Finally, in 1984, WSLA was indeed granted a construction permit for a taller transmitter tower that would be located halfway between Selma and Montgomery, thus giving it good coverage in Montgomery proper, and changed its call letters to WAKA; despite the move of the transmitter, WAKA still remains licensed to Selma to this day. Channel 8 brought its new, taller tower online in April 1985. By then, Gay-Bell had seen the writing on the wall. It faced the prospect of having to operate WCOV as an independent—and with it, the added expense of buying an additional 18 hours per day of programming. With this in mind, Gay-Bell put WCOV on the market. In December 1985, Gay-Bell sold WCOV to a group of investors led by David Woods, son of veteran Alabama broadcaster Charles Woods. Years later, Woods bought out the investors and became the sole owner.