Friday, May 27, 2011

Site fixes and additions.

All the TV and FM "protected contour" maps should now be fixed.  After the Tiger mapping service was shut down, the FCC only had the images it had cached on its own servers.  After they rolled out the Google overlays I figured they'd keep the old images around for a while — I was wrong.  The TV maps disappeared immediately and the FM maps disappeared earlier this year.

Some of the early Google map links were broken directly from the FCC.  I got some of them during this updating session but there's no doubt some slipped through the cracks.  Otherwise, everything should be working again.   If you find a bad link, mistake or whatnot let me know and I'll get it fixed.

I've also standardized and added auxiliary information to those FM stations that have such facilities.   There are only 15 FMs in the state that have filed for auxiliary backup transmitters, and a few others scattered in New Orleans and Pensacola.  I don't know much about them but it appears that having a licensed backup site allows a station to switch to the backup without notifying the FCC immediately, versus having to apply for an emergency Special Temporary Authority.

Tuscaloosa station WTXT no doubt is glad they paid to get the aux license, as their main tower was felled by winds or a tornado during the recently outbreak.   Their auxiliary facility is located on the old WACT-AM/FM stick between Greensboro Avenue and I-359.   That site was just a few hundred feet from being in the middle of the tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa

Thursday, May 26, 2011

New - tower and studio photographs

Since my current host has unlimited bandwidth and unlimited storage space, I've decided to start hosting tower and studio pictures.

Right now, these are the the stations with pictures:

AM: WCKA, WGBZ, WJRD, WPID
FM: WBEI, WDGM, WTUG, WFFN, WTXT
TV: WAIQ, WHNT


They aren't necessarily great photos and they were all taken years ago, but they're a start.  If you have a tower or studio picture you'd like to share, e-mail them to me at webmaster at almediapage dot info and I'll put them online.

Monday, May 23, 2011

W267BF (Demopolis) sold to Red Mountain Broadcasting. What's next?

It's not often that I bring up station sales, but this one is worth mentioning since it's gotten some press in radio circles.  W267BF (101.5 MHz, 250 watts, Demopolis) was recently sold to Red Mountain Broadcasting.  RMB owns the translator that currently runs Clear Channel's The Vulcan rock format in Birmingham, so there's some speculation as to what the plans are with this translator.

There's currently an application to move the station from its current spot near Greensboro north towards Tuscaloosa.  It's entirely possible that Clear Channel will re-purpose the translator for WACT, the AM companion to WRTR's news and talk format.  A spin to sports to compete with The Deuce, perhaps?  Who knows.  Another AM in T-Town, WMXB, was listed as the one-time source for a translator in town that's now hosting WWPG out of Eutaw.  Maybe they are seeking another translator to get on FM?  The format is gospel but the calls scream "Mix" and whatever middle of the road AC format the city is lacking.

Clear Channel doesn't operate any HD stations in Tuscaloosa, but there's also the long-shot proposition that they may try to expand The Vulcan rock format to the area.  The HD signal is weak but definitely not out of reach for a properly-equipped receiver.  It's not likely, but it's possible.

Friday, May 20, 2011

A whole mess of new LDTV permits for Montgomery.

The FCC just released the floodgates on low power digital permits today, with a daily digest that stretched a whopping 82 pages long.  Buried in that mass of new authorizations were several for the Montgomery market.  They all belong to "Luckland Corp" and are: W15DI-D, W19DS-D, W26EC-D, W35DC-D and W38FC-D.  All have between 100 and 15,000 watts and almost all are directional to one part of the city.

Montgomery already has several other construction permits for new LDTV outlets, belonging to Mako Communications and EICB-TV, among others.  These include W14DT-D, W30DJ-D, W26EF-D, W45DS-D and W50EK-D.  These were all issued at earlier dates.

This makes for a total of TEN new low power digital permits for the Montgomery area.  I'll be surprised if even one is ever built out and put on the air.  More than likely these are resellers looking to make a profit by selling them on to someone else.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

TV contour maps now fixed.

After the government shut down the Tiger map browser service, the FCC had to find alternative maps to project protected contours for FM and TV stations.  The majority of FM stations' maps were saved, meaning there is a mix of the old Tiger images and new Google Maps overlays.  The TV section, however, lost all maps.  So until now, the TV contour maps have all been broken links, except for a few that have been edited in the last week or two.

That is now fixed.  All DTV, LDTV and LPTV should be fixed.  If you come across a wrong or broken link, be sure to e-mail me at the address on the pages and I'll get it corrected.

FM construction permit for WJAU in Lincoln disappears.

A construction permit awarded to a religious outlet for a new station at 89.5 MHz (1 kW @ 125 feet) has been deleted.  The facility got as far as acquiring a call sign, WJAU, but was never built out.  The station was awarded to "Wilbur Gospel Communications & Foundation" but was sold along with WKRE in Argo for $1.00 to Alabama Christian Radio.  ACR put WKRE on earlier in 2011.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

How a translator can move a hundred miles without a major modification to its license.

I often write about translators that are endlessly creeping from one destination to the other.  It's a game to figure out their ultimate final resting place.  Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it wrong.  But how do these translators manage to move so far when it can take years from other stations to make major changes to their licensed facilities?  The answer lies in what constitutes a "minor change" to a translator license.

The FCC determines the coverage of all FM and TV stations by a protected contour.  For FM, this is the theoretical 60 dBu contour line.  It takes into effect antenna height, transmitting power, directional antenna patterns if necessary but not terrain.  For a translator to make a minor modification to its license to move elsewhere, the 60 dBu contour must overlap the current contour.  In other words, there has to be a small area of overlapping coverage for the move to still be considered "minor".  This leads translators, which are limited to 250 watts of power, to little leaps from permit to permit.

