Editing WTTO (section)

===A long way to air===
In December 1963, Chapman Radio and Television Company—then the owners of radio station WCRT (1260 AM, now [[WYDE (AM)|WYDE]] and 96.5 FM, now [[WMJJ]])—filed an application to build a new television station in Homewood, using Birmingham's channel 54 allocation.<ref name="hc">{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=86937 |title= History Cards for WTTO|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]}} ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/History Cards|Guide to reading History Cards]])<!--Converted from {{FCC letter}}--></ref> This application was designated for hearing with one by Symphony Network Association, Inc., in 1964.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1964-05-15/pdf/FR-1964-05-15.pdf|date=May 15, 1964|work=Federal Register|page=6422|title=SYMPHONY NETWORK ASSOCIATION, INC., AND CHAPMAN RADIO AND TELEVISION CO. Order Designating Applications for Consolidated Hearing on Stated Issues|accessdate=September 19, 2021}}</ref> In 1965, the UHF table of allocations was overhauled, and channel 21 was substituted for 54 on Chapman's application. The FCC granted the permit to Chapman in August 1965; however, the FCC chose to resume hearings on the matter after other applicants protested the granting of Chapman's petition.{{r|hc}} (In the meantime, the Chapmans built, and then sold, [[WCFT-TV]] in Tuscaloosa.){{r|Birm650903}}

One of the new bidders was a startup station—[[WBMG]] (channel 42), the first commercial UHF station in Birmingham—which hoped it could replace channel 42 with 21.<ref name="Birm650624">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99779912/new-uhf-tv-station-aims-at-fall-opening/|date=June 24, 1965|page=26|first=Emmett|last=Weaver|title=New UHF TV station Aims At Fall Opening|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Thu --><ref name="Birm650903">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99779963/chapmans-plan-uhf-tv-station/|date=September 3, 1965|page=4|first=Emmett|last=Weaver|title=Chapmans Plan UHF TV Station|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Fri --> When the contest resumed, there were five applicants. Besides Chapman and WBMG, there was Tele-Mac of Birmingham, owned by John McClendon, who also ran a chain of Black-oriented radio stations including [[WENN (AM)|WENN]] in Birmingham; Alabama Television Corporation, owned by John S. Jemison; and Birmingham Broadcasting Company, which was owned by Black businessman [[A. G. Gaston]].<ref name="Birm660809">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99779992/fourth-channel-looms-for-city/|date=August 9, 1966|page=15|title=Fourth Channel Looms For City|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Tue --> Tele-Mac bowed out in late November, leaving four parties seeking the channel.<ref name="Birm661201">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99780066/fight-for-tv-channel-21-narrows-to-4-com/|date=December 1, 1966|page=24|title=Fight For TV Channel 21 Narrows To 4 Companies|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Thu -->

Hearing examiner James Kraushaar's initial decision, released in September 1968, gave the nod to Alabama Television,<ref name="Birm680904">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99780143/but-appeal-delay-likely-firm-gets-nod-f/|date=September 4, 1968|page=18|first=Emmett|last=Weaver|title=But Appeal Delay Likely: Firm Gets Nod For New TV Channel|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Wed --> based on its superior technical proposal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1968/1968-09-09-BC.pdf|date=September 9, 1968|work=Broadcasting|title=Alabama TV gets nod for Birmingham UHF|accessdate=September 19, 2021|pages=62–63}}</ref> However, Chapman and WBMG contested the award, and the FCC agreed, finding that Alabama Television had failed to contact Black people in the process of ascertainment of community needs required of prospective licensees. WBMG's petition also raised a 1969 incident in which a cemetery owned by Jemison refused to bury the body of a Black soldier killed in Vietnam.<ref name="Birm700711">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98946474/alabama-television-bias-charged-fcc-to/|date=July 11, 1970|page=15|first=Dale|last=McFeatters|title=Alabama television bias charged: FCC to rehear permit request|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Sat --> In 1971, two other Alabama Television shareholders, George J. Mitnick and Joseph Engel, were sued by the [[United States Department of Justice]] for violations of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]], and the FCC opened new hearings on the firm's qualifications in light of the lawsuit.<ref name="Birm720610">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99780238/fcc-hears-case-for-city-tv-station/|date=June 10, 1972|page=4|first=Richard P.|last=Bell|title=FCC hears case for city TV station|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Sat -->

Meanwhile, another applicant, Birmingham Broadcasting—which pledged the first integrated TV station in the country—was facing trouble in its ownership group. One of its stakeholders was Oscar Hyde, who was convicted on extortion charges in 1968 but still owned a third of the firm, putting it at a serious disadvantage in [[comparative hearing]] until Hyde sold his stake in 1973.<ref name="Birm731205">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98928523/city-may-soon-have-integrated-tv-station/|date=December 5, 1973|page=E8|first=David|last=Rockwell|title=City may soon have integrated tv station|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Wed --> WBMG had dropped out by this point, leaving Chapman and Birmingham Broadcasting the lone contenders for the construction permit; the Hyde stake was still being contested, but the FCC found the programming proposals from Chapman inadequate.<ref name="Birm751217">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98928807/birmingham-may-get-new-tv-station/|date=December 17, 1975|page=A1|first=Stewart|last=Lytle|title=Birmingham may get new tv station|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Wed --> Furthermore, the two financial institutions that had promised Birmingham Broadcasting funding in 1964 no longer existed in 1976.<ref name="Birm760524">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98928961/prospects-for-tv-21-run-afoul/|date=May 24, 1976|page=B20|first=Stewart|last=Lytle|title=Prospects for tv-21 run afoul|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Mon --> Hearings were held by the FCC that fall, but one Birmingham Broadcasting stakeholder, Jesse L. Lewis, refused to come; he was serving as the State Highway and Traffic Safety Director, making him the only Black leader of a state agency, and he feared that if he left town, his department would be abolished by the state legislature.<ref name="Birm761111">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98928242/official-fears-trip-may-endanger-job/|date=November 11, 1976|page=A16|first=Stewart|last=Lytle|title=Official fears trip may endanger job|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Thu -->

The question of financial backing turned out to be the deciding factor when an administrative law judge found in favor of Chapman's bid in 1977.<ref name="Birm771001">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98929193/chapman-co-wins-license-for-citys-4th/|date=October 1, 1977|page=A1|first=Stewart|last=Lytle|title=Chapman Co. wins license for city's 4th TV station|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Sat --> The decision was appealed to the full FCC, which upheld the ruling in March 1979.<ref name="Birm790306">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98929258/chapmans-win-new-tv-station/|date=March 6, 1979|page=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98929277/station-goes-to-chapman/ A2]|first=Stewart|last=Lytle|title=Chapmans win new TV station|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Tue --> An attempted appeal in federal court turned out to have been filed one day late,<ref name="Birm790406">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98929329/television-station-license-challenge/|date=April 6, 1979|page=C1|first=Stewart|last=Lytle|title=Television station license challenge seems day late|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Fri --> while a petition for reconsideration made to the FCC was also dismissed.<ref name="Birm791110">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98929432/new-city-tv-station-step-nearer/|date=November 10, 1979|page=B5|first=Frank|last=Morring, Jr.|title=New city TV station step nearer|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=April 15, 2022}}</ref><!-- Sat -->