"And then there's the Joe Langston you got walking up and down the halls of Jacksonville State University, singing Dean Martin songs, and cracking jokes. 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. Langston served as president of the Alabama Associated Press Broadcasters Association in 1971-72 and on the board of directors of the Birmingham Press Club in 1974-75. Smith III, who read wire copies of local news headlines over a slide of the station's logo. He was a charter member of the Thursday morning Has Been Coffee Club. Langston was also known for a sense of humor. Longtime WBRC news anchor Joe Langston passed away early Saturday morning. In 1978, WBRC became the first television station in the Birmingham market to acquire a microwave truck for electronic news-gathering purposes, and became the first to provide live breaking news coverage on-scene. He joined the Jacksonville State University Department of Communication and retired from there as chairman of the department in 1998. This is the big time,'" Royer recalled. He was inducted into the Alabama Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2009. Visitation will follow in Hudson Hall. Portions of this story were prepared with information obtained from the Alabama Broadcasters Association, www.al-ba.com. In January 1996, ABC struck a deal with Allbritton Communications to affiliate with CBS stations WCFT-TV (channel 33, now Heroes & Icons affiliate WSES) in Tuscaloosa and WJSU-TV (channel 40, now Heroes & Icons affiliate WGWW) in Anniston (the latter of which Allbritton had agreed to operate under a local marketing agreement with then-owner Osborne Communications Corporation weeks prior); because Tuscaloosa and Anniston were then separate markets, which would result in neither station being counted in Nielsen ratings reports for Birmingham, Allbritton purchased low-power station W58CK (channel 58, now WBMA-LD), creating a triple-simulcast with WCFT and WJSU, which would act as its satellite stations.[16][17]. In addition, WBRC produces Fox 6 WBRC Law Call, a weekly call-in programhosted by former WBRC reporter Tiffany Bittner, and airing live after the station's 10:00p.m. newscast on Sunday nightsin which viewers ask members of a panel (usually consisting of personal injury attorneys) for advice on various legal issues; and Absolutely Alabama, a weekly programairing after Law Call on Sundaysconsisting of feature stories about people and places around Alabama.[31]. Over time, Burns added novelty acts to the show's format and did most of the commercials himself in the studio live. Mike Hathcock, the school's director of television services, remembers Langston's rapport, especially with students. . Fiddler, guitarist and vocalist Eddie Burns was invited to bring his musical group to serve as The Morning Show's house band and act as the program's bandleader; however, within a few months, station management offered Burns his own morning program on channel 6. I asked Joe one time if he ever thought about going to the big time and he said, 'I'm from Brownsville, Alabama. WBRC-TV's signal provided at least secondary coverage as far north as Decatur and extending south to near Montgomery, and from the Mississippi border in the west to the Georgia border in the east. ", "He was such a sweet and funny guy," she said from her home in California. The station launched a full-scale news department in 1952, when it began operating from the former studios of the original WBRC-FM. 3 Local TV Group", "Gray Completes Acquisition of Raycom Media and Related Transactions", "EXCLUSIVE: Fox 6 has another round of layoffs, drops Saturday 5 p.m. newscast", "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds", Huntsville Rewound-Huntsville AL TV Memories, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WBRC&oldid=1134262498, This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 20:17. Langston was hired as the station's first anchor-reporter during the pivotal civil rights year of 1963 and retired from regular newsroom work in 1987. BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - Family and friends said goodbye to Birmingham broadcast legend Joe Langston on Monday. KFMB, the CBS station in San Diego, debuted an updated news set, which the station described as a major renovation, with a new look and more tec Bri Eggers is joining Boston NBC affiliateWHDH. Royer said was a consummate broadcaster. NBC programming subsequently moved to channel 13 (by then, using the call sign WABT); both stations, however, retained a secondary affiliation with ABC. He had a great sense of humor.. In 1989, Joe retired from WBRC TV to accept an endowed Chair in the Department of Communication at Jacksonville State University. Langston died at the age of 82 over the weekend. Thanks for watching Fox6 WBRC. Good morning everyone. He was survived by his wife, Margaret, and two children, Joey and Susan. The sheriff's office is using K-9's, sonar, and are dragging the area looking for Franklin. 