Friday, November 25, 2011

WQLS Camden struggling to get built out, seeks power reduction

Alabama Christian Radio currently has a construction permit for a new non-commercial station in Camden. It is set to expire in December and the facilities are not yet built.  The previous permit was for 40 kW at about 246 feet (see 60 dBu contour plot). A new modification of the permit has come through, relocating the transmitter site from the community of Vredenburgh to Camden itself.  The power will drop to just 400 watts from approximately 420 feet. This will allow a quicker build-out to get the station on the air before the permit lapses.

The FCC's contour map for the new facility is broken, but you can get an idea of the potential coverage from the coverage Exhibit (PDF) submitted to the FCC.

WTLS completes power/height boost for FM translator

Tallassee's longtime AM WTLS has completed construction of a new tower for the FM translator, which will now cover much more territory.  Besides a big height boost, the station will go from 80 to 250 watts.  The Montgomery Advertiser has the details.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Hallelujah 105-1 seeks move to 98.3

Hallelujah 105.1, operating as translator W286BK, is seeking to move to 98.3 MHz.  The new facility will be at the same height and antenna location they employ now, but with 170 watts.

Translators operate on a secondary status to full power stations, so when WALJ signed on in Northport, also on 105.1 MHz, it created some interference issues.  Clear Channel first moved the translator from the Magic 96 translator on Ishkooda Mountain to their Red Mountain site but this did not fix the interference issue to WALJ's satisfaction.

As such, Clear Channel (through WAY-FM Media, who actually owns the translator) is seeking a waiver of the Commission's 74.1233(A)(1) rules and asking to jump ship to 98.3 MHz.

98.3 MHz is not exactly a perfect choice, however.  It's second-adjacent to Kiss FM, which the rules are OK with, but also first-adjacent to WTXT in Tuscaloosa.  The application includes a null towards the west to compensate, but whenever WTXT returns to full power (they're on low power while their tower, which was felled by the April tornadoes, is rebuilt) it will put a very good signal into Birmingham again.  This may create unwanted interference issues, but since WTXT is also a Clear Channel property, there will be no one to ask the translator to shut down or move again.

WJWC-LP bites the dust

Or rather, bit the dust a while back.  It's been known to be off air or on a very limited schedule since at least this summer, and now it's official that the license has been cancelled.

WJWC-LP was licensed to Gallion, just east of Demopolis, and had played blues and urban oldies when it was actually on the air.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Mobile-Pensacola TV station WHBR dark due to technical issue

WHBR, affiliated with the CTN religious network, has gone dark for viewers in Mobile and Pensacola due to a failure in the transmitter system.  There is no date set for it to return to air.  WHBR also airs an international version of CTN on 33.2, and the Florida-centric BLAB TV infomercial channel on 33.4.

More information can be found at Alvin Williams' Mobile TV Examiner page.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Internet outage at Cumulus in Birmingham

An internet outage is affecting some of Cumulus' broadcasting operations in Birmingham.  Both WAPI and WUHT's websites are down, along with live streaming.  WJOX and WZZR's websites work, but no streaming there, either.  Internet access for show hosts at WAPI is also reported down.

The trouble appears to have started around 2 pm yesterday.  As of 2 pm today internal internet was reported to sporadically be on, but streaming and the two down websites remain inaccessible.

Cumulus' stations in Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Mobile and Huntsville are not affected.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

W241AI on the move to downtown Birmingham

A long speculated move appears to be coming to fruition for the Gorgas-licensed W241AI (currently 10 watts, relaying WGIB in Birmingham).  The translator just received a permit for a 43-watt facility located atop Red Mountain overlooking downtown Birmingham.  Although it's lower powered than other translators it will be picking up a rumored HD3 subchannel for WERC.  It's not known yet what format this station will pick up.  The HD2 of WERC currently has gospel, and WMJJ's HD2 is urban and also being heard on an area translator.  Clear Channel also appears to be in the works to bring a translator to Tuscaloosa.  Someone unknown is working on bringing one from Calera to the Birmingham area as well.

