WBMA-LP
Encyclopedia
WBMA-LD, channel 58, is the ABC
television
affiliate for Birmingham
and central Alabama
. Its transmitter is located in Birmingham, while its studio is in Hoover
, a suburb of Birmingham.
The station's brand name, "ABC 33/40", comes from its two full-power remote transmitters: WCFT-TV (channel 33, based in Tuscaloosa) in Birmingham
, Tuscaloosa
& Mount Cheaha
and WJSU-TV (channel 40, based in Anniston) in Anniston
, Oxford
& Gadsden
. Although this makes it appear that WCFT is the main station, low-powered WBMA is officially Birmingham's ABC affiliate. WBMA's signal does not extend outside of the immediate Birmingham area. Most Birmingham viewers and cable providers obtain the signal from the higher-power WCFT and WJSU stations. Their combined power carries the ABC 33/40 signal to all of central Alabama
from the Alabama-Georgia
state line westward to Columbus, Mississippi
.
The station is owned by Allbritton Communications through its subsidiary, TV Alabama, Inc. WJSU was formerly owned by Flagship Broadcasting and operated by Allbritton under a local marketing agreement
until Allbritton bought it outright in 2008. WBMA/WCFT/WJSU operates bureaus in Tuscaloosa and Anniston at the locations of the former independent stations.
-based Service Broadcasters in 1967.
The new owners rejuvenated the station by pumping money into it, purchasing new equipment, and improving the station's image. Like WBMG-TV
in Birmingham, WCFT picked up in its first few years CBS and NBC programming not cleared by WAPI-TV (channel 13, now WVTM-TV
). In 1970, WCFT became an official CBS affiliate, as did WBMG (and WHMA below, for eastern Alabama). Even though Tuscaloosa is less than an hour west of Birmingham, CBS opted to retain affiliation with WCFT because channel 42's signal was painfully weak at the time. As such, many cable systems in the western part of the market opted to carry WCFT instead. WCFT regularly trounced WBMG in that portion of the market.
In 1977, Arbitron made Tuscaloosa its own television market, ranking below number 170. For a time in the mid-1990s, WCFT served as the default ABC affiliate for the Columbus/Tupelo
market. Service Broadcasters sold WCFT to Allbritton in 1995. At about the same time, WBMG had boosted its signal to full power, making a solid foundation for the lone CBS affiliate that it would be. WCFT's transmitter is located near Windham Springs, Alabama
, in rural Tuscaloosa County
.
affiliation. The station was operated by the Anniston Broadcasting Company, which was owned by members of the family of Harry M. Ayers (the station's namesake). The Ayers family also owned the Anniston Star newspaper and WHMA radio (1390 AM and 100.5 FM, now WNNX-FM in Atlanta). The station's inaugural general manager, Harry Mabry
, came to Anniston from Birmingham, where he had been news director of WBRC
in Birmingham for several years. Mabry already was familiar with Anniston, though, having been an announcer on WHMA-AM over fifteen years earlier.
WHMA-TV ultimately served approximately 100,000 households in east central Alabama, and management fought almost constantly to maintain its own Arbitron
market between Birmingham and Atlanta. This was a maneuver critical to the station's survival. Despite being the only station located within the Anniston/East Alabama market (other than Alabama Public Television
translator WCIQ), WHMA faced immense competition from the "spill-in" (grade B signal) coverage from larger stations in the nearby larger markets. Its ratings victories garnered it access to numerous national advertisers, a rarity for small-market stations of that time. In 1970, WHMA, along with WBMG and WCFT (above), dropped NBC programming in favor of full-time CBS coverage after WAPI became the sole NBC affiliate for all of central Alabama
that year. As was the case with WCFT, CBS opted to retain affiliation with WHMA because of WBMG's weak signal at the time. In fact, channel 42 was all but unviewable in much of east central Alabama, which is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains
; UHF stations don't get good reception in rugged terrain. Many cable systems in the eastern part of the Birmingham market opted to carry channel 40 as the local CBS affiliate.
In 1984, the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) forced the Ayers family to break up its media empire. Later, in a mid-1980s deal that concerned tax avoidance more than profit, the Ayers sold the station to Jacksonville State University
, who changed the call letters to WJSU-TV. The station was ultimately sold in the 1990s to Flagship Broadcasting.
. However, WBRC's contract with ABC did not expire until September 1996, giving ABC a year to find a new affiliate in Birmingham. ABC reached a unique deal with Allbritton. Both WCFT and WJSU would become ABC affiliates; however there was a snag. Under Nielsen rules, neither station would likely appear in the Birmingham ratings books because they were both considered to be out of market stations. Allbritton's solution was to purchase W58CK, a low-powered station in Birmingham that began operations on November 18, 1994. W58CK would serve as the primary station for ratings purposes. While the channel 58 purchase was not a condition of the deal between ABC and Allbritton, it did pave the way for Anniston and Tuscaloosa to be merged back into the Birmingham market. (That move benefitted all of the major Birmingham stations, because it expanded the television market, thus making the Birmingham stations gain viewers in the Tuscaloosa and Anniston areas.) WJSU and WCFT would end separate operations and combine to act as full-powered satellites of W58CK. Both stations also ceded exclusive CBS rights in all of central Alabama to WBMG, which had recently boosted its signal to full power. Under this arrangement, Allbritton assumed control of WJSU's operations under a local marketing agreement. This lasted until Allbritton bought WJSU outright in 2008.
