Alabama signs contract, buys WJRD

incoming Vsyndicate

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA – After a month-long wait, the purchasing contract was signed, and with approval from the Federal Communications Commission, the University bought its first commercial television station.

The contract was signed on July 21, making WJRD News Channel 49 officially part of the Capstone.

Pamela Doyle, associate professor in the College of Communications and Information Sciences, said everyone in the college was very excited about the purchase of the news station.

“We can’t wait for it to get here,” Doyle said. “Work has already started on creating the newsroom.”

The newsroom will be located in the basement of Reese Phifer Hall.

Stan Siegall, general manager of WJRD, said the University has started taking bids on the equipment the station will need once it moves on campus some time between Nov. 1 and early January.

Students will benefit most from the purchase because it will give them a chance to see how a professional station actually works. “WJRD will be professionally operated and student assisted,” Doyle said.

The students will work in all areas of broadcasting, including anchoring, promotion, sales and production.

“We hope to have a total student newscast,” Doyle said. “We are just going to put the programming out there and see how the audience reacts.”

Currently, the University owns and operates WUAL, a student-run television station that is broadcast on campus once a week.

“The new station will be great lab experience for students. They will broadcast for more than just once a week,” Doyle said. “It will put them in holy cow mode.”

For some students, the purchase of WJRD means getting a paying job.

“We plan to have a large number of students working for us,” said Siegall. “We are going to hire them for part-time jobs as well as interns.”

Currently, no changes are going to be made to the station’s PAX affiliation.

“We are having meetings to figure out how to serve our audience as best as possible,” Doyle said.

Siegall said the current employees of WJRD will move along with the station to campus, but there could be some staff changes in the future.

“We hope to become a better station and be able to demand more advertising dollars,” Siegall said.

Siegall also said he and other station employees are looking forward to working with the University.

“We are delighted and I think working with UA will be wonderful.”

WJRD is low-powered and considered a local station, but its broadcasts can currently be seen in seven of the surrounding counties, including Green, Hale, Bibb and Pickens County.

Once WJRD moves into the bottom floor of Reese Phifer Hall, the call letters will be changed to WVUA, which stands for “Vision of the University of Alabama.”

Crimson White