WBRC: Difference between revisions
CarloPlyr440 (talk | contribs) |
CarloPlyr440 (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
call_letters = WBRC| |
call_letters = WBRC| |
||
city = | |
city = | |
||
station_logo = [[Image: |
station_logo = [[Image:New_Wbrc_Logo.jpg]]| |
||
station_slogan = The Most Powerful Name in Local News| |
station_slogan = The Most Powerful Name in Local News| |
||
station_branding = Fox 6| |
station_branding = Fox 6| |
||
Revision as of 22:00, 11 October 2007
{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:
- Template:Infobox broadcasting network
- Template:Infobox television channel
- Template:Infobox television station
If an internal transclusion led you here, you may wish to change it to point directly to the intended page.
{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.
WBRC, channel 6, Fox 6 is the Fox O&O Station in the Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa, Alabama television market. Its transmitter is located atop Red Mountain in Birmingham.
History
WBRC began operation on July 1, 1949 on channel 4 as an NBC affiliate. The station also carried secondary affiliations with ABC (shared with WAPI-TV, now WVTM-TV) and DuMont.[1] It was owned by Eloise D. Hanna along with WBRC-AM 960. The station's call letters stand for Bell Radio Company, after J.C. Bell, WBRC-AM's first owner.
It moved to channel 6 in 1953 to guard against signal interference with WSMV in Nashville, which is north of Birmingham. Later that year, Ms. Hanna sold the station to Storer Broadcasting. WBRC became a dual CBS/ABC affiliate in 1954. In the same year, WBRC-AM-FM-TV moved to a new studio built by Storer, where channel 6 remains today. The studio, like many of those built by Storer, resembled an antebellum mansion. In 1957, Storer sold WBRC to Taft Broadcasting of Cincinnati.
In 1961, WBRC took the ABC affiliation full time, leaving WAPI to share CBS and NBC. This was very unusual for a market with only two commercial stations. Usually, one or both stations carried ABC as a secondary affiliation. ABC would not be on anything resembling an equal footing with CBS and NBC until the 1970s. However, Taft had very good relations with ABC. Most of Taft's TV stations were ABC affiliates, including its flagship station, WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, which was one of ABC's strongest affiliates. Also, Taft's chairman was a personal friend of ABC president Leonard Goldenson.
Another factor, though not as important as the Taft-Goldenson relationship, was CBS News' apparent strong support of the Civil Rights Movement, which didn't sit well with a large segment of WBRC's audience. ABC had very few full-time affiliates south of Washington, D.C. at the time, but now had the full benefit of one of the South's strongest signals and biggest coverage areas. Nonetheless, WBRC would not clear the network's news programming until 1972, and pre-empted a large amount of other network shows over the years as well. Also in 1972, Taft sold WBRC-AM-FM; the AM station is now WERC while the FM station is now WBPT.
WBRC was one of ABC's strongest affiliates over the years. For a time, it lodged the ABC dot logo inside its own "6" logo (just as it had done with the CBS eye in the 1950s).
In late 1987, Taft was restructured into Great American Broadcasting after a hostile takeover. In December 1993 Great American Broadcasting was restructured after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and became known as Citicasters. The 6 logo very similar to WRTV's 6 logo with the exception of the logo is gold.
In the early spring of 1994, Citicasters agreed to sell four stations to New World Communications. Besides WBRC, the stations were:
- WDAF 4 Kansas City's NBC affiliate
- KSAZ 10 (formerly KTSP) Phoenix's CBS affiliate
- WGHP 8 High Point/Greensboro's ABC affiliate.
A month before though, New World agreed to buy four stations owned by Argyle Communications, including Birmingham's WVTM. Federal Communications Commission rules at the time dictated that one company could not own two stations in the same market. In addition, the acquisitions put New World two television stations over the FCC-mandated 12-station limit in effect at the time. As a result, New World decided to opt to place WBRC and WGHP in a trust for sale to another company and keep WVTM.
In May 1994, New World agreed to affiliate all of their stations with Fox except for WVTM and KNSD in San Diego which remained affiliated with NBC; these were subsequently purchased by that network. At that same time, it was determined that WBRC and WGHP would be sold to Fox, but put in a trust until Fox could close on those stations. Fox assumed control of WBRC and WGHP in the summer of 1995 through local marketing agreements. Both stations officially became Fox-owned stations in January 1996. Since WBRC's affiliation agreement with ABC did not expire until September 1996, Fox had to maintain ABC affiliation on WBRC for over a year. This also gave ABC time to find another affiliate to serve central Alabama.
WBRC was originally going to run Fox Kids in the 1 to 4 pm slot, but once it was determined that soon to be former Fox affiliate WTTO would be left an independent, it opted to let WTTO keep the Fox Kids programming. So as a Fox affiliate, WBRC has aired only the prime-time and weekend sports programming of the Fox network. Even in 2000 when WTTO dropped Fox Kids, WBRC still did not pick it up. Today Fox only offers a Saturday Morning kids lineup; WBRC still refuses clearance.
The current weekday line-up includes The Tyra Banks Show, Judge Joe Brown, Divorce Court, COPS, Judge Judy, Judge Alex, Geraldo at Large, Bernie Mac, Malcolm In The Middle, M*A*S*H, King Of The Hill, and others.
