verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message not to be confused with wtvm an abc affiliated television station in columbus georgia . wvtm tv birmingham tuscaloosa anniston alabama united states city birmingham alabama branding wvtm 13 general today s wvtm 13 news newscasts slogan we are alabama general covering the south newscasts channels digital 13 vhf virtual 13 psip affiliations .1 nbc .2 metv owner hearst television wvtm hearst television inc. first air date may 29 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 05 29 call letters meaning vulcan in reference to statue times mirror former owners former callsigns wafm tv 1949 1953 wabt 1953 1958 wapi tv 1958 1980 former channel number s analog 13 vhf 1949 2009 digital 52 uhf until 2009 former affiliations primary cbs sole primary 1949 1954 joint primary with nbc 1961 1965 secondary cbs 1965 1970 abc 1949 1961 transmitter power 20 kw height 403 m facility id 74173 transmitter coordinates 33 29 25.9 n 86 47 47.7 w 33.490528 n 86.796583 w 33.490528 ; 86.796583 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wvtm13.com wvtm tv vhf channel 13 is an nbc affiliated television station located in birmingham alabama united states . the station is owned by the hearst television subsidiary of the hearst corporation . 1 wvtm maintains studio and transmitter facilities located atop red mountain between vulcan trail and valley view drive in southeastern birmingham adjacent to the vulcan statue and next to the studios of fox affiliate wbrc channel 6 . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 new world communications and nbc ownership 1.3 media general ownership 1.4 hearst television ownership 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 on air staff 4.1.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit early history edit the station first signed on the air on may 29 1949 as wafm tv originally carrying a limited schedule of local programming . the station began carrying select network programming on july 1 operating as a primary cbs and secondary abc affiliate ; channel 13 began carrying an expanded schedule of programming from abc and cbs on october 1 . it was originally owned by the voice of alabama inc. along with radio stations wapi 1070 am and wafm then at 93.3 now wjox fm at 94.5 fm . 2 it is the longest continuously operating television station in alabama . during the summer of 1949 most programs aired by wafm tv aired during the daytime hours allowing radio electronics and department stores to demonstrate television set receivers to potential customers . in january 1953 the federal communications commission fcc approved an application to increase the station s transmitter power from 26 000 to 316 000 watts . 3 in july 1953 the birmingham news bought the voice of alabama and changed the station s call letters to wabt for alabama s best television . the following year on july 4 1954 wabt traded primary network affiliations with wbrc tv channel 6 and joined nbc ; however it retained a secondary affiliation with abc as did wbrc tv which took over the cbs affiliation as its then new owners storer broadcasting had maintained a strong relationship with the network the company s founder and chairman george b. storer was a member of the board of directors at cbs . on january 26 1956 newspaper publishing company newhouse newspapers now advance publications purchased the news . the station changed its callsign again in 1958 to wapi tv for alabama polytechnic institute which owned wapi radio from 1925 to 1932 to match its sister am radio station ; wafm fm adopted the wapi calls at the same time as moved its frequency to 94.5 fm . channel 13 also became known for its heavy schedule of local programs during the 1950s and 1960s most notably two popular shows aimed at younger audiences hosted by two early staples of birmingham television . magician cliff holman hosted a children s program on the station for 15 years from 1954 to 1968 ; originally debuting in march 1954 as the tip top clubhouse named after the ward baking company s tip top bread brand the afternoon cartoon showcase featured holman who previously served as the voice and puppeteer of mr. bingle a marionette character originated in 1949 by city stores of new york for a loveman s sponsored holiday series that aired on wafm tv in november 1950 in the persona of cousin cliff which was given to him by ward executives as the then 25 year old was too young to fit the uncle image then common of other children s show hosts and underwent three format and title changes between 1956 and 1958 first as cliff s clubhouse after ward baking withdrew sponsorship due to corporate difficulties and then as cartoon clubhouse and later the popeye show after wapi acquired the local rights to the fleischer studios animated shorts . in 1968 holman left wapi after station management relegated popeye to weekend mornings after ratings declined following the show s move to weekday mornings and a switch to a pre recorded format ; he revived his program at whma tv channel 40 now wgww in anniston in 1969 as the cousin cliff show . benny carle hosted western theatre a showcase of western films interspersed with studio segments with local children as part of its studio audience that aired from 1953 to 1954 when carle left to take over bob bandy s role as host the similarly formatted circle six ranch on wbrc tv where he remained until 1964 . wbrc tv became a full time abc affiliate on september 7 1961 although it continued to occasionally carry certain cbs shows that wapi chose not to carry until 1965 . the wbrc deal with abc which was also a result of