| Montgomery, Alabama | |
|---|---|
| Branding | ABC 32 (general) ABC 32 News Montgomery's CW (on DT2) |
| Channels | Digital: 32 (UHF) & WBMM-DT 22.2 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 32.1 ABC 32.2 The CW |
| Owner | SagamoreHill Broadcasting (operated through SSA by Bahakel Communications) (Channel 32 Montgomery, LLC) |
| First air date | January 30, 1979 |
| Call letters' meaning | Where News Comes First (former slogan) |
| Sister station(s) | WBMM, WLTZ, WAKA |
| Former callsigns | WKAB-TV (1979–1989) WHOA-TV (1989–1999) |
| Former channel number(s) | 32 (UHF analog, 1964-2009) 51 (UHF digital) |
| Transmitter power | 83 kW 65 kW (WBMM-DT2) |
| Height | 545 m 341 m (WBMM-DT2) |
| Class | DT |
| Facility ID | 72307 68427 (WBMM-DT2) |
| Transmitter coordinates | (WBMM-DT2) |
| Website | wncftv.com |
WNCF is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central Alabama's Black Belt licensed to Montgomery. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Gordonville. The station can also be seen on Knology and Charter channel 4. There is a high definition feed offered on Charter digital channel 704 and Knology digital channel 901. Owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, WNCF is sister to CW affiliate WBMM and the two outlets share studios on Harrison Road in North Montgomery.
In addition, it is operated by Bahakel Communications through a shared services agreement as a sister outlet to CBS affiliate WAKA. However, that station maintains a separate facility on Eastern Boulevard/US 80/US 231 in South Central Montgomery. Syndicated programming on this station includes Family Feud, Maury, Divorce Court, and The Rachael Ray Show among others. WNCF can also be seen over-the-air on WBMM's second digital subchannel (UHF channel 22.2) from a transmitter in unincorporated Southeastern Bullock County
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Although WBMM transmits its own high definition digital signal, it can also be seen in standard definition on WNCF's second digital subchannel.
| Channel | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32.1 | WNCF-HD | 720p | 16:9 | main WNCF programming/ABC (HD) |
| 32.2 | WNCF-DT2 | 480i | 4:3 | WBMM "Montgomery's CW" (SD) |
It signed-on as WCCB-TV in 1962 with unknown owners. This venture failed shortly thereafter and the station went dark. Few recall this short beginning of channel 32's history. Bahakel Communications, headed by Cy Bahakel, purchased the licesne and plant and returned it to the air in early 1964 as WKAB-TV (standing for "Kasner and Bahakel", referring to Mr. Bahakel's engineering partner and close friend, Don Kasner) as the fourth television station in the Montgomery area (including Selma's WSLA-now WAKA). Mr. Bahakel took the original WCCB calls for his flagship station in Charlotte, North Carolina. The station was an ABC affiliate right from the start but faced competition and duplication from the network's original outlet, WSLA (now WAKA), VHF channel 8 in Selma. Even after the launch of this station, WSLA continued broadcasting ABC programming to the western parts of the market because of UHF's limited coverage area at the time. WSLA would not drop the affiliation until 1968 when the station went dark due to a fire that completely destroyed the WSLA facility.
After that, WKAB made power improvements to the channel 32 signal, boosting effective radiated power to just over 1 million watts. This put it on par with the other Montgomery UHF broadcaster WCOV channel 20 (CBS) in coverage, but neither UHF station had more than a 750 foot tower and, paired with UHF's improving but still inferior place in broadcasting technology vs VHF, continued to under-cover the market when compared to VHF channel 12, WSFA (NBC). Bahakel sold channel 32 in 1985 as a condition to purchase WAKA (formerly WSLA) channel 8 in Selma (which returned to the air in 1973 as a CBS affiliate) and began to move the WAKA facility to Montgomery. At the time of purchase, WAKA had constructed a 1757 foot tower mid-way between Selma and Montgomery and had achieved the largest coverage area in the state of Alabama with VHF channel 8. Exclusive CBS affiliation for the Montgomery market happened at about the same time, displacing WCOV channel 20.
WKAB adopted the call sign WHOA-TV (for "Heart Of Alabama") on September 4, 1989. The station has gone through several owners after Bahakel Communications including Media General among others. It became WNCF on July 1, 1999 coinciding with a short-lived return to the local news race. It originally aired a digital signal on UHF channel 51 from a transmitter at its North Montgomery studios. On April 20, 2009 as part of the DTV transition, the station returned to channel 32 and its transmitter (by now moved to Gordonville as a center-of-market location) for digital-exclusive operations.
