WDBB began operations on October 8, 1984 as an independent station that was originally licensed to Tuscaloosa, although it branded itself as a full-market Birmingham station. In point of fact, it was the second commercial television station to serve west-central Alabama, after WCFT-TV, which signed on in October 1965 as a part-time affiliate of CBS and NBC. The station was founded by DuBose Broadcasting, a locally based company owned by Tuscaloosa businessman David Dubose. Originally operating from a newly constructed studio facility located on Jug Factory Road on the southern edge of Tuscaloosa, it maintained a general entertainment format, with a heavy emphasis on movies during prime time and on weekends as well as local newscasts focused on the Tuscaloosa market; it also carried certain ABC daytime programs that were not cleared locally by WBRC-TV (channel 6).