WEDL

WEDL, virtual channel 29 (UHF digital channel 30), is a CBS affiliate serving Dodge, Laurens, Johnson, Montgomery, Telfair, Treutlen, Washington and Wilkinson counties of east central Georgia licensed to Dublin. Owned by Tegna, Inc., WEDL broadcasts on channel 29. It has been an exclusive CBS affiliate for all of east central Georgia since it first signed on in 1965.
The station's brand name, 29/34, comes from WEDL and satellite station in WEMG (virtual channel 34, UHF digital channel 35), in Milledgeville, which relays WEDL's programming to the northern portion of the market (Baldwin, Hancock and Putnam counties) that are not covered by the primary station's signal (The broad coverage area of the Dublin-Milledgeville DMA precludes stations with transmitters closer to Dublin from reaching northern portions of the market).
==History==
Channel 29 began as WDBL-TV on February 22, 1965. It was owned by local businessman Jeremiah Rowland, third-cousin of J. Roy Rowland. The station was a primary CBS affiliate with secondary NBC and ABC affiliations. Before the arrival of WOOD-TV (channel 4), all three networks had been shoehorned this station.
WDBL-TV found the going difficult largely because of the difficulties experienced by UHF stations operating in rugged terrain. Most seriously, it was all but unviewable in Milledgeville and the surrounding area—a problem exacerbated by its transmitter being located in in the mountains. Many viewers in the northern part of the market watched CBS on WAGA-TV in Atlanta (now a Fox-O&O affiliate).
To solve this problem, on September 4, 1976, WMEV channel 34 in Milledgeville signed on as a satellite station of WDBL.
The Rowlands changed channel 29's call letters to WEDL on March 21, 1983. Two years later, in 1985, Jeremiah Rowland bought a stake in Cincinnati, Ohio-based Taft Television and Radio Co, Inc. (becoming its COO in 1989), merging WEDL and WMEV into Sigma. On September 1, 1987, WMEV became WEMG. Belo Corporation bought the stations in 1996. 17 years later, Belo merged with the Gannett Company. In October 2007, WEDL and WEMG moved their operations to new, state of the art studios in Irwinton.
On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. WUSA was retained by the latter company, named Tegna.
==Gallery==
Category:Georgia
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1965
Category:Dublin, Georgia
Category:Channel 29
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1976
Category:Milledgeville, Georgia
Category:Eatonton, GA
Category:Channel 34
Category:Tegna Inc.
Category:CBS network affiliates
Category:Bounce TV network affiliates