The new station debuted on September 1, 1996 from studios in the Riverchase office complex in Hoover. Its first slogan was "We're Building Our Station Around You," which was also used on WKYC-TV
in Cleveland for some years. Unlike most advertising catchwords, the phrase was quite accurate because the station's programming consultants surveyed numerous numbers of people across central Alabama to literally built a new station from the ground up.
W58CK officially changed its call letters to WBMA-LP on September 23, 1997; it had been unofficially using the WBMA calls since it began operations.
Notes:
.
Digital channels>
Channels
Video
Aspect
Programming
33.1/40.1/58.1
720p
16:9
Main WCFT/WJSU/WBMA programming / ABC
33.2/40.2/58.2
480i
4:3
Weather
. WCFT moved its digital broadcasts back to its previous analog channel number 33, while WJSU remained on its pre-transition channel 9. However, through the use of PSIP
, digital television receivers display WJSU's virtual channel
as 40.
Even though WBMA-LP was not obligated to shut off its analog signal, as the law exempted low-powered stations from the switchover, the FCC encouraged low-power stations to vacate from their out-of-core allotments (channels 52 to 69). On December 3, 2010, the FCC granted WBMA-LP a construction permit to flash-cut their analog signal on channel 58 to digital channel 40 (formerly occupied by the analog signal of WJSU). WBMA-LP had a permit to operate on channel 11, but due to possible interference with WTVM
& WTOK-TV
, the station decided to move to channel 40. In Late May 2011, WBMA-LP signed on its low-power digital signal on channel 40 as WBMA-LD.
from 10 a.m. to 12 Noon. WBRC had aired All My Children on one-day tape delay since its days as an ABC affiliate, and this practice continued when WBMA/WCFT/WJSU picked up the affiliation. This is the first time since the ABC daytime drama began in 1970 that it has aired in pattern in the Birmingham market.
In 1997, WBMA/WCFT/WJSU refused to air the famous "The Puppy Episode
" of Ellen DeGeneres
' sitcom
, Ellen
. The station cited a need to respect the family values of the largely conservative evangelical
community in the region as the basis of its decision. Some gay rights and civil libertarian activists decried the decision as a blatant example of censorship
; indeed, in response, ABC sent a special satellite feed of the show to a community center in Birmingham and about 1,000 people, mainly local gay
s, lesbian
s, and their supporters, watched as DeGeneres came out of the closet
. Some cable providers also ran the feed from other out-of-state ABC affiliates including WSB-TV
(channel 2) in Atlanta. However, when the same episode ran as a rerun on the network that same season, WBMA/WCFT/WJSU aired the program.
The station achieved early success with their newscasts after their switch to ABC, due in part to hiring many well-known Birmingham television personalities, including news anchors Brenda Ladun and Linda Mays, sports anchor Mike Raita and meteorologists James Spann
and Mark Prater, all of whom had worked at rival WBRC
. Later, Pam Huff and Tracy Haynes, former news personalities on WVTM-TV
, were hired to anchor the station's early morning newscasts. The station's slogans were modified to "Where News Comes First" and then back to the original "We're Building Our Station Around You" (with the word "always" being inserted on graphics before "building"). The station is now called "Alabama's News Leader."
WBMA/WCFT/WJSU has had a long-standing tradition in that when any county in its DMA is under a tornado warning, the station pre-empts regular programming for live, non-stop and commercial-free coverage.
WBMA/WCFT/WJSU operates a number of SkyCams throughout the state which send a live shot and weather information from that site. The station is assisted in this venture by regional banking giant BBVA Compass. There are SkyCams in Downtown Birmingham, Inverness
, Gadsden
, Demopolis
, Hamilton
, Jasper
, Mount Cheaha, Tuscaloosa
, Cullman
, Clanton
and Gulf Shores
, as well as many other cities in Alabama and also a few in Mississippi. The Tuscaloosa TowerLink camera, located on the old Channel 33 broadcast tower, caught footage of an F4 tornado
that hit Tuscaloosa in December 2000, as well as a tornado spawned from Hurricane Rita
in September 2005. The SkyCam in Tuscaloosa (atop the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse) also captured live an extremely destructive tornado that struck Tuscaloosa
during the Super Outbreak on April 27, 2011. A little while later, when that same tornado struck northern Birmingham, the Birmingham SkyCam caught more footage of it. The Cullman SkyCam also caught footage of a multiple-vortex tornado during the latter outbreak of the same day, just hours before the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado struck. TowerLink cameras are also located on WBMA-LD's tower in Birmingham and WJSU's tower in Anniston.
WBMA/WCFT/WJSU offers Spanish-language webcasts online. The brief news updates are anchored on a rotating basis by Vivian Mora and Hernan Prado, two Hispanic business owners in the Birmingham community.
. During this tornado outbreak, Spann and the rest of the weather team used Facebook and Twitter, as well as a weather app available in iTunes
that is produced and managed by the station, to warn people of possible tornados or thunderstorms. Facebook and Twitter were also used in the weeks following the tornados to report damage, suffering family members, missing persons, etc. WBMA/WCFT/WJSU also uses Flickr
to post photos of any kind of weather, or, in the April 27 instance, damage, that are sent in by viewers.
