birmingham alabama branding wbrc fox 6 general wbrc fox 6 news newscasts slogan on your side channels digital 50 uhf virtual 6 psip affiliations .1 fox .2 bounce tv .3 grit owner raycom media wbrc license subsidiary llc first air date july 1 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 07 01 call letters meaning we re the bell radio company original owner of wbrc radio 1 former channel number s analog 4 vhf 1949 1953 6 vhf 1953 2009 former affiliations primary nbc 1949 1954 cbs 1954 1961 abc 1961 1996 secondary dumont 1949 1953 abc 1949 1961 transmitter power 1000 kw height 373 m facility id 71221 transmitter coordinates 33 29 21.2 n 86 47 56.1 w 33.489222 n 86.798917 w 33.489222 ; 86.798917 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wbrc.com wbrc virtual channel 6 uhf digital channel 50 is a fox affiliated television station located in birmingham alabama united states . the station is owned by raycom media . wbrc maintains studio and transmitter facilities located atop red mountain between vulcan trail and valley view drive in southeastern birmingham located to the immediate west of the studios of nbc affiliate wvtm tv channel 13 ; the station shares its transmitter tower with local noaa weather radio station kih54 . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 as an exclusive abc affiliate 1.3 as a fox station 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 wbrc dt2 2.3 wbrc dt3 2.4 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 controversy 4.1.1 david neal lawsuit 4.2 on air staff 4.2.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit early history edit the station first signed on the air on july 1 1949 originally broadcasting on vhf channel 4 as wbrc tv standing for bell radio company after fountain heights physician j.c. bell founder of radio station wbrc 960 am . 1 the tv suffix was dropped from the call sign in june 1999 . 2 although wbrc tv was the first television station in birmingham to be granted a license by the federal communications commission fcc it is the second oldest television station in alabama signing on just over one month after wafm tv channel 13 now wvtm tv which debuted on may 29 . it was originally owned by the birmingham broadcasting company run by eloise d. hanna along with wbrc radio . hanna s first husband m. d. smith had bought wbrc radio from bell in 1928 . her son m.d. smith iii who worked at the radio stations in advertising sales and was later promoted to program director and vice president ran the television station as its operations manager . originally broadcasting for three hours per day it operated as a primary nbc affiliate earning the affiliation as a result of wbrc radio s longtime affiliation with the nbc red network and also carried secondary affiliations with abc and the dumont television network ; during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 3 wbrc tv originally operated from wbrc radio s facilities on 19th street and 2nd avenue near downtown birmingham which originally only housed business and master control operations ; the station originally relied mainly on network and film content for much of the programming it broadcast . the station s transmitter was originally purposed as the transmitter facilities for radio station wbrc fm 102.5 now wbpt at 106.9 fm ; original frequency now occupied by wdxb which signed on in 1947 with the highest radiated power of any radio station worldwide operating at 500 000 watts ; after the fm station suspended operations in june 1948 due to continued revenue losses due to the lack of radios equipped with fm tuners hanna borrowed 150 000 to build a new studio facility and transmitter atop red mountain for the television station . wbrc became the first television station to broadcast the united cerebral palsy telethon an event to raise money for the cerebral palsy research organization that premiered in 1949 ; it was from wbrc that the event emerged into national prominence with national celebrities even making appearances on the telecast . even in its final years on wbrc mini documentaries produced by the station which were produced by randy mize and tom stovall for the local segments aired during the ucp telethon ; wbrc stopped producing and broadcasting the local segments of telethon soon after it switched to fox in 1996 . in september 1950 wbrc established a coaxial cable link with fellow nbc dumont affiliate wrgb now a cbs affiliate in schenectady new york allowing the station to broadcast nbc and dumont network programs both live and live to air . wbrc began producing live local programming that year after it converted the building that formerly housed wbrc fm into a makeshift television studio ; the station also acquired additional studio camera equipment including shows such as coffee break supersonic sam and cowboy theatre . on february 19 1953 wbrc tv moved to channel 6 as part of a frequency realignment ordered by the fcc resulting from the sixth report and order issued the year prior in 1952 . this move was made in order to alleviate signal interference problems between wbrc and wsm tv now wsmv tv in nashville which also transmitted on channel 4 that were present in portions of northern alabama . later that year hanna also sold the wbrc television and radio stations to storer broadcasting for 2.3 million a handsome return on her first husband s purchase of wbrc radio 25 years earlier . 