branding waff 48 general waff 48 news newscasts slogan your first alert station we track storms weather channels digital 48 uhf virtual 48 psip subchannels 48.1 nbc 48.2 bounce tv 48.3 grittv owner raycom media waff license subsidiary llc first air date july 4 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 07 04 call letters meaning american families finest the old slogan of the former owner aflac former callsigns wmsl tv 1954 1975 wyur tv 1975 1978 former channel number s analog 23 1954 1968 48 1968 2009 former affiliations primary nbc 1954 1968 abc 1968 1977 secondary abc 1954 1959 cbs 1954 1963 dumont 1954 1955 transmitter power 48 kw height 576 metres 1 890 ft facility id 591 transmitter coordinates 34 42 36.3 n 86 32 5.1 w 34.710083 n 86.534750 w 34.710083 ; 86.534750 waff licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website waff.com old logo used until january 2014 . waff is the nbc television network affiliate in huntsville alabama . owned by raycom media the station broadcasts its digital signal on uhf channel 48 mapped as virtual channel 48.1 via psip and serves the northern portion of alabama and several counties in southern tennessee . it is based from its studios on memorial parkway u.s. highway 431 in huntsville and its transmitter is located south of monte sano state park . contents 1 history 1.1 the decatur years 1954 69 1.2 early years in huntsville 1969 74 1.3 call sign and ownership changes 1.4 1982 studio fire and aftermath 1.5 beginnings of success and recent history 1980s present 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 raycom news network and raycom weather network 4 references 5 external links history edit the decatur years 1954 69 edit the station first began broadcasting from studios and transmitters in decatur 30 miles 50 km west of huntsville on july 4 1954 as wmsl tv channel 23 . it was owned by frank whisenant a decatur businessman who also owned wmsl radio am 1400 now wwtm . wmsl originally carried programming from all four networks of the time nbc cbs abc and the dumont network but was a primary nbc affiliate . it lost the dumont network when that one began closing down in 1955 ; it lost abc when waay tv started in huntsville in 1959 as an abc affiliate ; and finally lost cbs when whnt tv began transmitting as a cbs affiliate in 1963 . during the late 1950s wmsl was also affiliated briefly with the nta film network . 1 until the early 1960s decatur was the largest city in the viewing area and it was centrally located thus making it a good location for the tennessee valley region s first tv station . however when huntsville became the region s largest city due to the exponential growth of u.s. army missile command and nasa installations whisenant decided to move wmsl tv there as well ; it was the only major station in the market licensed in decatur . however because the station s original channel assignment channel 23 was too close in frequency to the area s alabama educational television outlet whiq channel 25 the f.c.c. ordered wmsl tv to move to channel 48 as a condition on its permit to relocate its city of license . the move to a higher uhf frequency was highly unusual for that time ; during the 1960s especially many uhf stations that had started operations on channels above 40 or so were able to move to lower allocations per fcc action . wmsl tv began broadcasting on channel 48 in january 1969 while simultaneously continuing to transmit on channel 23 for several days afterwards . some weeks later whisenant closed the station s studios in decatur when the new studios opened in huntsville . in the meantime whisenant sold wmsl radio to clete quick another decatur businessman . early years in huntsville 1969 74 edit on september 1 1967 about 16 months before moving to huntsville wmsl tv had to begin sharing the nbc affiliation for north alabama with waay tv meaning the market had no local abc affiliate for a year ; the network was available only on out of market stations in birmingham nashville and chattanooga . still the new channel 48 which took over waay tv s old abc affiliation when its nbc contract expired in september 1968 made persistent efforts to serve its greatly expanded viewing area which now included most of the shoals region of northwestern alabama . perhaps the most popular of wmsl tv s local programs was the weekday children s show hosted by station general manager benny carle a birmingham native who honed his talents for many years on wbrc tv there . the show was typical for its day featuring about 10 to 15 school aged children in the studio with the host who conducted party games told stories and engaged in clownish behavior ; cartoons were shown during the one hour later 30 minute late afternoon later mid morning program . he began the show in the mid 1960s while the station was still in decatur and continued it until 1975 when abc s good morning america took over its morning time slot . carle owned radio station wbcf and low power tv station wbcf lp in florence alabama which he established after leaving channel 48 . carle died on october 2 2014 at the age of 89 . another notable program during that period was a saturday afternoon teenage dance show which ran after the similar american bandstand although the local show resembled soul train more closely that holds the honor of being the first television program exclusively aimed at northern alabama s african american population . the program was hosted by nat tate who until his 2007 death worked for radio stations in the decatur area and served as a baptist minister . call sign and ownership changes edit in 1974 whisenant sold the station to a vermont based company which renamed the