The station became exclusively affiliated with ABC on September 7, 1961; on that date, channel 13 (by then known as WAPI-TV) assumed rights to CBS and NBC programming, although WBRC continued to occasionally carry certain CBS shows that WAPI chose not to carry through 1965. After WBRC became a Fox station in September 1996, the station shifted its programming focus heavily towards local news, increasing its output from about 25 hours a week to around 40 hours. The 63-year-old Royer's contract runs through June 14. However, on December 22, 2007, Fox announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell WBRC and seven other Fox owned-and-operated stations (WDAF-TV, WGHP, WJW, WITI, KTVI in St. Louis, KDVR in Denver and KSTU in Salt Lake City) to Local TV, a holding company operated by equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners that had earlier purchased The New York Times Company's television station division; the sale was finalized on July 14, 2008. He began as a reporter and worked his way up to news anchor, and in 1969 was named Director of News and Editorial Policy. During that time, co-workers remember Langston being quite a bit different from his on-air persona; serious, stern and dramatic on television, he was later described as being laid back with a sense of humor. Beginning in 1966 he was assigned to host the Saturday morning children's show "Birthday Party", which lasted for two years. Langston moved to Birmingham and began working at WBRC in 1963 as a co-host of the Tom York Morning Show alongside Tom York and Fannie Flagg. Remember, you can stay connected with the updated weather conditions on our website myfoxal.com and through your smartphone and devices using the Fox6 app. The station's transmitter was originally purposed as the transmitter facilities for radio station WBRC-FM (102.5, now WBPT at 106.9 FM; original frequency now occupied by WDXB), which signed on in 1947 with the highest radiated power of any radio station worldwide, operating at 500,000 watts; after the FM station suspended operations in June 1948 due to continued revenue losses due to the lack of radios equipped with FM tuners, Hanna borrowed $150,000 to build a new studio facility and transmitter atop Red Mountain for the television station. Eggers wrote on her facebook page, I am moving to Boston at the beginning of October! Another factor, though supposedly not as important as the Taft-Goldenson relationship, was CBS News' apparent strong support of the Civil Rights Movement, which did not sit well with many white viewers, a large segment of WBRC's audience. Joe joined the staff of WBRC-TV in Birmingham in 1963. After his service he returned home to work as the station manager of WNPT. WHMA TV-40, later WJSU-TV: The Cousin Cliff Show (with Cliff Holman) Birmingham. Langston served as president of the Alabama Associated Press Broadcasters Association in 1971-72 and on the board of directors of the Birmingham Press Club in 1974-75. BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - Family and friends said goodbye to Birmingham broadcast legend Joe Langston on Monday. He also served on the boards of the Tuscaloosa County Tuberculosis Association, the Alabama Arthritis Foundation, and the Alabama Multiple Sclerosis Society, and served as a deacon for Mountain Brook Baptist Church. Joe Langston joined WBRC in 1963. Published: Dec. 8, 2020 at 9:52 AM PST. During his years in television, he received every major award from the Associated Press and United Press International Broadcasters Association. On July 14, 2009, the station eliminated its Saturday evening 5:00p.m. newscast due to budget cutbacks at the station spurred by the economic downturn. He began as a reporter and worked his way up to news anchor, and in 1969 was named Director of News and Editorial Policy. Joe Langston was promoted to Director of News and Editorial Policy in 1969. Then he listed our home and walked us through the whole process. He stayed their most of his life, including going to school at the University of Alabama. Joe was born in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1954. In addition, WBRC produces Fox 6 WBRC Law Call, a weekly call-in programhosted by former WBRC reporter Tiffany Bittner, and airing live after the station's 10:00p.m. newscast on Sunday nightsin which viewers ask members of a panel (usually consisting of personal injury attorneys) for advice on various legal issues; and Absolutely Alabama, a weekly programairing after Law Call on Sundaysconsisting of feature stories about people and places around Alabama.