On May 31, 1970, when WAPI-TV formally removed CBS programming and became the exclusive NBC affiliate for the Birmingham market, WHMA-TV likewise dropped NBC programming and became a CBS affiliate full-time. It effectively became one of three central Alabama stations that were exclusively affiliated with CBS, accompanied by WBMG (channel 42, now WIAT) in Birmingham, which had been affiliated on a part-time basis with the network since it started in October 1965 (in a similar split arrangement with NBC) and WCFT-TV (channel 33) in Tuscaloosa, which joined CBS on the date that WBMG and WHMA became full-time affiliates of the network.