WRBL

WRBL (channel 3) is a television station in Columbus, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group. Its studios are located on 13th Avenue in Columbus, and its transmitter is located in Cusseta. WRBL went on the air on November 15, 1953, as a sister station to WRBL radio and the second TV station in Columbus. It was approved as a result of the merger of the applications of the R. W. Page Corporation, publisher of the Ledger-Enquirer newspapers in Columbus, and the Woodruff family, which had owned WRBL radio. It was an affiliate of CBS from the outset and broadcast on channel 4 until 1960, when it moved to channel 3 as part of a reallocation that moved channel 9 to the city for use by WTVM. The two stations jointly built the present tower in Cusseta that briefly was the world's tallest structure. Through the early 1980s, WRBL was the leading station in Columbus with popular local personalities. The station's fortunes began to change with the 1976 death of company president James W. Woodruff Jr. The family sold WRBL-TV to Malcolm Glazer's Avant Corporation in 1978. Under Avant, the station initially remained competitive in spite of increased newsroom turnover and low wages, in a competitive ratings race with WTVM. In January 1986, longtime WRBL anchor Dick McMichael defected to WTVM.…

WRBL (channel 3) is a television station in Columbus, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group. Its studios are located on 13th Avenue in Columbus, and its transmitter is located in Cusseta. WRBL went on the air on November 15, 1953, as a sister station to WRBL radio and the second TV station in Columbus. It was approved as a result of the merger of the applications of the R. W. Page Corporation, publisher of the Ledger-Enquirer newspapers in Columbus, and the Woodruff family, which had owned WRBL radio. It was an affiliate of CBS from the outset and broadcast on channel 4 until 1960, when it moved to channel 3 as part of a reallocation that moved channel 9 to the city for use by WTVM. The two stations jointly built the present tower in Cusseta that briefly was the world's tallest structure. Through the early 1980s, WRBL was the leading station in Columbus with popular local personalities. The station's fortunes began to change with the 1976 death of company president James W. Woodruff Jr. The family sold WRBL-TV to Malcolm Glazer's Avant Corporation in 1978. Under Avant, the station initially remained competitive in spite of increased newsroom turnover and low wages, in a competitive ratings race with WTVM. In January 1986, longtime WRBL anchor Dick McMichael defected to WTVM. The impact was immediate, and WTVM became the dominant news station in Columbus within two years. Under a succession of owners—TCS Television Partners, Spartan Communications, Media General, and Nexstar—this has remained the case, with WRBL a distant second.

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