Subchannels (see article) | Affiliations ABC (since 1959) | |
Branding ABC 6 (general)
ABC 6 News (newscasts)
Delta Fox 10 (on DT2) Slogan The Delta's #1 News Station Channels Digital: 32 (UHF)
Virtual: 6 (PSIP) Owner Northwest Broadcasting
(Cala Broadcast Partners, LLC) | ||
WABG-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Delta area of Northwestern Mississippi that is licensed to Greenwood. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter northeast of Inverness. The station can also be seen on Suddenlink channel 4 and in high definition on digital channel 701. Owned by Northwest Broadcasting, WABG shares separate administrative and studio buildings on Washington Avenue in Greenville with low-powered sister station NBC affiliate WNBD-LD. It also operates CBS affiliate WXVT under a shared services agreement, owned by John Wagner. Syndicated programming on this station includes: Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, and Judge Judy.
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History
WABG-TV's first broadcast was on October 20, 1959 on VHF channel 6. Originally it was a CBS affiliate, but it switched to ABC a few months later after WJTV in Jackson complained this station was encroaching on its service area. This is because WABG's signal reaches the far western fringes of the Jackson market. The network swap made WABG the first primary ABC affiliate in Mississippi. Until then, the only areas of the state to receive a sole ABC affiliate were the northwest (from Memphis' WHBQ-TV) and the Gulf Coast (from WVUE in New Orleans). WJTV remained the default CBS affiliate for the southern counties in the Delta area, while WREG-TV in Memphis served the northern half of the market, until future sister station WXVT signed on in 1980. Mississippi cities like Kosciusko and around the Kosciusko area received WABG-TV on their analog television set as their default ABC station in 1970 to present. WAPT Channel 16 in Jackson, Mississippi, did not have a strong signal and was not showing a signal on analog television in Kosciusko and around the Kosciusko area.
On September 13, 2006 WABG launched a Fox affiliate, "Delta Fox 10," on a new second digital subchannel. Previously, the national Foxnet service provided Fox programming to cable subscribers in the Delta area (which was one of the last markets to be offered the service). The cable-only service originally planned to close down on September 1, 2006 but was delayed until September 12 to allow WABG time to set up the new affiliate.
On September 5, 2007, WABG announced that it was being sold from Bahakel Communications to local businessman Charles Harker and his company, Commonwealth Broadcasting, pending Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. The sale was finalized on October 29. On July 13, 2010, Commonwealth announced plans to launch new low-powered station, WNBD-LD, as the area's first locally based NBC affiliate; prior to WNBD's launch, NBC was seen in the market through Memphis' WMC-TV or Jackson's WLBT on area cable systems, as well as over-the-air on the edges of the market. Commonwealth also has a license for WFXW-LD channel 17, which is licensed to Cleveland and shares WABG's tower in Inverness. Future plans for this station are unknown.
On May 4, 2012, Saga Communications, owner of WXVT, announced it was selling WXVT to H3 Communications, a company owned by the adult children of Charles Harker. On January 28, 2013, the FCC granted the sale of WXVT, and it was completed two days later. Commonwealth then took over WXVT's operations, effectively bringing all of the Delta's Big Three network stations under the control of one company.
Commonwealth Broadcasting Group agreed to sell WABG-TV, WNBD-LD, and WFXW-LD to Cala Broadcast Partners for $11.7 million on October 30, 2015. Cala is jointly owned by Brian Brady (who owns several other television stations, mostly under the Northwest Broadcasting name) and Jason Wolff (who owns radio and television stations through Frontier Radio Management). Concurrently with this acquisition, Cala agreed to purchase WXVT from H3 Communications; a month later, it assigned its right to purchase that station to John Wagner. The sale was completed on August 1, 2016.
Newscasts
WABG has always had local newscasts and remains the number one ranked station in the Delta region even after WXVT signed-on. WABG-DT2 "Delta Fox 10" does not currently offer any local news produced by the main station. The launch of WNBD will include additional newscasts including the expansion of the weekday morning show to a full two hours with simulcasted on the two channels. Currently weeknights at 10, there is a local news update on WNBD.