Updates… An an experiment!

Before we get to the updates, I want to invite you to view ABMP's new Google+ page.  It's public, so you don't have to be a member of anything Google-related to view.  But if you are a member, you can follow ABMP and get occasional updates and interact with me.  Give it a try!  I'm moving updates to that platform for a while to see if it's easier to handle than Blogger.  If not, I'll come back here.

On to the updates…

In Mobile, Clear Channel has acquired another translator, W258AY, on 99.5 MHz. They received a CP to up power to 250 watts and broadcast from the tower in Prichard which currently houses WASG and WAVH. It's scheduled to rebroadcast News Talk 710 WNTM. It's unknown if this a replacement or addition to W262BL on 100.3 MHz, which would broadcast from the WKRG-TV tower in Spanish Fort.

In other news, W286AQ on 105.1 MHz continues its march far away from its original city of license, Northport. It's now most of the way to Alexander City and has just received a permit for a site just outside the city limits. The parent station remains WHHY-FM Montgomery, but an application pending shows that this will eventually settle in Alex City proper and rebroadcast WBNM 1050, with its classic country format.

The last big translator update comes from Birmingham, where W251BG at 98.1 MHz makes a big jump from Cullman to Tarrant, to rebroadcast WAGG's highly successful gospel format from atop Red Mountain. The new facility will have 250 watts and cover as much of the city as Clear Channel's existing translators do.

Mobile-friendly site updated!

Many of you may not know it, but the Alabama Broadcast Media Page has had a mobile-friendly landing page for quite some time.  Previously, only the index page was friendly to small screens; links went to the regular site and left fitting the tables correctly up to your device.  This doesn't work very well in either smartphone browsers, which fail to break up the tables into small readable columns, or in Opera Mini, which does break up tables to be small-screen friendly but does not show breaks or lines between cells, making all the content run together.

To be more smartphone browser friendly, the mobile site's tables have been stripped of as many superfluous columns as possible and no longer mandate padding around the edges.  To be more friendly to Opera Mini, I've colorized either alternating rows or individual cells to break up content into easier-to-digest chunks.  Doing all this necessitated creating a copy of all the data pages (but not the profile pages, which remain on the main site.)

Although maintaining two different copies of each city and AM/FM/TV/LPFM/LPTV page is not ideal, it's the best solution I can come up with, with the limited tools at my disposal.  I don't have many phones to check my site out with, so if you find your device rendering ABMP funny, let me know and I'll see if I can fix it.

WEKI/WTKI multicast picks up another translator

The Huntsville-Decatur dual-AM multicast talkers WTKI and WEKI have added another translator in the Decatur area, reports The Birmingham News. WTKI already had a translator on 92.9 MHz in the Huntsville area.  This adds another 250 watt setup on 94.7 MHz, licensed to Moores Mill.

W222BK Pelham on air, rebroadcasting WZNN.

W222BK (92.3 MHz, 10 watts, from a site in the northern part of Pelham in Shelby County) is on air and not relaying the listed WAY-FM signal that had been previously listed on this site.  Instead, it is relaying Cox's WZNN, "97.3 the Zone" with its sports format.

Two new west Alabama FMs get licenses to cover

There are two new west Alabama FMs that recently received their licenses to cover for fulltime broadcasting.  WMWI, Demopolis (88.7 MHz, 100 watts) and WKUA, Moundville (88.5, 5.5 kWV/1 watt H).  WMWI is owned and operated by Miles College and features a variety format targeting African-American tastes; it will also be used as a recruiting tool for the Birmignham-based college and also features an online component to allow people in the Birmingham area to listen.  WKUA is owned by Take Bake The Airwaves Ministries (it's unclear who has taken our airwaves away, ha ha) and features the Revocation Radio Christian rock/urban format that's also found on WKRE in Argo.  The WKUA station's directional antenna helps it cover much of the Tuscaloosa metro area.

Another translator move in Birmingham

W210CA at 89.9 MHz is currently licensed to Birmingham, and has transmitter coordinates in Fultondale, with a 10 watt authorization to relay WAY-FM.  It just received a construction permit to move to Red Mountain at 180 watts.

Normally a translator move like this wouldn't be worth mentioning, but in this case the parent station has been changed to WBHJ, 95-7 Jamz.  Since a commercial station can't use a translator, the only thing I can figure is it's either A) a placeholder for another non-comm feed or B) they've got a plan to move it to the commercial band.  The only commercial band frequency I figure they could move it to (after filing a second and third request to change facilities) would be 100.1 MHz.

This is the latest translator move with "possibilities" in the Birmingham market, after W294BL, which is currently on the air but hard to catch on its first-adjacent perch next to WBPT.  It's currently relaying WBPT, which like WBHJ is a Cox property.

Could Cox be following in Clear Channel's footsteps and utilizing loopholes to get new FM signals on the air?

