WUPA

WUPA (channel 69), branded as CBS Atlanta, is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The station is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on Northeast Expressway (I-85) in unincorporated DeKalb County; its transmitter is located in northeastern Atlanta, near North Druid Hills. Channel 69 in Atlanta first began broadcasting in 1981 as independent station WVEU. Years of technical issues provoked by interference to mobile radio users and consequent limitations on the station's operating hours and signal strength contributed to the failure of subscription television (STV) and a music video service that operated the station. WVEU's local founders sold the station to CBS in 1994 at a time when CBS needed to find a new affiliate in Atlanta, but the network was able to negotiate to affiliate with another, more built-up station instead. WVEU became an affiliate of UPN and was then sold to the Paramount Stations Group. Under the new WUPA call sign, Paramount substantially improved the station's programming and ratings in the years that followed before UPN was replaced with The CW in 2006. After successive owner Paramount Global sold the majority of its stake in The CW to Nexstar Media Group in 2022, WUPA disaffiliated from the network on September 1, 2023, reverting to independent status. Less than two years later, WUPA assumed the CBS affiliation for Atlanta as a network-owned station.