Helen Pierson

WLTZ NBC 38 and The CW GA-BAMA

History The station began broadcasting on October 29, 1970, as WYEA and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 38. It was branded on-air as "YAY-TV" and featured promotions showing a cheerleader with pompoms. WYEA was originally owned by Huntsville, Alabama broadcaster Charles Grisham and his company, Gala Broadcasting. It brought a full NBC affiliate to Columbus after a full decade in which NBC was mostly limited to off-hours clearances on CBS outlet WRBL and ABC affiliate WTVM. Later in the 1970s, WYEA became the flagship station of Aflac's broadcast operations (a locally based insurance company). The outlet added the -TV suffix to its call sign on January 23, 1979. In 1981, Aflac sold the station to J. Curtis Lewis, owner of WJCL-TV-FM in Savannah, Georgia, WLTX and WNOK-FM in Columbia, South Carolina, and WSTZ-FM-AM in Jackson, Mississippi. On August 31 of that year, the station changed its calls to the current WLTZ and adopted the branding "Z 38". Lewis kept WLTZ until 2007--long after selling off his other stations--when SagamoreHill Broadcasting purchased the station. WLTZ joined The CW network on April 27, 2009, adding it to a second digital channel, 38.2. In April 2015, WLTZ gave birth to a new company within the organization with the launch of Aligator Digital, a digital advertising agency. February 2017 brought Antenna TV's premiere on the third digital channel, 38.3, with the addition of MyNetworkTV programming during weeknights.