Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 1 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
WAAY-TV
WAAY-TV (channel 31) is a television station in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Allen Media Group. The station's studios and transmitter are located on Monte Sano Boulevard on top of Monte Sano Mountain.
The station's first broadcast was on August 1, 1959, as WAFG-TV. It was the second television outlet in the Huntsville region, signing on five years after NBC affiliate WMSL-TV (now WAFF). In addition, WAFG-TV is the longest serving station licensed to Huntsville, as WMSL was still licensed to Decatur at the time.
From its launch, WAFG was Alabama's first primary ABC affiliate, which was an unusual arrangement for a two-station market, especially one as small as Huntsville was at the time. When the station was sold to Smith Broadcasting (owners of WAAY radio, now WLOR) in 1963, the call sign was changed to WAAY-TV. At the time Smith Broadcasting held a permit from the FCC to put a new station on the air broadcasting on UHF channel 25, but when the Smith family received the offer to purchase WAFG, they decided to take that instead of building a new facility. (Channel 25 was later licensed to Alabama Public Television station WHIQ.)
WAAY-TV switched its network affiliation to NBC on September 2, 1968, but returned to ABC nine years later, on December 11, 1977, citing ABC's higher network ratings at that time and the lack of a duplicate ABC affiliate in Florence (where WOWL, now WHDF, was then an NBC affiliate) as reasons. Despite ABC's fall from first place in the 1980s in favor of a renewed NBC, WAAY still routinely came in first or second place in the ratings during the 1980s and 1990s. However, despite having left full NBC affiliation behind back in 1977, WAAY would once again clear some NBC programming during the 1980s, most notably Late Night with David Letterman and Friday Night Videos, which WAFF preempted in favor of evangelist Jimmy Swaggart's daily program at 11:30 p.m. It was only when Swaggart had to discontinue his weekday show in the aftermath of his sexual scandal in 1988 that WAFF resumed carrying Letterman and FNV. Since that time, WAAY has remained an exclusive ABC affiliate, clearing most if not all of its programs.
WAAY-TV was an early adopter of weather radar systems for its weather coverage in the early 1970s. During the 1974 tornado outbreak, the station was able to track the storms in real time using its radar system, while other media outlets had to rely on telephoned reports of visual sightings, as had been done traditionally. In 1995, the station decided to expand its internal data network to become the Internet service provider now known as HiWAAY Information Services. The service survived a period of intense local competition in the Huntsville area in the 1990s and 2000s, and remains in business as an independent regional provider.
Smith Broadcasting sold WAAY-TV to GOCOM Broadcasting (originally Grapevine Communications, later renamed Piedmont Communications) in 1999. The Smith family, who previously owned broadcasting properties in Birmingham before coming to Huntsville, was the last local owner of a Huntsville television station as rivals WHNT-TV and WAFF had been sold to larger corporations years before. WZDX, which was the first station in northern Alabama not affiliated with the traditional networks or the educational television system, has always belonged to outside interests. The Smith family also, at various times, owned radio stations in Fort Walton Beach, Florida and South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Between 1969 and 1982, all three of Huntsville's major-network affiliates (WAAY included) had studios located beside its transmitters and towers on Monte Sano.
After a 1982 fire gutted the building of WAFF, that station and later WHNT moved offices and production facilities into the city itself employing microwave relays to send signals to the transmitters. Only WAAY continues to maintain its full operations on Monte Sano Boulevard. WHIQ-TV, which is a PBS member station, serves as a translator relay of Alabama Public Television with programming originating from Birmingham, not Huntsville. On September 4, 2003, the 1,000-foot (305 m) broadcasting tower leased by WAAY collapsed, killing three people.
In 2006, Piedmont Broadcasting agreed to sell WAAY to Calkins Media, a Pennsylvania-based company that owned several small newspapers in Pennsylvania and two television stations in Florida, WWSB in Sarasota and WTXL in Tallahassee. The sale to Calkins became official on February 1, 2007. WAAY was Calkins' only broadcasting property outside of Florida.
