Media in Atlanta
As of 2011, metro Atlanta is the ninth-largest media market in the United States. Due to apparent over-estimates of population growth in the 2000s by the U.S. Census Bureau, this rank is a decrease from two years prior as a result of the 2010 U.S. Census.
In 2009, metro Atlanta was the eighth- or seventh-largest market, with over 2.3 million TV households and 4.3 million people aged 12+. According to Nielsen Media Research, it ranked eighth in television broadcasting, having recently slightly surpassed the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and not far behind the South Florida metropolitan area). According to Arbitron, it ranked seventh in radio broadcasting, now just ahead of the Philadelphia metropolitan area and not far behind the greater Houston/Galveston metropolitan area.[1]
Cox Enterprises, a privately held company controlled by siblings Barbara Cox Anthony and Anne Cox Chambers, has substantial media holdings in and beyond Atlanta. Its Cox Communications division is the nation's third largest cable television service provider;[2] the company also publishes over a dozen daily newspapers in the United States, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. WSB AM, the flagship station of Cox Radio, was the first broadcast station in the South.
Television
The Atlanta metro area is served by many local television stations, and is the eighth-largest Nielsen designated market area (DMA) in the U.S. with 2,310,490 homes (2.0% of the total U.S.).[3]
Cable/satellite networks
Atlanta is a major cable television programming center. Ted Turner began the Turner Broadcasting System (now merged with Time Warner media empire) in Atlanta, where he bought a UHF station that eventually became TBS. Turner established the headquarters of the Cable News Network at CNN Center, adjacent today to Centennial Olympic Park. As his company grew, its other channels – the Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TNT, Turner South, Turner Classic Movies, CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Headline News, and CNN Airport Network – centered their operations in Atlanta as well (Turner South has since been sold). Also now fully part of Turner is truTV. The Weather Channel, owned by Landmark Communications until it was purchased by NBCUniversal, Bain Capital, and The Blackstone Group in September 2008, has its offices in the nearby Cumberland/Galleria edge city. The first nationwide music video programming on cable television, Video Concert Hall, a precursor to MTV, was created in Atlanta.[4]
Local stations
The Atlanta area has 13 full-power TV stations, running a total of 27 TV channels from 27 TV networks and local sources. Over-the-air digital subchannels are shown as subitems, the main channel is always on the x.1 subchannel and is or was simulcast on analog (over-the-air and cable). Cable listings are shown for Comcast, the dominant local broadband TV provider. For digital cable, three-digit whole numbers are for set-top box users, while decimal numbers are in-the-clear (non-encrypted) QAM for cable-ready ATSC tuners, and have occasionally been changed. These numbers are the physical RF TV channels and the transport stream identifier (TSID) as they are transmitted from the headend, however some are mapped with PSIP to have the same number as over the air. For HDTV stations, an SDTV version (often a separate feed) is mapped on set-top boxes to the original analog cable channel number. Since March 16, 2009, all Atlanta TV stations that air local news are now in HD, with WXIA 11 first, then WSB 2, followed by WGCL 46, and WAGA 5 last.
As of April 2013, the following stations and channels are seen in the area (network O&O's are indicated in bold):
LPTV stations
Several LPTV stations cover smaller parts of the metro area:
- WUVM-LP 4 Atlanta (digital cable 249, 532, 99.532), Azteca America, Una Vez Mas Atlanta License, LLC, carried on DirecTV and xFinity
- WYGA-CD 16 Atlanta (replaced WYGA-CA 45, which carried Retro Jams), Mako Communications, from WUPA tower
