WUPA
Encyclopedia
WUPA, channel 69, is a television station
in Atlanta, Georgia
. An owned and operated station of the The CW Television Network
, it identifies itself as "CW 69". It is owned by CBS Corporation
, which is half-owner of The CW. Founded November 10, 1980, the station is broadcast locally in high-definition
on channel 43 (virtual channel 69.1). Originally atop the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, Atlanta's tallest building at the time, it now transmits from another site further east. WUPA broadcasts from its studios located in unincorporated DeKalb County
on the frontage road of Interstate 85
.
, a subscription TV service during the evenings and weekends. By 1982, it was running subscription TV most of the day. In 1984, WVEU dropped "VEU" programming and flipped to a general entertainment format with a focus on Music Videos. In 1984 and 1985 the station branded as "Atlanta's Music Video Channel," with VJs during the hours that featured music. The station also had low budget syndicated shows, CBS
and NBC
programs preempted by WAGA-TV
and WXIA-TV
, and some older movies. However, better programming was difficult to come by, as longer-established competitors WTBS and WANX
picked the best choices clean. Another problem was the station's signal, which was painfully weak at the time and didn't make it too far outside of the Perimeter. Most viewers needed cable to watch it. Things became more difficult when WATL
was sold to Outlet Broadcasting in 1984 and became more competitive in acquiring better programming. WANX, while running slightly more religious programming than normal but still being general entertainment mostly, also became even more aggressive when the Christian Broadcasting Network
sold the station to Tribune Broadcasting
, renaming it WGNX.
Atlanta was not big enough at the time to support four independent stations. Realizing this, WVEU began running Home Shopping Network
for about fifteen hours a day in 1986. HSN began talks to buy the station, but the deal fell through in 1987. Instead, HSN arranged for WNGM-TV in Athens (channel 34, now WUVG-TV
) to air HSN programming 24 hours a day. From 1989 to 1994, WVEU primarily aired Home Shopping Network II programming, but also aired some religious shows, infomercials, NBC and ABC
programs preempted by WXIA and WSB-TV
and a few syndicated shows. It continued to have very low ratings but was profitable because it was spening little money on programming.
On May 22, 1994, New World Communications
announced an affiliation deal with the Fox Broadcasting Company
in which most of New World's stations would become affiliates of the network. This deal came after Fox won the rights to air NFC
football games. One of the stations due to switch was WAGA, which was New World's flagship station at the time. Fox decided to sell its existing O&O in Atlanta (and the market's original Fox affiliate), WATL. Meanwhile, CBS was left looking for an affiliate in the 9th-largest market. First, it approached WSB-TV, WXIA and WATL but neither of those stations were interested. Also not interested at first was Atlanta's other independent, WGNX. The latter, then owned by Tribune Broadcasting
, was slated to join The WB Television Network
, which it co-owned with Time Warner
. Meanwhile WATL was most likely to become Atlanta's affiliate for the United Paramount Network (UPN
), which was co-owned by Paramount Pictures
and Chris-Craft Industries
.
With only a few months before WAGA was slated to join Fox, CBS faced the prospect of having to pipe in WSPA-TV
in Spartanburg, WDEF-TV
in Chattanooga, WRBL
in Columbus
and WMAZ-TV
in Macon
for cable customers. Almost out of desperation, CBS agreed to buy WVEU in October, even though the station had the lowest ratings and the weakest signal of all of Atlanta's full-power stations. However, late in November, Tribune relented and agreed to allow WGNX to join CBS, while WATL would become the WB affiliate. The deal left WGNX (which later became WGCL-TV) with a large amount of programming that it would no longer have time to air. Channel 46 sold WVEU many of its syndicated cartoons as well as Disney Afternoon
cartoons along with off network classic sitcoms. By the time of the affiliation switch in December, WVEU finally had a decent inventory of programming.