It was announced on July 7, 2011 that Bahakel Communications (owner of WAKA) will purchase WBMM from SagamoreHill Broadcasting. Even before the sale receives approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Bahakel will immediately enter into a shared services agreement (SSA) with SagamoreHill resulting in WNCF being operated by WAKA. SagamoreHill will retain responsibility for WNCF's programming, personnel, and finances while Bahakel will provide this station with sales and administrative services as well as production and technical services. Despite being the senior partner in the proposed agreement, WAKA will vacate its current location in South Central Montgomery and consolidate into WNCF's studios at some point in 2012. This is most likey due to the fact (and the irony) that Bahakel has always owned the channel 32 facility, leasing it to SagamoreHill and previous owners after selling the channel 32 license in 1985 to obtain WAKA.
To restate and clarify a rather confusing chain of events: Bahakel owned and operated WNCF as WKAB until 1985, when it purchased the more desirable WAKA. FCC rules at the time prevented dual TV ownership in a market, so the WKAB license was sold but the building and grounds retained. In addition, the WNCF property offers more space for the WAKA proposed expansion into a full HD communications center. [1] [2] [3]
Compared with the area's other stations (WSFA and WAKA), WNCF has never had much success operating a news department. Almost immediately after signing-on in the 1980s, the station began offering newscasts for the first time but the shows were not really competitive in the Nielsen ratings. Full news operations were eventually dropped in February 1999 (and again in 2003 after a second attempt to take on its rivals) since WNCF was unable to gain consistent viewership. The station continues airing a ninety minute weekday morning show starting at 5:30 called Good Morning Montgomery. Based at its studios, this program is formatted less like a typical newscast and more similar to a radio talk show with guests interacting with the hosts and many opportunities for viewers to call in. The broadcast is streamed live on WNCF's website.
In August 2005, the station partnered with the Independent News Network (INN) to produce local news and weather updates. Included in the outsourcing arrangement were five minute cut-ins (at :25 and :55 past the hour during Good Morning America) on weekday mornings from 7 until 9. There was also a ten minute abbreviated broadcast on weeknights (known as ABC 32 News Ten at 10) featuring brief news headlines, a weather forecast, and sports scores. The news anchors, meteorologist, and sports anchor were provided by the centralized news operation and other personnel filled-in as needed. WNCF maintained two locally-based reporters at its studios who contributed to the updates. All of the aforementioned programming was taped in advance from INN's studios on Tremont Avenue in Davenport, Iowa and then fed via satellite to the station.
Sister station WBMM aired the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 5 until 8 (this practice continues today). Since January 2007, that station also maintained a news share agreement with WAKA allowing the latter to produce a thirty minute prime time broadcast. Known as CW News at Nine, the weeknight-only show originated from WAKA's studios and featured its on-air personnel. On April 16, 2010, WNCF expanded its partnership with the Independent News Network and launched full half-hour newscasts on weeknights at 9 (on WBMM) and 10 in high definition still recorded in advance. As a result, WBMM terminated its outsourcing arrangement with WAKA. A news share agreement was established between WNCF/WBMM and sister station NBC affiliate WLTZ in Columbus, Georgia to share resources when covering East Central Alabama since Montgomery and Columbus have coverage areas bordering each other.
Unlike most ABC affiliates in the Central Time Zone, the station currently airs World News Tonight weeknights at 6 on a tape-delayed basis since it lacks a local newscast usually seen in the time slot. With the recently announced merge between WNCF and WAKA, it remains to be seen what becomes of newscast offerings on the two outlets as well as WBMM. Presumably since WAKA has a full news department based in Montgomery, this station will end its outsourcing agreement with INN and begin producing local news in-house for a third time. Consolidation of newscast production will take several months to complete. WAKA's eventual move into WNCF's facility will result in the former finally upgrading its newscasts to high definition after remaining the last station in Montgomery to have not made the change. The news share agreement status between WAKA and Fox affiliate WCOV-TV where the former produces a nightly half-hour prime time newscast at 9 on the latter will continue, despite directly competing with WBMM's weeknight show in the same time period.
+ denotes personnel based at WLTZ
Anchors
Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
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