WERC (960 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Birmingham, Alabama. It is owned by iHeartMedia and it simulcasts a talk radio format with sister station 105.5 WERC-FM. The studios and offices are in Beacon Ridge Tower on First Avenue South in Birmingham, off Interstate 65. WERC transmits with 5,000 watts. By day, the signal is non-directional, but to protect other stations on 960 AM from interference, at night it uses a directional antenna with a two-tower array. The transmitter is off Arkadelphia Road near Interstate 20 in Birmingham. Programming WERC was the first station in Birmingham to carry an all-talk format. Weekdays begin with a local news and interview show, "Alabama's Morning News with JT and Leah." The rest of the weekday schedule is nationally syndicated shows, largely from co-owned Premiere Networks: "The Glenn Beck Program," "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show," "The Sean Hannity Show," "The Michael Berry Show," "The Jesse Kelly Show," "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory" and "This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal." On weekends, WERC-AM-FM air mostly specialty shows on money, health, gardening, home repair and travel, some of which are paid brokered programming. Syndicated weekend shows include "The Weekend with Michael Brown," "Travel with Rudy Maxa," "Sunday Night Live with Bill Cunningham" and "At Home with Gary Sullivan." Most hours begin with an update from Fox News Radio. WERC-AM-FM have a news and weather sharing agreement with WBRC-TV Channel 6, at one time co-owned with 960 AM. History Early years The forerunner of WERC was the first radio station in Birmingham, and the second station in Alabama. It signed on the air on . The call sign was WBRC, owned by Birmingham doctor J. C. Bell. The call letters stood for Bell Radio Corporation. It broadcast with 50 watts power at 1210 kilocycles from a transmitter in Bell's home. In 1928, businessman M. D. Smith bought a controlling stake in the station from Bell for $2,000. Throughout the 1920s, the station increased its power several times and moved its broadcast frequency. It also relocated its studios, eventually moving to the Bankhead Hotel in downtown Birmingham by 1932. In 1935, the station became an affiliate of the NBC Red Network, carrying its schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio." In 1947, WBRC advertised that it