WTLK-TV: Talk TV for Atlanta
On February 1, 1990, zoning officials in Cherokee County approved the construction of a new tower on Pine Log (or Bear) Mountain, northwest of Canton;[7] the new facility would provide a signal into the Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee, markets. Sudbrink also committed to build a second studio in Cherokee County, in Woodstock;[8] it was later involved in a lawsuit with the county zoning board over the requirement. The new transmitter facility, constructed at a cost of $2 million, was activated in December 1990. Shortly prior, the station changed its call sign to WTLK-TV ahead of its plan to implement a 24-hour talk-show format.[9][10]
In March 1991, WTLK-TV signed a lease for studio facilities on Cobb Parkway in Marietta,[11] en route to a planned June 1 launch of new programming, and picked up two NBC game shows not aired by local affiliate WXIA-TV.[12] It also announced that it would discontinue its Rome-area local newscasts while retaining the Shorter Avenue studios and offices.[13] The initial phase was intended to bring talk programming to prime time during the week with planned expansion later.
The new local talk shows debuted on June 17, 1991. Five nights a week, the station presented Talk of the Town with former Miss America Suzette Charles and Michael Young, previously of ESPN, as well as Talk at Nite, hosted by WGST's Brian Wilson. Two other shows alternated: The Mike Roberts Show, hosted by WVEE's morning host, and Boortz!, hosted by Neal Boortz (then also of WGST). The prime time lineup was finished out with two national syndicated shows: Phil Donahue and Sally Jessy Raphael.[14][15] In debuting its new programming, billed as the first all-talk prime-time lineup, WTLK-TV found itself struggling to reach viewers. Must-carry rules for local stations on cable systems were not then in effect,[16] and Atlanta cable providers—to which 60 percent of metro-area viewers were subscribed—were not adding WTLK to their lineups. After failing to land a slot on any local cable system, Sudbrink conducted a round of layoffs in September 1991, including Young.[17] Suzette Charles departed effective December 1, finding the operation "not up to my professional standards".[18]
By 1993, WTLK-TV's schedule consisted mostly of CBS This Morning, country music videos, and reruns.[24] That year, Joel Babbit almost bought the station with plans to expand its talk lineup to 24 hours, with a broader topic mix including home improvement and gardening shows and a model of selling a sponsorship for each talk hour.[25] Babbit abandoned the plan when he became an executive at Whittle Communications less than two months later.[26] Even though must-carry laws had been reintroduced, a dispute over the station's location classification for copyright purposes kept it off the two largest Atlanta cable systems, because the systems, GCTV and Wometco, believed they would have to pay royalties.