[31]. . Citicasters then decided to put most of its television stations up for sale. Langston died at the age of 82 over the weekend. He just had a good time but was a smart fellow, too, and I loved him," Bolen said. All rights reserved. He began his broadcasting career in 1950 while a student at the University of Alabama. WBRC is a more news-intensive Fox station with 45 hours a week of locally-produced newscasts, as well as first-run prime time, sports and Saturday late night programming from Fox. On Monday, York was emotional talking about his old friend. The station began clearing Fox NFL Kickoff for the 2016 season. A family member confirmed Gray died Monday, according to an announcement from WBRC. Taft later bought ABC's former syndication arm, Worldvision Enterprises, in 1979 (ABC spun off this division in 1973 as a result of fin-syn laws, which have since been repealed). Earlier News by Date Editor on Duty: Mark K. Miller. Channel 6 originally planned to carry the entire Fox programming schedule when it switched to the network, including its children's program block, Fox Kids; it intended to air the weekday editions of that block from 1:00 to 4:00p.m. on Monday through Friday afternoons. Stay Connected. 50-year-old Kent Wesley Franklin was boating with friends late Saturday night at Lake Logan Martin, when he jumped off the boat and was not seen again. On May 5, 1994, Great American Communications (which would later be renamed Citicasters following the completion of its restructuring) agreed to sell WBRC and three other television stations WDAF-TV in Kansas City, KSAZ-TV in Phoenix and WGHP in High Point, North Carolina to New World Communications for $350million in cash and $10million in share warrants. Veteran WBRC anchor Joe Langston died Saturday. His funeral is today at 2 p.m. at Mountain Brook Baptist Church. TV Guide, Northern Alabama edition--cover, cast of "Mission Impossible": Greg Morris, Peter Graves, Peter Lupus, Lynda Day George NOTE: Listings are through 6 p.m. This email address is already subscribed to the selected list(s). transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts, "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", "Storer options fifth TV as two others reach limit", "COMPANY NEWS; GREAT AMERICAN SELLING FOUR TELEVISION STATIONS", "Times Mirror sells stations, part 1. WBRC is a Raycom sister station to WSFA, and is located in Birmingham.. At that time, WBRC phased out its longstanding "Channel 6" brand and began branding itself as "Fox 6", becoming one of three Fox stations affected by the affiliation deal between the network and New World to adopt Fox's standardized station branding conventions prior to the group's 1996 merger with Fox Television Stations (WGHP and WJBK in Detroit, which became a sister station to WBRC as a result of the New World merger, were the only others to comply with the network's branding techniques; the remaining ten stations did not incorporate network branding until after the merger was finalized). He was named outstanding alumnus of the University of Alabama College of Communication in 1982 and received the Distinguished Service Award from the University in 1988. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the church. [14][15], Although it was now owned by the O&O group of another network, Fox now had to run channel 6 as an ABC affiliate for more than a year after the purchase was announced as WBRC's affiliation agreement with that network was not set to expire until August 31, 1996. Karen Church Out at WBRC After 17 Years By Mark Joyella on Dec. 29, 2015 - 3:28 PM "I paved the way for people who are now becoming my replacements, which I don't appreciate." By Janet Hall. Anniston. Langston started at Birmingham's WBRC in 1963 as the first reporter/anchor hired at the station. Here's something else affecting your wallet: the situation in Iraq is not helping with gas prices here at home. [36] On July 29, 2008, the parties to the lawsuit filed a stipulation of dismissal, stating that the dispute had been resolved in mediation. He was a charter member of the Thursday morning Has Been Coffee Club. The service allows the stations to pool story content seen on the stations' newscasts and websites, as well as share information and newsgathering equipment (such as satellite trucks). Joe Langston, whose voice was a signature of Alabama broadcasting news for three decades, died early today. WBRC Fox 6 Chief Meteorologist JP Dice discusses his decision to leave Fox 6 and his plan for the future. Langston started at Birminghams WBRC in 1963 as the first reporter/anchor hired at the station. WBRC and WGHP were the only Fox-owned stations that did not air the network's children's program blocks until 2003, when now-former sister stations KTTV in Los Angeles and WFLD in Chicago moved the block to their UPN-affiliated sister stations (KCOP-TV and WPWR-TV). Langston's funeral will take place at 2 p.m. on Monday at Mountain Brook Baptist Church. He went on the air soaking