WALA-TV
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| WALA-TV | |
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| Mobile, Alabama/Pensacola, Florida | |
| Branding | Fox Ten |
| Slogan | Mobile's News Leader |
| Channels | Analog: 10 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | Fox |
| Owner | LIN TV Corporation (LIN of Alabama, LLC) |
| First air date | January 14, 1953 |
| Call letters’ meaning | We Are Loyal Alabamians (ALA is also an abbreviation for the state of Alabama) |
| Sister station(s) | WBPG |
| Former affiliations | Primary: NBC (1953-1996) Secondary: ABC (1953-1959) CBS (1953-1955) DuMont (1953-1955) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW (analog) 29 kW (digital) |
| Height | 381 m (both) |
| Facility ID | 4143 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.myfoxgulfcoast.com |
WALA-TV ("Fox Ten") is the Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate for southern Alabama and the western Panhandle area of Florida. The station is owned by LIN Television. The station offers a news-intensive general entertainment format. In addition to Fox programming, newscasts air from 5:00-9:00 a.m., 5:00-6:00 p.m., and 9:00-10:00 p.m. on weekdays. The station also runs a blend of syndicated programming. As a Fox affiliate, WALA has the rare distinction of airing some of the strongest syndicated programming from King World (now CBS Television Distribution) which the "Big Three" affiliates in other markets would normally air: this includes The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Dr. Phil Show, Jeopardy!, and Wheel Of Fortune.
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[edit] History
WALA signed on for the first time on January 14, 1953 as Mobile's second television station to go on the air and the oldest station in the area. The station aired programs from NBC, ABC, CBS, and DuMont. The station was locally owned by W. O. Pape along with WALA 1410 AM. When WEAR-TV signed on, ABC and CBS programming moved there, and CBS programming would move to WKRG in 1955. As the most established station, WALA got the strongest syndicated programming and had the top-rated newscasts.
Pape sold WALA in 1964 to the Roywood Corporation. In 1969 WALA would be sold to the Universal Communications Corporation, the television arm of the Detroit News. Through the years, WALA was the leading station in a three-station race.
Gannett bought out Universal Communications in the merger with the Detroit News' publisher The Evening News Association, but due to the company's ownership of the Pensacola News Journal and Federal Communications Commission regulations on common ownership of television stations and newspapers, Gannett owned WALA for only one day in 1986. Gannett sold WALA to Knight Ridder Broadcasting, who, in turn, sold it to Burnham Broadcasting in 1989.
The Fox network wanted to upgrade affiliates in many markets when it acquired rights to broadcast NFL Football's NFC games in the mid-1990s. In 1994, Fox announced affiliation deals with New World Communications stations in larger markets. The deal involved switching all the stations which were former "Big Three" affiliates to Fox in the fall of 1994. More stations would switch to Fox in 1995 when New World bought out two more conglamerate broadcast groups: Argyle Television and Citicasters. In turn, Newscorp purchased New World to merge it with the Fox Television Stations Group in 1997.
As a result of Fox's influence on gaining more VHF affiliations to establish itself as a "Big Four" network, more upgrades were still sought out -- this time in smaller markets. The formation of SF Broadcasting with Savoy Broadcasting was the result of the smaller markets due in part to Fox owning a voting stock in Savvoy. SF then announced the purchase of WALA, along with WVUE in New Orleans, Louisiana, KHON in Honolulu, Hawaii, and WLUK in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Aside from WVUE, then an ABC affiliate, the other three were NBC affiliates. The deal stipulated that all four stations should convert to Fox affiliation. Before the sale became final in 1995, it was determined that Fox's stock in SF would not be considered voting stock.
On January 1, 1996, WALA, along with KHON and WVUE, switched to Fox. WLUK changed its network affiliation back in September 1995. NBC affiliation moved to former Fox affiliate WPMI, owned by Clear Channel Communications. WALA aired Fox Kids Network programming, unlike the New World Fox affiliates. On weekdays where NBC's daytime dramas previously aired, Fox Kids would run from 1:00-4:00 p.m -- an hour earlier than most of its Fox counterparts. Fox Kids aired on Saturday mornings in pattern. WALA, now rebranded "Fox 10", also expanded its local news on weekdays, to 5:00-8:00 a.m., 12:00-1:00 p.m., 5:00-6:00 p.m., and 9:00-10:00 p.m. Since then these times have changed only slightly.
WALA, KHON, WVUE, and WLUK were sold in a group deal to Silver King/USA Broadcasting in 1997 and then to Emmis Communications in 1998. Fox dropped weekday afternoon programming, then running for only two hours before the end of 2001, and retained its Saturday morning programming. In 2002, that was revamped as the Fox Box, and then in 2003 the programming line-up was renamed 4 Kids TV.
At this point WALA, like most Fox affiliates, would purchase more talk and reality-based shows to fill timelots that once had "Big Three" network programming (in WALA's case, NBC). Emmis bought WBPG, an affiliate of WB Television Network in 2003, creating a new duopoly in the Mobile-Pensacola market.
Emmis put all of its television stations up for sale in 2005. WALA and WBPG were sold to LIN Television in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
Until March of 2007, one of WALA's digital subchannels simulcasted WBPG, now a CW affiliate, as WBPG has no digital signal of its own. The CW is currently shown over-the-air in analog only for the time being.
On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company.[1]
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.
WALA will cease analog broadcasting on Channel 10 on February 17, 2009. Its digital signal will remain on channel 9.
[edit] Personalities
[edit] Main anchors
- Bob Grip, weeknight anchor
- Lenise Ligon, weeknight anchor
- Renee Dials, weekend anchor
- Eric Reynolds, weekday anchor
- Sarah Wall , weekday anchor
[edit] Meteorologists/Weather anchors
- Matt Barrentine, meteorologist
- Chasity Byrd
- Jason Smith, meteorologist
- John Edd Thompson, chief meteorologist
[edit] Sports anchors
- Cary Chow, weekend anchor
- Joe Emer
- Rob Lehocky
[edit] Reporters and other fill-in anchors
- Cary Chow
- Charissa Cowart
- April Douglas
- Adam Ghassemi
- Denise Hrdlica
- Christina Leavenworth
- Matt Barrentine
- Mike Rockwood
- Derica Williams
[edit] External links
- WALA Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WALA
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WALA-TV
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