Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 44

i A' 'Y hf 4 Kvdw Moai Urmingham Ptrt-Hamid Friday Mid 7 1914 WDBB From pa(e 5 So he and two friends David Baughn and Gray Brennu (whose family own WBAM in Montgomery) ut down at the kitchen table and planned their new station DuBoee filled out an application ter a license lent it to the Federal Communications Commission and ai be says and behold they accepted it They laid "This look! DuBoie knows it hasn't always been such a simple process Before the federal government de-regulated the airwaves applying for a license to start a new television station involved filling out a 2-inch thick pile of forms that showed not only your financial qualifications but what you intended to program as well "When we filled it out it was only two pages long and all you had to do check off or DuBoie says After the FOC gave Its approval DuBoie and his partners dal hackers Among the 20 or so people weather anchor Mary Brown was one of three news professionals DnBose hired for his new station who have loaned their money are Ben and June Collier (bets founder and president of National Industrial Jn Mont-- cotnery) Montgomery husinessman Leon Hadley Montgomery Mayor Emory Fol-mar and a number of doctors lawyers and business people DuBoee didn't have to look beyond aid support -Tuacaloosate find broadcast professionals Although program director Linda Triplett is a graduate of the University of Western Kentucky nearly half of the station's 40 employees studied communications at the University of Alabama And most are under SO yean old JJ -'V WDBB's original 440-foot tower limited the station's signal to Tuscaloosa and other parts of west Alabama Now the smaller tower which sits next to the broadcast stadias on Jug Factory Road East serves as a microwave transmitter to the new larger tower which re-broadcasts the station's signal DuBose concedes that Birmingham-area cable companies showed little interest in his station before the new tower was activated last month But he Figures that's Just the way this business works "You have to build the viewer interest in order to get them to put you on the cable But now the cable companies are flooded with calls from people saying 'I want WDBB on my and in order to make them be quiet they put us on the Rod Clark vice president of sates for Birmingham Cable fo uys inquiries from subscribers made his company take another look at what WDBB had to offer aensitive to the consnmer if they're interested in Clark says "We felt WDBB could provide a third outlet for news in the Birmingham Clark uys Birmingham Cable dropped one of its superstations to make room for WDBB thus proving DuBose's theory that it could be done a certain satisfaction now that everything is up and running that yeah we've kind of done it" be says "But we need to build it make it better and allow it to grow "i didn't get into this job for the money because I'm the last paid I think more than anything else the reason I wanted to do this was the sense that we could do something folks said be done That yes there was room for a regional television station And yes it could look as good as an in the major THK IM1TAIIA WINW raUk aa ctaaari IT far ''Mod of ourpeople' are young but not scared to try new things to try new ideas" DuBoie says "A lot of people said Too do this You go into Birmingham Alabama and put on a new television station and never nave competed in that market size before And we said Why not "And we did We have People told us no cable company in Birmingham would pick us up Well now they're all picking us up So they were wrong about that And then they said the big advertisers wouldn't advertise with us Well we've got Coca-Cola got McDonald's we've got Pepsi and some of the biggest folks there are been kind of a balancing act a chicken-and-egg kind of thing You have to have the viewers to get the advertisers and you have to be willing to spend that kind of money up front and take your loans for whatever period of time is involved A lot of bases and heavy losses You invest good money in your people and your equipment and facilities "Everything you see here is brand new There is no used equipment in this building We did it that way to present the quality picture you see on the air now We feel like people would appreciate quality and the kina of things we were doing And they It's too early to tell bow the WDBB news show will compare with its Birmingham counterparts Because the station is just now reaching full-force into the Birmingham market it probably will be April or May before WDBB makes a show on the ratings board It's also too early to talk about making money DuBose and his backers have already pumped 111 million into WDBB He uys it usually taka 34 months or more before a venture such as this shows any profit The station's new 2000-foot tower alone cost ll million And with transmitting equipment the total me to $35 million WvA itj 8VM I Of Ji' 51 1 1 I wsi SS hr Bimlagkaai Mk aa4 caMr flrti Uarvtava I'nMrr PM arm na kr imM At I'HP i ayi at rijmi Imri hlaqik nary WMia pragma IrSalw a re MaM la Or Simiapkaai PaM-HmM kryain 1a'l Kim a certain DnBose uys of his success with WDBB i I I 01 a a-lu a I IVI-VV V-V V- I if It jf.