WABG-TV

WABG-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Delta area of Northwestern Mississippi that is licensed to Greenwood. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter northeast of Inverness. The station can also be seen on Suddenlink channel 4 and in high definition on digital channel 701. Owned by Commonwealth Broadcasting Group, WABG shares separate administrative and studio buildings on Washington Avenue in Greenville with low-powered sister station NBC affiliate WNBD-LD. Commonwealth also operates CBS affiliate WXVT under a shared services agreement, owned by H3 Communications, LLC. Syndicated programming on this station includes: Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, and Judge Judy.

Digital channels

History

WABG-TV's first broadcast was on October 20, 1959 on VHF channel 6. Originally it was a CBS affiliate, but it switched to ABC a few months later after WJTV in Jackson complained this station was encroaching on its service area. This is because WABG's signal reaches the far western fringes of the Jackson market. The network swap made WABG the first primary ABC affiliate in Mississippi. Until then, the only areas of the state to receive a sole ABC affiliate were the northwest (from Memphis' WHBQ-TV) and the Gulf Coast (from WVUE in New Orleans). WJTV remained the default CBS affiliate for the southern counties in the Delta area, while WREG-TV in Memphis served the northern half of the market, until future sister station WXVT signed on in 1980. Mississippi cities like Kosciusko and around the Kosciusko area received WABG-TV on their analog television set as their default ABC station in 1970 to present. WAPT Channel 16 in Jackson, Mississippi, did not have a strong signal and was not showing a signal on analog television in Kosciusko and around the Kosciusko area.