- 16.1 WYGA-CD - Mexicanal (480i)
- 16.2 WYGA-CD - SonLife Broadcasting Network (formerly AMGTV) (480i)
- 16.3 WYGA-CD - color bars (formerly Retro Television) (480i)
- 16.4 WYGA-CD - color bars (480i)
- 16.5 WYGA-CD - color bars (480i)
- 16.6 WYGA-CD - Mexicanal (480i)
- WSKC-CD 22 Atlanta, KM Communications
- 22.1 WSKC DT - Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (Korean; 704×480i)
- WTBS-LP 26 Atlanta / WTBS-LD 30 Atlanta (on-air DTV permit), unknown, Prism Broadcasting
- 26.1 MMAX - MundoMax (720p)
- 26.2 LWN - Live Well Network (480i)
- 26.3 Weather - WeatherNation TV (480i)
- 26.4 JTV - Jewelry TV (480i)
- 26.5 F24news - France 24 (480i)
- 26.8 TUFF TV - Tuff TV (480i)
- WDWW-LD 28 Atlanta, digital construction permit for WDWW-LP 28 Cleveland (previously briefly on-air on digital 7 from Sweat Mountain)
- WANN-CD 29 Atlanta (silent analog WANN-LP 32 Atlanta), Prism Broadcasting, from Bank of America Plaza (analog) and North Druid Hills (digital)
- 32.1 APG - Zap2it Atlanta Program Guide (480i), Biz TV (windowed above guide)
- 32.2 RTV - Retro Television (480i)
- 32.3 Shop TV - infomercials (480i)
- 32.4 MOXiE - Moxie (formerly called Prism TV) (480i)
- 32.5 Oldie - Oldie Goldie: movies (480i)
- 32.6 Family - My Family TV (480i)
- 32.7 Diya TV - Diya TV (480i)
- 32.8 LATV - LATV (480i)
- 32.9 THIS TV - this TV (480i)
- 32.10 Estrell - Estrella TV (480i)
- 32.21 COMEDY - W222AF FM 92.3, "Comedy 92-3", via WUBL FM 94.9 HD-3 (audio only)
- 32.22 949BULL - WUBL FM 94.9, "94-9 the Bull" (audio only)
- 32.23 Project - WWPW FM 96.1 HD-2, "Project 9-6-1" (audio only)
- 32.24 PWR 961 - WWPW FM 96.1, "Power 96-1" (audio only)
- 32.25 WiLD - WRDG FM 96.7, "WiLD 105-7 & 96-7" (audio only)
- 32.26 PATRON - WBZY FM 105.3 "El Patrón" (audio only)
- 32.27 TBA - duplicate of 32.28 (audio only)
- 32.28 1310 AM - WPBC AM 1310, Spanish talk (audio only)
- 32.29 TBA 1 - duplicate of 32.21 (audio only)
- 32.30 TBA 2 - duplicate of 32.22 (audio only)
- WIRE-CD 40 Atlanta (flash-cut, licensed), D.T.V. LLC, WUPA tower
- 40.1 WIRE-D1 - infomercials (480i)
- 40.2 WIRE-D2 - infomercials (480i)
- 40.3 WIRE-D3 - infomercials (480i)
- 40.4 WIRE-D4 - Three Angels Broadcasting Network (480i)
- WTHC-LD 42 Atlanta, DTV-only, Beach TV Properties, from Westin Peachtree Plaza
- 42.1 ATLC-DT - The Atlanta Channel (tourism info) (480i)
- 42.2 - blank
- 42.3 - blank
- W45DX-D 45 Atlanta (former W23DN), Ventana Television
- 45.1 W45DX-D - Home Shopping Network (480i)
- WKTB-CD 47 Norcross (former W38CU 38 Atlanta, Telemundo), Korean American TV Broadcasting
- WXID-LP 49− Atlanta, off-air (assigned to rebroadcast KTBN-TV), Word of God Fellowship, Sweat Mountain
- WDTA-LD 35 Atlanta (digital cable 263, 100.63), Word of God Fellowship
- 53.1 WDTA-LD - Daystar (480i)
Surprisingly, LPTV channels 4, 47.1, 47.2, 47.3, and 53.1 are also carried on Comcast digital cable (on 249, 18 [1018 HD], 389, 390, and 263 for former Wometco systems), even in the most limited basic service tier, even though must-carry does not apply to LPTV stations. Charter carres 4, 32.10, 47.1, and 47.2 on 210, 85/224, 102, and 24. Even more unusually, channel 4 is also carried on DirecTV.
Cable-only stations
- Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters
- People TV (Atlanta)
- DeKalb County Television (DCTV) (DeKalb)
- Roswell CitiTV[5] (Roswell)
- TV23 (Cobb)
- Cobb edTV (Cobb)
Radio
There are also numerous local radio stations serving every genre of music, sports, and talk radio. The nationally syndicated Neal Boortz and Clark Howard shows are broadcast from Atlanta radio station WSB AM 750. Atlanta is also where Sean Hannity and Ryan Seacrest got their starts—Hannity filling Boortz's seat at WGST AM 640, and Seacrest as a radio personality at WSTR FM 94.1. Other notable radio personalities have included Leslie Fram and Elvis Duran (both now in New York), Rhubarb Jones, and voice talent George Lowe. Familiar Atlanta Braves announcers have included Skip Caray, Larry Munson, Don Sutton, and Pete van Wieren.