Since the affiliation switch, the station has been known as "FOX6". It has gained the reputation of having one of the nation's highest-rated primetime newscasts: "FOX6 News at 9:00". It also airs 43 hours of locally produced news programming per week, the most in the market. It also has been the traditional leader in the market for the past few decades.
Soon thereafter, it ceased production and broadcasting of local segments of the United Cerebral Palsy Telethon, which had it roots with the station. WBRC was the first station to broadcast the telethon starting back in the 1940s. National celebrities would fly in to be on this telethon and it was from there that it moved to national prominence. Even in it waning moments at WBRC, the UCP Telethon would air locally produced mini-documentaries from WBRC (Producers Randy Mize / Tom Stovall).
WBRC is one of only a few stations in the country to have had primary affiilations with all three of the historical networks, and one of only two in the country (the other being KEVN-TV in Rapid City, South Dakota) to have had primary affiliations with all four current major networks. The station was also one of the first Fox O&O's to launch a website with the MyFox interface, which features video, more detailed news, and a consistent interface that is now featured on virtually all Fox O&O station websites.
When Media General completed its acquisition of WVTM on June 26 2006, WBRC became the only network O&O in the Birmingham/Tuscaloosa/Anniston market.
Previous owners of Channel 6
- 1949–1953: Birmingham Broadcasting Co.
- 1953–1957: Storer Broadcasting
- 1957–1987: Taft Broadcasting
- 1987–1993: Great American Broadcasting
- 1993–1994: Citicasters
- 1994–1995: New World Communications
Chronology
Logos
-
WBRC's Old logo from 2000 to September 2007
-
WBRC logo Since September 2007
Notable Personalities
Current On-Air Talent
FOX6 Anchors
- Scott Richards - weekdays 5, 5:30, and 10PM
- Steve Crocker - weekdays 6 and 9PM
- Janet Hall - weekdays 5, 5:30, and 6PM
- Devon Walsh - weekdays 9 and 10PM
- Janice Rogers - weekdays "Good Day" and noon
- Rick Journey - weekdays "Good Day"
- Bill Bolen - weekdays "Good Day"
- Sarah Verser - weekdays "Good Day"
- Karen Church - weekend evenings
- Tiffany Bittner - weekend mornings
FOX6 Reporters
- Christie del Amo - general assignment reporter
- Jason Dennis - nightside reporter/fill-in anchor
- Sherea Harris - general assignment reporter
- Doug Luzader - FOX News Washington D.C. correspondent
- Chris Montana - general assignment reporter
- Ashley Nix - general assignment reporter
- Melanie Posey - general assignment reporter
- Kelvin Reynolds - Tuscaloosa bureau reporter
- Ronda Robinson - "FOX6 on Your Side" investigative reporter
Traffic Anchor
- Brandy Malone - weekday mornings
Meteorologists/Weather Anchors
- David Neal - Chief Meteorologist, weekdays 5, 5:30, 6, 9, and 10PM
- Mickey Ferguson - weekdays "Good Day" and noon
- Fred Hunter - weekend evenings
- Chris Davis - weekend mornings
Sports Anchors/Reporters
- Rick Karle - weekdays 5, 6, 9, and 10PM
- Jeh Jeh Pruitt - weekdays at noon
- Sheldon Haygood - weekend evenings
- Mike Dubberly sports reporter
Notable past personalities
- Country Boy Eddie Burns: Longest produced programming, local Country Music Talent[2]
- Harry Mabry: News Anchor
- Joe Langston: News Anchor
- Bev Montgomery: News Anchor
- Brenda Ladun: News Anchor (currently on Birmingham's WBMA/WCFT/WJSU)
- Linda Mays: News Anchor (currently on WBMA/WCFT/WJSU)
- Andrea Lindenburg: News Anchor (currently morning news anchor on Birmingham's WVTM)
- Larry Langford: News Reporter (currently serving on the Jefferson County, Alabama Commission)
- Shelia Smoot: News Reporter (also currently on the Jefferson County Commission)
- Tom York: Sports Anchor and host of WBRC's long running The Morning Show
- Herb Winches: Sports Anchor (was at WJOX-AM from 1990-2006; now at WERC-AM and WIAT-TV)
- Jonathan Elias (Reporter 1988-1991, now at KNXV Phoenix)
- Mike Hogewood: Sports Anchor
- Gil Tyree: Weekend Sports Anchor (currently on WGCL in Atlanta)
- Eli Gold: Sports Anchor
- Mike Raita: Sports Anchor (currently on WBMA/WCFT/WJSU)
- Fannie Flagg: Co-host of The Morning Show during the 1960s
- Pat Gray: Weather Reporter
- Mike Royer: Meteorologist (currently news anchor on Birmingham's WVTM)
- James Spann: Meteorologist (currently on WBMA/WCFT/WJSU)
- Ted Klimasewski ("Dr. Ted K"): Meteorologist
- Art Franklin: News Anchor (currently on WAGA-TV in Atlanta, GA)
- Wynette Byrd (Tammy Wynette) was a regular performer on WBRC's Country Boy Eddie Show prior to her move to Nashville
- Bruce Cunningham Sports Anchor (currently on WBFF-TV in Baltimore)
- Donna Hamilton: Co-host "The Morning Show" and "PM Magazine" (currently on WBAL-TV in Baltimore)
