WTBS-LD (channel 6) is a

low-power television station Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a Radio broadcasting#Station, broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia, United States, which has been owned by Prism Broadcasting since 1991. The station's

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is located at the American Tower Site on Chester Avenue in

downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts (Midtown Atlanta, Midtown and Buckhead being the others), it is the location of many corporate and region ...

. The original WTBS-LD (channel 26) was also a low-power television station in Atlanta, affiliated with

Estrella TV Estrella TV () is an American Spanish-language broadcast television network owned by the Estrella Media subsidiary of HPS Investment Partners, LLC. The network primarily features programs, the vast majority of which are produced by the networ ...

. The station, which broadcast six subchannels, was a digital

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

of the current WTBS-LD, then known as WTBS-LP. The digital transmitter, which

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

in early January 2011, was, with its sister station

WANN-CD This is a list of broadcast television stations that are licensed in the U.S. state of Georgia. Full-power stations VC refers to the station's PSIP virtual channel. RF refers to the station's physical RF channel. Defunct full-power stations *Ch ...

, located just northeast of the city on one of the two large towers on

Briarcliff Road Briarcliff most commonly refers to: * Briarcliff Manor, New York, a village in Westchester County ** Briarcliff College, a college in the village that closed in 1977 ** Briarcliff Entertainment, an independent film production and distribution compa ...

, at the same site along with CW affiliate

WPCH-TV WPCH-TV (channel 17), branded as Peachtree TV, is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by locally based Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate and company flagship WANF (channel 46), and l ...

(channel 17),

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...

WUVG-DT WUVG-DT (channel 34) is a television station licensed to Athens, Georgia, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Univision and UniMás networks to the Atlanta area. Owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision, the station maintains studios o ...

(channel 34),

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate

WANF WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Media and is co-owned with CW affiliate WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Class A Telemun ...

(channel 46), TBN O&O WHSG-TV (channel 63), and several other stations. The original WTBS-LD's license was canceled by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

on March 17, 2021.

History

The station signed on as W56CD in

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statist ...

; then W26BT; WANX-LP in January 2000; and WTBS-LP on October 15, 2007. The WANX call letters were formerly used by CBS affiliate WANF. In 2014, the analog WTBS-LP reappeared under

special temporary authority Special Temporary Authority (STA) in U.S. broadcast law is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) st ...

on TV channel 6, which can also be received on 87.75

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

of the FM dial. All analog television channels had been scheduled to cease broadcasting in September 2015; this was suspended by the FCC in April of that year. In 2017, it was announced that July 13, 2021, would be the new analog low-power television transmission shutoff date. Analog channel 6 later broadcast an

urban AC Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

format branded as "Mix 87.7", which is also heard via stereo audio on 87.75 FM. Steve Hegwood, the operator of Mix 87.7 announced it would cease using the WTBS frequency on January 31, 2019, due to financial shortfalls and an overcompetitive market for radio targeted at Atlanta's black community. As of February 1, 2019, WTBS-LP became a Regional Mexican station called "La Invasora". WTBS-LP was licensed for digital operation on July 14, 2021, and changed its call sign to WTBS-LD. On July 16, the station received

from the

(FCC) to provide an ancillary audio signal at 87.7 FM .On July 20, 2023, an FCC "Report and Order" included this station as one of 13 "FM6" stations allowed to continue to operate an FM radio broadcast, as a "ancillary or supplementary" service."Fifth Report and Order: In the Matter of Amendment of Parts 73 and 74 of the Commission's Rules to Establish Rules for Digital Low Power Television and Television Translator Stations"
(FCC 23-58, MB Docket No. 03-185, Adopted: July 20, 2023, Released: July 20, 2023) Sometime between 2020 and 2022, La Invasora 87.7 became La Que Buena 87.7 and retained Its Regional Mexican format. On January 13, 2025, La Que Buena 87.7 became 87.7 The Vibe and changed their format to urban adult contemporary.Core Radio Group Launches 87.7 The Vibe Atlanta
Radioinsight - January 13, 2025

Subchannel

References

{{Other Georgia Stations ATSC 3.0 television stations TBS Television channels and stations established in 1988 TBS-LD