WGWW

WGWW, virtual channel 40 (VHF digital channel 9), is a Heroes & Icons-affiliated television station serving Birmingham, Alabama, United States that is licensed to Anniston. The station is owned by Howard Stirk Holdings, and operates as a sister station to Tuscaloosa-based Heroes & Icons affiliate WSES (channel 33). WGWW maintains transmitter facilities located at Bald Rock Mountain (off of Kelly Creek Road), near Moody in unincorporated southern St. Clair County.

The station's second digital subchannel serves as a repeater of ABC affiliate WBMA-LD (channel 58), which WGWW served as a full-time satellite station of from 1996 to 2014.

History

Beginnings in Anniston

The station first signed on the air on October 26, 1969 as WHMA-TV, originally operating as a primary CBS and secondary NBC affiliate. The station was initially owned by the Anniston Broadcasting Company, which was run by members of the family of Harry M. Ayers, who also owned the Anniston Star newspaper and local radio station WHMA (1390 AM and 100.5 FM, now WNNX-FM in Atlanta). It originally operated from studio facilities located on Noble Street in downtown Anniston.