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|---|---|
| City | Columbus, Georgia |
| Channels | |
| Branding | WRBL News 3 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | November 15, 1953 (1953-11-15) |
Former call signs | WRBL-TV (1953–1980) |
Former channel numbers | Analog: 4 (VHF, 1953–1960), 3 (VHF, 1960–2009) |
Call sign meaning | Wireless Radio Bill Lewis (launch engineer for former sister radio station now known asWRCG) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 3359 |
| ERP | 1,000kW |
| HAAT | 507 m (1,663 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°19′16″N84°47′28″W / 32.32111°N 84.79111°W /32.32111; -84.79111 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WRBL (channel 3) is atelevision station inColumbus, Georgia, United States, affiliated withCBS and owned byNexstar Media Group. Its studios are located on 13th Avenue in Columbus, and itstransmitter is located inCusseta.
WRBL first went on the air on November 15, 1953—just over a month afterNBC affiliate WDAK-TV (channel 28, nowWTVM on channel 9). It is Georgia's third-oldest station outside ofAtlanta (afterMacon'sWMAZ-TV) as well as the second-oldest in Columbus. It would have been the fourth-oldest in Georgia, had WROM-TV, channel 9 inRome not moved toChattanooga, Tennessee, in 1958, rebranded asWTVC. WRBL-TV was owned by Jim Woodruff along with WRBL radio (AM 1420, nowWRCG, and FM 102.9, nowWVRK). Originally on channel 4, it moved to channel 3 in 1960 as part of a regional frequency reallocation by the FCC, that saw WTVM move to channel 9 andWTVY inDothan, Alabama, move to channel 4. Ironically, the same company, Martin Theaters of Georgia, that purchased and moved WROM-TV and its channel 9 to Chattanooga, had also purchased WDAK-TV and oversaw its switch to the channel 9VHF hi-band frequency in Columbus.
The station has always been a CBS affiliate owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with CBS Radio, but sharedABC with WTVM until the channel switch of 1960, when WTVM switched to ABC to get in line with then co-ownedWTVC, also on channel 9. At that time, WRBL began sharing NBC with WTVM. WRBL is the only major station in Columbus that has never changed its original affiliation. Columbus was one of the very few two-station markets in the 1960s without its own primary NBC affiliate, although NBC affiliates inAlbany,Atlanta andMontgomery could be picked up with relative ease. WYEA (channel 38, nowWLTZ) took over the NBC affiliation when it opened in October 1970.
Woodruff owned the station until his death in a car crash in 1978. After his death, banks controlled the station until it was bought byMalcolm Glazer's Avant Corporation ofRochester, New York. He sold it to TCS Television Partners, who, in turn, sold it toSpartan Communications in 1995. Spartan later merged its company withMedia General in 2000.
WRBL replaced RTV withMeTV on digital subchannel 3.2 on September 26, 2011, as part of a groupwide affiliation agreement with Media General; the channel replaced RTV on some Media General-owned stations in other markets.[2]
In early 2016, WRBL relaunched 3.3 as theIon affiliate for the Chattahoochee Valley. 3.3 had beendark since the station closed the First Alert 24/7 Weather channel.
On January 11, 2017, Media General became part of the Nexstar Media Group.
On September 6, 2018, WRBL opened a news bureau onColumbus State University's downtown campus. The bureau is housed inside CSU's Carpenter Building. The bureau will allow interns from CSU to work alongside WRBL's news staff.[3]
WRBL presently broadcasts 22 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).
Due to economic conditions from 2008 through 2009, WRBL's owner Media General enacted a series of staff reductions that noticeably affected the amount of news that WRBL offered. First, 6 p.m. weekend newscasts were canceled in fall 2008, and the remaining weekend newscasts were eliminated in early 2009. Soon after, the 5 p.m. and noon newscasts were dropped. However, as of August 2010, the noon newscast has been added back to the WRBL lineup. On October 17, 2010, WRBL reinstated the Sunday night edition ofNews 3 Nightwatch. Unlike the previous newscasts that were canceled, the duties of these newscasts are spread throughout remaining staff members, including the anchor team. On September 12, 2011, the station brought backNews 3 First Edition weekdays at 5 p.m. On September 14, 2013, WRBL revived the Saturday edition ofNews 3 Nightwatch at 11 p.m. and on September 29, 2013, WRBL added a Sunday edition ofNews 3 Evening Edition at 6:30 p.m. WRBL launched high definition newscasts on March 21, 2014, withNews 3 Nightwatch at 12:30 a.m. (ran late afterNCAA March Madness coverage).
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WRBL-TV | CBS |
| 3.2 | 480i | 4:3 | WRBL-ME | Busted |
| 3.3 | WRBL-IO | Ion Television | ||
| 3.4 | WRBL-LF | Laff |
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** Owned by third parties but operated by Nexstar through various agreements. | ||
