tuscaloosa alabama wvua tuscaloosa alabama united states city both stations tuscaloosa alabama branding wvua 23 general wvua 23 news newscasts this is wvua imaging slogan your home team alabama s home team both used interchangeably channels digital wvua cd 23 uhf wvua 6 vhf virtual wvua cd 7 psip wvua 23 psip subchannels see article translators wdvz cd 3 greensboro wjmy cd 25 demopolis affiliations this tv owner university of alabama the board of trustees of the university of alabama founded 1998 1998 first air date wvua cd 1998 ; 18 years ago 1998 wvua 2004 ; 12 years ago 2004 specify call letters meaning voice of the university of alabama in reference to university owned radio station wvua fm former callsigns wvua cd w49bo 1994 1997 wjrd lp 1998 2002 wvua ca 2002 2015 wvua wbjh 1999 wldm 1999 2005 wuoa 2005 2015 former channel number s analog wvua cd 49 uhf 1996 2000 7 2000 2015 wvua 23 uhf 2001 2009 former affiliations pax tv 1998 2002 america one 2002 2008 transmitter power wvua cd 15 kw wvua 26 kw height wvua cd 174 m wvua 395 m class wvua cd class a wvua full power digital facility id wvua cd 70429 wvua 77496 transmitter coordinates wvua cd 33 9 35.5 n 87 30 53.9 w 33.159861 n 87.514972 w 33.159861 ; 87.514972 wvua 33 29 2 n 86 48 20.7 w 33.48389 n 86.805750 w 33.48389 ; 86.805750 wvua licensing authority fcc public license information wvua profile wvua cdbs website www.wvuatv.com wvua cd virtual channel 7 uhf digital channel 23 is a this tv affiliated television station serving tuscaloosa alabama united states that is licensed to northport . the station is owned by the board of trustees of the university of alabama . wvua cd maintains studio and transmitter facilities located within the digital media center at bryant denny stadium on the university of alabama campus . as wvua cd s low powered broadcasting radius does not reach the entire birmingham tuscaloosa anniston market the station s programming is simulcast to the remainder of the area on full power satellite station wvua virtual channel 23 vhf digital channel 6 which is licensed to tuscaloosa . wvua maintains transmitter facilities located atop red mountain near the southern edge of birmingham . in addition to wvua wvua cd s signal is relayed on low power repeaters wdvz cd channel 3 in greensboro and wjmy cd channel 25 in demopolis . wvua ca is available on most cable providers within the birmingham tuscaloosa anniston market . contents 1 overview 1.1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 5 references 6 external links overview edit despite being owned by the university of alabama system the station is financially independent from the university of alabama . 1 wvua cd is licensed and operates as a commercial television station and as such most of its funding is generated from advertising revenue ; wvua cd is one of only three commercial television stations in the united states that is owned by a public institution alongside university of missouri owned nbc affiliate komu tv in columbia missouri and tougaloo college owned mynetworktv affiliate wloo in jackson mississippi . the station has a full time paid staff including station and advertising sales executives production and news department staff including anchors reporters and a news director and relies heavily on university of alabama students who act as on air and production staff and sales assistants . history edit the station first signed on the air in 1998 as wjrd lp broadcasting on uhf channel 49 . it originally operated out of studio facilities located on jug factory road in tuscaloosa that formerly housed the operations of wdbb channel 17 until the shutdown of its news department in december 1995 . the station became a charter affiliate of pax tv now ion television when the network launched on august 31 of that year ; in august 1999 wjrd lp became the secondary pax tv outlet for the birmingham tuscaloosa anniston market when the network s parent company paxson communications now ion media networks converted its cbs affiliate in gadsden wnal tv channel 44 into a pax owned and operated station under the callsign wpxh tv . the university of alabama acquired wjrd lp in 2001 as part of the donation of a 1 million gift from the family of alabama crimson tide football coach paul bear bryant . once the donation was finalized the station moved its operations to the university of alabama campus . in january 2002 its call letters were changed to wvua ca named after the call letters of the university owned radio station wvua fm 90.7 after its license was upgraded to class a status ; the station subsequently became an affiliate of america one at that time . in november 2004 channel 23 llc filed an application with the federal communications commission fcc to donate full power station wldm channel 23 to the university . shortly after that donation was finalized in march 2005 the station s call letters were changed to wuoa for the university of alabama taken from the original call letters of the university owned alabama public radio station wual fm 91.5 ; the university of alabama then converted wuoa into a full power satellite station of wvua ca in order to extend its signal deeper into most of the birmingham market . that station first received a construction permit by the federal communications commission fcc in 1994 under the call letters w49bo which was awarded to krypton broadcasting ; krypton intended to operate the station as a repeater of birmingham independent station wabm channel 68 . in 2006 satellite providers dish network and directv both began carrying wvua ca as part of their respective lineups of birmingham area broadcast television stations . in