| GARTV |
| Georgia Radio and Television |
| This site is dedicated to providing information regarding the media outlets available within the state of Georgia. This site is still under development. Please check back for latest updates and new features. This site will rely mostly on information verifyed by media websites, news articles, observation from watching Georgia local television stations, listening to local radio and internet research. We ask that if you have any information, submissions and/or corrections, please e-mail them to me. |
| GARTVNews |
| *Due to circumstances beyond our control, there has been a delay in updating this site. We apologize for that. Check back soon for many frequent updates that have occured during this month of september including local hurricane news and a review of the new "MiddleGeorgia News" on WMGT- 41NBC in Macon. R.I.P. Guy Sharpe (1929-2004) Former WXIA-"11 Alive" News Weatherman and Atlanta Broadcasting Legend. Hurricane News: Two hurricanes in less than a month (Charley and Frances). And the second storm may really affect the home base of GARTV. We will have details and reports on the media coverage of the storm soon. Macon Radio Ratings (09/01/04) The ratings are in for Macon, Georgia area radio stations. Details coming soon. "Middle Georgia News": (08/24/04) They have a fleet of cute little Ford Escapes nicely decorated with their logo and the name "Middle Georgia News" on each side and a news tip telephone number boldly lettered in the back window. And the commercials "introducing" viewers to the Anchors and reporters who will bring us the news are running frequently with great exposure during the summer Olympics broadcasts. It will be called "Middle Georgia News" on "41-NBC" And will debut on Macon's WMGT channel 41 on Monday, September 6th. There will be three 30 minute newscasts, at 6:30am, 5:30pm and 11:00pm Monday thru Friday along with updates during the "Today Show". There is no mention of a weekend newscast and (to no suprise to the editor of this page) No 6:00 evening newscast to compete with Macon's mighty (CBS) "13 WMAZ Eyewitness News", which is said to be the most watched local program in the market. In the past 10 years, no other station in Macon successfully offered a 6:00 newscast. There have been 5:30 and 6:30 shows on (FOX)24 and 58(ABC) respectively, but neither station even offers those newscasts anymore as 24 has cut back and 58 eliminated newscasts. Also note that WMAZ does not have a 5:30 evening news. So the 5:30 news on WMGT will be the only local news at 5:30 competing against syndicated sitcom reruns and a court show. And the only weekend local television news option in Macon will be WMAZ and that depends on whether or not any televised sports would pre-empt the local news. WE HERE AT GARTV WELCOME THE NEW LOCAL NEWS SERVICE PROVIDED BY WMGT and will appreciate the additional local options and hope that the added competition will bring improvements to local broadcast news in the Macon Georgia media market overall. "41 NBC NEWS" ON BILLBOARDS: (8/7/04) Just saw the first indication of the announcements for the upcoming news programing on WMGT "41NBC" in the form of a rolling billboard advertisement along busy Watson Blvd in Warner Robins, Georgia. It has the "41NBC" logo as the name "41NBC NEWS" and says "coming September 6" There was no mention of the schedule of the newscasts. One wonders if they will schedule an evening newscast at 6pm to compete with the news on WMAZ-13 (CBS), which is the most watrched daily program in the area AND for decades the only local evening newscast in the Macon. Neither WGXA "FOX-24" nor WPGA "58-ABC" were able to compete against "13 WMAZ Eyewitness News" even while intentionally scheduling their evening newscasts at times when WMAZ did NOT have one scheduled. FOX 24 had a 5:30 to 6pm news when it was "News 24" as an ABC afiliate while WMAZ aired syndicated programing or "The Andy Grifiith Show" between its 5pm and 6pm newscasts. WPGA had "58 News" at 6:30 newscast against the network newscasts on CBS and NBC and a syndicated sitcom on FOX (WGXA) and sending ABC's network news to 7pm to compete with the highly rated "Wheel Of Fortune"on WMAZ and "Judge Judy" on WMGT. Both the former ABC affiliate 24 and current ABC affiliate 58 offered an 11pm news against the top rated 13 (WMAZ). 