and one-time repeater of WTTO's Tuscaloosa satellite WDBB (channel 17), which had decent coverage of the eastern portions of the Birmingham area as well as eastern Alabama. Sale to Media General and callsign change to WIAT In 1997, Park Communications was sold to Richmond, Virginia-based Media General. However, the new ownership brought no change to the station's flagging ratings. By late 1997, WBMG's market share had dropped to a mere 1%, leaving it significantly behind not only WBRC, WVTM and WBMA-LP, but also WTTO and even behind WABM at times (the latter two stations did not air any news programming at the time). Per an agreement with CBS, which had become increasingly concerned about its lackluster performance in a fast-growing market, Media General invested millions of dollars into turning WBMG's fortunes around. As a first step, Media General boosted WBMG's overall transmitting power to 5 million watts, the highest level allowed by the FCC for a VHF station. This finally gave the station a coverage area comparable to those of WBRC and WVTM. The upgrades made by Media General also allowed channel 42 to become the first television station in the market to broadcast a digital television signal, and effectively, the first to broadcast network programming in high definition, an accomplishment that was important to Media General as it fought the wide perception among viewers and those in the media industry that the station had a weak signal. In order to signify a new start as channel 42 prepared to reboot its news department (see below), Media General also applied to change the station's callsign to WIAT (for "It's About Time", the station's new slogan) on February 1, 1998. One month earlier, Eric Land, whom the group hired as the station's general manager, fired all but one member of its news department staff and replaced channel 42's evening newscasts with a countdown clock to signal the forthcoming relaunch of the station as WIAT on February 5 (the WBMG call letters are now used by a low-power station on UHF channel 38 in Moody). On that date, preceding the debut of its relaunched 5:00 p.m. newscast under the new 42 Daily News format, Land appeared in the parking lot outside the station's studios just before the countdown clock expired speaking to an unseen audience of Birmingham-area community leaders on the meaning behind the station's relaunch, before throwing a switch that blew