For the sake of brevity, the station will be referred to hereafter in this article by that name, when referencing the station and its repeaters (including those it maintained prior to the 2014 sale of the present-day WSES and WGWW to Howard Stirk Holdings). Former Notes: 1. WBMA-LD used the callsign W58CK until 1997, at which time the callsign was officially changed to WBMA-LP. 2. WSES used the callsign WCFT-TV from its 1965 inception until 2015. WSES operated as an independent station from 1965 to 1970, and as a CBS affiliate from 1970 to 1996. 3. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook states that WCFT-TV signed on October 27, while the Television and Cable Factbook states it signed on October 29. 4. WGWW used the callsign WHMA-TV from its 1969 inception until 1984, and callsign WJSU-TV from 1984 until 2015. It was a CBS affiliate from 1969 to 1996, with a secondary NBC affiliation from 1969 to 1970. 5. WBMA-LD is simulcast on WABM-DT2, WDBB-DT2 and WGWW-DT2. History Early history and formation of trimulcast with WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV On May 5, 1994, Great American Communications (which would be renamed Citicasters following the completion of its debt restructuring later that year) agreed to sell Birmingham's longtime ABC affiliate, WBRC-TV (channel 6), and three of its sister stations (fellow ABC affiliate WGHP in High Point, North Carolina, NBC affiliate WDAF-TV in Kansas City, and CBS affiliate KSAZ-TV in Phoenix) to New World Communications for $350 million in cash and $10 million in share warrants. As part of a broader deal between New World and the Fox Broadcasting Company signed on May 23 of that year, New World agreed to affiliate five of its eight existing television stations and the four it had acquired from Great American with Fox, in a series of affiliation transactions that would take two years to complete due to the varying conclusion dates of their ongoing contracts with either ABC, NBC or CBS. Three weeks later, New World agreed to buy NBC affiliate WVTM-TV (channel 13) and three other stations from Argyle Television Holdings (CBS affiliates KDFW in Dallas–Fort Worth and KTBC in Austin, and ABC affiliate KTVI in St. Louis), in a purchase option-structured deal worth $717 million. Due to conflicts with FCC ownership rules of the time period, New World subsequently decided to establish and transfer the licenses of WBRC and WGHP into a trust company, with