Editing WIAT (section)

===Launch of ''42 Daily News''===
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| quote = The reason we did [the call sign change] was because the perception of WBMG was so bad and the news produced was so bad. We had to make a clear break. ... That included changing the call letters.
| author = Micah Johnson, WIAT news manager<ref name="Birm980612">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-tv-news-team-gets/137108790/|date=June 12, 1998|page=D1|first=Carrie|last=James|title=TV news team gets two new members|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064302/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-tv-news-team-gets/137108790/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri -->
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On that date, at 5{{nbsp}}p.m., viewers saw Land push a plunger to blow up the WBMG logo before an audience of Birmingham community leaders.{{r|BC121001}} The station changed its call sign to WIAT,{{efn|While announced on February 5, the change was made in FCC databases on February 1.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=5360&Callsign=WIAT5360|title=Call sign history for WIAT|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|website=Consolidated Database System}}</ref>}} for It's About Time, the slogan of the station's new ''42 Daily News'' newscasts, which aired at 5 and 10{{nbsp}}p.m. The ''Daily News'' format eschewed on-camera reporters; stories were packaged into topical minute segments such as "Alabama Minute" and "Education Minute". The format earned comparisons to [[CNN Headline News]] from [[Keith Cate]], who came from [[WMAR-TV]] in [[Baltimore]] to serve as lead co-anchor, and an article in the ''Birmingham Post-Herald''.{{r|ajr-birminghamtotheworld}}<ref name="Birm980206">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-new-42-has-slick/98938959/|date=February 6, 1998|pages=B1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-tv-wiat/98938984/ B2]|first=Darin|last=Powell|title=New 42 has slick, quick newscast|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064302/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-new-42-has-slick/98938959/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Fri --> One anchor manned the news desk, while the other read stories from various places on the new set. The ''2-Minute Drill'' sportscast was provided by [[Paul Finebaum]], a ''Post-Herald'' columnist and radio show host on [[WERC (AM)|WERC]]; the sportscast in the 5{{nbsp}}p.m. newscast aired live on TV and radio.<ref name="Birm980131">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-post-herald-colum/98923431/|date=January 31, 1998|pages=E1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-wbmg/98923473/ E2]|first=Steve|last=Joynt|title=Post-Herald columnist Finebaum adds WBMG anchor post to duties|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064303/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-post-herald-colum/98923431/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> The other weeknight news presenters, like Cate, came from out of the market: Sherri Jackson was hired from [[WSAZ-TV]] in [[Huntington, West Virginia]],<ref name="Birm971230">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-anchorwoman-sher/98938813/|date=December 30, 1997|page=D1|first=Elizabeth|last=Wine|title=Anchorwoman, Sherri Jackson joins WBMG-42|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064304/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-anchorwoman-sher/98938813/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Tue --> while Declan Cannon had worked at [[The Weather Channel]]. [[Al Primo]], who created the [[Eyewitness News]] format at [[KYW-TV]] in [[Philadelphia]] in 1965, delivered sharp criticism of what he felt was "a product that was generated solely by research and implemented by people who don't know anything about the news business" and "the most disjointed presentation [of a newscast] that I have ever seen in my life".<ref name="em021698">{{Cite magazine|title=News guru whacks WIAT-TV| first=Jon|last=Lafayette|periodical=Electronic Media|pages=32–33|date=February 16, 1998|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_televisionweek_1998-02-16_17_8/page/n31/mode/2up?q=WBMG}}</ref> Land responded to Primo's scathing remarks by comparing the format to the ''[[Al Schottelkotte]] News'', a longtime staple of [[WCPO-TV]] in [[Cincinnati]] from the 1960s until 1990, for which he had been a reporter: "[The Al Schottelkotte News] was very nontraditional, but jam-packed with information."<ref name="em021698"/>

''42 Daily News'' represented an immediate ratings improvement over its predecessor; the 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast, in particular, had increased from a paltry 3% share in February 1997 to a 7% share in February 1998, partly due to having the Winter Olympics as a lead-in.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Birmingham newscast gains from re-start| first=Jon|last=Lafayette|periodical=Electronic Media|page=4|date=April 6, 1998|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_televisionweek_1998-04-06_17_15?q=WBMG}}</ref> This was not enough to overtake any competitors, but it was higher than the last newscasts as WBMG.<ref name="Birm980423">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-some-good-news-fo/98923604/|date=April 23, 1998|pages=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-ratings/137104839/ A3]|first=Darin|last=Powell|title=Some good news for fledgling WIAT-42|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064343/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-some-good-news-fo/98923604/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> Ratings also increased once Birmingham became a metered market, moving to 3 and 4 shares on most nights early in the fall of 1998,<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=CBS affiliate's ratings grow by meters| first=Jon|last=Lafayette|periodical=Electronic Media|pages=3–4|date=November 9, 1998|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_televisionweek_1998-11-09_17_46?q=WBMG}}</ref> and continued their steady climb in early 1999.<ref name="Birm990311">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-wiats-redesigned/98923694/|date=March 11, 1999|pages=A1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-wiat/98923725/ A6]|first=Darin|last=Powell|title=WIAT's redesigned news attracts viewers|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064304/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-wiats-redesigned/98923694/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu -->