New construction permit issued for translator in Valley Head

A rare brand new CP has been issued for a translator in Valley Head, Alabama, near Mentone.  The station, W230BV, will broadcast with 55 watts from a site on the valley floor on 93.9 MHz.  The parent station will be Moody Bible Network's WMBV in Chattanooga.

Links to WABB's final hours audio, the start of WABD

Here are the final hours of WABB, as recorded from Foley, off air.  Each file is about 109 MB and runs one hour in length.  There is some noise in parts due to reception issues.  Right-click and Save As… to download.

6:30 to 7:30 pm

7:30 to 8:30

8:30 to 9:30

9:30 to 10:30

10:30 to 11:30

11:30 to 12:23

The fine folks over at MonsterFM recorded the final hours off the station's web stream:

6 to 9 pm (4 hours 19 minutes, 237 MB)

9 to midnight (2 hours 51 minutes, 156 MB)



WABD stunted for 30 minutes prior to midnight with a bell tolling.  Available is a condensed version of the audio leading up to the flip, and a few breaks between songs right after midnight, including the new legal ID.  There's also a condensed check of all the drops between songs, but as it was running jockless the content is sparse.  Included in that file is a gaffe where they mention Q-100 in Atlanta instead of WABD.  Each of these files is just over 3 minutes and around 4 MB each.

Focus on Mobile: WABB leaves, WABD enters, and W262BL surprises

It's 1 March 2012, and WABB is no more.  The station hosted a 12 hour loop of clips from the station's history, going all the way back to the late 50s and WABB-AM 1480.  The last 5.5 hours, including the flip to K-Love, are available here.  At midnight, K-Love faded in, right in the middle of a song.  Their first legal ID came shortly after, mention the new calls, WLVM, and also the legal ID for WKPF Navarre, which implies they're being simulcasted off one another.  The actual ID reads "WLVM Mobile-Pascagoula, WKPF Navarre-Pensacola".

I contacted EMF yesterday and they said they had no immediate plans for WKPF and that it and WLVM will simulcast K-Love for the time being.

As one CHR leaves Mobile, another makes a stumbling entrance: former WYOK "Jack FM" dropped the variety hits format half an hour before midnight for a tolling bell.  At midnight their new CHR format debuted with LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem".  The imaging is done by the same person who appears to have done the failed i100 imaging, as well as work on the current Journey 100 format of WJLQ.  The music was heavy on currents and repetitive, but it's overnight and work will be done yet to improve the delivery.  The station's calls are now WABD, an obvious nod to WABB and/or Bernie Dittman; the station logo is a carbon copy of WABB's logo.  One major flub that got through was a promo for a Christ Daughtry concert that mentioned "Q100" — Cumulus' Atlanta CHR station.  One technical note: WABD has a pending application to slightly lower antenna height, and re-license to Saraland from Atmore.

Finally, lost amongst all the farewells and goodbyes for WABB is word that Red Mountain Broadcasting has bought a tiny little translator in Gulf Shores — W262BL.  The license is for all of one watt from downtown Gulf Shores.  An application is pending to move to what appears to be the WKRG-TV tower in Spanish Fort, with a height of 1414 feet and a full 250 watts.  That will cover some serious territory, for a translator.  The parent station is listed, for now, as WHIL-HD2.  There is no HD broadcast on WHIL.

Red Mountain Broadcasting is the name on several central Alabama translators, some of which relay HD-2 channels from various Clear Channel properties in Birmingham.  Could WNTM-FM be waiting in the wings?

W262BL Gulf Shores transferred to Red Mountain Broadcasting

We don't usually chronicle the license transfers of stations but this one is worth noting.  W262BL is a 1-watt translator licensed to Gulf Shores in Baldwin County.  It has never been on the air as far as anyone is aware, but has remained active in the database all these years.  It has just been transferred to Red Mountain Broadcasting, which operates translators in and around Birmingham that relay Clear Channel formats.

Does this mean WNTM is headed to FM via 100.3?  We shall see.  A translator can only be moved as far as its 60 dBu signal reaches (or thereabouts) so they will have to file for a massive power increase before they can contemplate moving anything, and even then there are no guarantees because the FCC has put the kybosh on moving translators more than one or two "hops".

WNTM has recently been rebroadcast on WRKH-HD2, which would allow the station to be heard via translator throughout much of southern Alabama and Florida, but The Rocket's HD signal has been off air for the last few weeks.

Whatever the plans for this tiny translator, it will merit watching as the Mobile area has not embraced translators like Birmingham, Montgomery and Huntsville have.

Mobile's WABB-FM sold to EMF, will flip to religious programming March 1st

In a shocking development in Mobile broadcasting news, Dittman family owned WABB has been sold to Educational Media Foundation, a non-profit religious broadcaster.  They will take over programming of the station on 1 March 2012.  The station has posted a press release on their website and broken the news to their Facebook fans, who are unsurprisingly upset.  Discussion is ongoing on multiple forums including Radio-Talk and Radio-Info.  See also this Examiner article on the station.

