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WAAY-TV

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WAAY-TV is an ABC-affiliated television station, broadcasting on channel 31 from Huntsville, Alabama. The station's transmitter is on Monte Sano, to the east of Huntsville.

History

Channel 31's first broadcast was on August 1, 1959, using the callsign WAFG-TV. When the station was sold to Smith Broadcasting (owners of WAAY radio) in 1963, the callsign was changed to WAAY-TV. The station switched network affiliation to NBC in 1968, but returned to ABC in 1977, citing higher network ratings and the lack of a duplicate ABC affiliate in Florence (where WOWL, now WHDF, was then an NBC affiliate) as reasons.

Smith Broadcasting sold WAAY-TV to GOCOM Broadcasting (later renamed Piedmont Communications) in 1999. The Smith family, who previously owned broadcasting properties in Birmingham before coming to Huntsville, was the last local owner of a Huntsville television station, as rivals WHNT and WAFF had been sold to larger corporations years before (WZDX, the first station in North Alabama not affiliated with the traditional networks or the educational TV system, has always belonged to outside interests). The Smith family also owned radio stations in Fort Walton Beach, Florida and South Pittsburg, Tennessee.

At one time, all three of Huntsville's major-network affiliates, WAAY included, had studios located beside their transmitters and towers on Monte Sano. After a 1982 fire gutted the building of WAFF, however, that station, and later WHNT, moved their offices and production facilities into the city itself, employing microwave relays to send signals to their transmitters. Only WAAY continues to maintain its full operations on Monte Sano Boulevard. (WHIQ-TV, the PBS affiliate, is a translator relay of Alabama Public Television; programming originates from Birmingham or Montgomery, not Huntsville.)

On September 4, 2003, the 1000-foot broadcasting tower leased by WAAY collapsed killing three people.

In 2006, Piedmont Broadcasting agreed to sell WAAY to Calkins Media, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based mass media company that owns several small newspapers in Pennsylvania and two other television stations: WWSB in Sarasota, Florida and WTXL in Tallahassee, Florida. The sale to Calkins became official on February 1 2007. WAAY is Calkins' first broadcasting property outside of Florida.

Ray Depa serves as WAAY's General Manager. Willy Walker serves at News Director.

Newscasts

Weekdays

  • 31 News Morning - 5:00-7:00 a.m.
  • 31 News Midday - 11am-Noon
  • 31 News Live at 5 - 5:00-5:30 p.m.
  • 31 News Live at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
  • 31 News Tonight - 10:00-10:35 p.m.

Weekends

  • 31 News Live at 5 - 5:00-5:30 p.m.
  • 31 News at 10 - 10:00-10:30 p.m.

WAAY-TV broadcasts a medical call-in show, "31 Medcall". Medcall airs Saturday nights at 10:35.

WAAY-TV also broadcasts a legal call-in show, "31 Lawline" every Sunday night at 10:35pm. It is hosted by former 31 news anchorman Don Phelps.

Anchors

Weather Anchors:

Sports Anchors:

Former Anchors/Reporters

Liz Hurley (Now at WAFF)
Dave Hargrove
Heather Burns
Beverly Taylor
Tony Jordan (deceased)
Don Phelps (Now serves as talent for local commercial spots)
David Lamb (Now an anchor for WIAT in Birmingham)
Jeff Speegle (Now Sports Anchor for ABC 33/40 in Birmingham)
Gus Hergert Sports Director/Creator of Friday Night Football (Retired)
Rick Davis
Greg Screws (Now an anchor for WHNT)
Linda Allen
Alicia Smith (Bureau Chief-Deceased)
Cliff Hill (Now a lawyer)
Lisa Greer
Reginald Jones
Bill Hubscher
Jamie Cooper (Now owns ZTV-11, a local low-power television station)
Denise Agent
Bob Baron, founder of Baron services, Inc.
Gary Dobbs, meteorologist and host of WAAY Too Early
Rick Mecklenburg
Kirk Chaisson
Kristen Cornett, now with NBC Weather Plus/MSNBC
Al Whitaker
Gus Johnson (now with CBS Sports)
Adrian Gibson (Served as news anchor and weather forecaster at WAAY for over 35 years. Retired in 2004.)
Anna Clayton
Brenda Wood, now with WXIA-TV in Atlanta
Kim Albright (was also camera operator/ENG Operator for traffic reports)
Shane Butler, former chief meteorologist
Mark Marcus
Dave Coffey
Walt Lehmann
Sharon Doviet (Now working with Cliff Hill as an attorny)

Programming

WAAY's 31 News broadcasts air weekdays from 5:00-7:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., 5:00-5:30 p.m., 6:00-6:30 p.m. and 10:00-10:35 p.m., and weekends at 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. WAAY has news bureaus in Decatur and Florence. In the ratings, all of the station's major newscasts rank in third place, though they often ranked as a dominant #1 from the 1970s through the early 1990s when the station was still family-owned.

For many years, WAAY's newscasts used the branding "31 Eyewitness News"; now the station uses the simple "WAAY (pronounced "way") 31 News".

Syndicated programming on WAAY includes Live with Regis and Kelly, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, and The Insider. A recent addition to WAAY-TV's syndicated programming lineup is the Dr. Keith Ablow show that airs from 4:00pm-5:00pm as a "lead-in" to the 5pm news. The Insider was moved to late weeknights at 12:30am. Prior to this, the 4:00pm block featured a newscasts, called "WAAY 31 News First at 4" followed by The Insider.

Special Programs

Since 1976, the entire staff of WAAY-TV has held the annual WAAY-TV Christmas Parade [1], taking over production after the city of Huntsville discontinued funding it. It takes place in downtown Huntsville on the first Saturday in December.

During the early 1990s, many off-camera staff members of WAAY-TV produced, directed, and hosted a "Saturday Night Live"-styled comedy sketch program "WAAY Too Late", which aired late Saturday nights as well, wrapped around a movie.

WAAY TV Sports Productions won Huntsville's first-ever Emmy Award at the 1997 ceremonies in Nashville, TN for the program "Friday Night Football". The program consisted of 7-10 anchors in various cities from 3 news bureaus and a satellite truck showing highlights and feature stories from area high school football games in Alabama and Tennessee. Airing for the first time in 1992, The show has also been honored more than 10 times being named by the Associated Press as "Best Sports Program" in Alabama. The latest honor coming in 2006.

Notes

The Huntsville-Decatur television market is only one of two in the Southeastern U.S. to have only UHF channel allocations; Lexington, Ky. is the only other. No full-power VHF stations exist at all in the state of Alabama north of Birmingham; thus, none of the North Alabama-based channels have ever suffered a disadvantage from competing against established VHF stations in the same area, a problem that particularly affected UHF broadcasters elsewhere, well into the early 1980s.

References


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