WAAY-TV (channel 31) is a television station in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Allen Media Group. The station's studios and transmitter are located on Monte Sano Boulevard on top of Monte Sano Mountain.
History
The station's first broadcast was on August 1, 1959, as WAFG-TV. It was the second television outlet in the Huntsville region, signing on five years after NBC affiliate WMSL-TV (now WAFF). In addition, WAFG-TV is the longest serving station licensed to Huntsville, as WMSL was still licensed to Decatur at the time.
From its launch, WAFG was Alabama's first primary ABC affiliate, which was an unusual arrangement for a two-station market, especially one as small as Huntsville was at the time. When the station was sold to Smith Broadcasting (owners of WAAY radio, now WLOR) in 1963, the call sign was changed to WAAY-TV. At the time Smith Broadcasting held a permit from the FCC to put a new station on the air broadcasting on UHF channel 25, but when the Smith family received the offer to purchase WAFG, they decided to take that instead of building a new facility. (Channel 25 was later licensed to Alabama Public Television station WHIQ.)