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WTVM (channel 9) is a television station in Columbus, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Gray Media, which provides certain services to dual NBC/CW+ affiliate WLTZ (channel 38, owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting) and Fox affiliate WXTX (channel 54, owned by American Spirit Media) under separate shared services agreements (SSAs). WTVM and WXTX share studios (which also house master control and most internal operations for WLTZ) on Wynnton Road (GA 22) in the Dinglewood section of Columbus; WTVM's transmitter is located in Cusseta, Georgia.
Woodall sold his interest in the station to Martin Theaters in 1956 and the call letters were changed to the current WTVM. It moved to VHF channel 9 in 1960 in a three-way switch-and-move approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in which WRBL moved from channel 4 to channel 3 and WTVY-TV in Dothan, Alabama, moved from channel 9 to channel 4. The moves were permitted because two years earlier Martin Theaters had bought WROM-TV in Rome, Georgia, and moved it north to Chattanooga, Tennessee, while changing its calls to WTVC. Eventually, WTVM's old channel 28 allotment was occupied by Georgia Public Broadcasting's WJSP-TV.
On the same day WTVM moved to channel 9, it switched its primary affiliation to ABC, while relegating NBC to secondary status shared with WRBL. This was very unusual for a then two-station market, especially one of Columbus' size. Usually, ABC, as the smallest and weakest network, was relegated to secondary status on one or both of existing stations. ABC would not be on the same footing with CBS and NBC until the 1970s, especially with markets of Columbus' size. However, Martin Theaters wanted to get WTVM in line with WTVC, which has always been an ABC affiliate. Additionally, fellow NBC affiliates WSB-TV in Atlanta and WSFA-TV in Montgomery, Alabama, both transmitted fairly clear Grade B signals to the region. In contrast, much of Western Georgia and Eastern Alabama did not have access to ABC full-time. The nearest ABC affiliate that put even a Grade B into Columbus was WLWA-TV in Atlanta (now NBC affiliate WXIA-TV), which easily covered much of the northern portion of the market. Martin realized that an ABC affiliation would not bring significant out-of-market competition. Augusta businessman J. B. Fuqua bought Martin Theaters in 1969, including both WTVM and WTVC.
Early in 1970, Fuqua moved WTVM to its present studios on Wynnton Road. The station switched to ABC full-time in October of that year when WYEA (now WLTZ) signed on and took over the NBC affiliation. Fuqua sold-off his broadcast interests in 1980, with WTVM going to Western Broadcasting. SFN Publishing eventually became the owner in 1984. A group of SFN managers formed Pegasus Broadcasting and purchased WTVM in 1986. AFLAC (which had owned WYEA at one point during the 1970s) bought the station in 1989, making channel 9 AFLAC's flagship station. In 1997, AFLAC sold its entire broadcasting division, including WTVM, to an investment group that merged with Ellis Communications to form Raycom Media. On February 2, 2012, Chief Meteorologist Derek Kinkade hinted on the WTVM Weather Facebook page that major studio changes were on the way. On February 16, all WTVM newscasts and Fox 54 News at 10 moved to the newsroom, while a temporary weather office was constructed in the hallway between the editing bay and the newsroom. The new HD-ready set is to be completed in early March. On July 22, 2012, WTVM began airing newscasts in High Definition starting with Fox 54 News at 10.
WTVM-DT2 previously carried a 24-hour local weather channel. Programming consisted of current weather conditions with forecasts, a live feed of "Live Doppler 9", and severe weather alerts when conditions warrant. On Saturday mornings, the subchannel broadcast educational shows to fulfill an E/I requirement. Despite being called "Storm Team 9 Weather Now", it was not affiliated with The Local AccuWeather Channel. It was replaced with Bounce TV on September 26, 2011. The channel is available on all cable systems in the viewing area.
In addition to the main studios, the station operates an East Alabama bureau near the campus of Auburn University. WTVM produces a nightly prime time show for sister station WXTX known as Fox 54 News at 10. At one point, there was also an hour long broadcast seen weekday mornings at 7 on that station. However, this production (called Fox 54 Morning News) was canceled.
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