This triple candelabra-style tower is located behind the studios for WAGA-DT, Fox network affiliate Channel 5 in Atlanta.
From Fybush.com: (
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"WAGA-TV and WDWD, Atlanta, 2009
WAGA-TV (Channel 5) wasn't the first station in town - that honor belonged to WSB-TV (then on channel 8), which signed on in September of 1948 - but it wasn't far behind, debuting on March 8, 1949 from a studio and transmitter site (complete with a 499-foot self-supporting tower) at 1018 West Peachtree Street, just north of downtown Atlanta.
Storer Broadcasting already owned radio stations in Atlanta: WAGA (590) and WAGA-FM (103.3) were the city's CBS radio affiliates, so it was inevitable that WAGA-TV would follow suit, becoming the CBS-TV affiliate, with secondary connections to ABC and DuMont, at least for its first few years.
The city's growth in the 1950s made a bigger signal a necessity, and in 1955 Storer bought land northeast of downtown, in the Druid Hills neighborhood near the WAGA(AM) tower site, building an 1100-foot tower to dramatically boost channel 5's reach.
A decade later, the studios followed the transmitter out to Druid Hills, where Storer built what can only be described as a classic Storer studio building. Wherever Storer built studios, whether it was WHN in Manhattan or WSPD in Toledo or WJBK in Detroit or WSBK in Boston, the style was always the same: Southern antebellum mansion. And if the style didn't quite fit alongside the Massachusetts Turnpike or Ten Mile Road in Southfield, it fit perfectly at 1551 Briarcliff Road NE."
And from Wikipedia: (
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"WAGA-TV, virtual channel 5 (UHF digital channel 27), is a Fox owned-and-operated television station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, WAGA-TV maintains studio and transmitter facilities located on Briarcliff Road in unincorporated DeKalb County, just outside the Atlanta city limits (but with an Atlanta mailing address). . . .
History
As a CBS affiliate
WAGA-TV first began operations on March 8, 1949. The station was originally owned by Toledo, Ohio-based Fort Industry Company, which also operated WAGA radio (AM 590, now WDWD; and WAGA-FM 102.9, now WVEE at 103.3), all colloquially called "Wagga". Fort Industry would later be renamed Storer Broadcasting after the company's founder, George B. Storer. Channel 5 is Atlanta's second-oldest television station, signing on seven months after WSB-TV (then on channel 8). Originally a CBS affiliate, channel 5 also carried a secondary affiliation with the DuMont Television Network from 1949 to 1956. It also shared the ABC affiliation with WSB-TV (which moved to channel 2 in 1950) until WLTV (a then-new channel 8 station) signed on in September 1951. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. Storer sold the WAGA radio stations in 1959; however, channel 5 retained the "-TV" suffix before dropping it in 1998, only to pick it up again in 2009.
WAGA-TV was the only VHF commercial station in Atlanta that was on the same channel from its launch. Though both WSB-TV and WLTV—predecessor of WXIA-TV (channel 11)—initially telecasted over channel 8, the Federal Communications Commission's 1952 Sixth Report and Order reallocated the frequency to Athens and reserved the channel for non-commercial educational use. The University of Georgia returned channel 8 to the air as WGTV, the television flagship of Georgia Public Broadcasting in May 1960.
WAGA-TV originally broadcast from studios and transmission facilities located at 1018 West Peachtree Street NW. This building would later become home to pioneering superstation and leading Atlanta independent station WTBS (channel 17, now WPCH-TV). On June 21, 1966, channel 5 opened its current facilities on Briarcliff Road Northeast, in Druid Hills.[3] The studio resembles an antebellum Southern mansion, a type of architecture that was typical for Storer's broadcasting facilities. While this design was somewhat out of place in most of Storer's other markets (which also included Toledo, Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee), it was a perfect fit for Atlanta.
WAGA's original transmitter tower was later the site of a different tower for WPCH-TV's analog channel 17 signal, and a backup for WWWQ (99.7 FM). Because Storer Cable became part of Comcast, the tower (owned by competing cable television provider Time Warner, along with WPCH) was to be removed by October 2009, ending the land lease.
In 1985, WAGA, along with the other Storer stations were sold into a group deal to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a New York-based private equity firm. Two years later in 1987, KKR sold the Storer stations to Gillett Communications. After bankruptcy, Gillett restructured in 1991, selling several stations and changing its name to SCI. The station's studios were used on location in the Matlock episode called "The Reporter". In 1992, SCI filed for bankruptcy and put its stations on the market. In 1993, New World Communications acquired the SCI stations, including WAGA, with the purchase becoming final on May 25. At the time, New World happened to be based in Atlanta; because of this, WAGA became New World's flagship station.
As a Fox station
On December 18, 1993, Fox outbid CBS for the rights to the NFL's National Football Conference television package.[4] Fox then signed a long-term deal with New World Communications on May 23, 1994 to affiliate with most of the company's major network affiliates, effective that fall.[5] Though Fox already owned a station in Atlanta, WATL-TV (channel 36) and was ready to launch local news on that station, it found the chance to have its programming on a VHF station, along with having a long-respected local news operation, too much to resist. Additionally, the move allowed WAGA to retain its status as the unofficial "home" station of the Atlanta Falcons; WAGA had carried most Falcons games as part of CBS' NFC package since the team's inception in 1966. Since the switch to Fox, both of the Falcons' Super Bowl appearances (XXXIII and LI) have been carried on the station, as both were Super Bowls to which Fox had the national television rights to.
WAGA-TV switched to Fox on December 11, 1994 and ended its 45-year affiliation work with CBS, which moved to longtime independent station WGNX (channel 46, now WGCL-TV), which initially turned down CBS's offer to affiliate with the station. The switch was originally scheduled to occur on November 27, but was pushed two weeks later as negotiations between New World Communications, Fox and CBS were ongoing. Afterwards, WAGA subtracted the "-TV" suffix in 1998.[6] Prior to the switch, WAGA was CBS's longest-tenured affiliate south of Washington, D.C. (WUSA); an honor now held by Charlotte, North Carolina's WBTV. WGNX sold much of its syndicated program inventory to WVEU (channel 69, now WUPA), which became a charter affiliate of UPN on January 16, 1995 (eventually becoming an owned-and-operated station of that network); as a result, WGNX was the only Atlanta station that did not retain its entire existing syndicated programming lineup following the switch. WATL became an independent station before becoming a charter affiliate of The WB on January 11, 1995. At that time, Fox finalized the sale of WATL to Qwest Broadcasting (which was controlled by musician Quincy Jones), which merged with The WB's part-owner, the Tribune Company in 2000 (WATL is now owned by Tegna as part of a duopoly with WXIA).
With the affiliation switch, the station acquired additional first-run syndicated talk and reality shows, game shows and movies. As with its sister stations under New World, WAGA opted not to carry children's programming from Fox Kids, which remained on WATL, due to WAGA's interest in airing more local news programming. The switch also continued WAGA's status as the unofficial "home" station of the Falcons, aside from the first three months of the 1994 season, which aired on WATL.
Fox Television Stations bought ten of New World's stations on July 17, 1996. The purchase was finalized on January 22, 1997, turning WAGA into a Fox owned-and-operated station (the second in Atlanta); the station then rebranded itself as "Fox 5 Atlanta", per the network's branding guidelines. However, as with the other former New World Communications stations that are still owned by FOX, the New World name continues in use as channel 5's licensee."