Storm Alert Weather
Sports team
Reporters
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
affiliate for Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
and central Alabama
Central Alabama
Central Alabama is the region in the state of Alabama that stretches approximately 170 miles from the western border with Mississippi to eastern border with Georgia and 136 miles from the northern border of Cullman County to the Alabama River in southern Autauga County. With a...
. Its transmitter is located in Birmingham, while its studio is in Hoover
Hoover, Alabama
Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby Counties in north central Alabama, in the United States. The largest suburb of Birmingham, the population of the city was 62,742 as of the 2000 census and 81,619 in the 2010 census. Hoover is part of the Birmingham-Hoover, AL MSA and is also included in the...
, a suburb of Birmingham.
The station's brand name, "ABC 33/40", comes from its two full-power remote transmitters: WCFT-TV (channel 33, based in Tuscaloosa) in Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
& Mount Cheaha
Cheaha Mountain
Cheaha Mountain , often called Mount Cheaha, is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is located a few miles north-west of the town of Delta in scenic Cheaha State Park, which contains a lodge, restaurant, and other amenities....
and WJSU-TV (channel 40, based in Anniston) in Anniston
Anniston, Alabama
Anniston is a city in Calhoun County in the state of Alabama, United States.As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 24,276. According to the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 23,741...
, Oxford
Oxford, Alabama
Oxford is a city in Calhoun and Talladega counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population was 14,592 at the 2000 census. Oxford is one of two principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area...
& Gadsden
Gadsden, Alabama
The city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...
. Although this makes it appear that WCFT is the main station, low-powered WBMA is officially Birmingham's ABC affiliate. WBMA's signal does not extend outside of the immediate Birmingham area. Most Birmingham viewers and cable providers obtain the signal from the higher-power WCFT and WJSU stations. Their combined power carries the ABC 33/40 signal to all of central Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
from the Alabama-Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
state line westward to Columbus, Mississippi
Columbus, Mississippi
Columbus is a city in Lowndes County, Mississippi, United States that lies above the Tombigbee River. It is approximately northeast of Jackson, north of Meridian, south of Tupelo, northwest of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and west of Birmingham, Alabama. The population was 25,944 at the 2000 census...
.
The station is owned by Allbritton Communications through its subsidiary, TV Alabama, Inc. WJSU was formerly owned by Flagship Broadcasting and operated by Allbritton under a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
until Allbritton bought it outright in 2008. WBMA/WCFT/WJSU operates bureaus in Tuscaloosa and Anniston at the locations of the former independent stations.
WCFT-TV
WCFT started operating as western Alabama's first-ever television station in October 1965, broadcasting on UHF channel 33. The original licensee, Chapman Family Television, was a consortium of eight Tuscaloosa businessmen who saw the benefits of a television station, in both business and community service. WCFT began as an independent station, but because it did not return a profit suitable to the original owners, they sold the station to Hattiesburg, MississippiHattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
-based Service Broadcasters in 1967.
The new owners rejuvenated the station by pumping money into it, purchasing new equipment, and improving the station's image. Like WBMG-TV
WIAT
WIAT, virtual channel 42, is the CBS-affiliated television station in the Birmingham/Tuscaloosa/Anniston/Gadsden, Alabama television market. Licensed to Birmingham, it broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 30, although through the use of PSIP, the station's virtual channel number is...
in Birmingham, WCFT picked up in its first few years CBS and NBC programming not cleared by WAPI-TV (channel 13, now WVTM-TV
WVTM-TV
WVTM-TV, channel 13, is the NBC-affiliated television station in the Birmingham-Anniston-Tuscaloosa-Gadsden, Alabama television market. The station is owned by Media General...
). In 1970, WCFT became an official CBS affiliate, as did WBMG (and WHMA below, for eastern Alabama). Even though Tuscaloosa is less than an hour west of Birmingham, CBS opted to retain affiliation with WCFT because channel 42's signal was painfully weak at the time. As such, many cable systems in the western part of the market opted to carry WCFT instead. WCFT regularly trounced WBMG in that portion of the market.
In 1977, Arbitron made Tuscaloosa its own television market, ranking below number 170. For a time in the mid-1990s, WCFT served as the default ABC affiliate for the Columbus/Tupelo
Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo is the largest city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. It is the seventh largest city in the state of Mississippi, smaller than Meridian, and larger than Greenville. As of the 2000 United States Census, the city's population was 34,211...
market. Service Broadcasters sold WCFT to Allbritton in 1995. At about the same time, WBMG had boosted its signal to full power, making a solid foundation for the lone CBS affiliate that it would be. WCFT's transmitter is located near Windham Springs, Alabama
Windham Springs, Alabama
Windham Springs is a small unincorporated community in northeastern Tuscaloosa County, Alabama west of the Jefferson - Walker county line. Near Windham Springs, there is the WTTO Tower, a guyed TV mast, which is one of the tallest constructions on earth....
, in rural Tuscaloosa County
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
Tuscaloosa County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama.It is named in honor of the pre-Choctaw chief Tuskaloosa. In 2010, the population was 194,656...
.
