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| City | Opelika, Alabama |
| Channels | |
| Branding | HOT 97 TV |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | May 23, 1982 (1982-05-23) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | For main channel's programming from Hot 97;Hotlanta is also a common nickname for Atlanta |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 11113 |
| ERP | |
| HAAT |
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| Transmitter coordinates | |
| Translator(s) | WYGA-CD 66.1 (29 UHF) Atlanta |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WHOT-TV (channel 66) is atelevision station licensed toOpelika, Alabama, United States. Owned by CNZ Communications, the station broadcasts from a two-sitedistributed transmission system, with transmitters atCusseta andWarm Springs, Georgia.[2]
Channel 66 was allocated to Opelika in the early 1978 and went on air as WSWS-TV in 1982. It was anindependent station for its first two years before airing the programs of theChristian Television Network for a decade. The station returned to secular programming in 1995 as an affiliate ofThe WB; the network moved its programming to a cable channel in theColumbus, Georgia, market in 1998, leaving channel 66 an independent again until then-ownerPappas Telecasting affiliated some of its stations withUPN in 1999. In 2005, the transmitter was moved from near Opelika to Cusseta, Georgia, and the station relaunched as WLGA. After The WB and UPN merged intoThe CW in 2006, channel 66 was an affiliate of that network until a sudden affiliation move in April 2009, amidst the bankruptcy of Pappas. The station was off the air for most of the period from June 2010 to June 2012 and was the last broadcast property held by a liquidating trust for Pappas, finally being sold in 2016 to CNZ Communications. CNZ built the Warm Springs transmitter, placing sufficient signal over parts of theAtlanta metropolitan area to seekmust-carry status on cable within the far larger Atlanta market. It became WGBP-TV in 2020 and WHOT-TV in 2025.
At the petition of Wardean, Inc., theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated channel 66 to Opelika in 1978.[3] Wardean then filed for and obtained aconstruction permit for the channel in 1979.[4] However, it opted to wait to start the station because of high interest rates stifling the economy.[5]
WSWS-TV went on the air on May 23, 1982, a week after starting test broadcasts, as anindependent station.[6] Two years later, it was sold to theChristian Television Network (CTN) ofLargo, Florida, airing Christian ministry programs as well as financial news from theFinancial News Network. It was CTN's first television ministry outside of Florida.[7] As a ministry, the station was hindered by its location in Opelika and not the main population center in its coverage area,Columbus, Georgia. When station manager Ron E. Cottle proposed opening a Columbus studio in 1987, neighbors near the planned facility protested its location in a residential area.[8] Its signal was weak on local cable systems, andPhenix City Cable removed the station from its lineup in 1988 to addTNT.[9]
After a decade, the station started to emerge from Christian programming. It was sold to RCH Broadcasting, also known as Genesis Broadcasting, ofTampa and affiliated withThe WB after taking programming fromAmerica One to replace its Christian programs.[10] RCH then sold it toPappas Telecasting.[11] The WB, however, was not a panacea for its poor signal, which continued to trouble local cable companies that refused to carry the station; a plan to move to the tower ofWRBL andWTVM inCusseta, Georgia, fell through.[12] In 1998, WSWS-TV announced it would switch from The WB toUPN.[13] However, by the fall, UPN still had not moved, though it had lost The WB toa cable channel; in October, UPN programs were only being seen onWCGT-LP (channel 16),[14] which had just gained the UPN affiliation in April.[15] It was not until September 1999 that UPN affiliated with WSWS-TV.[16]
In 2005, the station began to prepare to relocate from its original transmitter site at Salem Hill, near Opelika, to Cusseta, where it was building a new 1,766-foot (538 m) mast and high-power transmission facility near that used by WRBL and WTVM; it also planned to relocate its offices to Columbus.[17] However, the tower suddenly blew over in a storm on February 27.[18] During the rebuild, Pappas proceeded with its relaunch plans, including changing the call sign to WLGA on June 27, 2005.[19] The tower was rebuilt at a height of 1,814 feet (553 m) and brought into service late in 2005.[20] When The WB and UPN merged to formThe CW in 2006, WLGA—the only broadcast affiliate between the two networks[20]—became its Columbus-area affiliate as part of a 10-year agreement between the new network and Pappas.[21]
On April 2, 2009, it was announced that The CW would move to a subchannel ofNBC affiliateWLTZ beginning April 27. The move came at a perilous moment for Pappas. The company had filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in May 2008; while the beginning of theGreat Recession was primarily to blame, the company's bankruptcy filing specifically cited The CW's poor ratings.[22]
After operating as an independent, the station's on-air record became spotty while Pappas worked through bankruptcy. On June 4, 2010, Pappas took WLGA off the air citing its bankruptcy and "the scarcity of funds generally" at the venture.[23] It briefly went back on the air beginning June 1, 2011, to retain its license before leaving the air again on June 14, 2011.[24] The station returned to the air in 2012 withWeatherNation and laterAntenna TV, but it continued to be in Pappas's liquidating trust. By 2015, just three former Pappas stations had not been sold: the combination ofKCWI-TV andKDMI inDes Moines, Iowa, and WLGA.[25][unreliable source?]
Pappas finally liquidated WLGA in 2016 by selling it to CNZ Communications for $500,000.[26]
CNZ invested in adding a second transmitter atWarm Springs, Georgia, converting the station into adistributed transmission system (DTS). The primary purpose of this was to extend the station's signal to include the Atlanta area, a move that allowed CNZ to successfully petitionNielsen Media Research to reclassify the station into the Atlantadesignated market area in September 2020. At that time, the call sign changed to WGBP-TV.[27] In January 2022, the FCC denied a carriage complaint made by WGBP-TV against satellite TV providerDirecTV, but it signaled that the station would qualify for must-carry status in both Columbus and Atlanta during the next round of retransmission consent elections.[27]
On October 6, 2025, it was announced that the station, which had changed its call sign from WGBP-TV to WHOT-TV on October 1, would on October 30 affiliate with MediaCo Holding's Hot 97 TV—afree ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel produced byNew York Cityurban contemporary radio stationWQHT that features programming on hip-hop music and culture.[28]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WGBPTV | Hot 97 TV |
| 66.2 | 480i | WHKY | blank | |
| 66.3 | ShopHQ | Infomercials | ||
| 66.4 | HSN | HSN | ||
| 66.5 | QVC | QVC | ||
| 66.7 | TRUCRIM | True Crime Network | ||
| 66.8 | QVC2 | QVC2 | ||
| 66.9 | WHKY14 | blank | ||
| 66.10 | JTV | Jewelry Television | ||
| 66.11 | MarioVi | MariaVision | ||
| 66.12 | CRTV | Infomercials |
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofAlabama | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Alabama | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS |
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| Religious | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the U.S. state ofGeorgia | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Georgia | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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