WATL
 
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Atlanta, Georgia United States |
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| Branding | The ATL |
| Slogan | Atlanta's Destination Station |
| Channels |
Digital: 25 (UHF) Virtual: 36 () |
| Affiliations |
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| Owner |
Tegna Media (Pacific and Southern, LLC) |
| First air date | September 13, 1954 (original incarnation) July 5, 1976 (current incarnation) |
| Call letters' meaning | ATLanta (city of license) |
| Sister station(s) | WXIA-TV |
| Former callsigns |
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| Former channel number(s) |
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| Former affiliations | |
| Transmitter power | 500 kW |
| Height | 332 m (1,089 ft) |
| Facility ID | 22819 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 33°48′26″N 84°20′22″W / 33.80722°N 84.33944°WCoordinates: 33°48′26″N 84°20′22″W / 33.80722°N 84.33944°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www |
WATL, virtual channel 36 (UHF digital channel 25), is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station in Atlanta, Georgia. The station is owned by Tegna, Inc., as part of a duopoly with NBC affiliate WXIA-TV (channel 11). The two stations maintain studios and offices located at One Monroe Place on the north end of midtown Atlanta. Its transmitter shares a broadcast tower with several other local stations near North Druid Hills, just northeast of the city. The station is also available on Comcast channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 813.
Channel 36 began operation on December 18, 1954 as WQXI-TV. The station, owned by UHF pioneer Robert Rounsaville, was one of about 150 UHF stations to give the new high-band spectrum a try. The TV station, which had one camera, shared a house in the northeast Atlanta area of Buckhead with WQXI radio. The radio station constantly promoted its TV sister station in an effort to build an audience. However, UHF converters were rare prior to the All-Channel Receiver Act, and programming (largely old movies, a Saturday-evening barn dance, and shots of the radio DJ spinning records) was nearly unwatchable. The station signed off after less than six months on the air on May 31, 1955 (the WQXI callsign was later used on now-sister station WXIA-TV from 1968 to 1974). Despite being off the air the call letters were changed to WATL-TV in early 1956. On May 12, 1965 the Federal Communications Commission granted assignment of the construction permit for Channel 36 under the same call letters to Daniel H. Overmyer from Robert Rounsaville for the consideration of $100,000. At that time Overmyer owned construction permits for two UHF stations, WDHO-TV in Toledo and WNOP-TV in Cincinnati. In addition he was in the process of buying existing construction permits for two other UHF stations in San Francisco and Pittsburgh, as well as applying for new UHF stations in Houston and Dallas. None of the Overmyer owned stations had yet signed on by the time of the channel 36 purchase.
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Wikipedia