WJSU-TV
On October 26, 1969, WHMA-TV began broadcasting on channel 40 as a primary CBS affiliate with a secondary NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliation. The station was operated by the Anniston Broadcasting Company, which was owned by members of the family of Harry M. Ayers (the station's namesake). The Ayers family also owned the Anniston Star newspaper and WHMA radio (1390 AM and 100.5 FM, now WNNX-FM in Atlanta). The station's inaugural general manager, Harry Mabry
Harry Mabry
Harry Mabry was a noted television news director and anchor in Birmingham and Anniston, Alabama.-Early life:Born January 11, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mabry moved with his parents to Birmingham at an early age. Following his graduation from Phillips High School in 1948, he attended the...
, came to Anniston from Birmingham, where he had been news director of WBRC
WBRC
WBRC, virtual channel 6, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Birmingham, Alabama designated market area. The station is owned by Raycom Media, and its transmitter is located atop Red Mountain in Birmingham...
in Birmingham for several years. Mabry already was familiar with Anniston, though, having been an announcer on WHMA-AM over fifteen years earlier.
WHMA-TV ultimately served approximately 100,000 households in east central Alabama, and management fought almost constantly to maintain its own Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
market between Birmingham and Atlanta. This was a maneuver critical to the station's survival. Despite being the only station located within the Anniston/East Alabama market (other than Alabama Public Television
Alabama Public Television
Alabama Public Television is a state network of Public Broadcasting Service member non-commercial educational Public television stations serving the US state of Alabama. The television stations are licensed by the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which was created by the Alabama state...
translator WCIQ), WHMA faced immense competition from the "spill-in" (grade B signal) coverage from larger stations in the nearby larger markets. Its ratings victories garnered it access to numerous national advertisers, a rarity for small-market stations of that time. In 1970, WHMA, along with WBMG and WCFT (above), dropped NBC programming in favor of full-time CBS coverage after WAPI became the sole NBC affiliate for all of central Alabama
Central Alabama
Central Alabama is the region in the state of Alabama that stretches approximately 170 miles from the western border with Mississippi to eastern border with Georgia and 136 miles from the northern border of Cullman County to the Alabama River in southern Autauga County. With a...
that year. As was the case with WCFT, CBS opted to retain affiliation with WHMA because of WBMG's weak signal at the time. In fact, channel 42 was all but unviewable in much of east central Alabama, which is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
; UHF stations don't get good reception in rugged terrain. Many cable systems in the eastern part of the Birmingham market opted to carry channel 40 as the local CBS affiliate.
In 1984, the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) forced the Ayers family to break up its media empire. Later, in a mid-1980s deal that concerned tax avoidance more than profit, the Ayers sold the station to Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville State University is a regional public coeducational university located in Jacksonville, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in four academic units leading to Bachelor's, Master's, and Education Specialist degrees, in addition to continuing and...
, who changed the call letters to WJSU-TV. The station was ultimately sold in the 1990s to Flagship Broadcasting.
WBMA/WCFT/WJSU as an ABC affiliate
In 1995, Birmingham's longtime ABC affiliate, WBRC, was sold to FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
. However, WBRC's contract with ABC did not expire until September 1996, giving ABC a year to find a new affiliate in Birmingham. ABC reached a unique deal with Allbritton. Both WCFT and WJSU would become ABC affiliates; however there was a snag. Under Nielsen rules, neither station would likely appear in the Birmingham ratings books because they were both considered to be out of market stations. Allbritton's solution was to purchase W58CK, a low-powered station in Birmingham that began operations on November 18, 1994. W58CK would serve as the primary station for ratings purposes. While the channel 58 purchase was not a condition of the deal between ABC and Allbritton, it did pave the way for Anniston and Tuscaloosa to be merged back into the Birmingham market. (That move benefitted all of the major Birmingham stations, because it expanded the television market, thus making the Birmingham stations gain viewers in the Tuscaloosa and Anniston areas.) WJSU and WCFT would end separate operations and combine to act as full-powered satellites of W58CK. Both stations also ceded exclusive CBS rights in all of central Alabama to WBMG, which had recently boosted its signal to full power. Under this arrangement, Allbritton assumed control of WJSU's operations under a local marketing agreement. This lasted until Allbritton bought WJSU outright in 2008.
The new station debuted on September 1, 1996 from studios in the Riverchase office complex in Hoover. Its first slogan was "We're Building Our Station Around You," which was also used on WKYC-TV
WKYC-TV
WKYC, virtual channel 3 , is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Cleveland, Ohio, owned by the Gannett Company. Its studio is located on the shores of Lake Erie, while its transmitter is located in Parma, Ohio....
in Cleveland for some years. Unlike most advertising catchwords, the phrase was quite accurate because the station's programming consultants surveyed numerous numbers of people across central Alabama to literally built a new station from the ground up.
W58CK officially changed its call letters to WBMA-LP on September 23, 1997; it had been unofficially using the WBMA calls since it began operations.
