Thursday, June 30, 2011

Dothan to get a local NBC affiliate.

Some news from the television broadcasting world as it's announced that Dothan will be picking up its own NBC affiliate.  It's expected to debut this fall on analog low power translator WDON-LP.

Yes, that's right, a low power analog translator.  Those of you using OTA who were hoping for a local signal to catch NBC in glorious high definition are going to be out of luck for now.

The translator originally carried TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network), a religious network.  The translator, known then as W41BN, was donated along with hundreds of other TBN properties to the MMTC (Minority Media and Telecommunications Council), who turned around and sold this and a few other small market translators to a new company called New Moon Communications.  New Moon is planning on launching NBC in several small markets, detailed in the link, above.

As a translator the station will not have must carry rights on local cable outlets, so there's no guarantee they'll replace Dothan's current NBC outlets on cable, WSFA from Montgomery and WJHG from Panama City.  But if they do, Dothan cable viewers may lose their HDTV feeds of NBC unless New Moon applies for a digital permit.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

W267BF Demopolis on the move again.

This time it nudges a little closer towards Tuscaloosa.  W267BF (101.3, 250 watts vertical, located near Greensboro) has been moving northward towards T-town for a while.  The station's construction permit is for a slightly lower 245 watts vertical, with a TX site nearer Moundville.  The station originally was listed as relaying Moody Bible's WMBV Dixons Mills but now is showing as WUAL Tuscaloosa.

I have no doubt the translator is ultimately destined to wind up in the Druid City at some point, the question now is, what will it carry?  WUAL has two HD subchannels of programming that could find their way to the analog FM dial through this translator, or more likely another local AM will make the hop to FM.  WTSK "101.3 The Truth" anyone?

Monday, June 27, 2011

W263BX Montgomery receives a CP Mod to boost power.

I don't think I've covered W263BX (100.5, 80 watts) yet on the blog.  I don't know much history on this station, it just sort of appeared out of nowhere as a construction permit this year.

When it showed up originally, it was authorized for 38 watts from the WQKS tower in Montgomery; now it's been granted 80 watts by a modification.  The station to be retransmitted was listed as WDJR out of Dothan, but has now changed to WQKS itself.  Could another AM-to-FM rebroadcast be in the works for the Capitol City?

Columbus' Rock 103 received construction permit for a little upgrade.

WVRK (102.9 MHz, 100 kW vertical only) has received a construction permit for a minor bit of upgrading.  The changes consist of a slight boost in height for the antenna position on the existing tower, and a change from the unusual vertical only polarization to H/V polarity with bean tilt.

It's never been explained by the station has used no horizontal power in recent years, but it seems to be one of the few "full power" commercial stations to broadcast this way.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

WXAL Demopolis reported back on.

Long-silent WXAL (1400 kHz, 790 watts day and night) has reported hit the airwaves again, relaying sister station WINL's country format.  WINL, WZNJ and WXAL were all bought recently by Westburg Broadcasting from the struggling West Alabama Broadcasters.  The new owners have taken to upgrading some of the technical facilities of all three stations.  WXAL in particular was reported to be in dire need of an update.

It is unknown at this time if this is merely testing, or to keep the license active, or the repairs have already been made.  WINL's popular "WIN Country" format is expected to stay, but new formats for WZNJ and WXAL are rumored.

UPDATE: WXAL is confirmed to have had all repairs done and is running full authorized power now. (6/27/2011)

Friday, June 24, 2011

Two Mobile area translators receive licenses to cover, but probably are still off-air.

First up is W214BW (90.7, 250 watts, relaying WPAS Pascagoula) that's licensed to Citronelle.  This one's been creeping towards Mobile over the last few moves and this latest stop puts it near the newly-formed city of Semmes, west of Mobile.  The station was originally going to flip to 90.9 but instead seems to be remaining on 90.7 MHz, this time with just 80 watts.

Next up is one I've been watching closely, W278AP (103.5, 25 watts, relaying WBHY-AM Mobile) that's licensed to Daphne.  This one's moving to a one of the towers in Spanish Fort and will be employing a highly-directional antenna pointed towards downtown Mobile, employing 99 watts.  As far as I know, if this one is on the air, it'll be the first AM-to-translator move in the Mobile area.  And although the 60 dBu primary contour falls short of downtown, the favorable terrain (e.g. flat river basins) should allow it to perform better than expected, thanks in part to a height of about 650 feet.

UPDATE:  W278AP has been confirmed on air with reception in northern parts of Daphne and south Spanish Fort as being somewhat spotty, but it is on and relaying WBHY-AM.

“The Sound of Muscle Shoals” is back: WLAY 1450 returns to the air.

