WBMG first signed on the air on October 17, 1965, as an CBS and NBC affiliate owned by Birmingham Television Corporation, a consortium between Bill DuBois and Southern Broadcasting in which DuBois held controlling interest.
1970–1978[]
On May 31, 1970, WBMG-TV took over CBS affiliate, after WAPI (now WVTM-TV) gained its NBC affiliation. DuBois and Southern Broadcasting then sold WBMG to Park Communications in 1973.
1978–1982[]
1982–1987[]
1987–1994[]
The Americana "42" continued to be used until 1996.
1994–1996[]
1996–1998[]
WIAT[]
1998–2004[]
After Media General purchased Park's stations, Media General planned to rename WBMG to the current WIAT in February 1, 1998; debuting a new tagline known as It's About Time. A month earlier, WBMG's general manager Eric Land 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.
LIN Media purchased New Vision in 2012, in turn, all of LIN's stations were sold to Media General two years later; returning Media General's ownership with WIAT after selling WVTM and WJCL in Savannah to Hearst Television. A year later; Media General merged with Nexstar Media Group.
2014–2018[]
2014–2016[]
2016–2018[]
In 2016, WIAT reverted its branding to "CBS 42."
2018–present[]
This logo also resembles the one used by sister station WNCN from 2016-2018.
1Owns a 75% stake of the network, the other 12.5% stake is co-owned between Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery. 2Joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery, in which Nexstar owns 31% while Warner Bros. Discovery owns the remaining 69%. 3Nexstar operates these stations owned by Mission Broadcasting. 4Nexstar operates this station owned by Cunningham Broadcasting. 5Nexstar operates this station owned by White Knight Broadcasting through an SSA. 6Nexstar operates this station owned by Vaughan Media. 7Predecessor company of LIN Media. 8Currently a repeater for WWLP. 9Nexstar operates this station owned by Londen Media Group.