Stations
| Station | City of license City of license A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.... |
Physical Channel Channel (broadcasting) In broadcasting, a channel is a range of frequencies assigned by a government for the operation of a particular radio station, television station or television channel. In common usage, the term also may be used to refer to the station operating on a particular frequency.-See also:*Broadcast... |
VC1 | First air date | Call letters’ meaning Call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations... |
ERP Effective radiated power In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains... |
HAAT Height above average terrain Height above average terrain is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is actually much more important than effective radiated power in determining the range of broadcasts... |
Facility ID Facility ID The facility ID number or FIN is a unique positive integer assigned by the United States Federal Communications Commission to each domestic and international broadcast station in its Common Database System . Licensees are required to provide the relevant station's FIN when filing reports and... |
Transmitter Coordinates |
| WBMA-LD2 | Birmingham Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S... |
40 (UHF Ultra high frequency Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres... ) |
58 | September 1, 1996 | AlaBaM A | 15 kW | 255 m | 60214 | 33°26′28.2"N 86°53′1.5"W |
| WCFT-TV3 | Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010... |
33 (UHF Ultra high frequency Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres... ) |
33 | October 19654 | Chapman Family Television |
300 kW | 657 m | 21258 | 33°28′48.6"N 87°25′49.8"W |
| WJSU-TV5 | Anniston Anniston, Alabama Anniston is a city in Calhoun County in the state of Alabama, United States.As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 24,276. According to the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 23,741... |
9 (VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... ) |
40 | October 26, 1969 | Jacksonville State University |
15.6 kW | 359 m | 56642 | 33°36′24.3"N 86°25′3.1"W |
Notes:
- 1: Virtual channel (PSIP).
- 2. WBMA-LD used the callsign W58CK until 1997. The callsign was changed to WBMA in 1997 and still is to this day.
- 3. WCFT-TV was an independent station from 1965 to 1970, and a CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliateAffiliateAn affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
from 1970 to 1996. - 4. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says WCFT-TV signed on October 27, while the Television and Cable Factbook says it signed on October 29.
- 5. WJSU-TV used the callsign WHMA-TV from its 1969 inception until 1984. It was a CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate from 1969 to 1996, with a secondary NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliation from 1969 to 1970.
Digital television
The digital signals of WBMA-LD, WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV are multiplexedMultiplexing
The multiplexed signal is transmitted over a communication channel, which may be a physical transmission medium. The multiplexing divides the capacity of the low-level communication channel into several higher-level logical channels, one for each message signal or data stream to be transferred...
.
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
720p
720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
Analog-to-digital conversion
WCFT and WJSU shut down all analog transmissions June 12, 2009 for the digital television transitionDigital television transition
The digital television transition is the process in which analog television broadcasting is converted to and replaced by digital television. This primarily involves both TV stations and over-the-air viewers; however it also involves content providers like TV networks, and cable television...
. WCFT moved its digital broadcasts back to its previous analog channel number 33, while WJSU remained on its pre-transition channel 9. However, through the use of PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
, digital television receivers display WJSU's virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 40.
Even though WBMA-LP was not obligated to shut off its analog signal, as the law exempted low-powered stations from the switchover, the FCC encouraged low-power stations to vacate from their out-of-core allotments (channels 52 to 69). On December 3, 2010, the FCC granted WBMA-LP a construction permit to flash-cut their analog signal on channel 58 to digital channel 40 (formerly occupied by the analog signal of WJSU). WBMA-LP had a permit to operate on channel 11, but due to possible interference with WTVM
WTVM
WTVM is the ABC-affiliated television station for Columbus, Georgia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter in Cusseta. The station can also be seen on Charter, Knology, and Mediacom channel 10...
& WTOK-TV
WTOK-TV
WTOK-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Meridian, Mississippi. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter south of the city along MS 145 . The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 431. Owned by...
, the station decided to move to channel 40. In Late May 2011, WBMA-LP signed on its low-power digital signal on channel 40 as WBMA-LD.
Programming
In September 2006, WBMA/WCFT/WJSU moved the popular soap opera All My ChildrenAll My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
from 10 a.m. to 12 Noon. WBRC had aired All My Children on one-day tape delay since its days as an ABC affiliate, and this practice continued when WBMA/WCFT/WJSU picked up the affiliation. This is the first time since the ABC daytime drama began in 1970 that it has aired in pattern in the Birmingham market.
In 1997, WBMA/WCFT/WJSU refused to air the famous "The Puppy Episode
The Puppy Episode
"The Puppy Episode" is a two-part episode of the situation comedy television series Ellen. The episode details lead character Ellen Morgan's realization that she is a lesbian and her coming out. It was the 22nd and 23rd episode of the series' 4th season...
" of Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedienne, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season....
' sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
, Ellen
Ellen (TV series)
Ellen is a U.S. television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from March 29, 1994 to July 22, 1998, producing 109 episodes.The theme song, "So Called Friend" is by Scottish band Texas...
. The station cited a need to respect the family values of the largely conservative evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
community in the region as the basis of its decision. Some gay rights and civil libertarian activists decried the decision as a blatant example of censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
; indeed, in response, ABC sent a special satellite feed of the show to a community center in Birmingham and about 1,000 people, mainly local gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
s, lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
s, and their supporters, watched as DeGeneres came out of the closet
Out of the Closet
Out of the Closet is a nonprofit chain of thrift stores whose revenues provide medical care for patients with HIV/AIDS. The chain is owned and operated by AIDS Healthcare Foundation , a Los Angeles-based global organization that provides medical, preventative, and educational resources for patients...
