekday mornings at 7 on that station . however this production called fox 54 morning news was canceled . references edit require prime evening time for nta films boxoffice 13 november 10 1956 archived from the original on june 14 2009 external links edit official website query the fcc s tv station database for wtvm 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 abc network affiliates in the state of georgia wsb 2 atlanta wjbf 6 augusta wtvm 9 columbus walb 10.2 albany wjcl 22 savannah wgxa 24.2 macon see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in georgia v t e abc network affiliates in the state of alabama wdhn 18 dothan wear 3 mobile waay 31 huntsville wncf 32 montgomery wtok 11 demopolis wtvm 9 auburn wbma ld 58.1 wabm 68.2 wdbb 17.2 wgww 40.2 birmingham see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in alabama v t e raycom media abc network affiliates kaitnbc kltv kswo kxxv krhd cd ktre wloxcbs wtvm cbs network affiliates kauz1 kfda kfvs kgmb kold ksla wafb wbtv wcsc woio wtoc wtol the cw affiliates kauz dt21 kvhp dt21 kwes dt2 kwab dt2 wqwq kfvs dt2 wqtv wupv1 fox network affiliates kmsb1 knin1 kvhp1 kyou1 wbrc wdbd1 wdfx wflx1 wfxg wpgx wsfx1 wtnz wupw1 wvue1 wxix wxtx1 mynetworktv affiliates kfve kgmd kgmv1 sp kttu1 wbxh wloo1 wuab nbc network affiliates kcbd khnl khbc kogg kplc kwes kwab waff walbabc wave wdamabc wect wfie wis wlbt wmbf wmc wsfa wwbt telemundo affiliates keyu kltv dt3 kscm lp kswo dt2 ktle lp ktre dt2 radio stations keyu fm ktxc other assets raycom sports acc network bounce mediap katz broadcastingp acquisitions drewry communications the liberty corporation lincoln financial media 1 raycom operates these stations through ssa . sp raycom operates through a ssa . sale pending fcc approval . 2 raycom has partial ownership stake in these companies . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wtvm & oldid 740410447 categories abc network affiliatesbounce tv affiliatesgrit affiliatesraycom mediatelevision channels and stations established in 1953television stations in columbus georgiahidden categories articles