WVTM-TV
Encyclopedia
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
. Its transmitter tower is located atop Red Mountain in Birmingham.
In 2008, WVTM added the Retro Television Network
to one of its digital channels, replacing the defunct NBC WeatherPlus.
WVTM replaced RTV with Me-TV, a digital broadcast network owned by Weigel Broadcasting
and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, featuring sitcoms and dramas from the 1950s to the 1980s, which took the place of RTV on digital subchannel 13.2 on September 26, 2011, as part of a groupwide affiliation agreement with Media General; the channel replaced RTV on some Media General-owned stations in other markets.
As part of the DTV transition in the United States
on June 12, 2009, WVTM was one of more than ten stations requesting a power increase due to the problems of VHF digital signals. The station then moved back to channel 13 for its post-transition operations.
). It is Alabama's oldest television station. It was originally a CBS
affiliate with a secondary ABC
affiliation.
In 1953, the Birmingham News bought the Voice of Alabama and changed WAFM-TV's calls to WABT (for Alabama's Best Television). A year later, WABT swapped primary affiliations with WBRC-TV and became an NBC affiliate. In 1956, the Newhouse
newspaper chain bought the News. The station changed call signs again in 1958 when it became WAPI-TV to match its sister radio stations. (The calls stood for Alabama Polytechnic Institute
, which owned WAPI radio from 1925 through 1932.)
WBRC-TV took the ABC affiliation on a full-time basis in 1961, forcing WAPI-TV to shoehorn both NBC and CBS programs into its schedule. This was rather unusual, since in most two-station markets ABC was relegated to secondary status on either one or both of the existing stations. The Birmingham market is a fairly large market geographically, stretching across nearly the entire width of the state. It also has some areas of fairly rugged terrain. Both of these factors made prospective station owners skittish about putting one of the available UHF allocations on the air, even though Birmingham was big enough even then to support three full network affiliates. Although there were two other VHF channels in the market, they had both been allocated to Alabama Educational Television
.
While channel 13 tried to carry the most popular NBC and CBS shows, a lot of quite popular shows did not air in Birmingham because of this arrangement. One of the more popular CBS shows that WAPI-TV did not carry was The Ed Sullivan Show
, meaning that central Alabama viewers missed The Beatles
' American debut unless they were lucky enough to pick up stations in Atlanta
, Huntsville or Montgomery
. Curiously, one of the NBC shows that channel 13 turned down was The Tonight Show
. WAPI-TV strongly favored NBC for news, so when CBS and NBC expanded their news programs to 30 minutes in the early 1960s, the CBS Evening News
with Walter Cronkite
wasn't seen in Birmingham for several years. This was due, of course, to both networks' feeding their newscasts to affiliates at 5:30 p.m. Central Time
(like today). Channel 13 had its local newscast at 6 p.m. Central time, and prior to 1971, prime-time network programming began at 6:30 p.m. Central time. This left no room on the schedule for the CBS Evening News to air, even if the station management had wanted to broadcast it.
When WBMG-TV (channel 42, now WIAT
) started operations in 1965, it nominally had a CBS affiliation, but CBS allowed WAPI-TV to continue airing its higher-rated programming. This was largely because WBMG had only started one year after the Federal Communications Commission
required that new television sets include all-channel tuning. To fill out the schedule, WBMG aired some NBC programming that WAPI-TV turned down (such as The Tonight Show). Both stations listed "CBS/NBC" as their affiliation. However, in May 1970, for a number of reasons, WAPI-TV became the exclusive NBC affiliate, sending all of CBS's programming to WBMG. At the same time that channel 13 became an exclusive affiliate of NBC and WBMG aligned with CBS, WCFT in Tuscaloosa
and WHMA in Anniston
also affiliated with CBS. Prior to that time, the primetime schedule of WCFT and WHMA virtually mirrored that of WBMG.
The Newhouse company, Advance Publications
, withdrew from broadcasting in the early 1980s. WAPI-TV was sold to Times-Mirror Broadcasting in 1980, and as a result the station became WVTM (for Vulcan Times-Mirror), and remains with those call letters to this day.
