WTTO

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WTTO / WDBB
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = CW 21
analog =
WTTO: 21 (UHF)
WDBB: 17 (UHF)
digital =
WTTO: 28 (UHF)
WDBB: 18 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = The CW
network =
founded =
airdate = WTTO: April 21, 1982
WDBB: October 1984 [The "Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook" says WDBB signed on October 1, while the "Television and Cable Factbook" says it signed on October 8.]
location = WTTO: Homewood - Birmingham, Alabama
WDBB: Bessemer, Alabama
callsign_meaning = WTTO:
Television
Twenty-
One
WDBB:
DuBose Broadcasting
(original owners of WDBB)
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Sinclair Broadcast Group
licensee = WTTO: WTTO Licensee, LLC)
(WDBB: WDBB-TV, Inc.
sister_stations = WABM
former_affiliations = WTTO:
independent (1982-1991)
Fox (1991-1996)
WDBB:
independent (1984-1986)
Fox (1986-1996, simulcast with WTTO from 1991)
Both stations:
The WB (1996-2006)
effective_radiated_power = WTTO:
1050 kW (analog)
765 kW (digital)
WDBB:
2240 kW (analog)
350 kW (digital)
HAAT = WTTO:
408 m (analog)
427.3 m (digital)
WDBB:
675 m (both)
class =
facility_id = WTTO: 74138
WDBB: 71325
coordinates = WTTO:
coord|33|29|4.5|N|86|48|25.5|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
WDBB:
coord|33|28|51.3|N|87|24|2.9|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=WDBB
homepage = [http://www.wtto21.com/ www.wtto21.com]

WTTO is a television station serving the Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa, Alabama market as a CW affiliate. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 21 and its digital signal on UHF channel 28. It is licensed to Homewood, a Birmingham suburb. Its transmitter is located on Red Mountain.

WDBB is a satellite of WTTO, and is licensed to Bessemer, another Birmingham suburb, but primarily serves the Tuscaloosa area. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 17 and its digital signal on UHF channel 18. Its transmitter is located near Windham Springs.

Both stations are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which also owns sister station WABM, the local My Network TV affiliate.

History

WTTO began originally on April 21, 1982 as Alabama's second independent station, signing on a few months after WPMI-TV in Mobile. It was a typical UHF independent that aired numerous cartoons, movies, and sitcoms. The first program it broadcast was a rerun of the 1970s action show, "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century". The station was owned by Chapman Broadcasting. Arlington Broadcasting bought WTTO in 1983. It was sold to HR Broadcasting in 1987. It turned down the Fox affiliation when that network started up. The station did very well even without Fox, and in fact was one of the top independent stations in the country. HR Broadcasting sold WTTO to Abry in 1989.

Meanwhile, WDBB had its start in October 1984 as an independent station licensed to Tuscaloosa, also serving Birmingham. In the fall of 1985, WDBB Sports Productions garnered the contract from THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA all of the school's coach's shows, including FOOTBALL & BASKETBALL. The shows aired for 30 years on WBRC, and this was a major step for the station, and its Sports Productions Unit. In 1986, the station began broadcasting from a tower near Bessemer in an attempt to become the Birmingham area's second independent station, simulcasting with co-owned WNAL (channel 44, now WPXH) in Gadsden. At the same time, WDBB/WNAL became a Fox affiliate. However, neither station covered Birmingham with a signal and couldn't get on a couple Birmingham-area cable systems. In January of 1991, Fox moved its affiliation to WTTO after all efforts to get better cable coverage for WDBB/WNAL failed. Soon after, WDBB and WNAL began simulcasting WTTO for all but two hours of the broadcast day. By 1993 WNAL and WDBB became full-time satellites of WTTO, which nonetheless only called itself" "FOX21". Within a few years, WTTO was one of the strongest Fox affiliates in the country. In 1994 Abry began a Local marketing agreement with WABM, which joined UPN in 1995, a few months after Abry merged with Sinclair. Meanwhile, that same year, New World bought WBRC from Citicasters. At the same time, it bought WVTM-TV from Argyle. This posed a serious problem for New World. It not only owned two stations in the same market, but now owned more stations than the FCC allowed. A few months later, however, New World and Fox reached a deal in which New World would switch all its stations to Fox affiliates. This gave New World a chance to solve its Birmingham ownership problem by selling WBRC directly to Fox.

ABC wanted to affiliate with WTTO, but at the time Sinclair did not budget for local newscasts on its stations. Also, Sinclair was only interested in ABC's prime time shows, sports, and ABC News, not a full affiliation. ABC found this offer unattractive, and WTTO and WDBB continued as Fox stations until WBRC's affiliation deal with ABC ran out in September 1996. The two stations then became independents, though WTTO held onto Fox Kids after WBRC didn't pick it up. In the meantime, WNAL was sold to Fant Broadcasting and became the CBS affiliate for Gadsden and northeast Alabama.

In February 1997, WTTO and WDBB affiliated with the WB network.

In the late 1990s WTTO evolved gradually away from movies, classic sitcoms, and cartoons to more talk/reality shows, court shows, as well as recent sitcoms (which they ran all along). WTTO dropped Fox Kids programming in the Fall of 2000 and WBRC did not pick it up. That year Fox stopped requiring its own stations from carrying it whether or not another station could be found. The main reason for this change was because the stations were having a tougher time making a profit running such programming. This was due to new FCC regulations in terms of the amount of ads allowed during children's programming as well as the content of such advertising. This made advertisers for children rely more on cable and caused syndicators to move their programming to cable.

Still WTTO continued cartoons in the afternoons as they ran Kids' WB programming until that ended nationwide in January of 2006. The CW4Kids still runs on Saturday Mornings. In September 2003, WTTO finally began to produce its own local newscast, titled "WB21 News at 9:00". However, in October 2005, the market's CBS-affiliate, WIAT, began producing the newscasts for WTTO. As of October 13, 2006, WTTO is no longer airing local newscasts.

The WB had shut down in September 2006, along with UPN, to form The CW, a network featuring programming from both networks. Sinclair announced on May 2, 2006 that WTTO would become the CW affiliate. As a CW affiliate, the station had been branded as "CW21".

Radio masts

The WTTO Tower is a 609.6 m (2000 ft) tall guyed mast structure used for communication purposes. It was finished in 1986 and is located in Windham Springs, Alabama, in the U.S. at coord|33|28|51|N|87|24|03|W.

ee also

* Tallest structures in the U.S.

References

External links

* [http://www.fybush.com/site-020605.html Tower Site of the week; "A Quick Jaunt Through Birmingham, Alabama" (2002)]
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*
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* [http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b7090 Skyscraperpage.com entry on the tower (includes diagram)]
* [http://www.wtto21.com/ WTTO website]
*TVQ|WTTO
*TVQ|WDBB
*BIA|WTTO|TV|TV
*BIA|WDBB|TV|TV
*TitanTV|WTTO