, a subsidiary of Viacom (which had purchased original parent Paramount Pictures not long after UPN was founded), bought the station and changed its call letters to WUPA. Viacom gave the station a significant on-air facelift to match its new status as an O&O. It also significantly boosted the station's signal to a full 5 million watts, giving it a coverage area comparable to the other major Atlanta stations. After WATL was sold by Fox of which it was formerly affiliated with, WUPA went on to be the first permanent network O&O in Atlanta.
The affiliation with UPN ushered in a new era for WUPA. With a stronger signal and the syndicated shows acquired from WGNX, it became a factor in the Atlanta ratings for the first time ever. The station would surpass WATL and even WTBS' ratings. For most of UPN's run, WUPA was the network's fourth strongest station.
The station returned to CBS hands when CBS merged with Viacom in 2000. However, the station remained affiliated with UPN (due to WGNX/WGCL having higher ratings and a better channel position than WUPA). In 2006, Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation
and spun off its cable and movie interests as a new Viacom
. WUPA remained under the CBS banner, along with the other broadcasting interests.
Over the years, more first run syndicated shows were added to the station's schedule. When the Disney cartoon block ended in 2003, WUPA stopped running kids programming except for the weekends. It picked up the Fox Box, later 4Kids TV
, from WHOT-TV (now WUVG-DT) in 2002 when that station was sold to Univision
. Channel 69 continued to air Fox's Saturday morning children's block until just before The CW began airing. Thereafter, 4Kids TV was not picked up by any Atlanta station until it went off the air in December 2008. (The successor block to 4Kids TV, the Weekend Marketplace
infomercial block, is currently aired on WATL.)
On Monday, April 5, 2004, the station launched "UPN Atlanta News at Ten", a 10pm newscast produced by WXIA-TV
as well as a live program at 10:30pm titled "Atlanta Tonight". Both suffered in the ratings, and they were canceled on Sunday, August 28, 2005. WXIA has since resumed a 10pm newscast after purchasing WATL in 2006.
, effective September 2006. As part of the deal, the new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with 11 of CBS' UPN stations, including WUPA. It would not have been an upset had WATL been chosen instead, however. CW officials were on record as preferring the "strongest" WB and UPN stations, and Atlanta was one of the few markets where the WB and UPN stations were both relatively strong.
In August 2006, WUPA updated their website, logo bug, and promos to incorporate its new moniker, The CW Atlanta. However, it retained its call letters.
In celebration of The CW coming to WUPA, the network produced a one-hour fashion and music program in partnership with Macy's
and VIBE
entitled, Beats, Style, & Flavor. The program was hosted by Eva Pigford from America's Next Top Model and V-103's Greg Street. The program first aired on September 7, 2006 and re-aired on September 17, the eve of The CW's launch.
In November 2006, FTVLive revealed that WUPA's master control would be moved to sister CW affiliate WGNT
in Norfolk, Virginia
. CBS Corporation since confirmed that WUPA and its Tampa Bay sister station WTOG would be hubbed out of WGNT, with layoffs expected from both stations; this came after CBS denied that such would happen (http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/05/Artsandentertainment/Exec_says_local_TV_st.shtml). On January 29, 2008, WUPA changed their branding from CW Atlanta to CW69. WGNT was sold to Local TV
, the owner of that market's CBS affiliate WTKR
, in August 2010. CBS Television Stations is currently winding down operations at the Norfolk hub; once that is completed, both WUPA and WTOG will once again handle their own master controls in-house.
The station produces a local public affairs program called Focus Atlanta, which is hosted by Keisha Williams and features topics of community interest.
WUPA sponsors a local theater venue in a promotional partnership with Rival Entertainment at 17th and West Peachtree Streets in downtown Atlanta. Called The CW Midtown Music Complex, it features three performance spaces within the same space; "Center Stage", "The Loft", and "Vinyl".
On Sunday mornings, a kids block called Toonzai (formerly The CW4Kids
), owned by 4Kids Entertainment
, CBS Corporation
and Time Warner
, airs on WUPA. On most other states in the USA, It airs on Saturdays. 4Kids Entertainment previously programmed Fox Box/4Kids TV from 2002 to 2008.