24 moved their late news to 10pm when they became a FOX affiliate leaving WMAZ as the ONLY station with an 11pm news for 5 years until the very short lived "58 news" came on with former WMAZ news anchor Tina Hicks. WGXA now only has its local news at 10pm on weeknights, WPGA's news department was defunct in less than a year. 41 NEWS in September: (8/02/04) As reported by Newsblues.com, WMGT "41-NBC" in Macon is planning to start its daily newscast by Labor Day. This will be a return of a daily newscast on the station after a 12 year absence. News Director Mark Wildman is building a staff of about 15 for the fully digital broadcast news center at the downtown Macon studios. Photos of the construction progress are on the station's website. ATLANTA RADIO RATINGS-Clear Channel Atlanta Stations NOT Clear to Listeners!: (7/30/04) The most recent ratings released by Arbitron show that the radio listener CAN make a bold statement in support of their favorate programing. Listener revolt may be the reason why Clear Channel, who owns six radio stations in the Atlanta area does not have a single station in the top ten of the most recent ratings survey. The two biggest stations in the Atlanta CC family each lost listeners. News-talk 640 WGST recently dropped "Dr. Laura" from its lineup but the station is consistantly overshadowed by the much stronger (and market number one station overall) News-Talk 750 WSB-AM. Perhaps this may change when WGST begins carrying the Atlanta Braves baseball games next year. WKLS-FM "96Rock" suffered its lowest ratings in part due to the firing of the popular "Regular Guys" morning show team last spring. Their firing by Clear Channel was one of a few highly publicized radio terminations for alledged obsenity over the air. Clear Channel had also fired their own "Bubba The Love Sponge" in Florida and removed the syndicated Howard Stern from six of their stations around the country. And the affected stations also lost substantial listeners according to the latest ratings. In Atlanta, 96 Rock listeners soundly rejected the replacement "Bob and Tom" and more than half bolted. The bigest benefactor was Country station WKHX-FM 101.5 for the male 25-54 demographic. Other problems for CC Atlanta stations are the recent changes of 94.9 "lite-fm" from the more familiar "peach 94.9", still playing "soft rock" but having their lowest ratings in 20 years under the format. And changing the 80's music station "105.3 WMAX" to an FM Talk as "Real Radio" turned out to be a disappointment. So without a single Clear Channel station in the top ten, the most popular Atlanta area stations are as follows...Cox Radio'sNews/Talk WSB-AM (750) with a 9.4 share, Infinity Radio's Urban/Hip Hop WVEE "V-103" a 7.9 share, ABC's Country WKHX "Kicks 101.5" a 6.5 share, Radio One's Black Gospel WPZE-FM "Praise 97.5" with a 4.6 and Cox's AC "B-98.5" WSB-FM with a 4.5 share. Rounding out the top ten in Atlanta with steady ratings are Pop "Star 94", Urban/hip hop "Hot 107.9", Urban AC "Kiss 104.1", Contempory Christian "104.7 The Fish" and Alternative Rocker "99X". The closest Clear Channel station to make the list is WGST, at number 13, with a 2.7 share, steady but down from a 3.3 of a year ago, "96 Rock" at 14th, "Lite 94.9" at 15th and "Real Radio 105.3" near the bottom, even behind low power AM stations and a couple of Spanish stations. Don't upset the advertiser!: (July, 2004) Dave Marshall, a reporter and morning news anchor for WRBL-3 (CBS) in Columbus was fired after a dispute with his management over a report he had prepared about problems with some apartments in the area. Turns out that the apartments are owned by a local realtor and advertiser to the station. And the realtor threatned to pull all of his advertising from the station that if the report on the apartments were to air. So the reporter (Marshall) was let go and the report never aired. Dave Marshall had only worked for the station for two months, coming to Columbus, Georgia from WBAL in Baltimore. What an idiot: (July, 2004) Recently, a "Photo Journalist" with Atlanta's WGCL "CBS46" was caught seeking the services of a prostitute after working a live shot late at night and while driving the station's clearly marked and identifyable satalite truck. In addition to being arrested, he was fired from the station. (Editors note: Was it worth it, you unemployed BIG dummy?) "Daily Buzz" moves, Loses Anchor: (7/30/04) "The Daily Buzz", a morning TV News and entertainment show is moving their production studios from the Dayton Ohio area to Central Florida. But it's main anchor has left the show. Ron Corning, one of the show's original stars and its main anchor has accepted a job with ABC news. Clayton Morris, Mitch English, Dao Vu and Andrea Jackson will continue on with The Daily Buzz, now from the studios of their Orlando Florida affiliate, WKCF-TV (WB-18). The first broadcast from Orlando will be on August 2nd. This very upbeat morning program began in 2002 and is seen mostly on WB NETWORK Cable outlets and a handful of broadcast stations around the country. Most of the broadcast stations are also WB affiliates. Rant: (7/20/04) Macon's "Magic 100" is still running sound promos that include "The New" somewhere within. This station broadcasts mostly the ABC Radio Networks "Classic Soul Hits" satalite