WALA-TV
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| City | Mobile, Alabama |
| Channels | |
| Branding |
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| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WMBP-LD | |
| History | |
First air date | January 14, 1953 |
Former channel number(s) | Analog:10 (VHF, 1953–2009) |
Call signmeaning | Alabama or "We Are Loyal Alabamians" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 4143 |
| ERP | 29kW |
| HAAT | 381 m (1,250 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 30°41′17″N87°47′54″W/ 30.68806°N 87.79833°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WALA-TV(channel 10) is atelevision stationlicensed toMobile, Alabama,United States, serving as theFoxaffiliate for southwest Alabama and northwest Florida. Owned byGray Television,the station maintains studios onSatchel PaigeDrive in Mobile, with an additional studio andnews bureauon Executive Plaza Drive inPensacola, Florida;its transmitter is located inSpanish Fort, Alabama.
WALA-TV operates a 24-hour local weather channel called "Weather Now" which is available onCox Communicationsdigitalchannel 698 in Pensacola; it is not carried onComcast Xfinityon the Alabama side of the market.
History
[edit]Early history
[edit]WALA signed on the air for the first time on January 14, 1953; it is Mobile's oldest existing television station (the first,WKAB-TVchannel 48, had beaten WALA-TV to air by two weeks but closed on August 2, 1954). It was initially locally owned by W.O. Pape, along with WALA radio (1410 AM, nowWNGL). It aired programs from all four major television networks of the time–NBC,ABC,CBS,andDuMont–but was a primary NBC affiliate, as WALA radio had been a longtime affiliate of the network's direct predecessor, theNBC Red Network.WALA lost CBS and ABC programming toWKRG-TV(channel 5) when it signed on, and toWEAR-TV(channel 3) relinquished CBS programming and became a full-time ABC affiliate for the newly enlarged Mobile/Pensacola market in 1955. During the late 1950s, WALA was also briefly affiliated with theNTA Film Network.[2]Pape sold WALA in 1964 to the Roywood Corporation. In 1969, Roywood sold WALA to the Universal Communications Corporation, the television arm of theDetroit News.
For most its first four decades on the air, WALA was the market's ratings leader. As the more established outlet, WALA got the strongest syndicated programming and it had the top-rated local newscasts. Even today, WALA continues to dominate in local news viewership, even after the affiliation switch from NBC to Fox.
TheGannett Companybought out the Evening News Association in early 1986, but due to the company's ownership of thePensacola News Journal,andFederal Communications Commission(FCC) regulations barring common ownership of television stations and newspapers in the same market, Gannett was forced to put channel 10 on the market only a month after the merger closed. Gannett sold WALA-TV toKnight RidderBroadcasting on February 19, 1986 (similarly as Gannett owned television stations in both markets, two other stations involved in the Universal Communications sale—KTVY [nowKFOR-TV] inOklahoma CityandKOLD-TVinTucson, Arizona—were also sold to Knight Ridder as FCC rules of the time prohibited newspaper cross-ownership [in both the WALA-TV and KOLD-TV cases] and televisionduopoliesin KTVY's case);[3]Knight Ridder, in turn, sold WALA to Burnham Broadcasting in 1989.
Fox affiliation
[edit]After it acquired thetelevision rightsto broadcast games from theNFL'sNational Football Conferencein December 1993,[4]Fox wanted to upgrade its affiliates in many markets, approaching owners ofVHFtelevision stations (broadcasting on channels 2 to 13) that had more value with advertisers than those within Fox's predominatelyUHFstation portfolio for affiliation deals.[5]In May 1994, the network announced an extensive affiliation and programming agreement withNew World Communications[6]—which owned, and was in the process of acquiring, stations in several large and mid-sized markets—in which most of the group's stations would switch their affiliations from one of the"Big Three" networks(CBS, ABC and NBC) to Fox beginning in the fall of 1994 and continuing over the next two years as affiliation contracts lapsed. More stations would switch to the network in 1995, when New World merged withArgyle Televisionand bought several stations fromCiticasters.In turn,News Corporationpurchased New World in September 1996, and merged it into itsFox Television Stationssubsidiary in January 1997. As a result of Fox's influence in striking affiliations with additional VHF stations to help establish itself as the fourth major network, it sought to upgrade its affiliates—this time in smaller markets.
