WSB-TV/Channel 2 became the first station in Georgia, and among a handful in the nation, to lead the industry into the digital age of television and the enhanced quality of high definition broadcasting.

The move occurred April 17, 1998 when WBS-TV signed on WSB-DT, Channel 39, in its new facility, housed at 1601 West Peachtree Street.

WSB-TV was a leader in the industry in committing to the Federal Communication Commission that the station would sign-on digital television in 1998.

Officials attending the ceremony marking the historic sign-on were:

• James C. Kennedy, chairman and CEO, Cox Enterprises
• Nicholas D. Trigony, president of Cox Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises
• Andrew S. Fisher, executive vice president of engineering for Cox Broadcasting
• Greg Stone, vice president and general manager of WSB-TV

Said Stone: "With the sign-on, we will formally usher in the beginning of a new era in broadcasting on behalf of the viewers we serve in Georgia. It's especially fitting that we took this leadership role on the 50th anniversary of WSB-TV, the South's first television station. We're proud to continue our long record of technical leadership."

Said Fisher: "We believe that the wide-ranging potential of digital television – higher quality pictures and sound, as well as content enhancements - will spark the next golden age of television. At Cox, we're delighted to have stepped forward early with a commitment to the FCC."

Said Trigony: "HDTV and digital TV have been a long time in the making. We are leading the digital push in the South, and WSB's new digital studios are a technological model for television stations of the future."

Trigony is on the board of Maximum Service Television, which has had a leading role in representing the broadcasting industry and advising the FCC.

WSB-TV was put on the air in 1948 by Gov. James M. Cox, founder of Cox Enterprises. The station was Gov. Cox's, as well as the South's, first television station. James C. Kennedy, Cox Enterprises chairman and CEO, turned on the transmitter to send the first digital signal in Georgia.

Said Kennedy: "It's fitting that this milestone for our flagship TV station comes in 1998, as Cox Enterprises celebrates its first 100 years. Our company has a history of embracing new technologies and taking strategic risks, and WSB-TV has been a leader since it went on the air."

Other companies partnered with WSB-TV to accomplish the station's first high definition transmission: ABC, Harris Corporation, Zenith, Panasonic and the Advanced Television Technology Center (ATTC) of Alexandria, VA.

Zenith has provided a receiver that interfaces with a Panasonic monitor to pick up the Harris transmitter's DTV Channel 39 off air. According to John Swanson, vice president of engineering at Cox, there was a lot to be learned by going digital early and this will give the Cox stations useful information about the future.