Some of the firings resulted in legal action against channel 42. Seven Black former employees sued the station for racial discrimination in 1999, alleging they had been fired for their race and that White employees had been treated better;<ref>{{cite news|first1=Michael|last1=Tomberlin|first2=Peggy|last2=Sanford|title=Ex-workers accuse WIAT of race bias|pages=1C, 6C|work=The Birmingham News|date=May 21, 1999}}</ref> Media General prevailed in multiple state and federal cases.<ref>{{Cite news|page=1D|first=Michael|last=Tomberlin|work=The Birmingham News|date=June 22, 2001|title=WIAT ex-employees lose racial bias suit}}</ref> [[Doug Bell (sportscaster)|Doug Bell]], the station's sports director since 1988,<ref name="Birm970703">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-staying-on-course/100516495/|date=July 3, 1997|pages=B1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-bell/100516470/ B2]|first=Tim|last=Stephens|title=Staying on course: WBMG's Bell aims at national exposure|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064305/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-staying-on-course/100516495/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> and former general manager Broome each sued Media General for breach of contract.<ref>{{cite news|title=Legal woes plague CBS42|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/1999/04/12/story3.html|first=Gilbert|last=Nicholson|newspaper=[[Birmingham Business Journal]]|date=April 12, 1999|access-date=December 10, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040617200220/http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/1999/04/12/story3.html|archive-date=June 17, 2004|url-status=live}}</ref>

The WIAT relaunch did not include a morning newscast, which WBMG had debuted prior to 1997. The station did not begin airing a local morning show until 2000, when it began simulcasting an hour of the morning show hosted by Russ and Dee Fine on WYDE radio.<ref>{{Cite news|work=The Birmingham News|page=1D|title=WIAT to put Fines on tube: Morning show to air from radio studio|date=September 21, 2000}}</ref> The station added a 6{{nbsp}}p.m. evening newscast the next year.<ref name="Birm010901">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-vying-for-viewers/136948593/|date=September 1, 2001|page=C1|first=Robin|last=Clemow|title=Vying for viewers: After '96 switch, TV market more competitive than ever|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064305/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-vying-for-viewers/136948593/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat --> Land departed in 2001 when Media General tapped him to run [[WFLA-TV]] in [[Tampa, Florida]], the company's flagship television property; he reunited with Cate, who had joined the WFLA news staff the year before.<ref name="Tamp010712">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune-wfla-channel-8-welco/137107446/|date=July 12, 2001|page=Business and Finance 2|first=Walt|last=Belcher|title=WFLA, Channel 8, welcomes new general manager|newspaper=The Tampa Tribune|location=Tampa, Florida|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064306/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune-wfla-channel-8-welco/137107446/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Thu --> Finebaum left in May 2002 after a run of more than four years with channel 42;<ref>{{cite news|page=7-D|first=Michael|last=Tomberlin|title=Finebaum gives up sports gig on WIAT|date=April 10, 2002|work=The Birmingham News}}</ref> WIAT began broadcasting a digital signal, including high-definition programming, on November 20 of that year.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter=WIAT-DT|title=Television & Cable Factbook|date=2006|page=A-26}}</ref>

Ratings growth leveled off after several years of the ''42 Daily News'' format, and viewing figures remained flat between 2000 and 2003. While the reporter-less format cost the station less—the WIAT news department had 25 employees in 2003, compared to 70 at WBRC—it was not prospering against more traditional news competition and with a lack of recognizable faces.<ref name="Birm030510">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-wiat-42-still-lag/136948600/|date=May 10, 2003|pages=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-wiat/136948607/ C3]|title=WIAT-42 still lags in viewers: Station's fast-paced format lacks familiar personalities|newspaper=Birmingham Post-Herald|location=Birmingham, Alabama|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220064307/https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-wiat-42-still-lag/136948600/|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Sat -->

Beginning in 2005, WIAT produced a 9{{nbsp}}p.m. newscast for WTTO, at that time the market's affiliate of [[The WB]]. The new WIAT production replaced WTTO's [[News Central (American TV program)|News Central]] hybrid newscast and required the expansion of channel 42's news staff.<ref>{{Cite news|title=CBS 42 takes over WB 21's newscast|first=Bob|last=Carlton|work=The Birmingham News|date=September 2, 2005|page=4C}}</ref>