WLAY is being reported back on in the Shoals area.  They lost the lease to their transmitter site's land last year and have been looking for suitable tower space ever since.  The new signal appears to be originating from a temporary wire antenna at the WLAY studios in Sheffield, near the Helen Keller Public Library.  Although a Special Temporary Authority shows them using 1,000 watts, the temporary setup is producing a weaker than licensed signal so reception will likely be difficult for people outside the very-immediate area.  Still, a weak signal is better than no signal at all.

No word yet on whether the FM translator at 92.3 MHz has come back on as well, or is still off. It had been transmitting from the AM stick with 225 watts, but also received a STA in February of this year to broadcast from the same temporary location as the AM.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Fort Payne translator W211BW to get big power boost, move out of city.

W211BW (90.1, 10 watts) is currently licensed and serving Fort Payne as a relay for nearby Valley Head's WQRX, a non-commercial Spanish Christian-formatted AM radio station.  The translator has recently received a construction permit to relocate to an area near the Gaylesville, atop Bogan Mountain.  The new facility will be re-licensed to the community of Cedarburg, Alabama, which as far as I can tell does not exist on any map.  The new frequency is 100.9 and power will increase to 205 watts vertical only.  The facility will be highly directional and aimed towards Fort Payne, although the primary 60 dBu contour will fall short of the city limits.

WQRX went non-commercial after picking up the Spanish Christian format, which is how they were able to secure a non-comm band translator.  While it's possible this move was planned before WQRX took on the translator, I can't help but wonder if the move to the commercial band is part of a plan for WQRX to return to commercial broadcasting with a new format.

I don't have any viewers in that part of Alabama, so if you know what's going on, drop me a line at webmaster (at) almediapage (dot) info.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

UA's takeover of WHIL will mean the end of the Alaprint radio reading service.

In March of this year, it was announced that Mobile's Spring Hill College would be selling its venerable public radio station, WHIL, to the University of Alabama for $1.1 million.  In June it was discovered that the station would be picking up the Alabama Public Radio network programming from Tuscaloosa, eliminating the need for the college's studios and staff.  With this change, an important but mostly unknown service will also be going away: Alaprint.

Alaprint is a non-profit organization that has, over the years, provided a spoken-word broadcast for the blind and print-impaired in Mobile.  The service has been carried on WHIL's SCA (subsidiary communications authority) channel, which is available to listeners with special radio equipment that's usually provided at no charge by the reading service.

With the elimination of the studios at Spring Hill College, the Alaprint service will no longer have a place to operate, meaning they will be unable to record or broadcast their programming.  This will displace approximately 500 blind and print-impaired listeners in the Mobile and Baldwin County areas.

Radio reading services have been around since the late 1960's, when the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network was established using the Minnesota Public Radio Network's SCA channels.  Since then, various local and regional organizations have sprung up across the country to serve the needs of the nation's blind and print-impaired.  In 1982, New Orleans became the first city in the US to host a FM radio station dedicated to reading services.  Currently, there's just one other FM dedicated to radio reading, and that's WYPL in Memphis, owned by the Memphis library system.  The calls stand for "We're Your Public Library".  WYPL also lays claim to being the only 100,000 watt station in the US dedicated to radio reading and is the only library owned station in the country, too.

Although New Orleans' WRBH and Memphis' WYPL are going strong, print reading services in Alabama aren't faring so well due to lack of support and budget cutbacks.  The Alabama Public Radio network has operated a radio reading service, but it's slated for closure at some point in the future, and WBHM's Alabama Radio Reading Service is also going away on September 1st.

It's a shame that such a useful service is dying due to lack of monetary support, but with most markets supporting less than 1,000 listeners, the costs cannot be justified by many public radio stations.  While the internet has opened up new avenues for the blind and print-impaired, especially with specialist browsers like WebbIE, they can be cumbersome to use.  Most websites are not always optimized for screen readers, which can lead to readability problems or a total lack of access.  (While ABMP is not screen reader optimized, viewers can use the mobile home page which bypasses all scripting.)  Internet services also depend on a computer with reliable internet access, which some print-impaired people may not be able to afford or easily operate.  With broadcast radio reading services, program material is available to anyone with a compatible radio, often provided for free to qualified individuals.  The service is always available within the station's broadcast area, and some radios will even work on batteries when the power is out.  The readers are real live humans, not synthesized speech, which sounds unnatural and can be fatiguing to listeners.

Until cheap and fast internet access becomes universal and these services can be provided online through streaming audio, there will always be a place and a need for radio reading services.   With the shutdown of these services, blind and print-impaired citizens of Alabama are literally being left in the dark.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Two Montgomery translators to get a lil' power boost.