service (formerly known as "Solid Gold Soul") and has done so since April, 2000. The same satalite broadcast has been on at least TWO other Macon area stations over the past decade. And "Magic 100" is still saying that it is the "New home of the Quiet Storm". They have called their 10pm-midnight program "The Quiet Storm" for about 4 years after another Macon station abandoned the Quiet Storm moniker for its late night programing. Point is, there is NOTHING new about 100.1and it is about time to stop saying it! Note to Roberts Communications...Please get some NEW promos without using the word "new". Locals on "The Dish" (Finally!): (July, 2004) Echostar's DISH NETWORK satalite service is now offering LOCAL BROADCAST NETWORK stations to subscribers who reside in the Albany and Macon Georgia "DMA's" (Designated Market Area). Subscribers will need to upgrade to the "Super DISH" in order to recieve their local stations via their satalite service. Albany "DMA" subscribers can recieve their local NBC (WALB-10), FOX (WFXL-31) and PBS (GPB-14) and can also recieve ABC (WSB-2) and CBS (WGCL-46) from Atlanta ONLY because the Albany "DMA" does not have a local ABC or CBS station. Depending on where you live, Albany "DMA" residents may be able to recieve ABC or CBS via antenna from either Tallahassee Florida (6-CBS/27ABC), Dothan Alabama (4-CBS/18-ABC), Macon (13-CBS/58-ABC) or Columbus Georgia (3-CBS/9-ABC). Macon "DMA" subscribers can recieve Macon based CBS(WMAZ-13), FOX (WGXA-24), PBS (GPB-29) and NBC (WMGT-41) only. Macon's UPN station (WGNM-64) is not included in the offering. No "out of town" (Atlanta) stations will be allowed for Macon DMA subscribers. Both areas can recieve the WB NETWORK and UPN via Dish Networks's "Superstation Package" , which offers WB and UPN stations from Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Denver and Los Angeles. Dish Network subscribers in the Columbus, Georgia "DMA" are still not offered their local stations via satelite but can also choose the "Superstation Package" DIRECT TV only offers locals to their Atlanta area subscribers. When they begin to offer local stations to others around Georgia, we will update here. Off the air: (July 2004) WVMG-FM (96.7) and its am sister station WVMG-AM 1440 are off the air as reported by www.100000watts.com. The Cochran based stations are owned by Clear Channel and for the past couple of months were simulcasting Clear Channel Macon's WYNF-FM (96.5) "The Buzz". For years WVMG was a local country music station. No word on when these stations will return or why they were taken off the air. Flood of 94 remembered: (July 2004) The Great Georgia Flood of 1994 is being remembered by local print and television media with special feature reports including photos and archive video of the flooded areas and updates on the survivors and victims of the devistation. WMAZ-13 in Macon has also aired a special 1 hour program on the Flood of 1994. Tropical Storm Alberto formed in the Gulf of Mexico in early June 1994 and later stalled over Central Georgia. Much of the state had heavy rain for weeks causing massive flooding and damage in Central and South Georgia. You can find anniversary coverage by the two dominant television stations in areas that suffered most from the flood. WMAZ-13 (CBS) in Macon and WALB-10 (NBC) in Albany. 35 Years of BOORTZ!: (June, 2004) Congratulations to NEAL BOORTZ, nationally syndicated talk show host and author as he celebrates 35 years on Atlanta Radio. His show is based at Atlanta's WSB 750am and is heard nationally including on Macon's WMAC 940am. A celebration will take place on Saturday, June 12th at 8pm at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Neal will host "Boortzapolooza" featuring noted authors and fellow talk show hosts Sean Hannity, Clark Howard, Oliver North and Retiring Georgia Senator Zell Miler. Plus WSB radio personalities Scott Slade, "Captain" Herb Emory and Steve Holman and WSB-TV's Monica Kaufman and Chuck Dowdle will be there. Tickets are on sale! Detais at the Neal Boortz website. 41 News Director hired: (June, 2004) WMGT-TV 41 (NBC) in Macon has hired Mark Wildman to head the station's brand new news department slated to start in the fall of 2004. The Atlanta native has over 20 years of experience in television news. The station is now in the process of hiring its news staff and building the new "41 News Center" at the station's studios in Downtown Macon. Updates are posted on the station's website. The station previously had a news department that was disbanded in the early 1990's. This new effort will compete with dominant market leader WMAZ-13 (CBS) and a struggling WGXA-24 (FOX), which only has newscasts at 10pm weeknights. In recent years, WGXA has struggled to maintain news programs in the early evening and on weekends and