station wyur tv on march 9 1975 . despite more aggressive attempts to promote its newscast wyur s ratings were far behind waay and whnt . then in 1978 aflac then known by its full name of american family life assurance company bought the station re christening it waff . some months earlier on december 11 1977 waay decided to return to abc as that network had become the nation s most popular in prime time programming especially ; in turn this left channel 48 returning with the then less desirable nbc affiliation . aflac did not immediately turn the corner with waff ; the station kept fine tuning its newscasts and acquiring some nationally popular syndicated programs but very little seemed to work . still the station pressed forward ; around 1980 or 1981 a new tower was constructed on the south end of monte sano adjacent to the station s studios . the tower measured some 1 476 feet in height and was constructed in an effort to provide better reception to viewers across northern alabama and southern middle tennessee . the weather forecaster at the time glenn bracken held a coloring contest for schoolchildren across the viewing area whereby they could depict their scenes of the new tall tower and incorporate waff s marketing message new tall tower means more picture power and have their drawing and name presented during the nightly weather forecast which usually took place on a balcony outside the news studio s doors . also during this period waff began airing promotional spots showing various scenes of its news personalities interacting with residents of its viewing area along with its news helicopter sky48 to a song titled we re your kind of people . 1982 studio fire and aftermath edit on the evening of march 24 1982 the station s building situated on the side of monte sano overlooking huntsville proper caught fire and burned . local firefighters could not control the blaze since the fire hydrant at the end of the driveway had not yet been connected to the water main and the water pressure at nearby hydrants was particularly low ; this situation would later prompt competitor whnt to relocate to downtown huntsville some years later . it was only a few days however before waff began broadcasting again through the auspices of local cable companies who provided nbc programming feeds from wsmv tv in nashville and wvtm tv in birmingham both of which were available in their own rights on many northern alabama cable systems prior to 1990 . eventually waff would rebuild at a new location occupying a former jewelry store on north memorial parkway some miles away from monte sano ; microwave links connected the studios to the transmitter and tower . the fire would also prompt huntsville city officials to repair the water pressure situation and build a new fire station atop monte sano which sits directly across from waay s studios . beginnings of success and recent history 1980s present edit the disaster may have proved to be a blessing in disguise as aflac began investing money in developing talent and production facilities enabling waff to start making a serious ratings impact for the first time since the early 1970s . not only did the station benefit from the renewed popularity of nbc in the mid 1980s but its acquisitions of highly popular syndicated shows like oprah jeopardy and wheel of fortune made it a hit with viewers in the tennessee valley region . since that time the station has experienced continued success . however waff made a controversial decision in the mid 1980s to preempt late night with david letterman and on fridays friday night videos in favor of evangelist jimmy swaggart s daily half hour program at 11 30 p.m. for several years largely to cater to the area s conservative religious population and in the likelihood that it would bring in more money than local ad revenues would for letterman s show ; the station opted to sign off at midnight rather than tape delay the nbc shows for later airing . also waff made the decision to run the swaggart program at a time when many area residents did not have access to religious programming on cable television as would be the case in later years . however letterman and fnv were eventually picked up by abc affiliate and former full time nbc outlet waay airing after nightline and aired there until swaggart s sexual scandal in 1988 impacted his ministry to the point that he had to cancel the daily program . thereafter waff returned letterman and fnv to the schedule and continues to this day to air nbc s late night schedule without preemptions . waay also cleared several nbc daytime shows between 9 and 10 a.m. central time before abc s daytime programming began for the day that waff passed on during this period as well . as with the other two major network huntsville stations weather forecasting became a very high priority for waff in the 1990s especially after the city experienced a devastating tornado in november 1989 . the station constructed a doppler radar and began to use highly sophisticated meteorological equipment . aflac sold waff along with its other broadcasting properties to raycom media of montgomery ala. in 1996 . notable news personalities over the years have included newman milwee bob gord hans sitarz paul buxton robert lane greg mccambell tom kennemer missy ming bob baron kelly cooper bruce cunningham roy ackland tony troiano janette smith jay prater mark thornhill kimberly essex lee marshall liz hurley rudy koski amy witte tim hall michael gibson glenn bracken mark walleman brad travis will kennedy gasia mikaelian ryan korsgard varion walton and kristin tallent . waff received national media attention on july 29 2010 when a report aired on july 28 became a viral