Recently, rumors have spread about CBS Corporation (which split from Viacom in 2005) purchasing WGCL, making it sister to WUPA. Meanwhile, other rumors persist about CBS selling WUPA to either Meredith Corporation
(current owners of CBS affiliate WGCL) or Cox Television (owners of ABC affiliate WSB).
As A CBS-owned station, WUPA uses the standard masthead on its website of CBS and name of the city. The masthead uses ".net" in its domain address to prevent confusion with WGCL's "CBS Atlanta.com" (all other CBS-owned stations use ".com" on their site mastheads) but the site itself uses the CBS standard cbslocal.com address.
Up until mid-2008, the station used virtual channel
43.1 in its PSIP transmissions. , the station now complies with FCC regulations which require TV stations to use their analog channel number as their major channel number in digital, so it now appears at channel 69.1.
After the analog shutdown was complete on June 12, 2009, WUPA remained on digital channel 43 as channels 52 to 69 were removed from the U.S. TV bandplan
for other services.
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. An owned and operated station of the The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
, it identifies itself as "CW 69". It is owned by CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
, which is half-owner of The CW. Founded November 10, 1980, the station is broadcast locally in high-definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
on channel 43 (virtual channel 69.1). Originally atop the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, Atlanta's tallest building at the time, it now transmits from another site further east. WUPA broadcasts from its studios located in unincorporated DeKalb County
DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population of the county was 691,893 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is the city of Decatur. It is bordered to the west by Fulton County and contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta...
on the frontage road of Interstate 85
Interstate 85
Interstate 85 is a major interstate highway in the Southeastern United States. Its current southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus interchanges with Interstate 95 in Petersburg, Virginia, near Richmond...
.
The beginning (1980-1995)
The station first began operations on November 10, 1980, under the call letters WVEU. It was originally owned by locally-based BCG Communications. Initially, its programming line-up consisted of business news during the day and VEUVEU
VEU was an American subscription television channel owned by Golden West Broadcasting. The channel was similar to ON-TV, another scrambled UHF service, and was carried by many stations including KAUT-TV in Oklahoma City, WVEU in Atlanta and KNBN in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The service began...
, a subscription TV service during the evenings and weekends. By 1982, it was running subscription TV most of the day. In 1984, WVEU dropped "VEU" programming and flipped to a general entertainment format with a focus on Music Videos. In 1984 and 1985 the station branded as "Atlanta's Music Video Channel," with VJs during the hours that featured music. The station also had low budget syndicated shows, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
programs preempted by WAGA-TV
WAGA-TV
WAGA-TV, virtual channel 5.1 is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Television Network and based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
and WXIA-TV
WXIA-TV
WXIA-TV, virtual channel 11.1 , is the NBC-affiliated television station in Atlanta, Georgia. Popularly known by its 11 Alive moniker, WXIA is owned by the Gannett Company in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL...
, and some older movies. However, better programming was difficult to come by, as longer-established competitors WTBS and WANX
WGCL-TV
WGCL-TV, virtual channel 46.1 is the CBS-affiliated television station serving the Atlanta, Georgia area. Its city of license is Atlanta, and the station is owned by Meredith Corporation, making it the largest-market CBS station not owned by the network...
picked the best choices clean. Another problem was the station's signal, which was painfully weak at the time and didn't make it too far outside of the Perimeter. Most viewers needed cable to watch it. Things became more difficult when WATL
WATL
WATL is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, USA affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by the Gannett Company and is a sister station to WXIA-TV , Atlanta's NBC affiliate. WATL's callsign refers to ATLanta, the station's city of license, also known as "the A-T-L" for its airport code...
was sold to Outlet Broadcasting in 1984 and became more competitive in acquiring better programming. WANX, while running slightly more religious programming than normal but still being general entertainment mostly, also became even more aggressive when the Christian Broadcasting Network
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, is a fundamentalist Christian television broadcasting network in the United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in Virginia Beach, Virginia.-Background:...
sold the station to Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
, renaming it WGNX.
