WTVM News Leader 9 located in an under the radar and over the top location in Columbus, Georgia (a little over an hour south of Atlanta). The Fountain City has a vibrant artsy energy with a unique local history and a killer food scene. It’s also a perfect place to enjoy the outdoors, listen to local bands and taste some local finely brewed boutique beer. In short, we’ve got world-class experiences without the world-class ego (you can thank us for that later). The station has a unique history, WTVM became the first television station on the air in Columbus, Georgia on October 6, 1953. Allen Woodall, Sr. owned WDAK Radio in Columbus. He went into partnership with Martin Theatres to start WDAK-TV on Channel 28. Martin Theatres became the sole owners in 1956 and changed the station call letters to WTVM-TV, which stands for TeleVision Martin. They also changed the channel allocation to VHF Channel 9 to serve a larger portion of the West Georgia and East Alabama community. In its 64 year history, WTVM News Leader 9 has had 5 owners. Western Broadcasting bought the station in 1980. SFN Publishing became the owner in 1984. A group of SFN managers formed Pegasus Broadcasting and purchased WTVM-TV in 1986. AFLAC bought the station in 1989 (their world headquarter are located across the street). AFLAC sold WTVM to Raycom Media, Inc. of Montgomery, Alabama, on April 15, 1997 and remains under the Raycom banner today. WTVM News Leader 9 has a long history of being the #1 station in the market on all screens.