Technical Profile: WGBP-DT

TV Technical Profile: WGBP

Channel:: 17 (STA)
Programming:: 66.1 - Cozi TV
66.2 - HSN
66.3 - This TV
66.4 - QVC
66.5 - QVC 2
66.7 - Justice Network
Transmitter Location:: Site #1: [map] [street view] Near Cussetta, north of where GA-26 enters Fort Benning. North of Wilkinson Cemetery in the Columbus TV Antenna Farm.
Site #2: [map] [street view] Northwest of the intersection of US-27 and GA-190, just inside the F.D.R. state park. Co-located with WJSP-DT and WJSP-FM.
Power (ERP):: Site #1: 550 kW (STA)
Site #2: 650 kW (CP)
Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT):: Site #1: 1,762 feet (STA)
Site #2: 1,260 feet (CP)
Antenna:: Site #1: Directional (STA)
Site #2: Directional (CP)
Other Information:: 41 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC. (Old)
For current directional antenna information, please see the FCCdata.org link, below. The FCC does not have any information on repack or DTS operations yet.
[FCC]
[FCCdata]
[RabbitEars]
[Facebook]; [Wikipedia]
Owned by CNZ Communications SE, LLC
History:: Originally owned by Pappas Broadcasting, this station was first known as WSWS-TV and signed on in May of 1982. It started as an independent outlet with some programming from the now-defunct Financial News Network. After FNN they kept on as an independent, later affiliating with the Christian Television Network according to Wikipedia. Affiliated with the upstart UPN network in 1995, but also apparently carried CTN and even The WB to fill in slots. May have also aired some PAX programming before that network went belly-up. Changed to WLGA from WSWS in the summer of 2005. Switched to the CW Network in September 2006.; In February 2006 the station received a new construction permit for permanent digital facilities. Previously they held a permit for a directional digital facility on channel 31, with high power. The new facility is from a different location, with lower power and a non-directional antenna, on channel 47. This station elected to keep analog broadcasts on until the new June 12^th deadline. The station owners said they'd be transitioning to RF channel 47 at some point after that date.; Pappas Television declared bankruptcy in May 2008 and indicated it would be selling all its TV properties.; It was announced that WLGA would lose its CW affiliation in April 2009. The CW moved to Columbus' WLTZ on a digital subchannel. WLGA reverted to independent status at this time. That same year, they applied to permanently move to RF channel 47. Although the FCC never approved the application, it did eventually show up in the database as the station's legal RF channel.; As of May 2010 the station has a construction permit to relocate to RF channel 30, which will afford the station better coverage in the Columbus area.; Wikipedia reported that the station went dark on 4 June 2010, with no reasons given. The station reappeared in May 2011 with WTVM's weather radar and a WLGA bug in the corner of the screen. This was a bid to keep the license active; as soon as the required time had passed, the station fell silent again. The broadcast was reported active again in June 2012 with WeatherNation programming, with 47.3 showing as the only active channel, instead of the 66.1 station's assigned virtual channel number.; The station was off the air again by August 2012. They received a minor modification to the channel 30 permit with a shorter antenna height and directional antenna. In April 2013 the FCC dismissed a license to cover for the station's channel 47 allocation, leaving them with only the channel 30 modified construction permit, for which a license to cover was granted in July 2013. In November 2013 the station was reported back on the air, but with Antenna TV programming instead of WeatherNation. Antenna TV is set to have a permanent home on 66.2 at some point, when 66.1 will begin original programming of some sort.

In August 2014 the station received a construction permit to raise antenna height while lowering power, which will leave the coverage area virtually unchanged. That facility was up and running by September 2014. In March of 2016, Pappas Television finally found a buyer for the station, and the license was then transferred to CNZ Communications SE, LLC. Partners of CNZ Communications have interest in low power stations in several southeastern markets, including Birmingham and Montgomery. CNZ Communications wound up not using Antenna TV (it later migrated to WLTZ in 2017). The station eventually wound up airing Cozi TV along with several other shopping subchannels in 2017, and appears to have added Justice Network to 66.7 in 2018.

In early August 2017, the station received a permit to relocate from RF channel 30 to 17 as part of the FCC repacking process. In an unusual move, the station was granted a "DTS" license, or Dual Transmission Site setup, wherein the station will transition from broadcasting from one transmitter site, to two. This would allow it to reclaim lost population from the digital switchover in 2006. Site #1 will remain the old transmitter site near Cussetta. Site #2 will be north of Columbus at the GPB WJSP-DT site near Warm Springs. Site #2 will employ a directional antenna pointed north towards Atlanta. Due to timing issues getting the two-site operation up and running, the station filed for a Special Temporary Authority to operate on the repack RF channel 17 from Site #1 only, starting at the end of November, to allow other stations in their repack group to proceed with their own channel-changes. That STA was extended in late May 2019.

The call sign changed to WGBP in September 2020.