Cox Enterprises, which owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV/FM/AM, is headquartered in Atlanta. Cumulus Media engages in the acquisition, operation, and development of commercial radio stations in mid-size radio markets in the United States and is also headquartered in Atlanta. As of the end of 2005, it owned and operated 307 radio stations in 61 mid-sized U.S. media markets and a multimarket network of five radio stations in the English-speaking Caribbean.[6]
Stations in grey are considered "rimshots", normally reaching only part of the metro area clearly.
AM stations
- WDWD AM 590 Atlanta, Radio Disney
- WPLO AM 610 Grayson (Mexican "RadioMex 610")
- WGST AM 640 Atlanta (news/Talk "640 WGST")
- WCNN AM 680 Atlanta (sports/talk "680 The Fan", formerly CNN simulcast)
- WSB AM 750 Atlanta (news/Talk "News/Talk 750 WSB")
- WQXI AM 790 Atlanta (sports/talk "790 The Zone", Sporting News Radio)
- WFGM AM 830 Sandy Springs (new station construction permit)
- WAEC AM 860 Atlanta (religious)
- WJTP AM 890 Lithia Springs (Spanish Christian, moved-in from South Carolina in 2009)
- WGKA AM 920 Atlanta (conservative talk, "Talk 920")
- WNIV AM 970 Atlanta (Christian talk and teaching)
- WTZA AM 1010 Atlanta (brokered)
- WWWE AM 1100 Hapeville (religious)
- WCFO AM 1160 East Point (business talk)
- WAFS AM 1190 Atlanta
- WFOM AM 1230 Marietta (sports/talk, "1230 The Fan 2", ESPN Radio)
- WPBC AM 1310 Decatur
- WIFN AM 1340 Atlanta (sports/talk, "1340 The Fan 3", Fox Sports Radio)
- WAOK AM 1380 Atlanta (African American talk)
- WATB AM 1420 Decatur
- WYZE AM 1480 Atlanta (Gospel)
- WAZX AM 1550 Smyrna (Spanish)
- WIGO AM 1570 Morrow
- WAOS AM 1600 Austell (Spanish)
- WMLB AM 1690 Avondale Estates (variety)
In addition, several other smaller stations serve the suburbs.
FM stations
- WRAS FM 88.5 Atlanta (college radio "Album 88", daytime takeover by GPB/NPR duplication), Georgia State University students
- WBCX FM 89.1 Gainesville (variety), Brenau University students
- WRFG FM 89.3 Atlanta (indie radio "Radio Free Georgia"), self-supporting
- WABE FM 90.1 Atlanta (NPR/classical), Atlanta Board of Education
- WUWG FM 90.5 Carrollton (GPB/NPR), University of West Georgia
- WUOG FM 90.7 Athens (college radio) University of Georgia students
- WREK FM 91.1 Atlanta (diverse "Wreck"), Georgia Tech students
- WWEV-FM 91.5 Cumming (Christian "Victory 91.5"), Curriculum Development Foundation
- WUGA FM 91.7 Athens (GPB/NPR), University of Georgia
- WCCV FM 91.7 Cartersville (Christian), Immanuel Broadcasting Network
W265AV 100.9 Woodstock, W221AW 92.1 North Canton, W223BP 92.5 Lithia Springs, W261BG 100.1 Morrow - WCLK FM 91.9 Atlanta (jazz/NPR), Clark Atlanta University
- WZGC FM 92.9 Atlanta, sports talk radio (previously "92-9 Dave FM" from 2004-2012; AAA), CBS Radio
- WVFJ-FM 93.3 Manchester (Christian contemporary "J93.3"), Provident Broadcasting Company
- WSTR FM 94.1 Smyrna (top 40 "Star 94.1"), Entercom Communications
- W233BF FM 94.5 Atlanta (local hip-hop "Streetz 94-5"), Edgewater Broadcasting
- WUBL FM 94.9 Atlanta (country "94.9 The Bull"), iHeartMedia, Inc.
