Because of its distinction as one of America's strongest independent stations, WTTO was approached by the Fox Broadcasting Company for an affiliation contract deal prior to its October 1986 debut. Channel 21 turned down the affiliation; however, the station continued to prosper even without the support of Fox. WDBB then quickly reached an agreement to serve as the central Alabama outlet for the upstart network. The signing of the affiliation agreement with Fox occurred just as WDBB was finalizing preparations to launch WNAL-TV (channel 44, now Ion Television owned-and-operated station WPXH-TV) in Gadsden, which debuted in April of that year as a satellite station intended to serve the northeastern part of the market—specifically, areas to the east of downtown Birmingham—that could not receive the WDBB signal due to interference from the rugged mountainous terrain within the city. WDBB used its new status as a network affiliate to make a concerted effort to improve its reach in Birmingham. In addition to signing on WNAL, WDBB was allowed to move its city of license to Bessemer, which allowed it to build a new transmitter tower located closer to Birmingham that would provide a much stronger signal in the western portion of the city.