| Northport/Tuscaloosa, Alabama | |
|---|---|
| City of license | Tuscaloosa |
| Branding | This is WVUA (general) WVUA News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Your Home Team and Alabama's Home Team (used interchangeably) |
| Channels | Analog: WVUA: 7 (VHF) Digital: WUOA: 6 (VHF) Virtual: 23 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 23.1 HDTV 23.2 SDTV 23.3 Alabama Public Radio (audio only) 23.4 XPoNential Radio (audio only) |
| Translators | WDVZ-CA 3 Greensboro WJMY-CA 25 Demopolis |
| Affiliations | This TV |
| Owner | University of Alabama (The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama) |
| Founded | 1998 (as WJRD) |
| First air date | WVUA: 2002 WUOA: 2004 |
| Call letters' meaning | WVUA: Voice of the University of Alabama (named after the radio station) WUOA: University Of< Alabama |
| Former callsigns | WVUA: WJRD-LP (1998-2001) WUOA: WLDM (2001-2005) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: WVUA: 49 (1998-2001) WUOA: 23 (2001-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Pax TV (1998-2002) America One (2002-2008) |
| Transmitter power | WVUA: 0.43 kW WUOA: 26 kW |
| Height | WVUA: 183 m WUOA: 395 m |
| Facility ID | WVUA: 70429 WUOA: 77496 |
| Transmitter coordinates |
WVUA Tuscaloosa: |
| Website | WVUA |
WVUA-CA, channel 23, is a Class A commercial television station owned by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama, affiliated with This TV. The station is licensed to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with studios on the university's campus. It operates within the university's College of Communication and Information Sciences, drawing on the resources of its Department of Telecommunication and Film.[1]
WVUA's primary transmitter is low power. WUOA-DT is the station's full power repeater, located atop WIAT's mast in Birmingham. Even though the station operates a full power repeater, it is still classified as a Class A station because of its low power channel 7 primary signal in Tuscaloosa.
WVUA is a commercial station because it relies mostly on advertising from outside sources for funding; this makes WVUA one of only two commercial television stations in the U.S. owned by a public institution. WVUA has a full-time, paid staff, including station and sales executives, anchors, production staff and a news director. The station relies heavily on UA students who act as on-air staff, production staff, and sales assistants.
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The station began in 1998 as WJRD on Channel 49, bringing local news coverage to west Alabama for the first time since WDBB (17) and WCFT (33) shifted focus to the Birmingham area. It affiliated with the Pax Network shortly after it signed on, remaining affiliate with the network until 2002.
A $1 million gift from the family of legendary University of Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant allowed the university to acquire WJRD in 2001. After moving its operations onto the university campus, the station adopted the call sign WVUA in January 2002. Although the station is owned by UA, it remains financially independent from the University.
In addition to repeaters in Greensboro (WDVZ-CA Channel 3) and Demopolis (WJMY-CA Channel 25 and WJMY-LD Channel 22), WVUA's signal is carried by cable operators Comcast in Tuscaloosa and Charter Communications and Bright House Networks in Birmingham.
In November 2004, Channel 23 LLC filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to donate its full-power station, WLDM, to the university. Today WUOA-DT broadcasts on digital channel 6 from atop Red Mountain and covers the whole Birmingham DMA. WUOA is also carried by virtually all Birmingham DMA cable companies. WUOA is a repeater of WVUA and can be found on channel 23.
In 2006, WVUA was added to the Birmingham local stations lineup for both Dish Network and DirecTV, adding a substantial number of potential viewers.
In late 2008, WVUA/WUOA began a partial affiliation with This TV.
Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997 [2], WUOA did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, on June 12, 2009, the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, WUOA was required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut"). The University was granted a construction permit for WUOA to move to channel 6, and through PSIP it is seen on channel 23.
WVUA, as a low-power station, is exempt from a mandatory turn-off of its analog signal.
Unlike most low-power or Class A television stations, WVUA-CA produces its own local newscasts. The station produces 13½ hours of local newscasts each week (2½ hours on weekdays, and a half-hour on Saturdays and Sundays). It does not carry a local morning newscast, instead airing the nationally-syndicated morning news program The Daily Buzz weekday mornings from 5 to 8 a.m. The station aired a midday newscast until the hour-long late afternoon newscast, First at Four, was introduced.
WVUA has eventual plans to move its studio and news operations from Reese Phifer Hall to UA's New Digital Media Center which will be built in the north end zone of Bryant-Denny Stadium.[2]
The station relies heavily on University of Alabama students for news gathering and production. Student duties include:
Current anchors
Weather team
Sports team
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