Atlanta was not big enough at the time to support four independent stations. Realizing this, WVEU began running Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network
Home Shopping Network or HSN began in 1977 as a 24-hour/7 day a week home shopping television network televised via cable, satellite, and some terrestrial channels in the Philippines. HSN can also be shopped online at hsn.com...
for about fifteen hours a day in 1986. HSN began talks to buy the station, but the deal fell through in 1987. Instead, HSN arranged for WNGM-TV in Athens (channel 34, now WUVG-TV
WUVG-TV
WUVG-DT is the Univision owned and operated TV station in the greater Atlanta area, on DTV channel 48. WUVG-DT offers a Spanish-language programming format featuring TV news, talk shows, dramas, movies and other first-rate Spanish programming...
) to air HSN programming 24 hours a day. From 1989 to 1994, WVEU primarily aired Home Shopping Network II programming, but also aired some religious shows, infomercials, NBC and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
programs preempted by WXIA and WSB-TV
WSB-TV
WSB-TV, virtual channel 2.1 , is the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship television station of Cox Enterprises and its Cox Media Group subsidiary...
and a few syndicated shows. It continued to have very low ratings but was profitable because it was spening little money on programming.
On May 22, 1994, New World Communications
New World Communications
New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...
announced an affiliation deal with the Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in which most of New World's stations would become affiliates of the network. This deal came after Fox won the rights to air NFC
National Football Conference
The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
football games. One of the stations due to switch was WAGA, which was New World's flagship station at the time. Fox decided to sell its existing O&O in Atlanta (and the market's original Fox affiliate), WATL. Meanwhile, CBS was left looking for an affiliate in the 9th-largest market. First, it approached WSB-TV, WXIA and WATL but neither of those stations were interested. Also not interested at first was Atlanta's other independent, WGNX. The latter, then owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
, was slated to join The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
, which it co-owned with Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. Meanwhile WATL was most likely to become Atlanta's affiliate for the United Paramount Network (UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
), which was co-owned by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly-held American corporation traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It later took on the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris-Craft Boats...
.
With only a few months before WAGA was slated to join Fox, CBS faced the prospect of having to pipe in WSPA-TV
WSPA-TV
WSPA-TV channel 7 is the CBS-affiliated television station for western North Carolina and South Carolina. It is licensed to Spartanburg, South Carolina with its transmitter is located on Hogback Mountain southwest of Tryon, North Carolina. Owned by Media General, the station is sister to CW...
in Spartanburg, WDEF-TV
WDEF-TV
WDEF–TV channel 12 is the CBS affiliate television station for Chattanooga and the Tennessee Valley. The station, whose call letters came from its former AM and FM sister stations, is owned by Morris Multimedia. Its transmitter is located in Signal Mountain, Tennessee. Syndicated programming on...
in Chattanooga, WRBL
WRBL
WRBL, virtual channel 3 , is the CBS-affiliated television station in Columbus, Georgia. The station is owned by Media General, with studios in Columbus...
in Columbus
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
and WMAZ-TV
WMAZ-TV
WMAZ-TV, channel 13, is the CBS affiliate television station in Macon, Georgia, United States. It is owned by Gannett.-History:The station signed on for the first time on September 27, 1953, owned by Southeastern Broadcasting Company along with WMAZ radio...
in Macon
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
for cable customers. Almost out of desperation, CBS agreed to buy WVEU in October, even though the station had the lowest ratings and the weakest signal of all of Atlanta's full-power stations. However, late in November, Tribune relented and agreed to allow WGNX to join CBS, while WATL would become the WB affiliate. The deal left WGNX (which later became WGCL-TV) with a large amount of programming that it would no longer have time to air. Channel 46 sold WVEU many of its syndicated cartoons as well as Disney Afternoon
The Disney Afternoon
The Disney Afternoon was a created-for-syndication two-hour television programming block which aired from September 10, 1990, until Fall 1999. At that time, it was taken out of syndication, and a new Disney weekday afternoon block was started on UPN. The Disney Afternoon was produced by The Walt...
cartoons along with off network classic sitcoms. By the time of the affiliation switch in December, WVEU finally had a decent inventory of programming.