even once tried to have a morning news show. And WPGA-58 (ABC) has totally bombed in their efforts to provide local news. Their approach was to bring popular former local news personalities like Ron Wildman (formerly of WGXA and WMGT) and Tina Hicks (formerly of WMAZ) back on the air. But those attempts along with the high cost or producing a local newscast failed. Hopefully this "fresh" attempt by WMGT will provide a good alternative to the traditional-old standard that comes from the Macon market. Double duty for Macon's 96.5 again: There have been many times in Macon when a radio broadcaster simulcasts a couple of low power signals to create one station you can hear throughout a large portion of Georgia. This time the combination is with Clear Channel's WYNF-96.5 (Gray/Macon) and WVMG-96.7 (Cochran). One signal covers the city of Macon and points north while the other covers the area south and east of Macon with a modern rock format that is new to the rural area. In the past, 96.5 has been combined with 102.5 with a Rock format then with AM 1670 as a country station. Format changes for Macon Again: (June, 2004) Another format change in Macon has occurred. This time Clear Channel's WELV-"Love 102.5" Has dropped it's SMOOTH JAZZ sound for COUNTRY and has been renamed "102-5 The Bull". This station was Smooth Jazz for just over two years. Before that, the Warner Robins based 102.5 served as a BLACK GOSPEL station simulcasting with Macon's AM 1280 then it was various ROCK music formats shared via simulcast with 96.5FM. The new country sound is another attempt of Clear Channel (formerly Taylor Broadcasting of Macon) targeting an audience that is very loyal to local country powerhouse WDEN 99.1 and other country stations based in surrounding towns all over "Middle Georgia". Anyone remember the country stations that once aired in Macon on 92.3, 96.5 and 101.7? All of these Macon area stations failed to attract anyone from the "old" WDEN when it was broadcasting 100,000 watts at 105.3FM. And the weaker signal of 102.5 is not likely to pull many listeners away either. WDEN, now at 99.1FM and still broadcasting at 100,000 watts of power can still be heard very well within a 75 mile radius of Macon while the WELV signal barely makes half the distance from its Houston County transmitter. You can't listen to Macon's 102.5 beyond the North side of Macon city limits. In Monroe County (Large Country music fan base) You lose 102.5 completely due to the Atlanta area station also broadcasting at 102.5fm. However, 102.5 can best be heard South of Macon which will help make up a little for the format change mentioned below.. Format change for Cochran/Eastman: (June, 2004) Longtime Country station WVMG-FM 96.7 has changed to a simulcast of WYNF 96.5 Gray/Macon. Now broadcasting a MODERN ROCK format for the area south of Macon not covered by the 96.5 signal which covers areas north of Macon. Both stations are owned by Clear Channel. Area Country music fans can still hear their favorate music on a variety of stations based in Macon, Dublin, Eastman and other communities. This change comes a the same time as Clear Channel also flips WELV 102.5 based in Warner Robins/Macon from Smooth Jazz to Country. But this signal will be difficult to reach beyond 30 miles from its transmitter. (Cochran is about 35 miles south of the transmiter.) Channel 10 on the road: WALB-TV 10 (NBC) in Albany is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year by broadcasting their evening newscasts LIVE from selected South Georgia towns every Thursday and the public is invited to see the live broadcasts. This includes places like Valdosta, Cordele and Americus. Dates and towns are listed at their website, www.walb.com WALB is the dominant television station serving South Georgia since 1954. Clear Channel Clearing out bad behavior?: (May, 2004) After the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" at this year's Super Bowl, the FCC and some big media companies have been "cleaning" up the airwaves. Nationally, the most popular target has been "shock jock" radio personalities like Howard Stern (who is not heard anywhere in Gerogia). But the lesser known jocks have become targets of this mad rush to "clean up" broadcast radio. Clear Channel has been the leader of this rush to make things "safe" for our ears by firing Tampa, Florida based Todd "Bubba The Love Sponge" Clem heard on Macon's WYNF 96.5 "the Buzz" and the duo known as "The Regular Guys" on Atlanta's WKLS-96.1 "96 Rock". Both stations replaced their respective morning shows with more "music" during the morning rush hours. (Remember when radio stations actually played music in the morning?) Happy Birthday WGXA and WPGA: (April, 2004) Macon's Channel 24 signed on the air in April, 1982 as the area's THIRD major network affiliate