In 1993, the station was purchased by Argyle Broadcasting. In 1994, New World Communications
, which had recently cut an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company
, agreed to purchase WVTM along with its sister stations KTVI
in St. Louis, Missouri
, KDFW
in Dallas, Texas
, and KTBC
in Austin, Texas
. However, New World also decided to purchase several stations from Great American Broadcasting, including WBRC. New World was able to close on its purchase of WBRC on October 12, 1994 because the transfer applications of the Argyle stations were not submitted to the FCC until after the Citicasters (renamed from Great American Broadcasting) purchase was already finalized.
In January 1995, while awaitng for the Argyle purchase to receive FCC approval, New World announced that it would sell WBRC and WGHP
in High Point, North Carolina
to Fox, and put the two stations into a trust until Fox could close on the purchases. At that same time, New World took over the operations of the Argyle stations, including WVTM, through time brokerage agreements. The transfers of WBRC and WGHP to the trust were completed in early April 1995 while the New World purchase of the Argyle stations closed on April 14. As such, WVTM retained its NBC affiliation, while KTVI (the former St. Louis ABC affiliate), KDFW (the former Dallas/Fort Worth CBS affiliate), and KTBC (the former Austin CBS affiliate) became Fox affiliates. Fox operated WBRC as an ABC affiliate until 1996.
New World sold off all its stations in late 1996. Its Fox affiliates were sold to Fox outright, while its two NBC stations (WVTM and KNSD
channel 39 in San Diego, California
) were sold to NBC.
WVTM was one of four NBC-owned stations in smaller markets that were put up for sale on January 9, 2006, along with WJAR-TV in Providence, Rhode Island
, WCMH-TV
in Columbus, Ohio
, and WNCN
in Raleigh, North Carolina
. On April 6, 2006, NBC Universal
and Media General
announced that Media General would purchase WVTM-TV as part of a $600 million four-station deal between the two companies http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9724. Media General subsequently announced that it would sell its existing station in Birmingham, WIAT, since the FCC does not allow for one company to own two of the four largest stations in a single market. Media General closed the deal on all four stations on June 26, 2006 - after the FCC granted the company a temporary waiver allowing it to keep both WVTM and WIAT for six months. On August 2, it was announced that Media General sold WIAT to New Vision Television
. http://www.mediageneral.com/press/2006/june26_06.htm
In 2004, WVTM became the first television station in Alabama to obtain a 1-million watt Doppler weather radar
system originally dubbed "Skywatch Doppler One Million", "WeatherPlus Doppler One Million", now called "Alabama's 13 Live Doppler Radar", located on Bald Rock Mountain in St. Clair County, Alabama
.
On October 17, 2007, WVTM began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition, becoming the first television station in Alabama to broadcast their local newscats in HD.
NBC13 Weather Team
Sports team
Reporters
NBC
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...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
in the 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...
-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...
-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...
-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...
, 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...
television market. The station is owned by Media General
Media General
Media General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was...
. Its transmitter tower is located atop Red Mountain in Birmingham.
Digital programming
| Channel | Video | Aspect 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,... |
Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.1 | 1080i 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels... |
16:9 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 ... |
WVTM-DT | Main WVTM-TV programming / NBC |
| 13.2 | 480i 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... |
4:3 | WVTM-DT2 | MeTV MeTV Me-TV is a television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that airs classic television sitcoms, dramas and classic commercials from the 1950s through the 1980s. The network is a sister network to This TV... |
In 2008, WVTM added the Retro Television Network
Retro Television Network
The Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs...
to one of its digital channels, replacing the defunct NBC WeatherPlus.
WVTM replaced RTV with Me-TV, a digital broadcast network owned by Weigel Broadcasting
Weigel Broadcasting
Weigel Broadcasting is an American locally based television broadcasting company. The company is based in downtown Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV , at the apt address of 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood.- History :The company was founded by Chicago...
and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, featuring sitcoms and dramas from the 1950s to the 1980s, which took the place of RTV on digital subchannel 13.2 on September 26, 2011, as part of a groupwide affiliation agreement with Media General; the channel replaced RTV on some Media General-owned stations in other markets.
As part of the DTV transition in the United States
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
on June 12, 2009, WVTM was one of more than ten stations requesting a power increase due to the problems of VHF digital signals. The station then moved back to channel 13 for its post-transition operations.