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. Langston died at his home Saturday. Get TVSpy delivered straight to your inbox, Veteran Birmingham Anchor Joe Langston Dies. He began his broadcasting career in 1950 while a student at the University of Alabama. WBRC also runs off-network syndicated sitcoms, talk shows, reality shows and court shows. She was among the . Main Menu. The station operated its digital transmission facilities under special temporary authorization at a lower effective radiated power until October 2009, when its transmitter was upgraded to full power at 1 megawatt at a position on the tower at 373 meters (1,224ft). Joe was born in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1954. All rights reserved. Fox was unable to immediately purchase the two stations outright due to questions over the American citizenship of then-parent company News Corporation's Australian-born CEO Rupert Murdoch. Help tell the story of your loved ones unique life. [8][9] However, three weeks later, New World agreed to purchase four stations owned by Argyle Television Holdings, WVTM being among them, in a purchase option-structured deal for $717million[10] (although the transfer/assignment applications for the stations involved in the Argyle purchases were not filed with the FCC until after New World's acquisition of the four Citicasters stations was completed); this posed a problem for New World on two counts. In May 2014, WBRC added an additional subchannel on virtual channel 6.3, which served as a charter affiliate of the male-oriented multicast network, Grit. Langston graduated from Tuscaloosa County High School and began his career in broadcasting at WJRD-AM in 1950 while a student at the University of Alabama. Children's Television Series in Alabama. He was named news director in 1969. Editor Phone: 301-773-0058. Former FOX6 News anchor Scott Richards said Langston connected to viewers because he was from Alabama. Visitation will follow in Hudson Hall. In 1988, the station acquired satellite news-gathering vehicles, "Skylink 6", to conduct and beam live remote footage transmitted to the studio via satellite.[32]. This type of programming began in the late 1940s and continued into the late 1970s; some shows continued into the 1990s. On March 1, 1961, WBRC-TV signed an agreement with ABC to become a full-time affiliate of the network. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Margaret Lollar Langston and children Susan Langston Morris of Birmingham and Joe L. Langston, Jr. (Melissa) of Raleigh, NC and beloved grandchildren Margaret Whitney Morris, Sarah Evelyn Langston, and Joseph Owens Langston. Joe Langston of WBRC-TV/Channel 6 was a signature voice in Birmingham broadcasting. Langston died at the age of 82 over the weekend. I An error has occurred, please try again later. With over 1,900 locations, Dignity Memorial providers proudly serve over 375,000 families a year. The company estimates that only about 20% of orders will be affected. He was named news director in 1969. In 2009, WBRC became a founding member station of the Raycom News Network, a service created to allow the sharing of news resources among the four Raycom-owned television stations that serve Alabama including NBC affiliate WSFA in Montgomery, NBC affiliate WAFF in Huntsville and ABC affiliate WTVM in Columbus, Georgia (the latter of which includes a portion of eastern Alabama in its service area) which combined, cover almost half of Alabama's population. Langston moved to Birmingham and began working at WBRC in 1963 as a co-host of the Tom York Morning Show alongside Tom York and Fannie Flagg. On average, a Starbucks drink will cost between 5 and 20 cents more. "He was the best newsman I ever knew, always a stickler for using the right words. Veteran WBRC anchor Joe Langston died Saturday. Langston died in 2014 at his home in Liberty Park. [23], On June 25, 2018, Atlanta-based Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned-and/or-operated television stations, including WBRC), and Gray's 93 television stations) under the former's corporate umbrella. Bell called Langston a friend and a big brother. Station management declined ABC's insistence that WBRC expand its 6:00p.m. newscast to match the length of the ABC Evening News; however, the 15-minute local newscast beat The Huntley-Brinkley Report on WAPI-TV/WVTM and the CBS Evening News on WBMG in the ratings. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The concurrent move of the ABC affiliation to W58CK and its satellites also led to the CBS affiliation for the Anniston-Gadsden market to move to WNAL-TV (channel 44, now Ion Television owned-and-operated station WPXH-TV), which along with WTTO and its Tuscaloosa satellite WDBB (channel 17) lost its Fox affiliation to WBRC. Langston is survived by his wife, Margaret, and two children, Joey and Susan. Joe was born in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1954. The cause of death is not known and funeral arrangements are pending. Langston retired in 1989 as anchorman at WBRC, where he . WBRC Fox 6 Chief Meteorologist JP Dice discusses his decision to leave Fox 6 and his plan for the future. 