In March 1994, Fox's then-parent News Corporation entered into a partnership with minority-owned film and televisionproduction companySavoy Picturesto form a television station ownership group calledSF Broadcasting.[7]On August 25, 1994, the company bought WALA,WVUE-TVinNew Orleans,andKHON-TVinHonolulufor $229 million; fellow sister stationWLUK-TVinGreen Bay, Wisconsin,was sold to the company one month earlier in a separate $38 million deal, which for a time, was challenged by an FCC petition filed by NBC alleging that the deal violated foreign investment limits for U.S. broadcasters (a fifth Burnham station,KBAK-TVinBakersfield, California,was excluded from the SF deal and was instead spun off to Westwind Communications, a new company formed by several former Burnham executives).[8][9][10]As part of the deal, all four stations—which were then mostly NBC affiliates, aside from WVUE, then an ABC affiliate—would drop their Big Three affiliations and become Fox affiliates. Fox was slated to control the voting stock in the venture, but prior to the sale's closure in 1995, it was determined that Fox would still hold an interest in SF although it opted not to have voting stock in the company. Savoy Pictures controlled the day-to-day operations of the four stations. Almost by default, NBC was then left to go with WPMI.[11]
The final NBC program to air on WALA-TV was anNBC Sunday Night Moviepresentation ofFinal Analysisat 8 p.m. Central Time on December 31, 1995, the day that channel 10 ended its 42-year affiliation with the network and became a Fox affiliate with WVUE and KHON also switched to that network on that same date, while WLUK had joined Fox in August 1995. The NBC affiliation moved to former Fox affiliateWPMI-TV(channel 15). Unlike the New World Communications-owned Fox affiliates that joined the network during the previous 18-month span, WALA ranFox Kidsprogramming on weekdays and Saturday mornings; until Fox discontinued the weekday block in December 2001,[12]Fox Kids ran Monday through Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m. (an hour earlier than most of its fellow Fox stations), replacing NBC's daytime soap opera lineup upon the switch; Fox Kids' Saturday morning block, meanwhile, aired in pattern. WALA, now rebranded as "Fox 10" upon the switch, also expanded its local news programming to around 25 hours each week, with expansions to its morning and evening newscasts.[citation needed]
Silver King Broadcasting and Emmis Communications ownership
[edit]On November 28, 1995, Silver King Communications (operated by former Fox executiveBarry Diller) announced that it would acquire Savoy Pictures;[13]as a result, Savoy Pictures and Fox ended their partnership and sold the SF Broadcasting stations, including WALA-TV, to the USA Networks division Silver King Broadcasting. Silver King, which later became known asUSA Broadcasting,owned several stations in large and mid-sized U.S. markets that were affiliated with theHome Shopping Network,which USA Networks also owned at the time. The sale of WALA and the other SF Broadcasting stations was approved and finalized in March 1996, with its other assets being merged into the company that November. On April 1, 1998, USA sold all four of its Fox stations toEmmis Communicationsfor $307 million in cash and stock, as part of a sale of its major network affiliates in order to concentrate on its formerly HSN-affiliatedindependent stations.[14]
Fox discontinued its weekday afternoon children's programming block, then running for only two hours in December 2001,[15]but retained its Saturday morning lineup. In 2002, the children's block was revamped as theFoxBoxand then began to be programmed by4Kids Entertainmentin 2003, after which it was eventually renamed4Kids TV (4Kids Entertainment ceased programming Fox's children's block in December 2008, with the network discontinuing its children's programming altogether). At this point WALA, like most Fox affiliates, would purchase moretalkandreality-based showsto fill its daytime timeslots.
Emmis boughtWBaffiliate WBPG (channel 55, nowCWowned-and-operated stationWFNA) in 2003, creating a duopoly with channel 10; WBPG's operations were subsequently merged with WALA at the latter station's facility on Satchel Paige Drive.
