branding news 12 slogan on your side channels digital 12 vhf virtual 12 psip subchannels 12.1 cbs 12.2 mynetworktv 12.3 antenna tv owner gray television gray television licensee llc first air date february 8 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 02 08 call letters meaning derived from former sister station wrdw radio now wchz sister station s wagt wagt cd former channel number s analog 12 vhf 1954 2009 digital 31 uhf until 2009 former affiliations abc 1954 1967 nbc 1967 1974 both secondary transmitter power 20.2 kw height 485 m 1 591 ft facility id 73931 transmitter coordinates 33 24 36 n 81 50 36 w 33.41000 n 81.84333 w 33.41000 ; 81.84333 coordinates 33 24 36 n 81 50 36 w 33.41000 n 81.84333 w 33.41000 ; 81.84333 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wrdw.com wrdw tv channel 12 is a cbs affiliated television station located in augusta georgia usa . wrdw tv is owned by atlanta based gray television and is a sister station of nbc affiliate wagt channel 26 . while the two stations are licensed to augusta their combined studio office facility and transmitters are located across the savannah river in south carolina respectively in north augusta and beech island . wrdw tv shares call letters with radio station wrdw am in augusta owned by beasley broadcast group and unrelated to the television station . contents 1 digital channels 2 history 3 programming 4 news operation 5 references 6 external links digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 12.1 1080i 16 9 wrdw hd main wrdw tv programming cbs 12.2 480i 4 3 wrdw dt wrdw dt2 mynetworktv 12.3 wrdw wx antenna tv history edit wrdw tv commenced operations in february 1954 ; it is the second oldest television station in augusta . 1 the station was originally owned by radio augusta the parent company of the original wrdw radio 1480 am . 2 wrdw tv has been augusta s cbs affiliate for its entire history owing to its radio sister s long affiliation with the cbs radio network . however it shared abc with then primary nbc affiliate wjbf channel 6 . in 1956 radio augusta was sold to the morris family and their company southeastern newspapers publishers of the augusta chronicle . 3 4 on september 1 1967 wjbf switched its primary affiliation to abc and began splitting nbc with wrdw tv . 5 this was very unusual for a two station market especially one as small as augusta . however wjbf s namesake owner j.b. fuqua wanted to get that station in line with two abc affiliates he had just purchased wtvw in evansville indiana and kthi tv now kvly tv in fargo north dakota . when watu channel 26 now wagt appeared as the market s third station in late 1968 nbc allowed wrdw tv and wjbf to keep their secondary nbc affiliations because of watu s painfully weak signal . this situation mostly shut watu out of access to network programming thereby forcing it to go dark in 1970 . channel 12 continued to split nbc with wjbf until watu resumed broadcasting in 1974 with a primary nbc affiliation . at that time channel 12 finally became a full time cbs station . in 1960 the morrises exited augusta broadcasting with channel 12 being sold to what would eventually become rust craft broadcasting . 6 channel 12 and 1480 am continued to share the wrdw call letters until the early 1980s when the radio station was sold by entertainer and augusta native james brown ; 7 it is now wchz . magazine publisher ziff davis purchased rust craft in 1979 . 8 channel 12 was sold along with then sister stations in saginaw michigan rochester new york chattanooga tennessee and steubenville ohio to television station partners in 1983 . 9 television station partners sold off all of its stations in early january 1996 with wrdw going to gray communications systems now gray television . ever since cbs began broadcasting the masters tournament in 1956 wrdw has been the de facto flagship station of the annual golf tournament played at augusta national golf club . the station s digital signal is multiplexed . wrdw tv previously carried weather information on 12.3 . in january 2011 it was replaced with the country network which in turn was replaced with antenna tv in late may 2013 . programming edit syndicated programming featured on this station includes jeopardy wheel of fortune the ellen degeneres show the dr. oz show rachael ray and inside edition . news operation edit until gray television inc. purchased wrdw the station had been a solid runner up to longtime leader wjbf . in the mid 90 s wrdw began a steady ratings growth to overcome wjbf in several newscasts . the two stations remain the market s fiercest competitors with wagt and wfxg trailing far behind the two leaders . wrdw has been recognized numerous times for its journalism particularly in the areas of investigative documentary and breaking news . over the past 16 years wrdw has received 15 regional murrow awards 2 national murrow awards a national sigma delta chi award and dozens of honors from the georgia associated press and georgia association of broadcasters . on january 24 2011 wrdw launched local newscasts in high definition with the midday newscast . it is the first station in the area to do so . with the launch came a brand new logo and brand new high definition graphics similar in style to the previous 16 9 enhanced definition widescreen graphics that debuted just 4 months before but fully animated . wrdw tv had the longest running news anchor team in the market with richard rogers and laurie ott seen weeknights at 6 and 11 . the two were together on air from the mid 1990s until september 2007 when laurie ott left to pursue other career opportunities . unlike most cbs affiliates in the eastern time zone wrdw does not offer news weeknights at 5 30 but instead has carried inside edition which generally wins the time period . as of march 28 2016 all of wrdw s newscasts with the exception of the midday newscast are simulcast by wagt ; the station also produces 5 30 p.m. and 7 00 p.m. newscasts that are exclusive to wagt broadcast from a separate set with different anchors . 10 11 references edit tv starter pace seems sluggish so far in 54 . broadcasting telecasting february 8 1954 pg . 52 . 1 seven tvs win fcc approval ; augusta gets its first grants . broadcasting telecasting september 21 1953 pg . 48 . 2 wrdw am tv sold friday to newspaper for 1 million . broadcasting telecasting december 5 1955 pg . 7 . wrdw am tv purchase goes up for fcc approval . permanent dead link broadcasting telecasting january 2 1956 pg . 58 . wjbf tv goes primary abc . broadcasting august 14 1967 pg . 52 . changing hands . broadcasting february 8 1960 pg . 77 . 3 brown gets 2d station . broadcasting february 17 1969 pg . 10 4 in brief . broadcasting july 4 1977 pg . 21 . 5 ziff spins off four tv s to pompadur . broadcasting july 26 1982 pg . 31 . 6 gray producing newscast on wagt . tvspy . retrieved 29 march 2016 . gray producing newscast on wagt . tvspy . retrieved 29 march 2016 . external links edit official website mobile official website wrdw dt2 query the fcc s tv station database for wrdw tv v t e television in the central savannah river area including augusta georgia and aiken south carolina reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wjbf 6.1 abc 6.2 metv 6.3 ion wrdw 12.1 cbs 12.2 mntv 12.3 antenna tv weba 14.1 pbs 14.2 create 14.3 world wagt cd 16.1 youtoo america wces 20.1 pbs 20.2 kids 20.3 knowledge wagt 26.1 nbc 26.2 cw wbpi 49.1 ind wfxg 54.1 fox 54.2 this tv 54.3 bounce tv adjacent locals savannah wtoc 11.1 cbs wjcl 22.1 abc defunct channels wbau wb cable georgia broadcast television areas by city albany atlanta augusta chattanooga tn columbus greenville sc jacksonville fl macon savannah tallahassee fl south carolina broadcast television areas by city augusta ga aiken charleston charlotte nc columbia greenville sc myrtle beach savannah ga hilton head 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 mynetworktv network affiliates in the state of georgia wsav dt 3.3 savannah wctv dt 6.2 thomasville wrdw dt 12.2 augusta watl 36 atlanta wmgt dt 41.2 macon wswg dt 44.2 valdosta albany see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in georgia v t e gray television abc network affiliates kcrg kgns 1 kjct knoe 1 kolo kota khsd ksfy kaby kpry kspr 2 wbko whsv wjrt wtok wtvg wvaw cbs network affiliates kalb 1 kgwn kstf kktv kmvt knoe knpl koln kgin kosa kwch kbsd kbsh kbsl kwtx kbtx kxii kxjb kylx wagm 1 wcav wctv wswg wdbj wecp wibw wifr wiye wkyt wymt wrdw wsaw wsvf 1 wtvy wvlt the cw network affiliates 1 kbtx kcwy kgwn kstf kjct knoe kscw ksfy kaby kpry kwtx kxjb kycw kylx wagt wbko wbxx wjhg wkyt wmtv wqcw wswg wtok wtvg wymt fox network affiliates kevn kiit kndx kxnd ksvt kxii 1 wagm wahu wbko 1 wluc 1 wova wsvf wzaw mynetworktv affiliates 1 kktv kosa ksnb kxii kyes wahu wctv wecp whsv wibw witn wrdw wsaw wsaz wswg wtok wtvy wiye wvlt nbc network affiliates kalb kcwy kfyr kqcd kmot kumv kgns kkco knop ksnb ktuu kvly kytv wagt weau wilx witn wjhg wluc wmtv wndu wowt wrgx wsaz wtap other stations tel kgns 1 kkco 1 uni kdcu 3 ind. k17dl d 4 acquisitions benedek broadcasting hoak media schurz communications 1 these stations except for kscw & wqcw broadcast these networks on their digital subchannels . 2 owned by schurz communications gray operates kspr through a ssa . 3 owned by entravision communications gray operates kdcu through a jsa . 4 owned by branson visitors tv ; gray holds a 50.1 % interest in this company . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wrdw tv & oldid 730875067 categories cbs network affiliatesmynetworktv affiliatesgray televisiontelevision stations in augusta georgiaantenna tv affiliatestelevision channels and stations established in 1954television stations in south carolinahidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from july 2016articles with permanently dead external linkscoordinates on wikidataofficial 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 21 july 2016 at 14 51 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view