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Everything You Wanted To Know About Alabama’s Broadcast Television Markets

In ABC, Alabama, Birmingham, CBS, Columbus-Opelika, CW, Dothan, FOX, Huntsville-Decatur, Mobile-Pensacola, Montgomery-Selma, MyTV, NBC on January 21, 2011 at 7:51 am

It is true: if you’re a sports anchor-wannabe, a job in Alabama could be your goal, and there’s plenty of diversity among media markets to choose from. Where else can you cover the self-proclaimed king of SEC football?

  • Birmingham (Anniston/Tuscaloosa) is the state’s biggest market, at #43. Stations include: WBRC (FOX), WVTM (NBC), WTTO (CW), WIAT (CBS), WBMA-LP (ABC) and WABM (MyTV). WBRC claims ratings dominance here, but given it’s a FOX affiliate (and its newscasts are on one hour earlier than the other affiliates), that’s a difficult pill to swallow. No clear winner here. All stations provide their newscasts in high definition.
  • Next on the list is a market that is shared with the Florida panhandle: Mobile-Pensacola (Ft. Walton). The hyphenated market ranks 59th among Nielsen markets nationwide. Stations include: WEAR (ABC), WKRG (CBS), WALA (FOX), WPMI (NBC) WFGX (MyTV) and WFNA (CW). All stations air newscasts in high definition.
  • The third top-100 station in the state, Huntsville-Decatur (Florence), is another hyphenated market, coming in at No. 79. Stations include: WHDF (CW), WHNT (CBS), WAAY (ABC), WAFF (NBC) and WZDX (FOX). All news-producing stations provide newscasts in high definition.
  • Montgomery-Selma is the next station in Alabama, comprising the capital city. It’s ranked #121 among Nielsen media markets. Stations include: WAKA (CBS), WSFA (NBC), WCOV (FOX), WBMM (CW) and WNCF (ABC). WSFA has been the market leader for decades. All stations air newscasts in high definition.
  • Another market that straddles state borders is the Columbus, GA (Opelika, AL) DMA, market #126. Interestingly enough, it also straddles the CST and EST time zones. Stations include: WRBL (CBS), WTVM (ABC), WLTZ (NBC) and WXTX (FOX). WTVM is the ratings leader in this market. All stations broadcast newscasts in HD.
  • Dothan rounds out the Alabama markets, at #173. Stations include: WTVY (CBS), WDHN (ABC) and WDFX (FOX). WTVY is the ratings leader. Only WDHN does not air newscasts in HD.

(Above was updated February 1, 2015)

That covers another one of several states we’ll be covering. If you work for one of these affiliates and have news about new hires, on-air graphic updates, HD overhauls, or anything that would be of interest to this local news blog, please let us know.. I’m not necessarily talking about station gossip, but that works, too. If someone uttered a profane word on-air, for example, that’d be something. Station sales, downsizing, things like that are also newsworthy. You can do so anonymously, of course, but have to prove you work for the station in question for credibility purposes by sending us an email to southtvnewser@gmail.com.