Sweeping changes are coming to the Montgomery market as three stations are set to merge into one operation.

On Thursday, Bahakel Communications, the owner of CBS-affiliate WAKA, announced that it had signed an agreement to purchase CW-affiliate WBMM (which is licensed to Tuskegee) from SagamoreHill Broadcasting, which also owns Montgomery ABC-affiliate WNCF.

In addition to purchasing WNCF’s sister station from SagamoreHill, Bahakel has entered into a time sales and share services agreement with the company, meaning that Bahakel will now oversee sales and production for all three stations.

Bahakel also announced that Jesse Grear, who has led WNCF and WBMM since 2005, would become vice president and general manager of all three stations. Read more

Jim Caruthers is set to retire as vice president and general manager of WAKA, a CBS-affiliate serving the Montgomery-Selma market.

Caruthers, who has been WAKA’s VP-GM for the past 13 years, announced that he is retiring at the end of the year. He says that it’s time for him to end his 40-year broadcasting career and spend more time with his family.

“He did a fantastic job for us,” Jim Babb, executive vice president of WAKA parent company Bahakel Communications, told the Montgomery Advertiser. “He made the station meaningful.”

Because Caruthers will remain in his position until the end of the year, WAKA is taking its time in naming a successor. The station will likely make an in-house appointment later this summer.