november 2008 wvua ca became a part time affiliate of this tv while continuing to carry syndicated programming and local newscasts to fill certain time slots during which the station does not air the network s programs this results in periodic scheduling issues due to the network s movie dominant schedule as some films run into time slots where wvua cd runs syndicated programs depending on their length or scheduled airtime . since the station does not carry all of this tv s programming on its main channel nor on one of its subchannels wvua cd is the largest part time affiliate by market size that does not carry the network s full schedule . on may 8 2015 the call sign of the full power satellite station was changed from wuoa to wvua . on june 3 2015 wvua ca was granted a license to operate a digital signal on uhf channel 23 and amended its call letters to wvua cd . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 3 7.1 23.1 1080i 16 9 wvua dt main wvua cd programming this tv 7.2 23.2 480i 4 3 23.3 n a n a apr audio simulcast of alabama public radio 23.4 xpon audio simulcast of wxpn xponential radio analog to digital conversion edit because it was granted an original construction permit after the fcc finalized the dtv channel allotment plan on april 21 1997 1 the then wuoa did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station . instead on june 12 2009 the end of the conversion period from analog to digital transmissions for full power television stations in the united states wuoa was required to turn off its analog signal and flash cut its digital signal into operation . the university was granted a construction permit for wuoa to move to channel 6 ; through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 23 . programming edit wvua carries the this tv part time on its main channel as well as that channel s simulcast feed on digital subchannels 7.2 and 23.2 running only the network s overnight films and classic television programs and daytime and early prime time films with a more limited schedule on saturdays and sundays due to its carriage of syndicated and university related sports programs . syndicated programming broadcast by wvua as of september 2015 update includes the king of queens bones leverage forensic files ok tv and community . 4 through its ownership by the university of alabama the station also carries most team related magazine programs focused on the alabama crimson tide which are mainly produced by the university s television production unit tide tv including the team s football coaches show the nick saban show and the sports talk shows tide tv this week and tider insider . wvua also serves as the carrier of the xploration station educational programming block for central alabama in lieu of birmingham based fox affiliate wbrc channel 6 one of several fox stations that does not currently clear the block ; the station carries the block on saturday mornings as part of an extended e i block . news operation edit unlike most low power or class a television stations wvua cd produces its own local newscasts consisting solely of early evening newscasts on monday through friday nights and a late evening 10 00 p.m. newscast seven nights a week . the station presently broadcasts 8 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with 1 hours on weekdays and a half hour each on saturdays and sundays . the station s news department began operations at wvua cd s sign on in 1998 providing local news coverage to west central alabama for the first time since wdbb and wcft tv channel 33 now wses shifted focus to the birmingham area during the mid 1990s the latter being a byproduct of wbrc s conversion into a fox owned and operated station which resulted in wcft taking over the market s abc affiliation as part of the abc 33 40 trimulcast arrangement involving birmingham based w58ck channel 58 now wbma ld and anniston based wjsu tv channel 40 now wgww in september 1996 . approximately 80 % of the staff employed with station is made up of university of alabama students working in either paid and non paid positions with its operations drawing on the resources of the department of telecommunication and film of the university of alabama college of communication and information sciences ; 5 the remainder consists of non student staff hired by the university . students are involved in all aspects of the newsgathering and production process with much of its reporting and most behind the scenes staff consisting of students attending the department of telecommunication and film . from its inception in 2002 until 2014 the station s operations were originally housed in the basement area of reese phifer hall . on june 12 2012 wvua began broadcasting portions of its local newscasts particularly weather segments in high definition . 6 in april 2014 wvua wuoa migrated its operations into the newly completed digital media center at bryant denny stadium . 7 references edit ua s wvua 7 takes top honors from associated press . ua news . university of alabama . may 2003 . retrieved july 27 2012 . rabbitears tv query for wvua cd . rabbitears . retrieved december 5 2015 . rabbitears tv query for wvoa . rabbitears . retrieved december 5 2015 . wvuacd tv listings . zap2it . tribune digital ventures . retrieved september 23 2015 . telecommunication and film . university of alabama . retrieved november 12 2011 . wvua weather graphics in sd from hd program feed . ua facilities design and construction projects report . university of alabama . retrieved november 12 2011 . external links edit official website birmingham.thistv.com this tv birmingham official website query the fcc s tv station database