. Some cable providers also ran the feed from other out-of-state ABC affiliates including WSB-TV
WSB-TV
WSB-TV, virtual channel 2.1 , is the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship television station of Cox Enterprises and its Cox Media Group subsidiary...
(channel 2) in Atlanta. However, when the same episode ran as a rerun on the network that same season, WBMA/WCFT/WJSU aired the program.
News operation
Currently, WBMA/WCFT/WJSU produces a total of 22 hours of local newscasts each week (with four hours on weekdays and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).The station achieved early success with their newscasts after their switch to ABC, due in part to hiring many well-known Birmingham television personalities, including news anchors Brenda Ladun and Linda Mays, sports anchor Mike Raita and meteorologists James Spann
James Spann
James Spann is a television meteorologist based in Birmingham, Alabama. He currently works for ABC 33/40, whose studios are located in Hoover, Alabama but which has transmitters in Tuscaloosa and Anniston. Spann has worked in the field since 1978. -Career:Spann began his broadcast career in...
and Mark Prater, all of whom had worked at rival WBRC
WBRC
WBRC, virtual channel 6, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Birmingham, Alabama designated market area. The station is owned by Raycom Media, and its transmitter is located atop Red Mountain in Birmingham...
. Later, Pam Huff and Tracy Haynes, former news personalities on WVTM-TV
WVTM-TV
WVTM-TV, channel 13, is the NBC-affiliated television station in the Birmingham-Anniston-Tuscaloosa-Gadsden, Alabama television market. The station is owned by Media General...
, were hired to anchor the station's early morning newscasts. The station's slogans were modified to "Where News Comes First" and then back to the original "We're Building Our Station Around You" (with the word "always" being inserted on graphics before "building"). The station is now called "Alabama's News Leader."
WBMA/WCFT/WJSU has had a long-standing tradition in that when any county in its DMA is under a tornado warning, the station pre-empts regular programming for live, non-stop and commercial-free coverage.
WBMA/WCFT/WJSU operates a number of SkyCams throughout the state which send a live shot and weather information from that site. The station is assisted in this venture by regional banking giant BBVA Compass. There are SkyCams in Downtown Birmingham, Inverness
Hoover, Alabama
Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby Counties in north central Alabama, in the United States. The largest suburb of Birmingham, the population of the city was 62,742 as of the 2000 census and 81,619 in the 2010 census. Hoover is part of the Birmingham-Hoover, AL MSA and is also included in the...
, Gadsden
Gadsden, Alabama
The city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...
, Demopolis
Demopolis, Alabama
Demopolis is the largest city in Marengo County, Alabama, United States. The population was 7,483 at the time of the 2010 United States Census....
, Hamilton
Hamilton, Alabama
Hamilton is a city in Marion County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 6,786. The city is the county seat of Marion County.-Geography:Hamilton is located at , along the Buttahatchee River....
, Jasper
Jasper, Alabama
Jasper is a city in Walker County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 14,659. As of 2011 the population had was 13,857. The city is the county seat of Walker County, and once ranked among the world's leading producers of coal....
, Mount Cheaha, Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
, Cullman
Cullman, Alabama
Cullman is a city in Cullman County, State of Alabama. Cullman is located along Interstate 65, about north of Birmingham, and about south of Huntsville. According to the U.S...
, Clanton
Clanton, Alabama
Clanton is a city in Chilton County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham–Hoover–Cullman Combined Statistical Area. At the 2000 census the population was 7,800. The city is the county seat of Chilton County.-History:...
and Gulf Shores
Gulf Shores, Alabama
-External links:*...
, as well as many other cities in Alabama and also a few in Mississippi. The Tuscaloosa TowerLink camera, located on the old Channel 33 broadcast tower, caught footage of an F4 tornado
Tuscaloosa Tornado of December 2000
The December 2000 Tuscaloosa tornado was a destructive tornado that hit communities south and east of Tuscaloosa, Alabama on December 16, 2000. The F4 rated tornado caused the deaths of 11 people while injuring over 125 others...
that hit Tuscaloosa in December 2000, as well as a tornado spawned from Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Rita caused $11.3 billion in damage on the U.S. Gulf Coast in September 2005...
in September 2005. The SkyCam in Tuscaloosa (atop the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse) also captured live an extremely destructive tornado that struck Tuscaloosa
April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
An extremely large and violent tornado outbreak, the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded, and popularly known as the 2011 Super Outbreak, occurred from April 25 to 28, 2011. The outbreak affected the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States, leaving catastrophic destruction in...
during the Super Outbreak on April 27, 2011. A little while later, when that same tornado struck northern Birmingham, the Birmingham SkyCam caught more footage of it. The Cullman SkyCam also caught footage of a multiple-vortex tornado during the latter outbreak of the same day, just hours before the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado struck. TowerLink cameras are also located on WBMA-LD's tower in Birmingham and WJSU's tower in Anniston.
WBMA/WCFT/WJSU offers Spanish-language webcasts online. The brief news updates are anchored on a rotating basis by Vivian Mora and Hernan Prado, two Hispanic business owners in the Birmingham community.
