build a third commercial television station in Birmingham, when it formed a partnership with Chicago film salesman-turned-investment banker Bill DuBois to file for a new construction permit. Although the new permit application was granted that year, the station's debut was delayed due to a shortage of broadcast transmission equipment following the Korean War and while the station unsuccessfully applied to have channel 4 moved to Birmingham. The station would not sign on the air until October 17, 1965, as WBMG (standing for Birmingham); the first program to air on channel 42 when it debuted at 5:30 p.m. that evening was NBC's broadcast of The Capitol: Chronicle of Freedom. It was owned by Birmingham Television Corporation, a consortium between DuBois and Southern Broadcasting in which DuBois held controlling interest. Many members of channel 42's early staff consisted of on-air personalities and other employees from WSGN radio, including Bill Bolen (who would later move to WBRC-TV), who served as one of WBMG's initial news anchors. As was the case at the time with most UHF television stations in markets served by at least two commercial VHF stations – in Birmingham's case, NBC affiliate WAPI-TV; and then-ABC affiliate WBRC-TV – WBMG experienced considerable competitive disadvantages from the outset that would plague the station for over 30 years. At the time of its sign-on, many households in the market did not have television sets capable of tuning into UHF broadcast signals without the aid of a converter. Television set manufacturers had only begun including UHF tuners built into the sets one year earlier, per a 1962 directive from the FCC. Even with a converter, the picture quality from UHF stations was marginal at best. The station's signal also left much to be desired. The Birmingham market is a fairly large market geographically, stretching across nearly the entire width of the state from near the Mississippi state line eastward to the Georgia state line. Much of the terrain within this area is also hilly to mountainous, particularly in the eastern part of the state, which lies within the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. This was a major reason as to why it took longer for Birmingham to get a third television station in comparison to other cities of its size; on paper, the market's population had been large enough to support three full network affiliates since the 1950s. The FCC had actually allocated four VHF