WNCF

Not to be confused with WMCF-TV.

WNCF

Montgomery, Alabama
Branding	ABC Montgomery (general) Alabama News Network Montgomery's CW (on DT2)
Channels	Digital: 31 (UHF) & WBMM-DT 22.2 (UHF) Virtual: 32 (PSIP)
Subchannels	32.1 ABC 32.2 The CW
Network	ABC
Owner	SagamoreHill Broadcasting (operated through SSA by Bahakel Communications) (Channel 32 Montgomery, LLC)
First air date	February 1, 1964
Call letters' meaning	Where News Comes First (former slogan)
Sister station(s)	WBMM, WAKA, WLTZ
Former callsigns	WKAB-TV (1964–1989) WHOA-TV (1989–1999)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 32 (UHF, 1964-2009) Digital: 51 (UHF, -2009) 32 (UHF, 2009-2011)
Transmitter power	720 kW 65 kW (WBMM-DT2)
Height	545 m 341 m (WBMM-DT2)
Class	DT
Facility ID	72307 68427 (WBMM-DT2)
Transmitter coordinates	32°8′30.3″N 86°44′42.2″W / 32.141750°N 86.745056°W / 32.141750; -86.745056 32°8′30.3″N 86°44′42.2″W / 32.141750°N 86.745056°W / 32.141750; -86.745056 (WBMM-DT2)
Website	wncftv.com

WNCF is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central Alabama's River Region that is licensed to Montgomery. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 (or virtual channel 32.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Gordonville. Owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, WNCF is operated by Bahakel Communications through a shared services agreement. This makes it a sister station to CW affiliate WBMM and CBS affiliate WAKA.

All three television outlets share studios on Harrison Road in North Montgomery. Syndicated programming on WNCF includes Family Feud, Maury, Divorce Court and The Rachael Ray Show among others. The station can also be seen over-the-air in standard definition through WBMM's second digital subchannel on UHF channel 22.2. This airs from a transmitter in unincorporated southeastern Bullock County along the Pike County line.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

WNCF shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 32, on April 20, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 51 to its former analog-era UHF channel 32.^[2]

History

The station 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 (a native Alabamian), purchased the dormant channel 32 license and returned it to the air in early 1964 as WKAB-TV (standing for "Kasner and Bahakel", referring to Bahakel's engineering partner and close friend, Don Kasner) as the fourth television station in the Montgomery area. Bahakel wound up taking 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 in Selma (channel 8, now WAKA). 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 CBS affiliate WCOV-TV, but was still far inferior to NBC affiliate WSFA-TV. Bahakel sold channel 32 in 1985 in order to buy the more powerful WAKA (which returned to the air in 1973 as a CBS affiliate) and began to move the WAKA facility to Montgomery.

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.

It was announced on July 7, 2011 that Bahakel will purchase WBMM from SagamoreHill Broadcasting. Even before the sale received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Bahakel entered 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 likely 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. However, FCC rules at the time prevented dual TV ownership in a market. To solve this problem, Bahakel sold channel 32's license, but continued to own its studios. In addition, the WNCF property offers more space for WAKA to upgrade to a full high-definition operation. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

In September of 2012, as part of the "beefing up" process of the station afforded by the relationship with WAKA, WNCF increased its power from 50kw to 720kw from a new transmitter located at the WAKA tower and transmitter facility. This new location was only 2 miles from the old WNCF tower, which had been sold to a tower company years ago to help out WNCF's bottom line. At that point, WNCF was merely a tennant of that tower, which continues to hold other tennants.

News operation

News logo.

Compared with the area's other television stations (WSFA, WCOV, and WAKA) WNCF has never had much success operating a news department of its own. The first attempt at a newscast began in 1981 while full-length newscasts or short briefs continued to at least 1985. At this point, it maintained a small news presence and produced broadcasts under the NewsWatch 32 branding. Entire news operations would eventually be dropped in February 1999 (and again in 2003 after a second attempt) since WNCF was unable to gain consistent viewership and ratings due to tough competition from the area's other television outlets.

In August 2005, WNCF partnered with the Independent News Network (INN) to produce weekday local news and weather updates. Included in the outsourcing agreement were five minute cut-ins (at :25 and :55 past the hour) during Good Morning America from 7 until 9 in the morning. There was also a ten minute abbreviated broadcast seen on weeknights (known as ABC 32 News 10 at Ten) 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 facility on Tremont Avenue in Davenport, Iowa and then fed to the station through satellite relay.