The times, for translators around Birmingham, are interesting indeed.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Translator Rodeo Hoedown

Some notable translator changes have begun to stack up at ABMP World Headquarters. (What? You didn't know we had a world headquarters?)  Let's go down the list, in no particular order:

First, in Bay Minette, W262AL "signed on" to its new dial position at 101.1 MHz after vacating the noncomm band.  The parent station is listed as WMEZ in Pensacola.  I use quotation marks because the station, like most translators on the move, never actually signs on for more than a moment, if that… It's just part of the circus of moving to greener pastures.  The translator's final destination is still assumed to be Pensacola itself, for the new ESPN sports talker at 1450.  As it can only "hop" so far each time, and the FCC has put the brakes on these kinds of moves, expect this station to finally land in town sometime well into 2012.

Up on Sand Mountain, W259AP Albertville has received a CP to relocate from 99.7 to 99.3 and mosey on down the highway from Boaz to Mountainboro.  It is listed as relaying WAY-FM's WAYU, licensed to Steele.  It's worth noting that WAYU already sort of covers the area, so while it's reasonable to assume this is for fill-in service on the area, it's possible it's being moved to Gadsden to pick up an AM station's signal.  We'll have to wait and see what the plans are for this lucrative setup.

In Birmingham, W281AB (104.1 The Beat, a relay of WMJJ-HD2) has received a permit to boost power from 125 to the full 250 watts, plus a rise in antenna height.  Expect a nice boost in coverage soon, if it hasn't already gone live.

In Madison, west of Huntsville, word is that W247AT (97.3) is now relaying 97.9 WQXD-LP in Athens, with their God's Country format.  This puts the tiny LPFM station on three translators in total, including a co-channel one in Huntsville and one on 101.7 in Priceville/Somerville.

Finally, in the south-B'ham suburb of Calera, W241BD (96.1, 8 watts, relaying WGIB) has received its permit to relocate to 106.7 MHz, with 50 watts from the same site off Highway 31 in Alabaster.  The parent station will change to WBPT, which is one click over at 106.9.  It is most curious that the translator will be on WBPT's first adjacent, but my theory is that this is just a temporary setup to wrangle around the translator rules a little.  A translator can make a "minor change" to its licensed facility and move up to 3 channels up or down from its licensed spot on the dial.  But it can also move 53 or 54 channels up or down.  This is a way for a noncomm translator to jump into the commercial band and vice-versa.  It also can allow a translator like this one, which is surrounded by occupied frequencies, to move to a clearer part of the band.  The translator will "sign on" at 106.7 briefly (in theory, anyway) then apply to move 1, 2 or 3 spaces away to a suitable dial position.  More than likely, this will mean moving to 106.5 or 106.3 MHz, neither of which has any active stations on it in the area.  Whether it stays in Alabaster or moves into Birmingham remains to be seen, but this one bares watching.  No other market has embraced translators relaying AM or HD2 signals like Birmingham and this one is set to move to one of the last frequencies available area-wide.

File under "T" for "Too Soon": Magic 96 first station in state to flip to Christmas music.

No, just… no.  It's too soon. Call me old fashioned, but the Christmas season officially kicks off the day after Thanksgiving and not a moment sooner.

So, who will be next?

New AM permit for Fayette relocated to Tuscaloosa metro

Fayette received a construction permit for a new AM signal at 1490 kHz in October of last year, granted to Great South Wireless (who owns The Peach in Clanton).  That facility has just been relicensed to the community of Coker, west of Tuscaloosa.  The power (1 kW day and night) remains the same.

Coker is too small to support its own AM station, and west Alabama has lost one already in the Pickens County town of Carrollton, so expect to see this permit either expire unbuilt or get moved into Tuscaloosa proper soon.