LIN Media ownership
[edit]On May 15, 2005, Emmis Communications announced that it would sell its 16 television stations, including WALA and WBPG, in order to concentrate on its radio properties.[16]WALA and WBPG were then sold toLIN TV Corporationon August 22, as part of a $260 million deal that included WLUK-TV, and CBS affiliatesWTHI-TVinTerre Haute, IndianaandKRQEinAlbuquerque, New Mexico;the sale of WALA closed on November 30, 2005,[17][18]at which time LIN also began to operate WBPG under alocal marketing agreement.LIN TV would purchase WBPG outright on July 7, 2006, reforming a legal duopoly between the stations.
Until March 2007, WALA carried a simulcast of WBPG on a seconddigital subchannelas that station did not have a digital signal of its own. WBPG eventually launched a low-power digital signal in late 2008 and boosted to full power in 2009, whenWXXV-TVin neighboringBiloxi,Mississippiabandoned its analog signal on UHF channel 25, which shared the digital frequency that WBPG was assigned. On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that would have resulted in the sale of the company.[19]
In mid-June 2007, following the lead of most of the other LIN-owned Fox affiliates, WALA launched a new website using Fox Interactive's myFox interface. In October 2008, WALA and CBS sister stationWPRI-TVinProvidence, Rhode Islandrelaunched their websites through Fox Interactive as a result of a new partnership between LIN TV and News Corporation (since spun off as the independent company now known as EndPlay). The new sites were similar in format to the myFox sites (which WALA and the other LIN TV-owned Fox affiliates previously used) but without the flashy myFoxowned-and-operated station-style look. Over the next few weeks, the other LIN-owned stations (irrespective of their network affiliation) followed suit.
Media General/LIN merger and spinoff to Meredith
[edit]On March 21, 2014, LIN Media entered into an agreement to merge withMedia Generalin a $1.6 billion deal. Because Media General already owns CBS affiliate WKRG-TV (channel 5), and the two stations rank among the four highest-rated stations in the Mobile/Pensacola market in total day viewership, the companies were required to sell WALA or WKRG to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit sharing agreements.[20][21][22]To settle the ownership conflict, Media General announced on August 20, 2014, that it would keep WKRG, choosing to sell WALA to theMeredith Corporationfor $86 million;[23][24]the deal also resulted in the breakup of the duopoly between WALA and WFNA as Media General opted to acquire the latter station and operate it alongside WKRG. The sale was completed on December 19, 2014.[25]
However, nearly nine months later on September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire Meredith for $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General upon the sale's expected closure by June 2016. Due to the same ownership conflicts with the LIN-Media General merger that resulted in WALA's sale to Meredith, the two companies would have been required to sell either WALA or WKRG to comply with FCC ownership rules; WFNA is the only station that can legally be acquired by Meredith Media General as it is not among the Mobile/Pensacola market's four highest-rated television stations, and can either be maintained in its new duopoly with WKRG, or reunited in a duopoly with WALA.[26][27]On January 27, 2016, Media General announced that it was terminating its agreement to acquire Meredith and instead agreed to be acquired byNexstar Broadcasting Group.
Sale to Gray Television
[edit]On May 3, 2021,Gray Televisionannounced its intent to purchase the Meredith Local Media division for $2.7 billion. The sale was completed on December 1.[28]As a result, WALA-TV became asister stationto numerous other stations in nearby markets, including fellow Fox affiliatesWBRCinBirminghamand WVUE-DT in New Orleans (reuniting with the latter after being separated for 16 years); NBC affiliatesWAFFinHuntsville,WSFAinMontgomeryandWJHG-TVinPanama City;CBS affiliateWTVYinDothanand ABC affiliatesWLOXin Biloxi,WTVMinColumbus, GeorgiaandWTOK-TVinMeridian.
Local programming
[edit]WALA broadcasts a local program calledStudio 10,which features entertainment and local segments, which are usually paid for by the guests who appear on the show. The hour-long program, which airs weekdays at 9 a.m., is hosted by Joe Emer and Chelsey Sayasane, and features weather forecasts from meteorologist Jennifer Lambers.