Analog-to-digital conversion
The analog television shutdown was on June 12, 2009, but WVTM-TV moved back to channel 13 before the mandatory DTV date.History
The station signed on the air on May 29, 1949, as WAFM-TV, owned by The Voice of Alabama, Inc. along with radio stations WAPI (AM 1070), and WAFM (FM 94.5, now WJOXWJOX
WJOX WJOX WJOX (690 AM, "Jox 94.5" (simulcasting WJOX-FM) is an all-sports radio station licensed to Birmingham, Alabama, with daytime licensed power of 50,000 Watts and 500 Watts at night. WJOX is the Birmingham affiliate of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide Sports Network (football only),...
). It is Alabama's oldest television station. It was originally a CBS
CBS
CBS 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 with a secondary ABC
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...
affiliation.
In 1953, the Birmingham News bought the Voice of Alabama and changed WAFM-TV's calls to WABT (for Alabama's Best Television). A year later, WABT swapped primary affiliations with WBRC-TV and became an NBC affiliate. In 1956, the Newhouse
Newhouse
-Places:* New House, County Durham* Newhouse, North Lanarkshire* Newhouse, Edinburgh * Newhouse, Utah, a ghost town-People:* Donald Newhouse , publisher* Flower A...
newspaper chain bought the News. The station changed call signs again in 1958 when it became WAPI-TV to match its sister radio stations. (The calls stood for Alabama Polytechnic Institute
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
, which owned WAPI radio from 1925 through 1932.)
WBRC-TV took the ABC affiliation on a full-time basis in 1961, forcing WAPI-TV to shoehorn both NBC and CBS programs into its schedule. This was rather unusual, since in most two-station markets ABC was relegated to secondary status on either one or both of the existing stations. The Birmingham market is a fairly large market geographically, stretching across nearly the entire width of the state. It also has some areas of fairly rugged terrain. Both of these factors made prospective station owners skittish about putting one of the available UHF allocations on the air, even though Birmingham was big enough even then to support three full network affiliates. Although there were two other VHF channels in the market, they had both been allocated to Alabama Educational 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...
.
While channel 13 tried to carry the most popular NBC and CBS shows, a lot of quite popular shows did not air in Birmingham because of this arrangement. One of the more popular CBS shows that WAPI-TV did not carry was The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, meaning that central Alabama viewers missed The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' American debut unless they were lucky enough to pick up stations in Atlanta
Waga
Waga is an isolated small town in Colombo District, Sri Lanka. Administrated by Seethawaka Pradeshiya Sabha , it is part of the Padukka Divisional Secretary's Division. The town can be reached on road from Colombo via A4 road, turning off at either Meepe near Padukka or at Kaluaggala near Hanwella...
, Huntsville or Montgomery
WCOV-TV
WCOV-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Alabama's Black Belt area licensed to Montgomery. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 20 from a transmitter southeast of Grady along the Montgomery and Crenshaw County line. The station can also be seen on...
. Curiously, one of the NBC shows that channel 13 turned down was The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
. WAPI-TV strongly favored NBC for news, so when CBS and NBC expanded their news programs to 30 minutes in the early 1960s, the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
with Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
wasn't seen in Birmingham for several years. This was due, of course, to both networks' feeding their newscasts to affiliates at 5:30 p.m. Central Time
Central time
Central time can refer to:*North American Central Time Zone*Central European Time*Central Standard Time Australia...
(like today). Channel 13 had its local newscast at 6 p.m. Central time, and prior to 1971, prime-time network programming began at 6:30 p.m. Central time. This left no room on the schedule for the CBS Evening News to air, even if the station management had wanted to broadcast it.
When WBMG-TV (channel 42, now WIAT
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...
) started operations in 1965, it nominally had a CBS affiliation, but CBS allowed WAPI-TV to continue airing its higher-rated programming. This was largely because WBMG had only started one year after 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...
required that new television sets include all-channel tuning. To fill out the schedule, WBMG aired some NBC programming that WAPI-TV turned down (such as The Tonight Show). Both stations listed "CBS/NBC" as their affiliation. However, in May 1970, for a number of reasons, WAPI-TV became the exclusive NBC affiliate, sending all of CBS's programming to WBMG. At the same time that channel 13 became an exclusive affiliate of NBC and WBMG aligned with CBS, WCFT in 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...
and WHMA 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...
also affiliated with CBS. Prior to that time, the primetime schedule of WCFT and WHMA virtually mirrored that of WBMG.
