WBMA-LD

WBMA-LD

Birmingham, Alabama United States
Channels	Digital: 32 (UHF) Virtual: 58
Branding	Alabama's ABC 33/40; ABC 33/40 News
Programming
Affiliations	58.1: ABC for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group (WBMA Licensee, LLC)
Sister stations	WABM, WDBB, WTTO
History
First air date	November 18, 1994 (29 years ago) (1994-11-18)
Former call signs	W58CK (1994–1997) WBMA-LP (1997–2011)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 58 (UHF, 1996–2011) Digital: 40 (UHF, 2011–2021)
Former affiliations	Independent (1994–1996)
Call sign meaning	Birmingham, Alabama
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	60214
Class	LD
ERP	15 kW
HAAT	244.1 m (801 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	33°26′28″N 86°53′2″W / 33.44111°N 86.88389°W / 33.44111; -86.88389 (WBMA-LD)
Translator(s)	see § Satellites
Links
Public license information	LMS
Website	abc3340.com

WBMA-LD (channel 58) is a low-power television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WABM (channel 68) and Homewood-licensed CW affiliate WTTO (channel 21); Sinclair also operates Bessemer-licensed WDBB (channel 17), which serves as a full satellite station of WTTO, under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair partner company Cunningham Broadcasting. However, Sinclair effectively owns WDBB as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith.

WBMA-LD, WABM and WTTO share studios at the Riverchase office park on Concourse Parkway in Hoover (with a Birmingham mailing address); WBMA-LD's transmitter is located atop Red Mountain (near the Tarpley City neighborhood) in southwestern Birmingham.

WBMA transmits a low-power signal, which even in digital effectively limits its over-the-air radius to Birmingham proper and nearby areas in Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Bibb and Shelby counties. Because of this, the station's programming is simulcast on the digital subchannels of three other Central Alabama stations that act as full-power relays—including those of WABM and WDBB—in order to reach the entire Birmingham–Tuscaloosa–Anniston market.

The station's brand name, "ABC 33/40", is derived from the two stations that formerly operated as full-power satellites of WBMA to distribute its programming to southwestern and northeastern areas of central Alabama from the station's acquisition of the ABC affiliation in September 1996 until October 2014, WCFT-TV (channel 33) in Tuscaloosa and WJSU-TV (channel 40) in Anniston, which now respectively operate as Heroes & Icons affiliates WSES and WGWW (the latter of which simulcasts WBMA-LD on its second subchannel through a time brokerage agreement with Sinclair partner company and current owner of the two stations, Howard Stirk Holdings). The moniker remains in use largely due to its continued carriage over channel assignments originally given to its ex-satellites—and now assigned to its subchannel relays—on multichannel television providers throughout Central Alabama outside of Greater Birmingham (primarily non-cable-based services like the IPTV-based U-verse, and satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network).