On December 30, 2023, WALA-TV parent company Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with theNew Orleans Pelicansto air 10 games on the station during the2023–24 season.[29]
News operation
[edit]Channel 10 has led the news ratings in the Mobile–Pensacola market for most of the time since records have been kept, dating to its time as an NBC affiliate.[citation needed]After joining Fox, it maintained a news schedule very similar to what it had in its waning days as an NBC affiliate. It retained all of its existing newscasts, while adding several new newscasts to make up for the loss of network news programming.
On April 21, 2012, WALA-TV became the third television station in the Mobile–Pensacola market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts inhigh definition(WPMI-TV would soon follow one day later), with the introduction of a brand new set and graphics. On August 27, 2012, WALA became the first station in the market to debut a 4:30 a.m. newscast. However, due toHurricane Isaac,other stations were doing expanded coverage as well due to the impending storm, which would eventually affect the New Orleans area and spare Mobile from the brunt of the storm. On January 27, 2014, WALA expanded its weekday morning newscast to4+1⁄2hours, running from 4:30 to 9 a.m.; as a result, the morning talk and lifestyle programStudio 10was moved one hour later to 9 a.m.[30]
On August 8, 2015, WALA debuted two-hour morning newscasts from 6 to 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, becoming the third weekend morning local news program in the Mobile–Pensacola market (WEAR-TV has had a weekend morning newscast since 2009, while WKRG debuted its own newscast in that daypart two months before WALA debuted theirs).[31][32][33]Subsequently, on August 24, 2015, the station restored a 10 p.m. newscast—which airs only on Monday through Fridays—to its schedule after 14 years.[34][35]
Notable former on-air staff
[edit]Technical information
[edit]Subchannels
[edit]The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.1 | 720p | 16:9 | FOX 10 | Main WALA-TV programming /Fox |
| 10.2 | 480i | Cozi TV | Cozi TV | |
| 10.3 | Laff TV | Laff | ||
| 10.4 | 4:3 | Mystery | Ion Mystery | |
| 10.5 | 16:9 | WALA365 | The365 | |
| 10.6 | Oxygen | Oxygen |
On August 7, 2009, WALA began offering aMobile TVfeed usingBlackBerry.[37]
Analog-to-digital conversion
[edit]WALA-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcastsunder federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 9,[38]usingvirtual channel10.
References
[edit]- ^"Facility Technical Data for WALA-TV".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
- ^"Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films",Boxoffice:13, November 10, 1956, archived fromthe originalon June 14, 2009
- ^Knight-Ridder Newspaper Inc. purchases from Gannett Company Inc. three TV stations in Oklahoma City, Mobile, and Tucson,February 19, 1986
{{citation}}:Unknown parameter|agency=ignored (help) - ^"CBS, NBC Battle for AFC Rights // Fox Steals NFC Package".Chicago Sun-Times.Hollinger International.December 18, 1993. Archived fromthe originalon November 5, 2012.RetrievedMarch 16,2015.
- ^Joe Flint (January 10, 1994)."Fox uses NFL to woo network affiliates"(PDF).Broadcasting & Cable.p. 18.RetrievedMarch 16,2015– via American Radio History.[permanent dead link]
- ^Bill Carter (May 24, 1994)."Fox Will Sign Up 12 New Stations; Takes 8 from CBS".The New York Times.RetrievedMarch 15,2015.
- ^"Fox, Savoy buying stations together; network will have 58% interest in SF Broadcasting".Broadcasting & Cable.March 21, 1994. Archived fromthe originalon June 19, 2014.
- ^Meisler, Andy (August 27, 1994)."Company News; Fox Adds 3 Network-Affiliated Stations".The New York Times.RetrievedMay 9,2014.
- ^"Company Town Annex".Los Angeles Times.July 29, 1994.RetrievedMay 9,2014.
- ^"NBC Asks FCC to Put Brakes on FOX'S Expansion Plans".The Deseret News.September 27, 1994.RetrievedMay 9,2014– viaNew York Times News Service.
- ^"Pensacola News Journal from Pensacola, Florida on January 1, 1996 · 15".
