WRBL

WRBL, virtual channel 3 (digital channel 15), is the CBS-affiliated television station in Columbus, Georgia. The station is owned by Media General, with studios located on 13th Avenue in Columbus. Its transmitting antenna, located in Cusseta, Georgia, once held the record as the tallest man-made structure on Earth.

Digital channels

History

WRBL first went on the air on November 15, 1953—just over a month after NBC affiliate WDAK-TV (channel 28, now WTVM on channel 9). It is Georgia's third-oldest station outside of Atlanta (after Macon's WMAZ-TV) as well as the second-oldest in Columbus. It was owned by Jim Woodruff along with WRBL radio (AM 1420, now WRCG, and FM 102.9, now WVRK). Originally on channel 4, it moved to channel 3 in 1960 as part of a three-city swap which saw WTVM move to channel 9 and WTVY in Dothan, Alabama move to channel 4.

The station has always been a CBS affiliate owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with CBS Radio, but shared ABC with WTVM until the channel switch of 1960, when WTVM switched to ABC to get in line with then co-owned WTVC, 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 in Albany, Atlanta and Montgomery could be picked up with relative ease. WYEA (now WLTZ) took over the NBC affiliation when it opened in October 1970.