WVTM-TV
 
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Birmingham/Tuscaloosa/ Anniston, Alabama United States |
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| City | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Branding | WVTM 13 (general) (Today's) WVTM 13 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan |
We Are Alabama (general) Covering the South (newscasts) |
| Channels |
Digital: 13 (VHF) Virtual: 13 () |
| Affiliations | |
| Owner |
Hearst Television (WVTM Hearst Television, Inc.) |
| First air date | May 29, 1949 |
| Call letters' meaning |
Vulcan (in reference to statue) Times Mirror (former owners) |
| Former callsigns |
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| Former channel number(s) |
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| Former affiliations | |
| Transmitter power | 20 kW |
| Height | 403 m |
| Facility ID | 74173 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 33°29′25.9″N 86°47′47.7″W / 33.490528°N 86.796583°WCoordinates: 33°29′25.9″N 86°47′47.7″W / 33.490528°N 86.796583°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www |
WVTM-TV, VHF channel 13, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The station is owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation. WVTM maintains studio and transmitter facilities located atop Red Mountain, between Vulcan Trail and Valley View Drive in southeastern Birmingham, adjacent to the Vulcan Statue and next to the studios of Fox affiliate WBRC (channel 6).
The station first signed on the air on May 29, 1949 as WAFM-TV, originally carrying a limited schedule of local programming. The station began carrying select network programming on July 1, operating as a primary CBS and secondary ABC affiliate; channel 13 began carrying an expanded schedule of programming from ABC and CBS on October 1. It was originally owned by The Voice of Alabama, Inc., along with radio stations WAPI (1070 AM), and WAFM (then at 93.3, now WJOX-FM at 94.5 FM). It is the longest continuously operating television station in Alabama. During the summer of 1949, most programs aired by WAFM-TV aired during the daytime hours, allowing radio electronics and department stores to demonstrate television set receivers to potential customers. In January 1953, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved an application to increase the station's transmitter power from 26,000 to 316,000 watts.
In July 1953, The Birmingham News bought the Voice of Alabama and changed the station's call letters to WABT (for "Alabama's Best Television"). The following year on July 4, 1954, WABT traded primary network affiliations with WBRC-TV (channel 6) and joined NBC; however it retained a secondary affiliation with ABC as did WBRC-TV, which took over the CBS affiliation as its then-new owners, Storer Broadcasting, had maintained a strong relationship with the network (the company's founder and chairman, George B. Storer, was a member of the board of directors at CBS). On January 26, 1956, newspaper publishing company Newhouse Newspapers (now Advance Publications) purchased the News. The station changed its callsign again in 1958 to WAPI-TV (for Alabama Polytechnic Institute, which owned WAPI radio from 1925 to 1932) to match its sister AM radio station; WAFM-FM adopted the WAPI calls at the same time, as moved its frequency to 94.5 FM.
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Wikipedia