Veteran WBMA anchor Brenda Ladun has announced she will leave the Birmingham, Alabama ABC affiliate at the end of August.
She told viewers she is shifting her focus to new projects and to spend more time with her family.
“Thank you for being a friend’ is the song that is in my head tonight. I am so grateful to each of you who allowed me to come into your homes and lives for 29 years here at ABC 33/40. Your trust, love, and encouragement meant the world to me,” she said in a letter to viewers. “I hope I have served you well, and I hope to continue serving you through social media and through some projects I hope will create jobs and enhance education in Alabama. So this is not exactly a goodbye. It’s a see what I can do next! I hope to make you proud!”
She’s worked at the station for 29 years and helped build the ABC affiliate.
According to our good friend Google:
In 1994, a major realignment of television station affiliations was slated to affect Birmingham, with Birmingham’s existing ABC affiliate, WBRC, tabbed to switch to Fox. As a result, ABC needed a new affiliate in the market. A number of stations were available, including in Birmingham itself. The network instead opted to partner with Allbritton Communications to buy WCFT-TV (channel 33) in Tuscaloosa and WJSU-TV (channel 40) in Anniston. On September 1, 1996, they became the ABC affiliate for the entire Birmingham market, branded ABC 33/40. At the same time, the station opened its Birmingham-area studio in Hoover.