Two Montgomery translators have recently been granted construction permits to increase power and coverage.

W285AJ (104.9, 80 watts vertical) is set to increase to 99 watts H/V.  This outlet is currently relaying rocker WACV.

W296AI (107.1, 38 watts horizontal) is set to increase to 99 watts H/V also.  This outlet is currently relaying classic country "Eagle" WQSI.

Both translators will blanket the entire Montgomery city and much of the surrounding suburbs with these upgrades.

WTZT-CD comes through the pipeline for Athens.

WTZT-CA, the Athens low power station with a mix of local and America One programming, has a license to cover come through the FCC today.  The station is to flash cut from analog to digital on RF channel 11.  Of course, this may have happened a long time ago, as I have recently found the FCC's TV updates to be lagging by a long time.  The digital coverage may reach as far as the Huntsville city limits, but being on VHF will certainly limit their reception in this otherwise all-UHF market.

B'ham's W286BK debuts gospel as "105-1 Hallelujah FM".

The smooth jazz was short lived: today gospel replaced the smooth jazz on 105.1 as Clear Channel regurgitates its old "Hallelujah" gospel format from the old 105.9 frequency of east Birmingham.

Friday, June 17, 2011

WTVM-DT in Columbus moves to channel 11.

WTVM, Columbus, Georgia's ABC affiliate, has moved off their RF 47 assignment and onto RF channel 11. This move bucks the trend of full power stations abandoning their VHF assignments for the UHF band.  The VHF band has proved problematic for digital television reception, with VHF-high channels suffering from electrical noise and lightning-related dropouts, and VHF-low being all but impossible to use in most markets.

Edit: Looks like they actually switched in June 2009 and the license to cover just came through.  Wish someone had told me!  Guess no one watches OTA in Columbus.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

W286BK is on in Birmingham with smooth jazz.

Translator W286BK (105.1, 10 watts vertical) is reported to be on the air in the Birmingham area, relaying WERC-FM's HD-2 smooth jazz subchannel.  The station also has a construction permit for 99 watts from the Magic 96 tower, which will blanket most of the western and central suburbs, but fall short of the areas from Hoover south, and from downtown Birmingham east.

It is not yet known if the station is on from the licensed or new facilities, or if it will keep the "Lite Jazz" format from the HD subchannel.

WZDX now running higher power.

WZDX has just had a license to cover come through the FCC showing they are now running 700 kW, versus the old 200 kW.  The RF channel, antenna location and height have not changed.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

W50CF applies to move to channel 6

Applications aren't normally something I deal with or talk about when it comes to broadcast stations, but this is one that's worth noting.  W50CF has, until recently, been a low power analog broadcaster of religious programming with a transmitter site in downtown Mobile.  WFGX recently boosted its coverage and power, relocating to one of the tall towers in Baldwin County, and as it is also on channel 50 in digital, the little LPTV station had to sign off.  (There was a period where the analog low power signal and the high power digital signal were on at the same time, it was a mess.)

Rather than turn in the license and give up, translator owner Franklin Media has applied to move the station to channel 6, in analog.

What makes this sort of application special is the possibility that this will be built out not as another TV repeater, but as a radio station.  As most of you know, channel 6's audio happens to fall right at the beginning of the FM band, at 87.75 MHz.  Many FM radios will tune this — or close enough to it — to make it possible to listen to the audio on these radios.

While it's a technical gray-area as far as FCC rules go, LPTV broadcasters have wholeheartedly taken advantage of this to start up new radio stations in cities with crowded FM dials.  One in Los Angeles broadcasts Christian programming in Spanish; one in Memphis hosts Flinn Broadcasting's unique "Pig" format; one in Jackson is just getting up and running at this time; one in Chicago picked up the smooth jazz format cast aside by one of the big broadcasters; the grand-daddy of them all is New York's Pulse 87, which has had stints with brokered ethnic programming and dance music.

With this in mind, it's a distinct possibility the area could get a new radio station at the very top of the dial.  The application's 62 dBu contour map shows it skirting the edges of both Mobile and Pensacola.  In real-word experience, the audio portion of the broadcast usually exceeds that line, meaning this station could be competitive in both markets if it's built out.  For that reason, this application is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Big station sale in Meridian affects one Alabama station.

Six stations are swapping hands in the Meridian, Mississippi market, and one of those stations is licensed to Butler, Alabama.  WMLV (93.5 Mhz, 32 kW @ 610 feet with a hot AC format) is being spun off to Educational Media Foundation, who puts on the K-Love and Air 1 religious music formats.  More than likely, V 93.5 will go non-commercial and carry one of those EMF formats at some point in the future.