Harry Mabry - Move To Anniston

Move To Anniston

In 1969, Mabry moved to Anniston to launch WHMA-TV, channel 40 (a sister entity to his former employer), as both general manager and news director/anchor, remaining for twenty years. It was during this time that the station gained infamy when, following several phone calls in which he threatened to do so, an unemployed carpenter in a nearby town was filmed by a camera crew from Mabry's station as he set himself on fire in a drunken protest of unemployment. Mabry was very much affected by this incident, not only shaken by the fact that someone would commit such an act, but also frustrated by the public outcry that followed. It was never widely noted that local law enforcement failed to intervene and prevent the self-immolation, as they had promised.

In 1983 following a series of adverse Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and court rulings, the station was sold to Jacksonville State University, who renamed it WJSU. After only three years and at a 2.6 million dollar profit, Jacksonville State sold the station, beginning a string of new owners. In 1989, Mabry returned to WBRC, and until 1991 Mabry was general manager of that station's East Alabama bureau, based in Anniston. After 1991 he continued in the field as a contract independent communications consultant, most notably developing a new television station in Gadsden, Alabama and re-building a then dark WOXR-AM (now WVOK (AM)).