Goodbye WGCL

We are headed back to the future in Atlanta.

In 2000, under Meredith, WGNX in Atlanta changed its call letters to WGCL, and it was branded “Clear TV” and the newscasts were branded “Clear News.”

Yes….it was as stupid as it sounds and it didn’t last long, but the WGCL call letters stuck around.

Now, 22 years later, WGCL is changing yet again. Gray now owns the channel and they will be changing the call letters to WANF, and the branding will be “Atlanta News First.”

Certainly a hell of a lot better than “Clear TV”, but it is another change for a station that has done nothing but change for the past 25 years.

Some really believe that the station is cursed, or is built on Indian burial ground. WGCL has tried different names, different formats, different graphics, music, news sets and just about everything else.

So, will things be different this time?

Well, believe it or not, it just might be. But, not really do to anything that WGCL, WANF, or whatever they want to call themselves is doing.

The station has a chance this time because the competition is much weaker than before. WXIA is owned by Tegna and we know that Tegna isn’t really interested in doing journalism as they are more interested in doing TikTok on TV.

WSB was the blowtorch of the A-T-L, but they are now owned by Apollo, who cares much more about the bottom line than they do news.

So, WGCL really does have a chance, but they need to stop changing, hire solid Journalists and keep the good ones that they have. If they can stay consistent, they have a chance to finally become a player.

Let’s hope they don’t screw it up.