WALB-DT2
| 175px | |
| Albany, Georgia United States |
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|---|---|
| Branding | WALB ABC (general) WALB News 10 |
| Slogan | Your ABC For South Georgia (general) Live. Local. Latebreaking. |
| Channels | Digital: WALB-DT 10.2 (VHF) Virtual: 10.2 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | ABC (2011–present) |
| Owner | Raycom Media (WALB License Subsidiary, LLC) |
| First air date | 2005 |
| Call letters' meaning | see WALB |
| Sister station(s) | WDFX-TV, WPGX, WTVM, WXTX |
| Former affiliations | NBC Weather Plus (2005–2008) This TV (2008–2011) |
| Transmitter power | 22 kW (digital) |
| Height | 297 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 70713 (digital) |
| Transmitter coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (digital) |
| Licensing authority | FCC (digital) |
WALB-DT2 is the ABC-affiliated television station for Southwestern Georgia. The station is a second digital subchannel of NBC affiliate WALB that is owned by Raycom Media. Over-the-air, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10.2 from a transmitter, east of Doerun, along the Colquitt and Worth County line. WALB-DT2 can also be seen on Mediacom channel 9 and in HD on digital channel 809. Its parent station has studios on Stuart Avenue in Albany. On early Saturday and Sunday mornings, the station airs as a local weather channel called "WALB 24/7 Weather".
History
The subchannel first became active in 2005 when WALB added NBC Weather Plus. Locally-known as "WALB 24/7 Weather", the service gave continuous forecasts for up to thirty cities around Southwest Georgia. After NBC Weather Plus shut down in December 2008, WALB-DT2 became part of This TV.
It was announced on November 19, 2010 that WALB would begin airing ABC on this digital subchannel tentatively scheduled to begin New Year's Day 2011. However, the actual launch was pushed back until April 27, 2011 at which point This TV was dropped (the movie network is currently not offered in the Albany market).[1]
If not for the delay, WALB-DT2 would have represented the network's 240th affiliate.[2][3][4] However, NBC affiliate KSBW in Salinas, California launched its own ABC-affiliated second digital subchannel on April 18 as the network's actual 240th affiliate just one week ahead of WALB-DT2. The addition of the network brings back ABC to an Albany-based station since WVGA (now CBS affiliate WSWG) was closed down.
From that point until WALB added ABC, WTXL-TV in nearby Tallahassee, Florida served as the longtime default ABC affiliate in Southwestern Georgia. WALB-DT2 is the second subchannel affiliated with ABC established in the state of Georgia after WGXA-DT2 in Macon.
With the addition of ABC to WALB-DT2, there are simulcasts of local newscasts from the main channel. More specifically, this includes the second hour of Today in Georgia, its midday show at noon, as well as weeknight newscasts at 6 and 11. In addition, the area's first prime time broadcast at 7 was added on weeknights that is exclusive to this ABC subchannel. Weekend newscasts are simulcasted on both of WALB's ABC and NBC channels although there can be a delay or pre-emption on one due to network obligations. In addition to its main studios, WALB operates news bureaus in Thomasville (on North Broad Street) and Valdosta (on North Patterson Street/SR 31).
