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WIAT
WIAT (channel 42) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are on Golden Crest Drive atop Red Mountain, where its tower is also located.
Channel 42 in Birmingham went on the air as WBMG on October 17, 1965, nearly nine years after its construction was approved. It was the city's third commercial station after channels 6 and 13 (now WBRC and WVTM-TV), whose very high frequency (VHF) signals carried further than WBMG's ultra high frequency (UHF) signal; the Birmingham Television Corporation, which built channel 42, had been unsuccessful in efforts to allocate a third VHF TV channel to Birmingham. The station initially aired the CBS and NBC programs not aired by channel 13 until the two stations each took full-time network affiliations in 1970. It was hemmed in by its weaker signal, the existence of CBS affiliates in Tuscaloosa and Anniston, and the dominance of the VHF stations in the ratings. Roy H. Park Broadcasting acquired WBMG in 1973, but WBMG never moved above third in the market. In response to low ratings, the station dropped local news in 1982 and restored it in 1987; the newscasts, titled Action News Birmingham, became known for a combative style and emphasis on metro-area news, but they were never highly viewed. By 1997, syndicated reruns of Sanford and Son attracted more viewers than WBMG's evening news, and a new Birmingham TV station pushed channel 42 into fourth place in news.
When Media General acquired the Park group in 1997, it planned a major overhaul of the long-struggling station. General manager Eric Land fired all of WBMG's on-air presenters as well as other news employees in December 1997. For a month, channel 42 aired a countdown clock at 5 and 10 p.m. while the news department was rebuilt from scratch, a tactic that attracted national attention. On February 5, 1998, the station changed its call letters to WIAT—for its new slogan, "It's About Time"—and relaunched its newscasts as 42 Daily News. The news programs featured short stories, no on-camera reporters, and a high story count; while still in fourth place, they were a marked improvement in quality and ratings over their predecessors. After ratings plateaued in the early 2000s, the station moved to a more conventional format and brought in veteran Birmingham news personalities, which made channel 42 more competitive in the market.
Media General acquired WVTM-TV in 2006 and sold WIAT to New Vision Television to make the purchase. LIN Media acquired New Vision in 2012, and Media General acquired LIN in 2014—this time, keeping WIAT and selling WVTM. Nexstar purchased Media General in 2017.
In March 1956, the Birmingham Television Corporation—formed by Harry and Elmer Balaban—was incorporated in Alabama and proceeded to file for Birmingham's unused ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 42. That same month, Birmingham radio station WSGN filed for channel 42 as well. It was the second application for television made by WSGN, which had previously sought channel 48 and was an ABC affiliate in radio. The fact that two applicants were seeking a UHF channel was of note given that UHF television had proved mostly an economic failure due to lack of transmitter power and the inability of many sets to tune UHF stations.
WSGN's owners, the Winston-Salem Broadcasting Company, withdrew their application for channel 42 on November 28, 1956. The withdrawal was part of a consolidation with the Balaban application, which was approved. Of the prospects for a new station, which would likely have been an ABC affiliate at that point in time, Roger Thames of The Birmingham News wrote,
Personally, I don't believe anybody's going to establish a UHF station in Birmingham. I don't believe there are very many sets in use here which will bring in the UHF signal. And UHF operators elsewhere have had little luck in persuading folks to spend money to gear their sets to get UHF. But ... it costs money to keep an application alive, and something must be in the air.
The Birmingham Television Corporation spent years trying to move a third commercial channel in the more established very high frequency (VHF) band to Birmingham. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the FCC considered adding such a channel to Birmingham on multiple occasions. In 1959, it considered moving channel 8 into Birmingham; WBMG favored a proposal to relocate channel 4 from Columbus, Mississippi, which was also denied. In 1963, it opted to deny the addition of channel 3. The pending proceedings spared the unbuilt station, with the call sign WBMG, from deletion. In 1960, the FCC sent letters to the permittees of 54 unused or unbuilt UHF stations, including WBMG, ordering them to resume or lose the permit. WBMG and a permit in Grand Rapids, Michigan, were spared due to the pending proposals. In 1963, Winston-Salem Broadcasting became the sole owner of the Birmingham Television Corporation when it bought out the Balabans' stake.
