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{{Short description|Television  station in Tuscaloosa, Alabama}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox television station dual
| name1 = WVUA-CD
| name2 = WVUA
| city1 = [[Tuscaloosa]]–[[Northport, Alabama]]<ref name="FCCprofile"/>
| city2 = {{ubl|Tuscaloosa–[[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]]–|[[Anniston, Alabama]]}}
| logo = WVUA_logo.png
| logo_size = 170px
| digital1 = 23 ([[UHF]])
| digital2 = 6 ([[VHF]])
| virtual1 = 7
| virtual2 = 23
| translator = WDVZ-CD 3 [[Tuscaloosa]]
| affiliations = {{ubl|'''7.1/23.1:''' [[Cozi TV]]|''for others, see {{Section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| country = US
| owner = [[University of Alabama]]
| licensee = The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama
| founded1 = {{Start date|1994|12|29}}
| founded2 = {{Start date|1998|11|10}}
| callsign_meaning = Voice of the University of Alabama (in reference to university-owned radio station [[WVUA-FM]])
| airdate1 = {{Start date and age|1996|10|31|p=y}}{{specify|date=December 2015}}
| airdate2 = {{Start date and age|2002|6|6|p=y}}{{specify|date=December 2015}}
| class1 = [[Class A television service|CD]]
| facility_id1 = 70429
| facility_id2 = 77496
| coordinates1 = {{coord|33|9|29.7|N|87|30|56.8|W|type:landmark|display=inline, title}}
| coordinates2 = {{coord|33|29|2|N|86|48|21|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=WVUA}}
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| website = {{URL|https://wvua23.com/}}
| former_affiliations = {{ubl|inTV (1996–1998)|[[Ion Television|Pax TV]] (1998–2002)|[[America One]] (2002–2008)}}
| former_callsigns1 = {{ubl|W49BO (1996–1997)|WJRD-LP (1998–2002)|WVUA-CA (2002–2015)}}
| former_callsigns2 = {{ubl|WLDM (2002–2005)|WUOA (2005–2015)}}
| former_channel_numbers1 = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 49 (UHF, 1996–2000), 7 (VHF, 2000–2015)|'''Translator:''' WJMY-CD 17 [[Tuscaloosa]]}}
| former_channel_numbers2 = '''Analog:''' 23 (UHF, 2002–2009)
| erp1 = 15 [[kW]]
| erp2 = 26 kW
| haat1 = {{convert|179.9|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| haat2 = {{convert|395|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
}}

'''WVUA-CD''' (channel 7) is a [[low-power broadcasting#Television|low-power]], [[Class A television station]] licensed to both [[Tuscaloosa]] and [[Northport, Alabama]], United States, affiliated with the classic television network [[Cozi TV]].<ref name="FCCprofile">{{Cite web |title=WVUA-CD - TV Station Profile |url=https://publicfiles.fcc.gov/tv-profile/wvua-cd |access-date=December 30, 2020 |website=FCC Public Inspection Files}}</ref> Owned by the [[University of Alabama]], the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities within the Digital Media Center at [[Bryant–Denny Stadium]] on the university's campus in Tuscaloosa.

As WVUA-CD's [[broadcast range|broadcasting radius]] does not reach the entire [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]]–Tuscaloosa–[[Anniston, Alabama|Anniston]] [[media market|market]], the station's programming is [[simulcast]] to the remainder of the area on full-power [[Broadcast relay station#Satellite stations|satellite]] '''WVUA''' (channel 23), which is also licensed to Tuscaloosa with its transmitter located atop [[Red Mountain, Birmingham, Alabama|Red Mountain]], near the southern edge of Birmingham.

== Overview ==
Despite being owned by the [[University of Alabama System]], the station is financially independent from the University of Alabama.<ref name="UA News">{{cite web|title=UA's WVUA-7 Takes Top Honors from Associated Press|url=http://uanews.ua.edu/2003/05/uas-wvua-7-takes-top-honors-from-associated-press/|website=UA News|publisher=[[University of Alabama]]|date=May 2003|access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref> WVUA is [[broadcast license|licensed]] and operates as a [[commercial broadcasting|commercial]] television station, and as such, most of its funding is generated from advertising revenue; WVUA/WVUA-CD is one of only two commercial television stations in the United States that is owned by a public institution, alongside [[University of Missouri]]-owned [[NBC]] affiliate [[KOMU-TV]] in [[Columbia, Missouri]]. The station has a full-time paid professional staff including station and advertising sales executives, production and news department staff (including anchors, reporters and a [[news director]]), and relies heavily on University of Alabama students who act as on-air and production staff, and sales assistants.