UPN era (1995-2006)
WVEU became one of the charter affiliates of UPN in January 1995. That summer, Paramount Stations GroupParamount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group was a television broadcasting company that was renamed from the TVX Broadcast Group in 1991 after Paramount Pictures gained full ownership of the group. At the time, it owned several Fox affiliates and independent stations...
, a subsidiary of Viacom (which had purchased original parent Paramount Pictures not long after UPN was founded), bought the station and changed its call letters to WUPA. Viacom gave the station a significant on-air facelift to match its new status as an O&O. It also significantly boosted the station's signal to a full 5 million watts, giving it a coverage area comparable to the other major Atlanta stations. After WATL was sold by Fox of which it was formerly affiliated with, WUPA went on to be the first permanent network O&O in Atlanta.
The affiliation with UPN ushered in a new era for WUPA. With a stronger signal and the syndicated shows acquired from WGNX, it became a factor in the Atlanta ratings for the first time ever. The station would surpass WATL and even WTBS' ratings. For most of UPN's run, WUPA was the network's fourth strongest station.
The station returned to CBS hands when CBS merged with Viacom in 2000. However, the station remained affiliated with UPN (due to WGNX/WGCL having higher ratings and a better channel position than WUPA). In 2006, Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
and spun off its cable and movie interests as a new Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
. WUPA remained under the CBS banner, along with the other broadcasting interests.
Over the years, more first run syndicated shows were added to the station's schedule. When the Disney cartoon block ended in 2003, WUPA stopped running kids programming except for the weekends. It picked up the Fox Box, later 4Kids TV
4Kids TV
4Kids TV was a Saturday morning television programming block on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The block was part of the Fox Network schedule...
, from WHOT-TV (now WUVG-DT) in 2002 when that station was sold to Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
. Channel 69 continued to air Fox's Saturday morning children's block until just before The CW began airing. Thereafter, 4Kids TV was not picked up by any Atlanta station until it went off the air in December 2008. (The successor block to 4Kids TV, the Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace is a two hour Saturday morning block of paid programming airing on Fox that began airing on January 3, 2009, replacing the 4Kids TV Saturday morning cartoon block that aired using time leased by 4Kids from Fox from 2002 until the last Saturday of 2008...
infomercial block, is currently aired on WATL.)
On Monday, April 5, 2004, the station launched "UPN Atlanta News at Ten", a 10pm newscast produced by WXIA-TV
WXIA-TV
WXIA-TV, virtual channel 11.1 , is the NBC-affiliated television station in Atlanta, Georgia. Popularly known by its 11 Alive moniker, WXIA is owned by the Gannett Company in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL...
as well as a live program at 10:30pm titled "Atlanta Tonight". Both suffered in the ratings, and they were canceled on Sunday, August 28, 2005. WXIA has since resumed a 10pm newscast after purchasing WATL in 2006.
The CW (2006-present)
On January 24, 2006, CBS and Time Warner announced they were "merging" their respective UPN and WB networks into The CW Television NetworkThe CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
, effective September 2006. As part of the deal, the new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with 11 of CBS' UPN stations, including WUPA. It would not have been an upset had WATL been chosen instead, however. CW officials were on record as preferring the "strongest" WB and UPN stations, and Atlanta was one of the few markets where the WB and UPN stations were both relatively strong.
In August 2006, WUPA updated their website, logo bug, and promos to incorporate its new moniker, The CW Atlanta. However, it retained its call letters.