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WIAT
WIAT (channel 42) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are on Golden Crest Drive atop Red Mountain, where its tower is also located.
Channel 42 in Birmingham went on the air as WBMG on October 17, 1965, nearly nine years after its construction was approved. It was the city's third commercial station after channels 6 and 13 (now WBRC and WVTM-TV), whose very high frequency (VHF) signals carried further than WBMG's ultra high frequency (UHF) signal; the Birmingham Television Corporation, which built channel 42, had been unsuccessful in efforts to allocate a third VHF TV channel to Birmingham. The station initially aired the CBS and NBC programs not aired by channel 13 until the two stations each took full-time network affiliations in 1970. It was hemmed in by its weaker signal, the existence of CBS affiliates in Tuscaloosa and Anniston, and the dominance of the VHF stations in the ratings. Roy H. Park Broadcasting acquired WBMG in 1973, but WBMG never moved above third in the market. In response to low ratings, the station dropped local news in 1982 and restored it in 1987; the newscasts, titled Action News Birmingham, became known for a combative style and emphasis on metro-area news, but they were never highly viewed. By 1997, syndicated reruns of Sanford and Son attracted more viewers than WBMG's evening news, and a new Birmingham TV station pushed channel 42 into fourth place in news.
When Media General acquired the Park group in 1997, it planned a major overhaul of the long-struggling station. General manager Eric Land fired all of WBMG's on-air presenters as well as other news employees in December 1997. For a month, channel 42 aired a countdown clock at 5 and 10 p.m. while the news department was rebuilt from scratch, a tactic that attracted national attention. On February 5, 1998, the station changed its call letters to WIAT—for its new slogan, "It's About Time"—and relaunched its newscasts as 42 Daily News. The news programs featured short stories, no on-camera reporters, and a high story count; while still in fourth place, they were a marked improvement in quality and ratings over their predecessors. After ratings plateaued in the early 2000s, the station moved to a more conventional format and brought in veteran Birmingham news personalities, which made channel 42 more competitive in the market.
Media General acquired WVTM-TV in 2006 and sold WIAT to New Vision Television to make the purchase. LIN Media acquired New Vision in 2012, and Media General acquired LIN in 2014—this time, keeping WIAT and selling WVTM. Nexstar purchased Media General in 2017.
In March 1956, the Birmingham Television Corporation—formed by Harry and Elmer Balaban—was incorporated in Alabama and proceeded to file for Birmingham's unused ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 42. That same month, Birmingham radio station WSGN filed for channel 42 as well. It was the second application for television made by WSGN, which had previously sought channel 48 and was an ABC affiliate in radio. The fact that two applicants were seeking a UHF channel was of note given that UHF television had proved mostly an economic failure due to lack of transmitter power and the inability of many sets to tune UHF stations.
WSGN's owners, the Winston-Salem Broadcasting Company, withdrew their application for channel 42 on November 28, 1956. The withdrawal was part of a consolidation with the Balaban application, which was approved. Of the prospects for a new station, which would likely have been an ABC affiliate at that point in time, Roger Thames of The Birmingham News wrote,
Personally, I don't believe anybody's going to establish a UHF station in Birmingham. I don't believe there are very many sets in use here which will bring in the UHF signal. And UHF operators elsewhere have had little luck in persuading folks to spend money to gear their sets to get UHF. But ... it costs money to keep an application alive, and something must be in the air.
The Birmingham Television Corporation spent years trying to move a third commercial channel in the more established very high frequency (VHF) band to Birmingham. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the FCC considered adding such a channel to Birmingham on multiple occasions. In 1959, it considered moving channel 8 into Birmingham; WBMG favored a proposal to relocate channel 4 from Columbus, Mississippi, which was also denied. In 1963, it opted to deny the addition of channel 3. The pending proceedings spared the unbuilt station, with the call sign WBMG, from deletion. In 1960, the FCC sent letters to the permittees of 54 unused or unbuilt UHF stations, including WBMG, ordering them to resume or lose the permit. WBMG and a permit in Grand Rapids, Michigan, were spared due to the pending proposals. In 1963, Winston-Salem Broadcasting became the sole owner of the Birmingham Television Corporation when it bought out the Balabans' stake.