Editing WBRC (section)

===As an exclusive ABC affiliate===
[[File:WBRC transmitter in Birmingham, Alabama.jpg|thumb|left|WBRC transmitter, with the station's roof also visible; the neon sign seen in the lower portion of the image with the WBRC call letters is a local landmark, and inspired the station's current call-centric logo.]]
On March 1, 1961, WBRC-TV signed an agreement with ABC to become a full-time affiliate of the network.<ref>{{cite web|title=Taft stations switch to ABC-TV|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/61-OCR/1961-02-27-BC-0036.pdf|periodical=Broadcasting|page=36|date=February 27, 1961}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> This was very unusual for a market with only two commercial stations; usually, one or both stations carried ABC as a secondary affiliation, since that network would not be on anything resembling an equal footing with CBS and NBC until the 1970s. However, Taft had very good relations with ABC. The company's chairman was a personal friend of ABC's president [[Leonard Goldenson]], and several of Taft's other stations, including [[flagship (broadcasting)|flagship]] [[WKRC-TV]] in [[Cincinnati]] (which would rejoin CBS in 1996), had recently switched to ABC. During the 1970s, ABC aired cartoons from [[Hanna-Barbera]], whose studios were acquired by Taft in 1967. 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Enterprises]], in 1979 (ABC spun off this division in 1973 as a result of [[fin-syn]] laws, which have since been repealed). This also marked a significant turnaround for channel 6's relationship with the network, as during the later 1950s, the amount of ABC programming on WBRC had been dramatically reduced from about 50% of its schedule to only a very limited selection of shows, seemingly headed toward an exclusive CBS affiliation by 1960; even still, WBRC retained some of CBS' higher-rated soap operas on its daytime schedule until about 1968, when those programs moved to either WAPI-TV or WBMG.

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. An [[urban legend]] regarding the ABC affiliation agreement suggested that the switch was partly motivated by CBS' plans to air ''Who Speaks For Birmingham?'', a controversial ''[[CBS Reports]]'' documentary focusing on [[desegregation]] at [[Birmingham City Schools]] that later led to journalist [[Howard K. Smith]]'s resignation from CBS News after he quoted an anti-desegregation statement by political scientist [[Edmund Burke]] in the closing narration, viewed by network president [[William S. Paley]] as editorializing his views in support of school integration; however, the special aired on May 18 of that year, two months after the ABC agreement was signed. ABC had very few full-time affiliates south of Washington, D.C. at the time, but now it had the full benefit of one of the South's strongest signals, best antenna locations and largest coverage areas. WBRC-TV's signal provided at least secondary coverage as far north as [[Decatur, Alabama|Decatur]] and extending south to near [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], and from the [[Mississippi]] border in the west to the [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] border in the east. In addition, although [[FM broadcasting]] was in its infancy at the time of the network switch, the advantage of channel 6's audio being heard at [[87.7 FM]] at the far end of the FM dial would be taken advantage of by WBRC in promotional advertising up until the [[Digital television transition in the United States|2009 digital transition]], allowing the station's audience to listen to the station and ABC network programming on both traditional [[radio receiver]]s and [[vehicle audio|car stereos]]. The station's weather department designed its presentations to relay information for both its traditional television and radio audiences in severe weather situations.

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. In 1972, Taft sold the WBRC radio stations, which changed their call letters to [[WERC (AM)|WERC-AM]] and [[WBPT|FM]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Taft's WBRC-AM-FM sold for $2 million|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/72-OCR/1972-01-24-BC-0029.pdf|periodical=Broadcasting|page=29|date=January 24, 1972}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 1966, WBRC-TV began broadcasting local programming in [[color television|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. Meanwhile, WBRC-TV had become one of ABC's strongest affiliates, a position it retained for the next quarter-century. For a time, it incorporated the ABC circle logo inside its own "6" logo (just as it had done with the CBS eye in the 1950s). Channel 6 could make a plausible claim to be not only the most-watched station in the Birmingham market but in the entire state of Alabama, thanks in part to unusually weak competition. CBS affiliate WBMG (channel 42, now [[WIAT]]), which signed on in October 1965 as the market's third commercial television station, was not a factor and, in fact, was among the lowest-rated major-network affiliates in the nation at some points, making Birmingham a ''de facto'' two-station market to industry observers from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s. Even still, due to signal impairment in mountainous areas of northeastern Alabama, WBRC operated two [[Low-power broadcasting#Television|low-power]] [[Broadcast relay station#Translator stations|translators]] to extend its programming to that part of the state, W29AO (channel 29) in [[Anniston, Alabama|Anniston]] in W15AP (channel 15) in [[Gadsden, Alabama|Gadsden]].

In 1982, WBRC began receiving ABC network and syndicated programming, and news footage via [[communications satellite|satellite]]. In 1984, the station became one of the first television stations in the region to adopt a 24-hour-a-day programming schedule. After it suffered significant structural damage due to an [[ice storm]] that affected the Southeastern U.S. in the winter of 1985, the station's original transmitter tower was replaced in 1986, with a new tower on Red Mountain {{convert|3|mi|km}} east of the original tower's location. In October 1987, Taft was restructured into Great American Communications following the completion of a hostile takeover of the group. In December 1993, Great American Communications was restructured again into Citicasters after filing for [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy]]. Citicasters then decided to put most of its television stations up for sale. These moves, though, did not immediately affect WBRC's high standing in the ratings or its reputation in the community.