In January 2007, WBMM entered into a news share agreement with WAKA allowing the big three affiliate to produce the market's first prime time newscast on the former station. Known as CW News at Nine, the weeknight-only broadcast could be seen for thirty minutes and originated live from WAKA's studios featuring most of the CBS affiliate's on-air personnel. WBMM would begin to have competition to its outsourced broadcast on January 7, 2008 after Fox affiliate WCOV-TV entered into a news share arrangement with NBC outlet WSFA. That agreement resulted in Montgomery's second prime time newscast at 9 initially seen only on weeknights for 35 minutes. A weekend half-hour edition began in Summer 2008.

On April 16, 2010, WNCF expanded its partnership with the Independent News Network and launched full half-hour newscasts weeknights at 9 (on WBMM) and 10 on this outlet airing in high definition but still recorded in advance. As a result, WBMM terminated its outsourcing arrangement with WAKA. After WCOV's contract with WSFA expired at the end of 2010, that station entered into another news outsourcing agreement with WAKA to produce a nightly prime time broadcast. On January 1, 2011, WSFA transitioned its prime-time show to its second digital subchannel (then affiliated with the Retro Television Network) resulting in three options for newscasts at 9.

A content sharing arrangement would eventually be set up between WNCF and then sister station WLTZ in Columbus, Georgia to share resources when covering East-Central Alabama since Montgomery and Columbus have coverage areas bordering each other. As a result, additional reporters locally employed by WLTZ were seen during CW News at Nine and ABC 32 News at Ten in HD. After the change in operational ownership to Bahakel, personnel from the NBC station in Columbus were dropped. At some point in Summer 2012, WNCF and WBMM terminated their newscast outsourcing agreement with Independent News Network in preparation for local news production duties to be assumed by WAKA.

WNCF and WAKA officially debuted their combined local news operation on February 2, 2013. Based out of what was formerly WNCF's studios on Harrison Road, a newly expanded high definition-ready facility features state-of-the-art production capabilities which has allowed WAKA to finally offer local news in high definition. The broadcasts on WNCF and WAKA are known on-air as Alabama News Network and shows are simulcasted between the ABC and CBS affiliates on weekday mornings, weeknights at 10, and weekends. The latter two time slots can feature a delay or pre-emption on one network if national programming runs into them.

WAKA airs its own weekday noon broadcast as well as separate newscasts weeknights at 5 and 6. In addition, WNCF has its own local show weeknights at 5:30 while WAKA offers the CBS Evening News. As a result, the ABC outlet airs World News Tonight weeknights at 6 from a second feed offered by the netwotk (live if significant changes have occurred since the 5:30 feed; otherwise on a delay). Despite merging with WNCF, WAKA continues to produce a nightly, half-hour prime time newscast at 9 on Fox affiliate WCOV through a pre-existing news share arrangement. Like all CW Plus outlets, sister station WBMM airs the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 6 until 8.

Newscast titles

• First Edition News (1981-1982)
• WKAB-TV News (1982-1984)
• NewsWatch 32 (1984-1995)
• ABC 32 News (1995-February 1999, September 1999-2003, and outsourced August 2005-2012)
• Alabama News Network (2013-present)

Station slogans

• "The Heart of Alabama" (1989–2000)
• "If It's WHOA-TV, It Must Be ABC" (1992-1993)
• "We Love TV, on ABC 32" (1998-1999)
• "Where News Comes First" (2000–2002)

News team

Anchors

• Tim Lennox - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.)
• Jamie Langley - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.)
• Ellis Eskew - weeknights at 5:30 p.m.; also reporter
• Jeff Sanders - weeknights at 5:30 p.m.; also reporter
• Stefanie Hicks - weeknights at 10 p.m.; also "What's Right With Your Community" segment producer
• Glenn Halbrooks - Managing Editor seen weeknights at 10 p.m.; also "What's Right With Your Community" segment producer
• Brittany Bivans - Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.

Alabama Weather Network

• Ashley McDonald - Chief seen weeknights at 5:30 and 10 p.m.
• Marcy Novack (CBM Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.)
• Terran Kirksey - Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.

The 8 Team

• Mo Carter - Sports Director seen weeknights at 10 p.m.
• Kirk Nawrotzky - sports anchor; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.; also sports reporter
• Brian Penter - sports reporter and videographer
• John Longshore - sports analyst and heard on WMSP-AM 740

Reporters

• Catalina Trivino - South Alabama Newsroom and Montgomery Newsroom on Saturdays at 6 and 10 p.m.
• George McDonald - West Alabama Newsroom
• Sara Cantey - Troy Newsroom
• Steve Flowers - political analyst
• Ashley Thompson
• Jessica Gertler

Videographers

• Gabe Moore - Chief
• Marcus Effinger
• Stephen Carter
• Darrius Smith
• Mike Smith

References

External links

• WNCF "ABC Montgomery"
• WBMM "Montgomery's CW"
• WAKA "CBS 8"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WNCF