4 george b. storer the company s founder and chairman was a member of the board of directors at cbs and most of his television stations were affiliates of that network . storer may have used his leverage to secure a primary cbs affiliation for wbrc tv which joined the network on july 4 1954 . nbc programming subsequently moved to channel 13 by then using the call sign wabt ; both stations however retained a secondary affiliation with abc . on september 17 of that year the wbrc stations moved to a new much larger studio facility located on red mountain that was built by storer where channel 6 continues to operate from to this day . the building like many of those built by storer to serve as studios for its broadcast properties resembled an antebellum mansion . while it may have been out of place in most of storer s other markets many of which were located outside of the southern united states it was a perfect fit for birmingham . unusual for a commercial broadcaster storer supported educational television and the company donated two transmitters and frequencies in the birmingham market channels 7 and 10 which were respectively occupied by wciq and wbiq when both stations signed on in 1955 to alabama educational television now alabama public television . this also however may have been a move to forestall future commercial competition in the market ; wbrc and wabt remained the only commercial stations in birmingham which would not get a third commercial broadcast television outlet until wbmg now wiat debuted in october 1965 on uhf channel 42 a signal considerably weaker than that of either channels 6 or 13 and a problem which hampered that station s progress until the early 2000s . in 1957 storer sold the wbrc stations to radio cincinnati inc. the forerunner of what would become taft broadcasting for 2.3 million . 5 storer had to sell its broadcast holdings in birmingham after it purchased radio station wibg now wntp in philadelphia and its television sister wpfh later wvue in wilmington delaware whose frequency is now occupied by whyy tv in order to comply with the fcc s ownership limits of that time period . as an exclusive abc affiliate edit on march 1 1961 wbrc tv signed an agreement with abc to become a full time affiliate of the network . 6 this was very unusual for a market with only two commercial stations ; usually one or both stations carried abc as a secondary affiliation since that network would not be on anything resembling an equal footing with cbs and nbc until the 1970s . however taft had very good relations with abc . the company s chairman was a personal friend of abc s president leonard goldenson and several of taft s other stations including flagship wkrc tv in cincinnati which would rejoin cbs in 1995 had recently switched to abc . during the 1970s abc aired cartoons from hanna barbera whose studios were acquired by taft in 1967 . taft later bought abc s former syndication arm worldvision enterprises in 1979 abc spun off this division in 1973 as a result of fin syn laws which have since been repealed . this also marked a significant turnaround for channel 6 s relationship with the network as during the later 1950s the amount of abc programming on wbrc had been dramatically reduced from about 50 % of its schedule to only a very limited selection of shows seemingly headed toward an exclusive cbs affiliation by 1960 ; even still wbrc retained some of cbs higher rated soap operas on its daytime schedule until about 1968 when those programs moved to either wapi tv or wbmg . another factor though supposedly not as important as the taft goldenson relationship was cbs news apparent strong support of the civil rights movement which did not sit well with many white viewers a large segment of wbrc s audience . an urban legend regarding the abc affiliation agreement suggested that the switch was partly motivated by cbs plans to air who speaks for birmingham a controversial cbs reports documentary focusing on desegregation at birmingham public schools that later led to journalist howard k. smith s resignation from cbs news after he quoted an anti desegregation statement by political scientist edmund burke in the closing narration viewed by network president bill paley as editorializing his views in support of school integration ; however the special aired on may 18 of that year two months after the abc agreement was signed . abc had very few full time affiliates south of washington d.c. at the time but now it had the full benefit of one of the south s strongest signals best antenna locations and largest coverage areas . wbrc tv s signal provided at least secondary coverage as far north as decatur and extending south to near montgomery and from the mississippi border in the west to the georgia border in the east . the station became exclusively affiliated with abc on september 7 1961 ; on that date channel 13 by then known as wapi tv assumed rights to cbs and nbc programming although wbrc continued to occasionally carry certain cbs shows that wapi chose not to carry through 1965 . like many network affiliates wbrc tv would preempt abc programming occasionally or regularly in some cases . for example according to local legends the station initially turned down bewitched not because it was concerned about witchcraft but because it concerned a mixed marriage between a witch and a mortal ; there were fears that bewitched would encourage what some segregationists referred to as cross breeding ; channel 6 would not clear bewitched until 1967 although according to the october 15 1965 issue of the birmingham news bewitched was shown airing at its in pattern time of thursdays at 8 00 p.m. central on wbrc . channel 6 continued these practices for most of its years with abc . it also pre empted the abc evening news the forerunner to world news tonight from the program s debut in 1968 until august 7 1972 when both it and wjrt tv in flint michigan became the last two abc affiliates to begin airing the network newscast as well as daytime network programs