===History===
The station's original [[Construction permit#Broadcasting|construction permit]], for operation on UHF channel 49, was issued by the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) in 1994 under the [[call letters]] W49BO; the permit was held by Krypton Broadcasting, who intended to operate the station as a repeater of Birmingham [[independent station]] [[WABM]] (channel 68). Channel 49 first signed on the air in 1998 as WJRD-LP, broadcasting on UHF channel 49. It originally operated out of studio facilities located on Jug Factory Road in Tuscaloosa, that formerly housed the operations of [[WTTO|WDBB]] (channel 17) until the shutdown of its news department in December 1995. The station became a charter affiliate of Pax TV (now [[Ion Television]]) when the network launched on August 31 of that year; in August 1999, WJRD-LP became the secondary Pax TV outlet for the Birmingham–Tuscaloosa–Anniston market, when the network's parent company Paxson Communications (now [[Ion Media]]) converted its [[CBS]] affiliate in [[Gadsden, Alabama|Gadsden]], WNAL-TV (channel 44), into a Pax [[owned-and-operated station]] under the callsign [[WPXH-TV]].

The University of Alabama acquired WJRD-LP in 2001, as part of a $1 million gift from the family of [[Alabama Crimson Tide football]] coach [[Paul "Bear" Bryant]]. Once the donation was finalized, the station moved its operations to the University of Alabama campus. In January 2002, its call letters were changed to WVUA-CA (named after the call letters of the university-owned radio station [[WVUA-FM]] (90.7)), after its license was upgraded to [[Class A television service|Class A]] status; the station subsequently became an affiliate of [[America One]] at that time.

In November 2004, Channel 23 LLC filed an application with the FCC to donate full-power station, WLDM (channel 23), to the university. Shortly after that donation was finalized in March 2005, the station's call letters were changed to WUOA (for the University of Alabama), taken from the original call letters of the university-owned [[Alabama Public Radio]] station [[WUAL-FM]] (91.5); the University of Alabama then converted WUOA into a full-power satellite station of WVUA-CA in order to extend its signal deeper into most of the Birmingham market. In 2006, satellite providers [[Dish Network]] and [[DirecTV]] both began carrying WVUA-CA as part of their respective lineups of Birmingham area broadcast television stations.

In November 2008, WVUA-CA became a part-time affiliate of [[This TV]], while continuing to carry syndicated programming and local newscasts to fill certain time slots during which the station does not air the network's programs (this results in periodic scheduling issues due to the network's movie-dominant schedule, as some films run into time slots where WVUA-CD runs syndicated programs depending on their length or scheduled airtime). Since the station did not carry all of This TV's programming on its main channel nor on one of its subchannels, WVUA-CD was the largest part-time affiliate by market size that did not carry the network's full schedule.

On May 8, 2015, the call sign of the full-power satellite station was changed from WUOA to WVUA. On June 3, 2015, WVUA-CA was granted a license to operate a digital signal on UHF channel 23, and amended its call letters to WVUA-CD.

In October 2020, WVUA's primary affiliation was with [[Cozi TV]]. This TV is now on the station's third subchannel.

==Programming==
WVUA carries Cozi TV part-time on its main channel, running only the network's overnight films and classic television programs, and daytime and early prime time films, with a more limited schedule on Saturdays and Sundays due to its carriage of syndicated and university-related sports programs.

Through its ownership by the University of Alabama, the station also carries most team-related magazine programs focused on the [[Alabama Crimson Tide]] (which are mainly produced by the university's commercial television production unit, Crimson Tide Productions), including the team's [[college football|football]] coach's show ''The [[Nick Saban]] Show'' and the sports talk shows ''Tide TV This Week'' and ''Tider Insider''.

===News operation===
Unlike most low-power or Class A television stations, WVUA-CD produces its own local newscasts, consisting solely of early-evening newscasts on Monday through Friday nights and a late-evening 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast seven nights a week. The station presently broadcasts {{frac|8|1|2}} hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with {{frac|1|1|2}} hours each weekday, and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).