Social media
WBMA/WCFT/WJSU relies heavily on social media, especially for weather updates and alerts. The station has both a Facebook fan-base, and a Twitter feed, which are both used to keep viewers updated on local news, weather, and sports, as well as to get feedback from viewers on news stories. Additionally, several news anchors and reporters have Facebook profiles which are used for the same thing. WBMA/WCFT/WJSU chief meteorologist James Spann has said that social media has made it so much easier to alert people during severe weather; one extremely good example of this was during the station's coverage of the April 27 Alabama tornadosApril 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
An extremely large and violent tornado outbreak, the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded, and popularly known as the 2011 Super Outbreak, occurred from April 25 to 28, 2011. The outbreak affected the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States, leaving catastrophic destruction in...
. During this tornado outbreak, Spann and the rest of the weather team used Facebook and Twitter, as well as a weather app available in iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
that is produced and managed by the station, to warn people of possible tornados or thunderstorms. Facebook and Twitter were also used in the weeks following the tornados to report damage, suffering family members, missing persons, etc. WBMA/WCFT/WJSU also uses Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
to post photos of any kind of weather, or, in the April 27 instance, damage, that are sent in by viewers.
Nielsen ratings errors
Between 26 May 2008 and 23 March 2009, Nielsen Media Research shortchanged the WBMA/WCFT/WJSU system. For ratings purposes, the entire system is rated as WBMA+, but tuning to digital WBMA/WCFT/WJSU or anything that carried it (cable or satellite) was ignored, reducing the recorded ratings tremendously; ratings in Nielsen books were less than half of what station management expected. It later came out that Nielsen had undercounted and overcounted at various times between February 2008 and November 2009, including a time in January 2010 that primetime ratings had been shortchanged (including occasional zero shares). The confusion stemmed from the station's unique physical setup.Current on-air staff
Current Anchors- Nicole Allshouse - "Talk of Alabama" co-host
- Dave Baird - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Pam Huff - weeknights at 5 p.m. (weeknights at 4 p.m. starting September 12, 2011)
- Brenda Ladun - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Linda Mays - weekdays at 11 a.m. and weeknights at 5 p.m.
- Maggie Poteau - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.) and "Talk of Alabama" co-host
- Yenu Wodajo - weekday mornings (4:30-5 a.m.); also weekday morning 5-7 a.m. reporter
Storm Alert Weather
- James SpannJames SpannJames Spann is a television meteorologist based in Birmingham, Alabama. He currently works for ABC 33/40, whose studios are located in Hoover, Alabama but which has transmitters in Tuscaloosa and Anniston. Spann has worked in the field since 1978. -Career:Spann began his broadcast career in...
(AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Certified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. - Ashley Brand (AMS and NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6 and 10 p.m., and Sundays at 5 and 10 p.m. - Jason Simpson - meteorologist; weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and 11 a.m.
Sports team
- Mike Raita - sports director; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m., also host of "The Zone" (a sports talk show produced by the station)
- Jeff Speegle - sports anchor; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m., also sports reporter
- Kevin Scarbinsky - co-host of "The Zone"; also Birmingham News sports columnist
- Doug Segrest - co-host of "The Zone"; also Birmingham News sports columnist
- Sara Jane Harris - sports reporter and fill-in anchor
Reporters
- Honora Gathings - general assignment reporter
- Ebony Hall - general assignment reporter; also Saturday anchor
- Isaiah Harper - general assignment reporter (stationed at the WCFT office in Tuscaloosa)
- Ana Jasen - general assignment reporter
- Jeremy King - general assignment reporter; also Sunday anchor
- Thomas Lower - technology reporter
- Sarah Snyder - general assignment reporter
- Bryant Somerville - general assignment reporter
- Kevyn Stewart - general assignment reporter (generally the East Alabama area)
- Haley Westbrook - general assignment reporter
Former on-air staff
- Brian Armentrout - reporter (left for a career in medical public relations)
- Joy Benedict - reporter (later at WKYC-TVWKYC-TVWKYC, virtual channel 3 , is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Cleveland, Ohio, owned by the Gannett Company. Its studio is located on the shores of Lake Erie, while its transmitter is located in Parma, Ohio....
and WEWS-TVWEWS-TVWEWS-TV, virtual channel 5 , is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio. WEWS has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception, and is an affiliate of the ABC television network...
in Cleveland) - Anastasiya Bolton - reporter (now at KUSA-TVKUSA-TVKUSA, channel 9, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado. KUSA is owned by the Gannett Company, and is a sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD...
in Denver) - Jeremy Campbell - reporter (now at WTVTWTVTWTVT, channel 13, is a television station in Tampa, Florida. It is an owned and operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the News Corporation...
in Tampa) - Valorie Carter (Lawson) - anchor/reporter (now at WSFA-TV in Montgomery, Alabama)
- Kyle Craig - sports reporter/producer
- Tiffany Craig - reporter (now at WKRG-TVWKRG-TVWKRG-TV, virtual channel 5 , is the CBS-affiliated television station for Mobile, Alabama, Pensacola, Florida, and Pascagoula/Biloxi, Mississippi; and has been the network's affiliate in the area since its inception on August 29, 1955. The station was founded by the architect and movie theater...