the strong relations between the network and wbrc s owner taft television and radio company which acquired that station in 1957 forced wapi tv to shoehorn both nbc and cbs programs onto its programming schedule . this was rather unusual since in most two station markets abc which would not be on equal footing with cbs and nbc until the early 1970s was typically relegated to a secondary affiliation on either one or both of the existing television stations . the birmingham market then as it is now was a fairly large market geographically stretching across nearly the entire width of the state from near the alabama mississippi state line eastward to the alabama georgia state line . the market also has areas of fairly rugged terrain particularly in the eastern part of the state which lies within the foothills of the appalachian mountains which often created impairment issues with the over the air reception of uhf television stations . both of these factors made prospective broadcasters skittish about signing on a television station on one of the available uhf allocations even though population wise birmingham was large enough a market even then to support three full time network affiliates . although there were two other vhf channels in the market channels 7 and 10 both had been allocated to alabama educational television now alabama public television following an effort by george storer whose company donated the two frequencies and accompanying transmitters to the alabama educational television commission which were respectively signed on wciq and wbiq on those channels in 1955 in a move that may have been an attempt to forestall future commercial competition in the market . while channel 13 tried to carry the most popular nbc and cbs shows a lot of fairly popular programs aired by either network were not able to air in the birmingham market because of this arrangement even though wapi carried selected cbs and nbc network programs in a 4 hour block preceding its late evening newscast which then aired at 11 00 p.m. and the lack of a third station to carry the remaining programs . one of the more popular cbs shows that wapi tv did not air was the ed sullivan show which resulted in central alabama viewers missing the beatles debut american performance on the variety series in february 1964 unless they were lucky enough to be able to get reception of cbs affiliates in the adjacent markets of atlanta waga tv now a fox owned and operated station huntsville whnt or montgomery wcov tv now a fox affiliate . on a similar note one of the nbc shows that channel 13 turned down was the tonight show which wbmg aired instead until wapi began clearing the program in september 1969 ; even then due to the expanded prime time scheduling under the dual network arrangement with cbs and nbc it delayed tonight to 11 30 p.m. wapi tv strongly favored nbc for national news programming ; as a byproduct of this when cbs and nbc expanded their early evening news programs to 30 minutes in 1963 the cbs evening news with walter cronkite did not air in birmingham for the next two years . this was due of course to the fact that both networks fed their newscasts to their affiliates at 5 30 p.m. central time as they continue to do today . channel 13 aired its local newscast at 6 00 p.m. and prior to the passage of the prime time access rule by the federal communications commission fcc in 1971 prime time network programming began at 6 30 p.m. central time . this left no available room on wapi s schedule to allow it to air the cbs evening news even if station management had wanted to broadcast it clearing only the huntley brinkley report in its normal time slot huntley brinkley was the only network evening newscast that was televised in birmingham from 1963 to 1965 as wbrc tv did not carry abc s evening newscasts during that period . the birmingham market would not get a third commercial broadcast television outlet until wbmg tv channel 42 now wiat signed on in october 1965 . although wbmg nominally had a cbs affiliation the network allowed wapi tv to continue airing its higher rated programs . this was largely because wbmg had launched only one year after the fcc s all channel receiver act went into law requiring that television sets manufactured from 1964 onward include all channel tuning ; relatively few households in the area at the time had sets with built in uhf tuning capability or expensive converter boxes that enabled older television sets to pick up uhf signals . compounding things channel 42 operated at a lower effective radiated power producing a signal that was considerably weaker than that of either wapi tv or wbrc tv . to fill out its schedule wbmg aired some nbc programs that wapi tv turned down or otherwise had no room to broadcast on its schedule such as the tonight show . both stations listed cbs nbc as their affiliation as wbmg maintained a nominal secondary affiliation with the latter network . on april 3 1967 wapi tv became the first television station in birmingham to broadcast its all of its programming in color having acquired camera projection and slide equipment equipment to broadcast local and acquired programming in the format in addition to carrying nbc and cbs programs available in color . in may 1970 wapi tv became the exclusive nbc affiliate for birmingham simultaneously resulting in the cbs programs not already carried by that station moving to wbmg . the switch to an exclusive nbc affiliation was the result of the fact that two of newhouse broadcasting s other stations wstm tv in syracuse and wetm tv in elmira new york were already affiliated with the network ; in addition the