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. In April 1995, Citicasters transferred the operations of WBRC and WGHP to Fox Television Stations, which took over operational control through time brokerage agreements with New World and purchased the stations three months later on July 22; Fox formally finalized the purchase of the two stations on January 17, 1996. Joe Langston was promoted to Director of News and Editorial Policy in 1969. On September 17 of that year, the WBRC stations moved to a new, much larger studio facility located on Red Mountain that was built by Storer, where channel 6 continues to operate from to this day. [11] Although the network's Birmingham charter affiliate, WTTO (channel 21), was one of Fox's strongest affiliates at the time, the network found the chance to align with WBRC too much to resist because of its longstanding ratings dominance in the market. Joe Langston, an award-winning Birmingham television journalist whose career spanned more than 30 years, died Friday at the age of 82. . "He would talk about his real life experiences. We are remembering Birmingham broadcaster Joe Langston, this morning. "There's the Joe Langston you got on the air, serious, sometimes stern," JSU assistant professor Jerry Chandler recalled. In addition, the station produces Fox 6 Sideline, a high school football program that debuted in September 1989 as an ABC affiliate, which airs Friday nights after the 10 p.m. newscasts during the fall. We used to play jokes on one another, do silly things. Channel 6 has only aired Fox's prime time, news and sports programming since it joined the network in September 1996, with the only programs relating to Fox's children's programming blocks for the final twelve years that Fox carried programming aimed at that demographic consisting of fall preview specials and network promotions that aired within the network's prime time lineup. 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. During his years in television, he received every major award from the Associated Press and United Press International Broadcasters Association. 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). He was preceded in death by his parents Mr. and Mrs. J.H. This also, however, may have been a move to forestall future commercial competition in the market; WBRC and WABT remained the only commercial stations in Birmingham, which would not get a third commercial broadcast television outlet until WBMG (now WIAT) debuted in October 1965, on UHF channel 42, a signal considerably weaker than that of either channels 6 or 13, and a problem which hampered that station's progress until the early 2000s. Joe Langston joined WBRC in 1963. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the church. Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 As a Fox station 2 Programming Joe was an active member and Deacon at Mountain Brook Baptist Church. Most people, though, knew him as the station's news anchor, delivering the nightly news with an array of cohorts that included Mike Royer, Herb Winches, Pat Gray and others. We are also following a developing story in east Alabama. The station has the largest news staff of any television station in Alabama, with around half of its approximately 160 employees employed with the news department in on-air, administrative and production positions. "I think that is what made him special. "He truly was the Walter Cronkite of not only Birmingham, but the state of Alabama. Joe was born in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1954. Refine Your Search Results. He just had a good time but was a smart fellow, too, and I loved him," Bolen said. WBRC would become the only remaining station in the BirminghamTuscaloosaAnniston market that was owned by a major commercial broadcast television network, after Media General completed its acquisition of WVTM from NBC Television Stations on June 26, 2006. ", "Joe Leonard Langston Sr." obituary (June 21, 2014). [12][13] Under the arrangement, New World owned the licenses of both stations, while Citicasters continued to control their operations under outsourcing agreements. WHMA TV-40, later WJSU-TV: The Cousin Cliff Show (with Cliff Holman) Birmingham. Originally broadcasting for three hours per day, it operated as a primary NBC affiliate (earning the affiliation as a result of WBRC radio's longtime affiliation with the NBC Red Network), and also carried secondary affiliations with ABC and the DuMont Television Network; during the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. Alabama Associated Press Broadcasters Association, Tuscaloosa County Tuberculosis Association, Alabama Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame, https://www.bhamwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Joe_Langston&oldid=114212, Harvey, Alec (June 21, 2014) "Longtime Birmingham TV news anchor Joe Langston dies at 82. Joe Langston on WBRC - YouTube Joe Langston anchored newscasts for WBRC for many years.SUBSCRIBE AND TURN ON NOTIFICATIONShttps://www.youtube.com/c/WBRCFOX6NewsOnYourSideCONNECT WITH. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - WBRC FOX6 News pioneer, Pat Gray, has passed away. May 18, 2022 . Here's something else affecting your wallet: the situation in Iraq is not helping with gas prices here at home. Copyright 2014WBRC. . In lieu of flowers the family suggest that donations be given to Mountain Brook Baptist Church. In 1957, Storer sold the WBRC stations to Radio Cincinnati Inc., the forerunner of what would become Taft Broadcasting, for $2.3million. Local children's television series were locally produced television shows intended for the child audience with unique hosts and programming. He graduated in 1954 and served in the U.S. Army as a Radio Broadcast and Propaganda Officer at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 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