in Mobile) - Shelia Downey - anchor
- Rebecca Fox - reporter
- Katie Garrety - reporter (left to pursue a career as an attorney)
- Jason Gaston - reporter (now a spokesman for Hoover City Schools in Hoover, Alabama)
- Chris Harris - sports reporter, fill-in anchor, and producer
- Dixon Hayes - reporter (now a videojournalist at WBRC-TV in Birmingham)
- Roy Hobbs - general assignment reporter (also weekend anchor)
- Dwann Holmes (Olsen) - reporter (later at WTVF-TV in Nashville, Tennessee; now a marketing consultant in Florida)
- Laura Howe - reporter (now at American Red Cross, Washington, D.C. Chapter)
- Kelly Hunter - sports reporter (later in local radio, now appears in local commercials)
- Casey Jones - anchor/reporter (now at WJCL-TV in Savannah, Georgia)
- Melissa Lee - sports reporter (now a sports reporter with ESPNU and Comcast Sports)
- Mike Maher - reporter
- Jon Mangum - reporter (deceased)
- Brett Oates - reporter (now local sports talk radio co-host at WATV-AM)
- Chris Osborne - reporter (now at American Red Cross, Birmingham Chapter)
- John OldshueJohn OldshueJohn Oldshue was the weekend meteorologist and storm chaser for ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, Alabama from 1997 to 2007 when he retired to run a small business. He won an Emmy award for coverage of the Tuscaloosa tornado on December 16, 2000 with meteorologist James Spann...
- meteorologist (left to operate a small business) - Kimberly Osias - reporter (later at CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and WPECWPECWPEC is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Gold and Treasure Coasts of South Florida. Licensed to West Palm Beach, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter in Lake Worth along U.S. 441/SR 7. The station is the flagship of Freedom Communications...
) - Dyan Patterson (Zedeker) - anchor/reporter (now in media relations at Cape Coral Police Department in Florida)
- Brian Peters - fill-in meteorologist (continues to work for The Weather Company, owned by James Spann)
- Ike Pigott - reporter (now at Alabama Power)
- Mark Prater - meteorologist (now Chief Meteorologist at WIATWIATWIAT, virtual channel 42, is the CBS-affiliated television station in the Birmingham/Tuscaloosa/Anniston/Gadsden, Alabama television market. Licensed to Birmingham, it broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 30, although through the use of PSIP, the station's virtual channel number is...
) - Mark Raines - reporter/west Alabama anchor (now nationally award-winning television/film teacher)
- Melissa Riopka - general assignment reporter (now at WAAY-TVWAAY-TVWAAY-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Tennessee Valley area of North Alabama that is licensed to Huntsville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter at its Monte Sano Boulevard studios on top of Monte Sano Mountain. Calkins Media owns...
in Huntsville, Ala., as 6pm and 10pm co-anchor) - Rachel Rose - reporter (now in public relations in Atlanta, GA)
- Krista Saari - sports reporter (now works for the PGAProfessional Golfers' Association of AmericaFounded in 1916, the Professional Golfers' Association of America is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and is made up of more than 28,000 men and women golf professional members...
) - Tamala Savage - producer/morning update anchor (now hosting a local radio show)
- Mike Schoor - sports reporter (left for a career in financial planning)
- Keisa Sharpe - anchor (now at Alabama Power)
- Christopher Sign - reporter (now at KNXV-TVKNXV-TVKNXV-TV, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Phoenix, Arizona, broadcasting in digital on UHF channel 15. Owned by The E. W. Scripps Company, its transmitter is located on South Mountain in Phoenix....
in Phoenix) - Bob Symon - meteorologist (later at WLKY-TVWLKY-TVWLKY-TV is a television station located in Louisville, Kentucky USA, and serves the Louisville area and southeastern Indiana. The station is owned by the Hearst Corporation, and is an affiliate of the CBS television network. WLKY's transmitter is located north of Louisville in Floyds Knobs,...
in Louisville, Kentucky) - Chris Tatum - reporter (later at WSMV-TVWSMV-TVWSMV-TV, virtual channel 4, is the NBC-affiliated television station serving the Nashville, Tennessee area. It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10. Owned by Meredith Corporation, its transmitter and tower are located adjacent to its studios on Knob Road in west Nashville, south of...
in Nashville) - Keith Taylor - Sports Producer/Reporter/Anchor
- Tiffani Taylor (Lupenski) - reporter (later at KUSA-TVKUSA-TVKUSA, channel 9, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado. KUSA is owned by the Gannett Company, and is a sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD...
in Denver as a producer/Executive Producer, now Executive Producer at KCPQ-TV in Seattle) - Josh ThomasJosh ThomasJoshua Lloyd Thomas is an American football defensive end who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football at Syracuse....
- anchor (now at WFLA-TVWFLA-TVWFLA-TV, virtual channel 8, is the NBC-affiliated television station in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida. The station is the flagship station of its owner and operator, Media General. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida. WFLA is the only station in the market to be...
in Tampa; was seen in the 2004 film The Punisher as a news anchor for WFLA) - Deborah Vance - reporter (former Chief of Staff for former Birmingham mayor Larry LangfordLarry LangfordLarry Paul Langford is the former mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served on the Jefferson County, Alabama, Commission, including four years as the first African American commission president. He also served as mayor of Fairfield, Alabama, and served one term on the...
) - Glenda Webb - anchor/reporter
- Jennifer Webster - reporter (left for a career in pharmaceutical sales)