The station's news department began operations at WVUA-CD's sign-on in 1998, providing local news coverage to west-central Alabama for the first time since WDBB and WCFT-TV (channel 33, now [[WSES]]) shifted focus to the Birmingham area during the mid-1990s (the latter being a byproduct of WBRC's conversion into a Fox owned-and-operated station, which resulted in WCFT taking over the market's [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliation as part of the "ABC 33/40" trimulcast arrangement involving Birmingham-based W58CK (channel 58, now [[WBMA-LD]]) and [[Anniston, Alabama|Anniston]]-based WJSU-TV (channel 40, now [[WGWW]]) in September 1996).

Approximately 80% of the staff employed with the station is made up of University of Alabama students, working in either paid or unpaid positions, with its operations drawing on the resources of the Department of Journalism and Creative Media of the [[University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences]];<ref name="Journalism and Creative Media">{{cite web|title=Journalism and Creative Media|url=http://www.jcm.ua.edu/|website=[[University of Alabama]]|access-date=April 20, 2020}}</ref> the remainder consists of non-student staff hired by the university. Students are involved in all aspects of the newsgathering and production process, with much of its reporting and most behind-the-scenes staff consisting of students in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media.

From its inception in 2002 until 2014, the station's operations were originally housed in the [[basement]] area of Reese-Phifer Hall. On June 12, 2012, WVUA began broadcasting portions of its local newscasts, particularly weather segments, in [[high-definition television|high definition]].<ref name="WVUA Weather Graphics in SD from HD program feed">{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=438207756202634&set=a.412518618771548.86355.401189883237755&type=1&theater|title=WVUA Weather Graphics in SD from HD program feed|website=[[Facebook]] }}</ref> In April 2014, WVUA/WUOA migrated its operations into the newly completed Digital Media Center at [[Bryant–Denny Stadium]].<ref name="UA Facilities">{{cite web|title=UA Facilities: Design and Construction Projects Report|url=http://www.uafacilities.ua.edu/pages/current.htm|website=University of Alabama|access-date=November 12, 2011}}</ref>

==Technical information==

===Subchannels===
The stations' signals are [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of WVUA-CD<ref>{{cite web|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WVUA-CD|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WVUA-CD#station|website=[[RabbitEars]]|access-date=December 5, 2015}}</ref> and WVUA<ref>{{cite web|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WVUA|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WVUA#station|website=RabbitEars|access-date=December 5, 2015}}</ref>
! scope = "col" |[[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! scope = "col" |[[Display resolution|Res.]]
! scope = "col" |[[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! scope = "col" |Short name
! scope = "col" |Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 3.1 / 7.1 / 23.1 
| [[1080i]] || [[16:9]] || WVUA-DT || [[Cozi TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 3.2 / 7.2 / 23.2 
| rowspan="3"|[[480i]] || rowspan="3"|[[4:3]] || LIGHT || [[TheGrio|TheGrio TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 3.3 
| APR || {{ubl|WVUA's FastTrack Live Radar|w/audio simulcast of [[Alabama Public Radio]]}}
|-
! scope = "row" | 23.4 
| Xpon || Weather with Exponential Radio
|}

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
Because it was granted an original [[construction permit]] after the FCC finalized the [[digital television|DTV]] channel allotment plan on April 21, 1997,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transmitter.com/FCC97115/chanplan.html|title=Final Digital TV (DTV) Channel Plan from FCC97-115|website=Transmitter.com|date=May 28, 1997|accessdate=March 14, 2025}}</ref> the then-WUOA did not receive a companion channel for a digital [[television station]]. Instead, on June 12, 2009, the end of the [[Digital television transition in the United States|conversion period from analog to digital transmissions]] for full-power television stations in the United States, WUOA was required to turn off its analog signal and [[flash-cut]] its digital signal into operation. The university was granted a construction permit for WUOA to move to channel 6, using [[virtual channel]] 23.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|https://wvua23.com/}}
* [http://www.birmingham.thistv.com/ Birmingham.ThisTV.com] - This TV Birmingham official website

{{University of Alabama}}
{{Birmingham TV}}
{{Montgomery TV}}
{{Alabama TV}}

[[Category:1998 establishments in Alabama]]
[[Category:Cozi TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Low-power television stations in Alabama|VUA]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1998]]
[[Category:Television stations in Birmingham, Alabama|VUA-CD]]
[[Category:University of Alabama]]