station, finally bringing ABC to the Macon market. WGXA was an ABC station until 1996 when it became "FOX 24". Macon's Channel 58 signed on in March, 1995 finally bringing the FOX television network to the area, well behind other cities of simular size. 24 and 58 swapped networks in 1996 and "Fox 24" expanded its local news department while "58ABC" tried unsuccessfully to offer local news. Currently only Macon's 13(CBS) and 24(FOX) offer local news, with 13 as the overall leader. Another new format for 92.3: This is not an April Fools Day Joke!! On April 1st, Cumulus' WMKS-FM 92.3 has another new format. This time its urban/hip-hop "Blazin' 92-3" replacing the classic rock turned classic rock hits-turned classic rock " Eagle 92.3" 92.3 has had many changes in names and formats over recent years, from country "KIssin 92.3" in the early 1990's to a flip-flop of Classic Rock, Rock and "Classic Hits" as "Rock 92.3" and later as "Eagle 92.3". It struggled to compete with Clear Channel's Q-106. Now it will compete with THREE other urban/hip-hop stations, each with stronger signals. Good luck. News on 41?: Rumors are that WMGT "41NBC" in Macon may be starting a local newscast later this year and is looking to hire a news director. 41 currently does not have a local newscast of any kind and uses a weather service to broadcast "local" weather forcasts. They previously had a news department until the late 1980's or very early 1990's. One of the local personalities on channel 41 was Silas Alexander, known to Atlanta Radio listeners today as "SiMan Baby". More news as we learn about it. Welcome to "GARTV": The new "GARTV" is here! This site is intended to provide news and information as well as a directory for broadcast outlets in Georgia. II Started work on the new "GARTV" website with the hope of providing news and information on the media of this state. Inspired by Mr. Dave Hughes' DCRTV site based in the Washington, DC area, GARTV will be based in the Macon Georgia media market but with provide listings on a statewide basis as that information is available and until someone in the other markets here in Georgia builds a site for their local area. Happy Birthday 13 and 41: WMAZ TV, Channel 13 (CBS) in Macon will celebrate its 50th anniversary on September 23rd. And WMGT Channel 41 (NBC) turns 35 in September. These are the two oldest television stations in the market. "Dr. Phil" comes to Macon in its second season: The hit talk show hosted by Dr. Phil McGraw comes to WMAZ-13 on September 7th and will air at 10am weekdays. Like most of the Dr. Phil affiliates, WMAZ also carries Oprah Winfrey where we first came to know Dr. Phil. Both shows are produced by HARPO and King World. And since the 1 year old show is now on a local station in Macon, this means that the 5pm broadcast on Atlanta's WXIA-11 will NOT be available to cable customers in the Macon area. The program will be blacked out due to WMAZ's syndication exclusivity. Another format change for 96.5: For the THIRD time in less than TWO years, WYNF 96.5 has another new format. "96-5 The Buzz" debuted on Monday, September 7th 2003. at 10am. The Clear Channel owned station dumped the 18 month old "Real Radio 96.5" hot talk format that included the lineup of Orlando, Fl based "Real Radio 104.1", plus the syndicated "Lex and Terry" and Tampa based "Bubba The Love Sponge". The station also played a mostly alternative music format during the overnight hours and most of the weekend, all without DJ's. The new Modern Rock format billed as "Macon's New Music Alternative" keeps "Bubba the Love Sponge" in the mornings and features music with radio personalities. The 96.5 frequency has undergone so many changes in the past decade, from Country, to Southern Rock, to simulcasting other local stations, to sports talk, and before Real Radio came in early 2002, 96.5 played Christmas music for more than 3 months, starting that weeks before the previous Halloween. |
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| TV STATIONS MACON AREA STATIONS and other stations available to some viewers around Georgia. Click on the station name for more information |
| 3 WBMN (WB) (Cable) 4 WMAZ-DT (CBS) 7 WDCO-DT (PBS/GPB) 13 WMAZ-TV (CBS) 15 WCOX-cable access 16 WGXA-DT (FOX) 24 WGXA-TV (FOX) 29 WDCO (PBS/GPB) 31 WDMA (Daystar) 32 WPGA-DT (ABC) 40 WMGT-DT (NBC) 41 WMGT-TV (NBC) 52 (TBN) 55 WSST (IND) 58 WPGA-TV (ABC) 64 WGMN-TV (UPN) Atlanta area stations 2 WSB (ABC) 5 WAGA (FOX) 8 WGTV (PBS/GPB) 11 WXIA (NBC) 14 WPXA (PAX) 17 WTBS (IND) 30 WPBA (PBS) 34 UNIVISION 36 WATL (WB) 46 WGCL (CBS) 69 WUPA (UPN) Columbus area Stations 3 WRBL (CBS) 9 WTVM (ABC) 16 WGGT (UPN) 28 (PBS/GPB) 38 WLTZ (NBC) 54 (FOX) 66 (WB/PAX) Albany area stations 10 WALB (NBC) 14 (PBS/GPB) 25 (PBS/GPB) 31 (FOX) 55 WSST (IND) |
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