- WSBB-FM 95.5 Doraville (news/Talk, simulcast of "News/Talk 750/95.5 WSB"), Cox Radio
- WWPW FM 96.1 Atlanta (top 40 "Power 96.1" ("Project 9-6-1" now on HD-2), iHeartMedia
- WRDG FM 96.7 Peachtree City (alternative rock "Radio 105.7 and 96.7" (repeats WRDA), iHeartMedia
- WSRV FM 97.1 Gainesville (classic hits "97.1 The River"), Cox Radio
- WUMJ FM 97.5 Fayetteville (classic hip hop "Boom 97-5 / 102-9"), Radio One
- W250BC FM 97.9 Atlanta (classic hiphop "OG 97-9"), Cumulus Media
- WSB-FM 98.5 Atlanta (adult contemporary "B98.5"), Cox Radio
- W255CJ FM 98.9 Atlanta (alternative rock "99X"), Cumulus Media
- WIEH-LP 99.1 Marietta (Christian music and talk mostly in Brazilian Portuguese), Ministério Semeadores de Boas Novas
- WCON-FM 99.3 Cornelia (country music), now heard in northeast metro
- WWWQ FM 99.7 Atlanta (top 40 "Q100"), Cumulus Media
- WNSY FM 100.1 Talking Rock (regional Mexican "La Raza" simulcast with WLKQ), Davis Broadcasting
- WNNX FM 100.5 College Park (mainstream and classic rock "Rock 100.5"), Cumulus Media
- WKHX-FM 101.5 Marietta (country "Kicks 101.5"), Cumulus Media
- WLKQ-FM 102.3 Buford (regional Mexican "La Raza" simulcast with WNSY), Davis Broadcasting
- WPZE FM 102.5 Mableton (gospel music "Praise 102.5"), Radio One
- W275BK FM 102.9 Decatur (WUMJ "repeater" (Boom 97-5/102-9), Extreme Media Group
- WVEE FM 103.3 Atlanta (urban music "V103"), CBS Radio
- WPCG-LP 103.7 Canton (Christian radio), Cherokee FM Radio
- WALR-FM 104.1 Greenville (urban AC/oldies "Kiss 104.1"), Cox Radio
W228CA 93.5 Suwanee (northeast) - WFSH-FM 104.7 Athens (Christian "104.7 The Fish"; Christmas), Salem Communications
- WBZY FM 105.3 Bowdon (regional Mexican & Spanish AC "105.3 El Patron"), iHeartMedia
- WRDA 105.7 Canton (alternative rock "Radio 105.7 and 96.7"), iHeartMedia
- WYAY FM 106.7 Gainesville (news/Talk "Newsradio 106.7"), Cumulus Media
- WTSH-FM 107.1 Rockmart and W296BB Jonesboro (country "South 107"), Woman's World Broadcasting
- WAMJ FM 107.5 Roswell (urban AC "Majic 107.5"), Radio One
- WHTA FM 107.9 Hampton (urban "Hot 107.9"), Radio One
WUBL FM 94.9 and WSB-FM 98.5 are the primary entry points to the state of Georgia Emergency Alert System, taking emergency messages from the governor of Georgia, GEMA, or U.S. president, and relaying them to all other stations across the state.
WFSH-FM carries a Christmas music format from just before Thanksgiving until Christmas Day. Since 2011, WVFJ-FM also does so, with WSB-FM dropping it a couple of years later. In adjacent areas, WSRM 94.5 Coosa does the same in northwest Georgia.
Internet
Four local college radio stations operate on Internet radio and other means of distribution:
- WGHR at Southern Polytechnic State University (CC AM 1969-1981; FM 1981-2001)
- WMRE at Emory University (on-campus cable TV audio on bulletin board channel)
- Owl Radio at Kennesaw State University since 2007
- The WOLF Internet Radio at University of West Georgia since 2010
Newspapers
The major daily paper in Atlanta is The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Several alternative weekly publications are also distributed, including Creative Loafing, The Sunday Paper and the Atlanta Nation. A monthly newsprint publication Stomp and Stammer features local music news, indie rock record reviews, and cultural commentary.
As of November 2010, the following newspapers are published in Atlanta:
- Atlanta Business Chronicle (1978–present), weekly
- Atlanta Inquirer (1960–present)
- Atlanta Intown (1996–present), free monthly
- The Atlanta Jewish Times (1925–present), weekly
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution (2001–present), Metro Atlanta's leading daily, circulation daily 174,251 (2012)[7]
- Atlanta Story (2002–present), formerly the Intown Story, Buckhead Story, and Central Dekalb Story, now an online-only newspaper
- Atlanta Voice (1966–present), daily, news reporting for the Atlanta African American community
- Barbershop Digest (2008–present), free monthly
- Creative Loafing (1972–present), the area's leading free weekly, circulation 96,654 (September 2009)[8]
- Fulton County Daily Report (1890–present), daily
- The Maroon Tiger (1925-present), bi-weekly, the critically acclaimed student newspaper of Morehouse College.
- The Emory Wheel (1919-present), weekly, award-winning student newspaper of Emory University.
