WUOA-LD,

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...

46 (

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

channel 28), is a low-power

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, United States. The station is owned by

Innovate Corp INNOVATE Corp. (formerly known as HC2 Holdings, Inc. and Primus Telecommunications Group, Inc.) is an American public financial services company founded in 1994. History Beginning (1994–1997) Primus commenced operations in 1994 intent on bei ...

. WUOA-LD's transmitter is located on Red Mountain on the south side of Birmingham.

History

The station began broadcasting in January 1988 as an

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

of the

Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN was headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, until March 3, 2017, when it sold its ...

. The station originally broadcast on UHF channel 52 under its original callsign W52AI. It became W53AZ in 1990 after moving the signal to UHF channel 53. Two years later, the station moved its signal again to channel 51 and changing the call letters to W51BY. It remained a TBN translator until 2003. In 2003, the station moved its signal to UHF channel 46, and changed the callsign again, this time to W46DK. It was purchased by the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

, whose communications department converted the station to a translator of the university-owned WVUA-CA. In 2015, the station went silent as W46AY was obligated to be converted to digital as the

digital TV transition The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...

deadline for low-power stations was scheduled for September 1 of that year. The station's callsign was changed to the original WUOA-LD. In Summer 2016, DTV America Corporation purchased the station and converted it into an affiliate of

Katz Broadcasting Katz Broadcasting, LLC, doing business as Scripps Networks, is an American specialized digital multicasting network media company and a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. The company owns (as of 2022) nine television networks that each carry ...

-operated Laff network. This was the second DTV America-owned station to sign on in the state of Alabama (the first was

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

/Doctor TV affiliate

WDSF-LD WDSF-LD, virtual channel 19 ( UHF digital channel 36), is a low-powered Quest- affiliated television station licensed to Montgomery, Alabama, United States. The station is owned by DTV America Corporation, a television station group based i ...

which signed on in 2014). The station also launched second and third subchannels to run

FremantleMedia Fremantle (; formerly FremantleMedia) is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in ...

Buzzr Buzzr is an American digital terrestrial television, digital broadcast television network owned by Fremantle North America, a unit of the Fremantle (company), Fremantle subsidiary of RTL Group. The network serves as an outlet for the extensive li ...

network, and Laff’s sister network

Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...

, respectively.

Subchannels

References

External links

{{Other Alabama Stations UOA-LD Innovate Corp. Buzzr affiliates Get (TV network) affiliates NOST affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1988 Low-power television stations in Alabama