In celebration of The CW coming to WUPA, the network produced a one-hour fashion and music program in partnership with Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
and VIBE
VIBE
Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip-hop music artists, actors and other entertainers...
entitled, Beats, Style, & Flavor. The program was hosted by Eva Pigford from America's Next Top Model and V-103's Greg Street. The program first aired on September 7, 2006 and re-aired on September 17, the eve of The CW's launch.
In November 2006, FTVLive revealed that WUPA's master control would be moved to sister CW affiliate WGNT
WGNT
WGNT, channel 27 , is a television station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia, USA. WGNT is the CW Television Network affiliate for the Hampton Roads television market and is owned by Local TV, which also operates WTKR , Hampton Roads' CBS affiliate...
in Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
. CBS Corporation since confirmed that WUPA and its Tampa Bay sister station WTOG would be hubbed out of WGNT, with layoffs expected from both stations; this came after CBS denied that such would happen (http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/05/Artsandentertainment/Exec_says_local_TV_st.shtml). On January 29, 2008, WUPA changed their branding from CW Atlanta to CW69. WGNT was sold to Local TV
Local TV
Local TV LLC is a limited liability corporation, owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners , which operates 18 local network-affiliated television stations in the United States.-History:...
, the owner of that market's CBS affiliate WTKR
WTKR
WTKR is the CBS affiliate television station serving the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, officially known as the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News DMA. The station is licensed to Norfolk and broadcasts on channel 40 . Its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia...
, in August 2010. CBS Television Stations is currently winding down operations at the Norfolk hub; once that is completed, both WUPA and WTOG will once again handle their own master controls in-house.
The station produces a local public affairs program called Focus Atlanta, which is hosted by Keisha Williams and features topics of community interest.
WUPA sponsors a local theater venue in a promotional partnership with Rival Entertainment at 17th and West Peachtree Streets in downtown Atlanta. Called The CW Midtown Music Complex, it features three performance spaces within the same space; "Center Stage", "The Loft", and "Vinyl".
On Sunday mornings, a kids block called Toonzai (formerly The CW4Kids
The CW4Kids
The CW4Kids is a Saturday morning cartoon block on The CW Television Network that premiered on May 24, 2008 in the place of Kids' WB...
), owned by 4Kids Entertainment
4Kids Entertainment
4Kids Entertainment is an American film and television production company in bankruptcy since April 2011. It is known for English-dubbing Japanese anime and specializing in the acquisition, production and licensing of children's entertainment around the United States...
, CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
and Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
, airs on WUPA. On most other states in the USA, It airs on Saturdays. 4Kids Entertainment previously programmed Fox Box/4Kids TV from 2002 to 2008.
Recently, rumors have spread about CBS Corporation (which split from Viacom in 2005) purchasing WGCL, making it sister to WUPA. Meanwhile, other rumors persist about CBS selling WUPA to either Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
(current owners of CBS affiliate WGCL) or Cox Television (owners of ABC affiliate WSB).
As A CBS-owned station, WUPA uses the standard masthead on its website of CBS and name of the city. The masthead uses ".net" in its domain address to prevent confusion with WGCL's "CBS Atlanta.com" (all other CBS-owned stations use ".com" on their site mastheads) but the site itself uses the CBS standard cbslocal.com address.
Digital television
WUPA-DT broadcasts on digital channel 43, virtual channel 69.1, and as is normal with all CBS-owned stations, no subchannel services.Up until mid-2008, the station used virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
43.1 in its PSIP transmissions. , the station now complies with FCC regulations which require TV stations to use their analog channel number as their major channel number in digital, so it now appears at channel 69.1.
After the analog shutdown was complete on June 12, 2009, WUPA remained on digital channel 43 as channels 52 to 69 were removed from the U.S. TV bandplan
Bandplan
A bandplan or band plan is a plan for using a particular band of radio frequencies, that are a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum . Each bandplan defines the frequency range to be included, how channels are to be defined, and what will be carried on those channels...
for other services.