The Newhouse company, Advance Publications
Advance Publications
Advance Publications, Inc., is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse, Jr. It is named after the Staten Island Advance, the first newspaper owned by the Newhouse family...
, withdrew from broadcasting in the early 1980s. WAPI-TV was sold to Times-Mirror Broadcasting in 1980, and as a result the station became WVTM (for Vulcan Times-Mirror), and remains with those call letters to this day.
In 1993, the station was purchased by Argyle Broadcasting. In 1994, New World Communications
New World Communications
New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...
, which had recently cut an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox 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...
, agreed to purchase WVTM along with its sister stations KTVI
KTVI
KTVI, virtual channel 2, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the St. Louis, Missouri, designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KPLR...
in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, KDFW
KDFW
KDFW, virtual channel 4 , is the Fox owned-and-operated television station in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex designated market area....
in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, and KTBC
KTBC
KTBC, channel 7, is the Fox owned-and-operated television station in Austin, Texas. Studios are located in downtown Austin at the corner of 10th and Brazos Streets , and its transmitter is located in the city....
in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. However, New World also decided to purchase several stations from Great American Broadcasting, including WBRC. New World was able to close on its purchase of WBRC on October 12, 1994 because the transfer applications of the Argyle stations were not submitted to the FCC until after the Citicasters (renamed from Great American Broadcasting) purchase was already finalized.
In January 1995, while awaitng for the Argyle purchase to receive FCC approval, New World announced that it would sell WBRC and WGHP
WGHP
WGHP, channel 8, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, North Carolina designated market area...
in High Point, North Carolina
High Point, North Carolina
High Point is a city located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. As of 2010 the city had a total population of 104,371, according to the US Census Bureau. High Point is currently the eighth-largest municipality in North Carolina....
to Fox, and put the two stations into a trust until Fox could close on the purchases. At that same time, New World took over the operations of the Argyle stations, including WVTM, through time brokerage agreements. The transfers of WBRC and WGHP to the trust were completed in early April 1995 while the New World purchase of the Argyle stations closed on April 14. As such, WVTM retained its NBC affiliation, while KTVI (the former St. Louis ABC affiliate), KDFW (the former Dallas/Fort Worth CBS affiliate), and KTBC (the former Austin CBS affiliate) became Fox affiliates. Fox operated WBRC as an ABC affiliate until 1996.
New World sold off all its stations in late 1996. Its Fox affiliates were sold to Fox outright, while its two NBC stations (WVTM and KNSD
KNSD
KNSD is the NBC television station based in San Diego, California. It is owned by a joint venture of NBCUniversal and LIN TV . However, because NBCUniversal has majority control, KNSD is run as an NBC owned and operated station...
channel 39 in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
) were sold to NBC.
WVTM was one of four NBC-owned stations in smaller markets that were put up for sale on January 9, 2006, along with WJAR-TV in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, WCMH-TV
WCMH-TV
WCMH-TV, channel 4, is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, affiliated with the NBC television network and owned by Media General. The station's studios and transmitter are located in Columbus. NBC-4 broadcasts from its studio and office complex near the Ohio State University on Olentangy River...
in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, and WNCN
WNCN
WNCN is the NBC affiliate television station in the Triangle region of North Carolina , broadcasting on digital channel 17. It is licensed to Goldsboro, but its studios are just outside of downtown Raleigh...
in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
. On April 6, 2006, NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
and Media General
Media General
Media General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was...
announced that Media General would purchase WVTM-TV as part of a $600 million four-station deal between the two companies http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9724. Media General subsequently announced that it would sell its existing station in Birmingham, WIAT, since the FCC does not allow for one company to own two of the four largest stations in a single market. Media General closed the deal on all four stations on June 26, 2006 - after the FCC granted the company a temporary waiver allowing it to keep both WVTM and WIAT for six months. On August 2, it was announced that Media General sold WIAT to New Vision Television
New Vision Television
New Vision Television is a broadcast company based in Los Angeles, California. The company owns or manages 18 television stations in medium sized markets.-New Vision I:...
. http://www.mediageneral.com/press/2006/june26_06.htm
Previous owners of WVTM
- 1949–1953: The Voice of Alabama, Inc.