wet that night," Bowen recalled. Langston, a native of Tuscaloosa County and a graduate of the University of Alabama, joined the staff of WBRC-Channel 6 in 1963, early on appearing on"The Tom York Morning Show" with York and Fannie Flagg. Langston, a well-known and respected journalist, died early Saturday morning. Even still, due to signal impairment in mountainous areas of northeastern Alabama, WBRC operated two low-power translators to extend its programming to that part of the state, W29AO (channel 29) in Anniston in W15AP (channel 15) in Gadsden. We are thrilled to have Andy Parker co Those set-builders have been busy this week, havent they? When Gadsden-area leaders pushed for an international airport to be built in the area in the early 1990s, they showed a presentation video to various government officials which pitched the idea. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. Select this result to view Joe Judy Langston's phone number, address, and more. Editor Phone: 301-773-0058. On May 23, 1994, New World signed an affiliation agreement with Fox to switch twelve television stations six that New World had already owned and eight that the company was in the process of acquiring through the Argyle and Citicasters deals, including WBRC to the network, in exchange for the latter's then-parent company News Corporation purchasing a 20% equity stake in New World; the stations would become Fox affiliates once their affiliation contracts with existing network partners expired (with the first stations involved in the deal switching to the network in September 1994). The concurrent move of the ABC affiliation to W58CK and its satellites also led to the CBS affiliation for the Anniston-Gadsden market to move to WNAL-TV (channel 44, now Ion Television owned-and-operated station WPXH-TV), which along with WTTO and its Tuscaloosa satellite WDBB (channel 17) lost its Fox affiliation to WBRC. Home; Governance; History; Training; Library; Research & Innovation; joe langston wbrc WBRC-TV's WBRC 6 News' Janet Hall Serving You Video Promo From 1986. The first was The Morning Show, hosted by sports anchor Tom York; airing for 32 years from 1957 to 1989, it was a more general-interest interview and features program that was formatted basically a local version of Today; WBRC anchor Joe Langston (who also hosted the children's programs Birthday Party and Junior Auction for the station in the late 1960s) and comedian Fannie Flagg joined as York's co-hosts in the early 1960s (Flagg would leave for Los Angeles in 1964 to become a writer for Candid Camera). Langston still did some occasional off-camera assignments during those years. After his discharge he took a job as station manager of WNPT-AM in Northport. After retiring she returned to Birmingham, the Magic City, where she is fondly remembered as a trailblazing pioneer for women in broadcasting. In 1972, Taft sold the WBRC radio stations, which changed their call letters to WERC-AM and FM.[7]. There are plenty of things in this world that step out of the abyss and scare the hell out of you like Bozo the Clown. Click a location below to find Joe more easily. BREAKING: legendary @WBRCnews broadcaster Pat Gray has died. He was inducted into the Alabama Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2009. In 1966, WBRC-TV began broadcasting local programming in color, after the station purchased two color cameras; among the first local programs to be produced in color was the Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches' program, The Bear Bryant Show (originated from CBS affiliate WCOV-TV (now also a Fox affiliate) in Montgomery, the first television station in the state to begin color broadcasts), which aired on WBRC until 1970, when it moved to WAPI-TV. Back to TVNewsCheck Home. In January 1996, ABC struck a deal with Allbritton Communications to affiliate with CBS stations WCFT-TV (channel 33, now Heroes & Icons affiliate WSES) in Tuscaloosa and WJSU-TV (channel 40, now Heroes & Icons affiliate WGWW) in Anniston (the latter of which Allbritton had agreed to operate under a local marketing agreement with then-owner Osborne Communications Corporation weeks prior); because Tuscaloosa and Anniston were then separate markets, which would result in neither station being counted in Nielsen ratings reports for Birmingham, Allbritton purchased low-power station W58CK (channel 58, now WBMA-LD), creating a triple-simulcast with WCFT and WJSU, which would act as its satellite stations.