- The Nooze (current), north-northeast metro area and adjacent counties extending into northeast Georgia
- The Signal (1933–present), the independent student newspaper of Georgia State University
- The Southerner (1947-present), the nationally recognized student newspaper of Henry W. Grady High School
- The Sunday Paper (2004–present)
Suburban newspapers include:
- Acción Deportes (Spanish)
- The Champion Newspaper, Inc.
- The Cherokee Ledger-News
- Cherokee Tribune
- Clayton News Daily
- CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
- Dunwoody Crier
- Gwinnett Daily Post
- Henry Herald
- Marietta Daily Journal
- El Nuevo Georgia (Spanish)
- The Sentinel, the independent student newspaper of Kennesaw State University
In its history, Atlanta has had many other daily and weekly newspapers, starting with its first weekly, The Luminary (1846), and its first daily, the Daily Intelligencer (1849).
- Atlanta Constitution (1868–2001), daily
- Atlanta Daily World (1977–1988), daily
- Atlanta Georgian (1906–1939), afternoon daily
- Atlanta Journal (1883–2001), afternoon daily
- Atlanta Press (1996?–2002?), free weekly
- Atlanta Southern Confederacy (1861–1864)
- Atlanta Telegram (1877)
- Atlanta Times (1876)
- City Guardian (1861)
- Daily Evening Commonwealth (1874–1875)
- Daily Examiner (1850?–1857), daily (merged with Intelligencer)
- Daily Herald (1872–1876), daily
- Daily Intelligencer (1849–1871), daily
- Daily New Era (1866–1869), daily
- Daily News (1874), daily
- Daily Sun (1872–1874)
- Daily True Georgian (1870)
- Evening Capitol (1885)
- The Great Speckled Bird (1968–1976), underground weekly
- The Luminary (July 14, 1846 – 1848), weekly (1848 published as The Tribune)
- Poets, Artists & Madmen (1993?–1998?), free weekly
- Post Appeal (1882)
- Southern Voice (1988–2009), free weekly
- Southern World (1882–1885)
- Sunday American, Sundays; together with the Georgian is sometimes called the Georgian-American
- The Sunny South (1875–1907), literary weekly[9]
Online-only newspapers
- Atlanta Daily World - news reporting for the Atlanta African American community
- Atlanta Progressive News - news stories tailored for the working class
- Atlanta Sun Times - Atlanta edition of Sun Times media
- Express Telegraph - covering business and politics from a Georgia perspective
- GlobalAtlanta - covering international business, education and culture in Atlanta from a global perspective
- Patch - neighborhood news; there are editions for East Atlanta, Virginia-Highland/Druid Hills, Midtown, Buckhead and Cascade, as well as other editions across Metro Atlanta
- Saporta Report - features articles chiefly about Atlanta; lead reporter Maria Saporta also writes for the Atlanta Business Chronicle
Magazines
- Art Papers, founded in 1977
- Atlanta , founded in 1961
- Atlanta Historical Bulletin, founded by the Atlanta Historical Society in 1927
- Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, founded in the mid-1980s
- Atlanta Now, official Atlanta visitors' guide of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
- Atlanta Tribune, aimed at black Atlantans
- AtlantaGrapevine.com, the local interactive city magazine
- The Atlantan, founded in 2006 by Modern Luxury
- City Builder, published by the Chamber of Commerce
- David Atlanta, LGBT magazine, founded in October 1998
- Encore Atlanta, show program for the Fox Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Opera and Alliance Theatre; founded in 2002
- Fenuxe Magazine, LGBT lifestyle magazine, founded February 2010
- Flavors, Atlanta's dining scene
- Jezebel
- Russian Town, Atlanta Russian community magazine
- Stomp and Stammer, music magazine founded in 1996
- Atlanta Home Improvement Magazine, founded in 2001 by Atlanta Best Media
See also
References
- ↑ "Arbitron Radio Market Rankings - Fall 2011". Arbitron.com. 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
- ↑ "About Cox". Cox Communications, Inc. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
- ↑ "Nielsen Reports 1.3% increase in U.S. Television Households for the 2007-2008 Season." Nielsen Media Research. (September 22, 2007) Retrieved on April 29, 2008.
- ↑ "Entertainment and performing arts". AtlantaMaps.net. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
- ↑ Archived February 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ CMLS:Profile for Cumulus Media Inc. Yahoo! Finance
- ↑ "Top 10 Georgia Daily Newspapers". Cision. August 1, 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ↑ Association of Alternative News Media
- ↑ Moore, L. Hugh, The Georgia Review, Volume XIX, Number 2, Summer 1965, p. 176
External links
- Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive Digital Library of Georgia
- Southern Israelite Archive Digital Library of Georgia