WAAY-TV
WAAY-TV (channel 31) is a television station in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Allen Media Group. The station's studios and transmitter are located on Monte Sano Boulevard on top of Monte Sano Mountain.
The station's first broadcast was on August 1, 1959, as WAFG-TV. It was the second television outlet in the Huntsville region, signing on five years after NBC affiliate WMSL-TV (now WAFF). In addition, WAFG-TV is the longest serving station licensed to Huntsville, as WMSL was still licensed to Decatur at the time.
From its launch, WAFG was Alabama's first primary ABC affiliate, which was an unusual arrangement for a two-station market, especially one as small as Huntsville was at the time. When the station was sold to Smith Broadcasting (owners of WAAY radio, now WLOR) in 1963, the call sign was changed to WAAY-TV. At the time Smith Broadcasting held a permit from the FCC to put a new station on the air broadcasting on UHF channel 25, but when the Smith family received the offer to purchase WAFG, they decided to take that instead of building a new facility. (Channel 25 was later licensed to Alabama Public Television station WHIQ.)
WAAY-TV switched its network affiliation to NBC on September 2, 1968, but returned to ABC nine years later, on December 11, 1977, citing ABC's higher network ratings at that time and the lack of a duplicate ABC affiliate in Florence (where WOWL, now WHDF, was then an NBC affiliate) as reasons. Despite ABC's fall from first place in the 1980s in favor of a renewed NBC, WAAY still routinely came in first or second place in the ratings during the 1980s and 1990s. However, despite having left full NBC affiliation behind back in 1977, WAAY would once again clear some NBC programming during the 1980s, most notably Late Night with David Letterman and Friday Night Videos, which WAFF preempted in favor of evangelist Jimmy Swaggart's daily program at 11:30 p.m. It was only when Swaggart had to discontinue his weekday show in the aftermath of his sexual scandal in 1988 that WAFF resumed carrying Letterman and FNV. Since that time, WAAY has remained an exclusive ABC affiliate, clearing most if not all of its programs.
WAAY-TV was an early adopter of weather radar systems for its weather coverage in the early 1970s. During the 1974 tornado outbreak, the station was able to track the storms in real time using its radar system, while other media outlets had to rely on telephoned reports of visual sightings, as had been done traditionally. In 1995, the station decided to expand its internal data network to become the Internet service provider now known as HiWAAY Information Services. The service survived a period of intense local competition in the Huntsville area in the 1990s and 2000s, and remains in business as an independent regional provider.
Smith Broadcasting sold WAAY-TV to GOCOM Broadcasting (originally Grapevine Communications, later renamed Piedmont Communications) in 1999. The Smith family, who previously owned broadcasting properties in Birmingham before coming to Huntsville, was the last local owner of a Huntsville television station as rivals WHNT-TV and WAFF had been sold to larger corporations years before. WZDX, which was the first station in northern Alabama not affiliated with the traditional networks or the educational television system, has always belonged to outside interests. The Smith family also, at various times, owned radio stations in Fort Walton Beach, Florida and South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Between 1969 and 1982, all three of Huntsville's major-network affiliates (WAAY included) had studios located beside its transmitters and towers on Monte Sano.
After a 1982 fire gutted the building of WAFF, that station and later WHNT moved offices and production facilities into the city itself employing microwave relays to send signals to the transmitters. Only WAAY continues to maintain its full operations on Monte Sano Boulevard. WHIQ-TV, which is a PBS member station, serves as a translator relay of Alabama Public Television with programming originating from Birmingham, not Huntsville. On September 4, 2003, the 1,000-foot (305 m) broadcasting tower leased by WAAY collapsed, killing three people.
In 2006, Piedmont Broadcasting agreed to sell WAAY to Calkins Media, a Pennsylvania-based company that owned several small newspapers in Pennsylvania and two television stations in Florida, WWSB in Sarasota and WTXL in Tallahassee. The sale to Calkins became official on February 1, 2007. WAAY was Calkins' only broadcasting property outside of Florida.
Recent media
Recent media