- 1953–1956: The Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News is the principal daily newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and the largest newspaper in Alabama. The paper is owned by Advance Publications...
Company - 1956–1980: Newhouse family (Advance PublicationsAdvance PublicationsAdvance Publications, Inc., is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse, Jr. It is named after the Staten Island Advance, the first newspaper owned by the Newhouse family...
) - 1980–1993: Times-Mirror Company
- 1993–1995: Argyle Television
- 1995–1996: New World CommunicationsNew World CommunicationsNew World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...
- 1996–2006: 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...
- 2006–present: Media GeneralMedia GeneralMedia General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was...
Chronology
| Date | Call | Ch | City of License | Main Studio | Network | ERP (W Watt The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:... ) | Altitude | RCAGL | Tx Latitude/Longitude | Owner | 29 May 1949 | WAFM-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | CBS CBS CBS 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... /ABC 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... | The Voice of Alabama, Inc. | July 1953 | WABT | 13 | 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... | 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... | CBS CBS CBS 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... /ABC 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... | The Birmingham News The Birmingham News The Birmingham News is the principal daily newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and the largest newspaper in Alabama. The paper is owned by Advance Publications... Company | 1954 | WABT | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... /ABC 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... | 316000 | 311 m | 154 m | 33°29′27"N 86°47′48"W | The Birmingham News The Birmingham News The Birmingham News is the principal daily newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and the largest newspaper in Alabama. The paper is owned by Advance Publications... Company | 26 Jan 1956 | WABT | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... /ABC 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... | 316000 | Advance Publications Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc., is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse, Jr. It is named after the Staten Island Advance, the first newspaper owned by the Newhouse family... | 1958 | WAPI-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... /ABC 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... | 316000 | Advance Publications Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc., is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse, Jr. It is named after the Staten Island Advance, the first newspaper owned by the Newhouse family... | 1961 | WAPI-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... /CBS CBS CBS 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... | 316000 | Advance Publications Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc., is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse, Jr. It is named after the Staten Island Advance, the first newspaper owned by the Newhouse family... | 6 Dec 1965 | WAPI-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... | 316000 | Advance Publications Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc., is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse, Jr. It is named after the Staten Island Advance, the first newspaper owned by the Newhouse family... | 28 March 1980 | WVTM-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... | 316000 | Times-Mirror Company | 24 June 1981 | WVTM-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... | 316000 | 297 m | 303 m | 33°29′26"N 86°47′48"W | Times-Mirror Company | 14 May 1993 | WVTM-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... | 316000 | 297 m | 303 m | 33°29′26"N 86°47′48"W | Argyle Television Holding | 1 April 1995 | WVTM-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... | 316000 | 297 m | 303 m | 33°29′26"N 86°47′48"W | New World Communications New World Communications New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s... | 27 July 1996 | WVTM-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... | 316000 | 297 m | 303 m | 33°29′26"N 86°47′48"W | NBC NBC 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... | 23 June 2006 | WVTM-TV | 13 | 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... | 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... | NBC NBC 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... | 316000 | 297 m | 303 m | 33°29′26"N 86°47′48"W | Media General Media General Media General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was... |
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News operation
The station also went through numerous name changes from NewsCenter13, to NewsWatch13 and its morning newscast 13 Alive to 13 Action News and then 13 and You, an ode to NBC and You to Alabama's 13, People Who Care; NBC13, We've Got You Covered; NBC13, Accuracy Matters; and now back to Alabama's 13. WVTM, currently known on air as Alabama's 13, runs more than 35 hours of local news a week along with NBC network news.In 2004, WVTM became the first television station in Alabama to obtain a 1-million watt Doppler weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
system originally dubbed "Skywatch Doppler One Million", "WeatherPlus Doppler One Million", now called "Alabama's 13 Live Doppler Radar", located on Bald Rock Mountain in St. Clair County, Alabama
St. Clair County, Alabama
St. Clair County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama.It is a part of the Birmingham–Hoover–Cullman Combined Statistical Area. Its name is in honor of General Arthur St...
.
On October 17, 2007, WVTM began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition, becoming the first television station in Alabama to broadcast their local newscats in HD.