- ^Michael Schneider (November 7, 2001)."Fox outgrows kids programs".Variety.Reed Business Information.RetrievedAugust 13,2009.
- ^Russ Britt (November 28, 1995)."Starting Off on the Ground Floor Diller Buying Home Shopping Network, Savoy Pictures".Daily News of Los Angeles.Archived fromthe originalon September 24, 2015.RetrievedMay 9,2014.
- ^"Company News; Emmis Broadcasting to Buy TV Stations for $397 Million".The New York Times.April 1, 1998.RetrievedJune 29,2015.
- ^Michael Schneider (November 7, 2001)."Fox outgrows kids programs".Variety.Reed Business Information.RetrievedAugust 13,2009.
- ^"Emmis To Turn Off TV, Stay Tuned to Radio".Broadcasting & Cable.Reed Business Information. May 15, 2005.
- ^"Emmis Agrees to Sell 9 Stations".TelevisionWeek.August 22, 2005.RetrievedJune 29,2015.
- ^"LIN TV Completes Acquisition of Four Stations from Emmis"(Press release).PR Newswire.December 1, 2005.RetrievedJune 29,2015– viaBusiness Wire.
- ^LIN Media
- ^David Gelles (March 21, 2014)."Acquisition by Media General Creates 2nd-Largest Local TV Owner".The New York Times.RetrievedMarch 22,2014.
- ^"TV Station Mega Merger: Media General, LIN Set $1.6 Billion Deal".Variety.Penske Media Corporation. March 21, 2014.
- ^"Media General acquiring LIN Media for $1.6 billion".Los Angeles Times.March 21, 2014.
- ^"Media General, LIN Sell Stations In 5 Markets".TVNewsCheck.NewsCheck Media. August 20, 2014.RetrievedAugust 20,2014.
- ^Michael Malone (August 20, 2014)."Media General, LIN Divest Stations in Five Markets".Broadcasting & Cable.NewBay Media.RetrievedAugust 20,2014.
- ^"Meredith Completes Acquisition Of WALA-TV (FOX) In Mobile-Pensacola".Meredith Corporation(Press release). December 19, 2014.
- ^"Media General Acquiring Meredith For 2.4 Billion".TVNewsCheck.NewsCheck Media. September 8, 2015.
- ^Cynthia Littleton (September 8, 2015)."TV Station Mega Merger: Media General Sets $2.4 Billion Acquisition of Meredith Corp".Variety.Penske Media Corporation.RetrievedSeptember 9,2015.
- ^"Gray Television Closes on Acquisition of Meredith Corporation's Local Media Group"(Press release).Gray Television.Globe Newswire.December 1, 2021.
- ^"WAFB will televise 10 of this season's Pelicans games"(Press release).WAFB.December 30, 2023.RetrievedDecember 30,2023.
- ^"WALA Expanding Its Morning Newscast".TVNewsCheck.NewsCheck Media. January 17, 2014.
- ^Mark K. Miller (August 6, 2015)."WALA Launching Weekend Morning News".TVNewsCheck.NewsCheck Media.RetrievedAugust 14,2015.
- ^Andrew Gauthier (October 23, 2009)."WEAR Set to Launch Weekend Morning Newscast".TVSpy.Mediabistro Holdings.RetrievedAugust 14,2015.
- ^Roly Ortega (June 20, 2015)."WKRG has debuted its own weekend morning newscast".Changing Newscasts Blog.WordPress.RetrievedAugust 14,2015.
- ^Mark K. Miller (August 21, 2015)."WALA Expands Late News To 90 Minutes".TVNewsCheck.NewsCheck Media.RetrievedAugust 24,2015.
- ^Roly Ortega (August 12, 2015)."WALA will go on at 10:00 p.m. for the first time in almost 20 years".Changing Newscasts Blog.WordPress.RetrievedAugust 14,2015.
- ^RabbitEars TV Query for WALA
- ^Eggerton, John (August 7, 2009)."LIN TV Develops Blackberry App For Mobile TV Service".Broadcasting & Cable.RetrievedAugust 11,2009.
- ^"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on August 29, 2013.RetrievedMarch 24,2012.