It's these "overlapping hops" that have allowed translators like W286AQ to move to so far from home.  The station started off near Northport in Tuscaloosa County, but moved, one overlapping hop at a time, all the way to Lay Lake in Chilton County.  If I remember correctly, it's been four or five "hops" from Northport to Chilton County.

Along the way, sometimes these translators will bump up into a licensed full power station's coverage area.  They can't be granted a license if they are interfering with a full power station, as they take higher priority than translators (or LPFM stations).  The solution is to change frequencies. But only certain frequency changes can be made for it to be considered a minor modification to a license by the FCC.  These are 1, 2, 3, 53 and 54 channels up or down.  This equates to moving to a first-, second- or third-adjacent from the current frequency, or moving 10.6 or 10.8 MHz over.

Using W286AQ on 105.1 MHz again as an example, here are the alternate channels the station could move to without requiring a major modification to it's license:

  • 104.5 (3rd adjacent)
  • 104.7 (2nd adjacent)
  • 104.9 (1st adjacent)
  • ** 105.1 **
  • 105.3 (1st adjacent)
  • 105.5 (2nd adjacent)
  • 105.7 (3rd adjacent) 
  • 94.5 (down 53 channels)
  • 94.3 (down 54 channels)

That's not to say that W286AQ could move to any of these channels, but it's an idea of what the FCC would consider.

So the next time you see a translator making what seems like inconsequentially small moves in frequency or transmit location, you'll know why — they're gaming the rules to move to a more lucrative area.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Lots of RDS updates for central and west Alabama, plus AM and translator stuff.

I won't go through all the trivial changes to RDS text fields, but one thing that's worth noting is that Clear Channel in Birmingham has completely abandoned scrolling text in the PS field. This is the eight-character display that's supposed to show the station name. It's supposed to be static (not changing) but most stations "fake scroll" or flash messages up on the display, which can be distracting to drivers.

For whatever reason, WMJJ, WERC, WDXB and WQEN went back to station call sign displays. Well, except WMJJ which is saying "MAGIC96". Even the Vulcan FM translator just says "Vulcan" and nothing else. Scrolling data and song/artist titles seem to be reserved for the R-Text field, which is what it's meant for.

In AM news, I've discovered WENN (AM) is off the air again. The translator is going strong, however. It's unknown if this is more technical trouble on the AM side, or something tornado-related. The FM has also added RDS advertising "Birmingham's Neo Soul" station.

Translator W295AP has received a license to cover from the Feds, but I am 99% certain it's still not on the air. This station is licensed to Bay Minette (106.9 MHz, 99 watts) and seem to be headed down towards Pensacola with each change.

In Pascagoula, long silent translator W205AP (88.9 MHz, 38 watts) has been deleted from the FCC records by request of the licensee. The last time I heard it, it was relaying Family Radio (CSN), but that was years ago.

In TV news, WMPV received a big boost to its power this month. The Mobile market TBN affiliate is now pumping out 700 kW of Godly message-spreading.

Friday, May 6, 2011

W286BV Tuscaloosa receives CP to boost power.

W286BV (105.1 MHz, 200 watts, Tuscaloosa) has received a construction permit to boost power to 250 watts from the same site it uses now.

The translator is owned by Edgewater Broadcasting but is currently listed as relaying WTBC AM 1230.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

WMXB Tuscaloosa receives construction permit.

WMXB (1280 kHz, 5 kW days, 500 watts directional nights, Tuscaloosa) has received a construction permit to move to a site near Kaulton Field, east of I-359.  This is south of the existing TX site in Northport near Wintzell's Oyster House.  The new site will feature just one tower, with the same day power but just 35 watts of non-directional nighttime power.

It's interesting to note that WMXB has apparently been operating with just one tower for years now, despite their night authorization requiring 3 towers.  It's unknown if they have been broadcasting from the original site or moved, because they have never told the FCC anything about a change in facilities.

The station is also listed as being rebroadcast on an area translator (W245BR, 96.1 MHz, 80 watts) but I've yet to hear from anyone in the area that can confirm they're on air.  It's never been on when I've been through there in years past.

W286AQ has another CP (everyone act surprised).

W286AQ (105.1 MHz, 218 vertical watts, Northport) has another CP.  As you may remember from previous posts, the actual site is now near Jemison in Chilton County.  The latest CP has it moving east again towards Lay Lake, near the Mineral Springs community.  This time it'll have the full 250 watts, vertical.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Huntsville-Athens area storm outages.

Again from the Radio-Info thread (scroll down to see the link), more off-air reports are coming in.  The Huntsville area translators W251AC (98.1, Capshaw), W258AU (99.5, Chase) and W264AI (100.7, Maysville) are all off.

In nearby Pulaski, Tennessee, WKSR AM and FM are off. WZYP, which stayed on through the storms, was reported off this afternoon.

More storm-related outages.

WJLX Jasper is reported off due to loss of power and equipment.  WFMH-FM is also off; their transmitter site is near Hackleburg, which was hard hit.

W241BD reports on-air to FCC.

W241BD (96.1 MHz, 8 watts, relaying WGIB) has filed a license to cover with the FCC.  The station, licensed to Calera, actually broadcasts to the Alabaster area from a cell phone tower across US-31 from the Colonial shopping center, south of I-65.

WGIB doesn't need any help filling in coverage in the area, since they are heard on WQEM, which transmits from just over the next hill.  Could an relay deal with a Birmingham-area AM be far behind?  Spanish-language WQCR broadcasts from just down the highway.