Newscast titles
- WAPI News (1960s)
- Dateline News (1960s)
- NewsCenter 13 (early 1970s-1974)
- NewsWatch 13 (general) / 13 Alive (morning newscast; 1974–1979)
- Action NewsAction NewsAction News is a local television newscast format in the United States. It was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV by then-news director Mel Kampmann in 1970 as a response to the "Eyewitness News" format used on rival station KYW-TV...
13 (1979–1980) - TV-13 News/Channel 13 News (1980–1991)
- Alabama`s Prime News (1987-1991)
- Alabama's 13 First News (1991-1995)
- Alabama's 13 News (1991–1995 and 2010-present)
- NBC 13 News (1995–2007)
- NBC 13 HD News (2007-2010)
Station slogans
- WAPI-TV, The Station of Alabama (January-December 1976;sweeps Due to the Bicentennial)
- Alabama's Leading News Station (late 1970s-1980)
- 13, Proud As A Peacock! (1979–1981; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- Channel 13, Our Pride Is Showing (1981-1982; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- Birmingham's Leading News Station (1981–1985)
- We're Channel 13, Just Watch Us Now (1982-1983; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- Channel 13 There, Be There (1983-1984; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- Channel 13, Let's All Be There (1984–1986; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- Hello Birmingham, Channel 13 Loves You (1985-1987; used during period station used Frank Gari's Hello News)
- Come Home to Channel 13 (1986-1987; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- We've Got it Good, Alabama! (1986-2005; general)
- Come on Home to Channel 13 (1987–1988; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- Come Home To The Best, Only on Channel 13 (1988–1990; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- 13 and You (1990-1991)
- WVTM, The Place To Be! (1990-1992; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *Alabama's 13, People Who Care (1991-1995)
- It's A Whole New Alabama's 13 (1992-1993; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- The Stars Are Back on Alabama's 13 (1993-1994; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- It`s Alabama's 13 (1994-1995; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- The Year To Be on NBC 13 (1995-1996; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
- The NewsCenter of Alabama (1995–1996; secondary; news)
- We've Got You Covered (1996–2007; secondary; news)
- Accuracy Matters (2007–present)
Current on-air staff
Current anchors- Bettina Boateng - weekday mornings "Today in Alabama"; also reporter and fill-in weathercaster
- Lisa Crane - weekday mornings "Today in Alabama"; also traffic and general assignment reporter
- Wendy Garner - "Daytime Alabama" co-host
- Hilary Golston - weekend mornings, Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.
- David Lamb - "Daytime Alabama" co-host
- Andrea Lindenberg - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
- Mike Royer - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
NBC13 Weather Team
- Jerry Tracey (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...
Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6, and 10 p.m. - Richard Jacks - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.; also weeknight fill-in
- Harmony Mendoza - meteorologist; weekend mornings "Today in Alabama"
- Stephanie Walker (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings "Today in Alabama" (4:30-7 a.m.) and 11 a.m.
Sports team
- Don Hawes - sports director; weeknights at 5, 6, and 10 p.m.
Reporters
- Paris Jackson - general assignment reporter
- Jon Paepcke - investigative reporter and fill-in anchor
- Chris Pollone - general assignment reporter
- Linda White - education reporter
Notable former staff
- Sophia ChoiSophia ChoiSophia Choi is an American news broadcaster at WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia.-Biography:Sophia Choi was born in Taegu, Korea. She moved to the U.S. at the age of seven, and attended Hollywood Elementary School in Hollywood, Maryland. After her father's death when she was 12, she moved to Memphis,...
- weekend morning anchor (last at KSNV-DT in Las Vegas) - Steve SandersSteve Sanders (journalist)Steve Sanders is an award-winning American television news anchor who works for WGN-TV , the CW affiliate in Chicago, Illinois and a national cable superstation...
- reporter (currently at WGN-TVWGN-TVWGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
in Chicago) - 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...
- meteorologist (now WBMA-LP/WCFT/WJSUWBMA-LPWBMA-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....
) - Rene SylerRene SylerRené Syler cohosted CBS News' The Early Show from October 2002, when it debuted in its four-anchor format, until she left the program in December 2006...
- anchor (later at KTVTKTVTKTVT, virtual channel 11, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth designated market area. The station is co-owned with independent station KTXA , and the two stations share facilities in Dallas and Fort Worth...
in Dallas-Ft. Worth, then at CBS' The Early ShowThe Early ShowThe Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
)