Newscasts
While WDBB broadcast much of the same programming as WTTO, the Tuscaloosa station operated its own local news department twice during its history. First as NewsCenter 17 during the 1980s and then as WDBB 17 News during the early 1990s. WDBB 17 News directly competed with then-CBS affiliate WCFT-TV (which, incidentally, had been Chapman's flagship station) for West Alabama viewers. The newsroom and studio were housed at WDBB's studio. Talent such as Dan Cates and Don Hartley, who were already known from previous stints on other TV and radio stations, were part of the news department. Later on, they were joined by Gene Lively, longtime anchor at WVTM. Soon afterward, WDBB's separate newscast was shut down. The newsroom and studio were vacant until late 1997, when upstart WJRD-CA (now WVUA-CA) moved into WDBB's former facilities to start a news local news operation to cover western Alabama. Some of WJRD's talent were former WDBB staffers who had been let go two years earlier.
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