Score Atlanta will broadcast Saturday’s lineup of the 2025 Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Channel 46 come Aug. 16, the first day Atlanta News First (WANF and Channel 46) will become an independent station and drop its affiliation with CBS. The station will also become the home of the popular Friday night high school football games featured in the “Drive for the GHSA State Title’’ series.
The Peachtree Sports Network (PSN) will continue to broadcast all Corky and Friday night football games, including the 11 games in the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic beginning Wednesday, Aug. 13 at Kell High School.
Atlanta is the seventh largest television market in the country with 2.7 million homes and 6.75 million viewers.
“It’s especially fitting that on our first day of this evolution, we are now able to show four tremendous high school games to Atlanta and – through the Peachtree Sports Network – across Georgia,” said Erik Schrader, vice president/general manager of WANF. “Our agenda is local, and we are excited that high school fans across Atlanta and the Peach State will get to see this all on day one.’’
Score Atlanta, which debuted a daily one-hour high school sports show last September which airs at noon and runs during the academic school year out of its new studio in Roswell, will now televise more than 257 daily high school shows, events and games during the season including flag football, football and flag football all-star games, basketball, baseball and the annual Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
“The last couple of years we have been able to strengthen our relationship with Erik and his platforms at WANF and to add Channel 46 now means everyone with a television set in the metro Atlanta area will be able to watch our games,’’ said I.J. Rosenberg, president of Score Atlanta. “And the Peachtree Sports Network continues to give us a strong presence in south Georgia. Erik and WANF have made a huge statement here, saying they are going to support high school sports in Georgia in a big way.’’
Channel 46 and WANF are set to become an independent television station for the first time since 1994, having been the CBS affiliate in Atlanta. Gray Media, which purchased WANF along with Peachtree TV (WPCH) in 2021, has spent the past few years developing WANF through copious investments targeted towards improved content with the goal to provide viewers with the best local coverage imaginable across all news, weather and sports both on-air and online. Two years ago, Gray added the Peachtree Sports Network and through its trio of stations including Peachtree TV will broadcast Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Dream and Atlanta Hawks G-League games among other Atlanta sports teams.
The move by Gray provides WANF the opportunity to expand its local news, weather and sports coverage, targeted at the residents in Greater Atlanta. As the station continues to follow through on its promises to deliver trusted local news and information to its viewers, there are many notable events that will help not just maintain but propel the high-level sports coverage with some of Georgia’s most-notable programs and athletes.
Most notably, the 34th-annual Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic will broadcast its Saturday games this year live on the newly independent station during the event’s finale at the prestigious Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta. The event, which has been a staple of Georgia high school football and the official kickoff to the season since 1992, will broadcast four games on WANF in what will be the station’s first day of programming as an independent television station. During late August and into September, the Braves and high school football will run on WANF on Friday nights. The Braves will run on Aug. 22, Sept. 5, Sept. 12 and Sept. 26 while the “Drive for the GHSA State Title” will run on Aug. 29 and Sept. 19. Then on Oct. 3, high school football will run on Friday nights for 11-straight weeks. All games beginning on Aug. 13 with the first day of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic will be on PSN.
Score Atlanta will also be working towards televising some of its other high-caliber high school events and shows on WANF.
“Score Atlanta is all about giving high school student-athletes a platform where their talents can be seen by as many people as possible,” said Rosenberg, whose company Score Atlanta is now 22 years old. “I have to thank Erik, Tiana Fernandez who sets their schedule, the rest of the talented people at WANF and Gray for believing in us and helping up continue to move our platform in a positive direction. Also, our digital presence continues to get stronger every year with our partnerships with the ANF app and the National Federation High School Network. As someone who grew up in Atlanta and went to school in Dekalb County (Lakeside High School), the talent in all sports just gets better every year and here at Score we are thrilled to be right in the middle of it.’’
The four Saturday matchups on WANF and PSN during the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic include St. Pius X vs. Dunwoody (10 a.m.), Brookwood vs. Houston County (1 p.m.), McEachern vs. Walton (4 p.m.) and Douglas County vs. North Gwinnett (7 p.m.).
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