[16][17]. Langston died at the age of 82 over the weekend. The price change will be different in different areas of the country. Its newscasts were also among the highest-rated local news programs in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s; WBRC had won practically every news timeslot for many years, with WAPI-TV/WVTM-TV coming in at a distant second until the mid-2000s; CBS affiliate WBMG/WIAT was not a factor for either station for most of its history (to the point where it did not even air any newscasts at three different periods between the early 1980s and February 1998). Langston, a well-known and respected journalist, died early Saturday morning. Over time, Burns added novelty acts to the show's format and did most of the commercials himself in the studio live. Langston eventually managed the student radio station, WLJS-FM, and became department head over the communications department until his retirement in 1998. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Following graduation, he joined the Army and served two years in Special Warfare at Fort Bragg, NC. During the years Langston worked, his voice could be heard by callers navigating the school's voicemail system. Instead, Bowen accidentally splattered Langston's jacket with water. This also, however, may have been a move to forestall future commercial competition in the market; WBRC and WABT remained the only commercial stations in Birmingham, which would not get a third commercial broadcast television outlet until WBMG (now WIAT) debuted in October 1965, on UHF channel 42, a signal considerably weaker than that of either channels 6 or 13, and a problem which hampered that station's progress until the early 2000s. This type of programming began in the late 1940s and continued into the late 1970s; some shows continued into the 1990s. We lost a pioneer," Winches said. We used to play jokes on one another, do silly things. Copyright 2014WBRC. "Without missing a beat, Joe said, 'Go get another pot of water' and I did and he said, 'Pour it slowly over my jacket' and he made it the same color as his water specks were. Resides in Kingsland, GA. ", Flagg called Langston "just an all-around good guy. Unusual for a commercial broadcaster, Storer supported educational television, and the company donated two transmitters and frequencies in the Birmingham market (channels 7 and 10, which were respectively occupied by WCIQ and WBIQ when both stations signed on in 1955) to Alabama Educational Television (now Alabama Public Television). On February 19, 1953, WBRC-TV moved to channel 6 as part of a frequency realignment ordered by the FCC, resulting from the Sixth Report and Order issued the year prior in 1952. Your entry has exceeded the maximum character limit. Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 As a Fox station 2 Programming Okay so you need it in the mornings, but your Starbucks latte could cost you more starting tomorrow! Langston was also known for a sense of humor. He was named news director in 1969. [1] the "-TV" suffix was dropped from the call sign in June 1999). WBRC was the first Birmingham station to use a microwave-transmitting live news truck for newsgathering in 1978. Sign up for service and obituary updates. Station management declined ABC's insistence that WBRC expand its 6:00p.m. newscast to match the length of the ABC Evening News; however, the 15-minute local newscast beat The Huntley-Brinkley Report on WAPI-TV/WVTM and the CBS Evening News on WBMG in the ratings. The building, like many of those built by Storer to serve as studios for its broadcast properties, resembled an antebellum mansion. Langston died in 2014 at his home in Liberty Park. Joe Langston (1932) was born in Tuscaloosa county. He had a great sense of humor.". 530 News (Joe Langston) - [WBRC's world cast; ABC News not cleared until 1972] 545 News, Sports, Weather - [a/k/a "Alabama Newsreel"] 600 Zane Grey Theater 630 It Takes a Thief 730 Movie - "How To Steal a Million" 1000 News 1030 Viewpoint (interview with Mrs. Kate Wood of Montgomery, woman's director of NAACP in Detroit) 1100 Alfred Hitchcock Joe Langston, whose voice was a signature of Alabama broadcasting news for three decades, died early today. Always there with a one-liner. In 1964, Joe joined the staff of WBRC TV in Birmingham as a news reporter/news anchor. Langston briefly switched over to WVTM-TV in 1980, sharing the anchor desk with Pam Huff. Joe Langston on WBRC - YouTube Joe Langston anchored newscasts for WBRC for many years.SUBSCRIBE AND TURN ON NOTIFICATIONShttps://www.youtube.com/c/WBRCFOX6NewsOnYourSideCONNECT WITH. He graduated in 1954 and served in the U.S. Army as a Radio Broadcast and Propaganda Officer at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Originally broadcasting for three hours per day, it operated as a primary NBC affiliate (earning the affiliation as a result of WBRC radio's longtime affiliation with the NBC Red Network), and also carried secondary affiliations with ABC and the DuMont Television Network; during the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.