WSB was the first TV station on the air in Georgia 75 years ago. It was just the beginning of firsts

ATLANTA — For 75 years, WSB-TV has been the leader in local television in metro Atlanta. We were the first TV station on the air in Georgia 75 years ago this month.

That was just the beginning when it came to Channel 2′s firsts.

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Historians believe there were just 2,500 TVs in Atlanta the night WSB began broadcasting on Sept. 29, 1948. Another first came just one year later in 1949.

That’s when WSB brought Atlanta the first-televised football game from Georgia Tech’s Grant Field.

Through the 1950s, WSB led the way as television became an integral part of American life. After President John F. King’s assassination in 1963, it was WSB who secured the first interview with the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I really feel that he was a friend to the cause of civil rights and he created a climate of civil rights concern in Washington and in the nation,” King told Channel 2.

WSB began a commitment to civil rights in the 1960s with the stories we covered and the people who covered them. In 1967, the late Lorenzo “Lo” Jelks became the first Black television reporter in Atlanta.

“To have the honor of working in that environment just thrilled me so.”

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WSB then hired Atlanta’s first Black news anchor Jocelyn Dorsey in 1973.

“I didn’t have the idea of the impact that people, people took away from me being on the air.”

In 1975, Monica Kaufman became the first woman and first minority to anchor the 6 p.m. news in Atlanta.

“Putting a black woman me on the 6:00 news in 1975. That’s a big deal.”

In August 1986, WSB-TV debuted local television’s longest-running community service campaign, the Family 2 Family project.

In the early 80s, WSB-TV was an innovator with its radar. Fast forward to 2011, WSB-TV achieved another first historic.

“This is the new dual polarization, strong Doppler radar. It’s the most advanced Doppler radar in the world. It’s going to completely change the way we cover and track severe thunderstorms.”

Throughout the decades, WSB has led the way on the tech front transforming from black and white of the early days to color to becoming one of the first digital TV stations in the nation.

In 2015, WSB also became the first broadcaster ever approved by the Federal Aviation Administration with special permission to deploy a fleet of drones.

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Celebrating 75: Thrills, twists and triumphs at Atlanta Motor Speedway Channel 2 has been there for qualifying rounds and races since the 1960s.

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