WBMA-LD

From Bhamwiki
(Redirected from ABC 33/40)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
ABC 3340 logo.jpg

WBMA-LD (or WBMA+) is a low-power television station owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group and licensed to Birmingham. Operating as ABC 33/40 it is the market's ABC Network affiliate, broadcasting at 15 kilowatts from the 837-foot WBMA-LD tower in Red Mountain Park on UHF channel 40 (virtual channel 58). Most over-the-air viewers pick up the higher-powered rebroadcast on virtual channel 68.2, sent out from WABM-DT2's 885 kilowatt transmitter on the 1,332-foot WTTO tower west of Vulcan Park. The station is also broadcast at 350 kilowatts from the 2,215-foot TV Alabama tower northeast of Tuscaloosa and at 15.6 kilowatts from a 1,178-foot tower on Bald Rock Mountain east of Moody.

The station's studio is located at 800 Concourse Parkway, off Valleydale Road. The new station was created in September 1996 by merging the broadcast areas of WCFT 33 in Tuscaloosa with WJSU 40 in Anniston. Those two full-power stations moved their antennas closer to Birmingham to extend their reach across the region.

In January 2009, due to declining advertising revenues, WBMA laid off 15 staff members, including on-air personalities Melissa Lee and Brian Peters.

The present digital subchannel simulcast system was initiated in October 2014 and the former stations were sold to Sinclair's subsidiary, Howard Stirk Holdings. The Nielson Media Research rating agency refers to the current overall ABC 33/40 system as "WBMA+"

Notable personalities

References

  • Carlton, Bob (January 23, 2009) "Birmingham ABC affiliate lays off 15 staffers, citing declining ad income." The Birmingham News
  • "WBMA-LD (June 29, 2017) Wikipedia - accessed June 30, 2017

External links