WBMM is the CW-affiliated television station for Central Alabama's Black Belt area that is licensed to Tuskegee. It broadcasts a standard definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 from a transmitter in unincorporated southwestern Bullock County along the Pike County line. The station can also be seen on Bright House Networks channel 9, Charter channel 14, and Knology channel 19. Owned by Bahakel Communications, WBMM is sister to CBS affiliate WAKA and ABC affiliate WNCF. However, the latter is actually owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting but operated by Bahakel through a shared services agreement (SSA).

Currently, WBMM and WNCF share studios on Harrison Road in North Montgomery while WAKA maintains a separate facility on Eastern Boulevard/U.S. 80/U.S. 231 in South-Central Montgomery. Even though it is a full-powered outlet, WBMM is part of the national CW Plus programming service. The station has a website typical of CW Plus affiliates with some custom, localized content. The station can also be seen over-the-air on WNCF's second digital subchannel. This can be seen on UHF channel 32.2 from a transmitter in Gordonville.

Digital Television [link]

History [link]

The station signed-on September 17, 1999 as a Pax affiliate airing an analog signal on UHF channel 22. WBMM became an affiliate of Daystar for a year in 2005 before eventually joining The CW (through The CW Plus) in 2006. The latter network switch was the result of The WB and UPN shutting down and merging to form The CW. Although there was no known WB affiliate in Montgomery, UPN was seen through Troy's WRJM-TV (now WIYC). It was announced on July 7, 2011 that Bahakel Communications would purchase WBMM from SagamoreHill Broadcasting for $3.5 million. The acquiring company then immediately entered into a shared services agreement with SagamoreHill which resulted in WNCF beginning to be operated by WAKA.

The official transfer of WBMM from SagamoreHill to Bahakel was completed on October 31 after which Bahakel obtained a waiver of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) duopoly regulations that requires a market to be left with eight unique television station owners after a duopoly is formed. SagamoreHill had previously acquired WBMM in 2006 with an FCC "failing station" waiver because the Montgomery/Selma market has only eight commercially licensed full-power stations and the formation of any co-owned duopoly would have left the market with only seven unique station owners. Under the current SSA arrangement with Bahakel, SagamoreHill retains responsibility for WNCF's programming, personnel, and finances while the former company provides that station with sales, administrative, production, and technical services.

Despite being the senior partner in the proposed agreement, WAKA will vacate its current facilities 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 WNCF's facility and has been leasing it to SagamoreHill. Bahakel owned and operated WNCF (as WKAB-TV) until 1985 when it purchased the more desirable WAKA. FCC rules at the time prevented dual television station ownership in a market so the WKAB license was sold but the building and grounds retained. In addition, WNCF's property offers more space for a proposed expansion as compared with the land surrounding WAKA's smaller studios. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

News operation [link]

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 this station. Known as CW News at Nine, the weeknight-only broadcast could be seen for thirty minutes and originated from WAKA's studios featuring 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 (INN) and launched a half-hour weeknight newscasts at 9 on WBMM airing in high definition. As a result, this station terminated its outsourcing arrangement with WAKA. Still known by the same title, the show is currently produced at INN's studios on Tremont Avenue in Davenport, Iowa. The news anchor, meteorologist, and sports anchor are provided by the centralized news operation with other personnel filling-in as needed. WBMM maintains two locally-based reporters at its studios who contribute Montgomery-specific coverage to the newscast that is taped in advance and fed to the station through satellite relay.

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 with 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. After the change in ownership to Bahakel, personnel from the NBC station in Columbus were dropped.

With the recently announced merge between WNCF and WAKA, it remains to be seen what becomes of newscast offerings on the two outlets as well as WBMM. Presumably since WAKA has a full news department based in Montgomery, WNCF and WBMM will end its outsourced newscast production agreement with INN. Consolidation of newscasts among the three outlets will take several months to complete. WAKA's eventual move into WNCF's facility will result in the former finally upgrading its newscasts to high definition after remaining the last station in Montgomery to have not made the change. It is unknown exactly when the move will take place in 2012. Perhaps more uncertain is the status of the news share arrangement between WAKA and WCOV. It is assumed WBMM will continue offering its own newscast at 9 that will be produced by WAKA despite directly competing with WCOV. Like all CW Plus outlets in the Central Time Zone, it airs the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 5 until 8.

News team [link]

Anchors

• Makenzi Henderson - weeknight news
• Amanda Decker - fill-in weeknight news
• Phil Doherty - fill-in weeknight news
• Ryan Bass - fill-in weeknight news
• Pat Walker (NWA Seal of Approval) - Senior Meteorologist seen weeknights
• Erik Garlick - fill-in weeknight meteorologist
• Dan Bronis - fill-in weeknight meteorologist
• Jeremy Moss - weeknight sports
• Roland Glembine - fill-in weeknight sports

Hosts

• Andrea Jackson - The Daily Buzz
• Andy Campbell - The Daily Buzz
• Holly Hannula - The Daily Buzz
• Mitch English - The Daily Buzz
• Michelle Yarn - The Daily Buzz
• Kia Malone - The Daily Buzz

Reporters

• Derrick Cunningham - "Manhunt Monday" segment producer
• Bob Gambacurta - "The Capitol Report" segment producer
• Morgan Hightower
• Lisa Blackwell

References [link]

External links [link]

• WBMM "Montgomery's CW"
• WNCF "ABC 32"
• WAKA "CBS 8"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WBMM