Bernie Dittman acquired WABB-AM from the Mobile Press-Register in 1959 and took the little station to top 40 and ratings domination in the Mobile market. In 1984 WABB-FM abandoned its AOR format for CHR and the transition from AM to FM started for listeners.  The FM eventually became the legendary hit music powerhouse we know today.  Bernie Dittman was the driving force behind WABB's musical success, but after his passing in 2006 the remaining family members lost their passion for the day to day operations of the organization.  When the station flips to religious programming, it will mark the end of over 25 years of pop music on WABB and over 50 years of Dittman ownership.  

EMF operates two Christian religious music formats, the contemporary K-Love and modern/youth oriented Air1.  Although K-Love is on the air out of Navarre, it is expected that it will migrate to or simulcast on WABB.  Air1 is not currently heard in any of the coastal markets covered by ABMP.

Speculation abounds as to "what happens next" for the competition, which at this point is only Clear Channel's Hit Music Now at 107.3.  Is a swap with The Rocket in the cards?  Will Cumulus try one more time to get a toe-hold in the world of CHR?  One thing's for certain, this shake-up has just begun to be felt across the Mobile and Pensacola markets.

WDXX Selma receives construction permit, slight height increase

Longtime country station "Dixie 100" WDXX in Selma has received a construction permit to move to a new tower site.  The new facility, which will still be at 50 kW, will be on a 492 foot tall tower off River Road southeast of Selma, on the Selma Hunting Club grounds.

Thanks to the higher antenna height, the station will improve coverage into western Montgomery, Maplesville, Uniontown and Camden.

WKLF off air due to tornado damage

WKLF, whose license was deleted by the FCC years ago but remained on the air anyway, has been taken off air by tornado damage to their towers in Clanton.  The tornado, which hit Maplesville and Clanton in Chilton County, did significant damage to area but luckily no injuries or deaths have been reported so far by local media.

A picture of the felled WKLF tower can be seen in this Birmingham News photo on al.com.  Another photo of the studio (with completely intact signage) is available through the National Weather Service.  The FM translator they acquired, W238BS, remains on the air, broadcasting from a location on Lay Dam Road in Chilton County via Marti (wireless remote) relay.

Update (01-26-2012) It's being reported on Radio-Info that WKLF is back on air with a temporary longwire antenna.  The studio received little or no damage, but the AM tower folded in half.  It also held the relay to the FM translator and a TV antenna used to pick up EAS broadcasts.

WMWI Demopolis construction permit modified

Miles College's WMWI, a new construction noncommercial station in Demopolis, has received a demotion.  The original permit was for 13 kW at 407 feet and would have covered Linden, Thomaston and Linden in addition to Demopolis itself.  Alas, the permit is set to expire in March and there's no sign the facility has been built.  As such, a construction permit modification has just been approved by the FCC which will knock the station down to a bare minimum 100 watts at just 157 feet.

This new facility will allow them to get the station on the air quicker while reducing the coverage area to just barely covering all of Demopolis' city limits.  This is a similar tactic taken by another area noncomm, WQLS in Camden.  They went from 11 kW to just 400 watts to get on before the permit expired.

WETU-LP Wetumpka sold

WETU-LP TV in Wetumpka has been sold and the license has been transferred from ACN Sports to World of God Fellowship.

No word yet on whether a format change is in the works.  WETU-LP currently serves as Montgomery's ion television network affiliate.

"Revocation Radio" WKRE Argo should be back on the air soon.

Thanks to a tip from a friend in central Alabama, I got word that WKRE has been off the air recently for some tower work.  According to a representative with Revocation Radio, the station should return to the air in the next day or two.

New Year, new format for WZRR in Birmingham, plus WQLS is back from the dead… sort of.

First, I want to thank everyone who has written and contributed information, history and updates to my website over 2011.  Without people across the state keeping me posted, I would not have nearly as much current data as I do, and for that, I thank you all.  Radio will continue to be an interesting medium to watch into 2012, so when you hear of a change, my ears are always open at webmaster (at) almediapage (dot) info.

Now, for the first change of 2012, in Birmingham:  heritage classic rocker "Rock 99" WZRR has flipped formats to CHR as "99.5 The Vibe".  Cumulus is going head to head with Clear Channel's established hit station, WQEN "The Q".  WZRR's ratings have not been very impressive over the last few books and have been slowly eroding due to competition from classic hits WBPT "The Eagle", a Cox station.

Hopefully this signals a reprieve for Birmingham's WAPI-FM, which is currently doing talk with three local, interesting hosts.  Their ratings are also not very good and Cumulus has cut other talk stations it owns to the bone in markets like San Francisco in an attempt to save money.

Moving down south, word is in that WQLS is on the air in Camden.  This new station is a non-comm at 90.5 MHz running just 400 watts from a short tower south of town and is owned by Alabama Christian Radio.  The format is reported to be black gospel.  This station started off with much more power and a much larger coverage area, but financial trouble likely kept the owners from building out the facility.  Faced with a looming permit expiration date at the end of 2011, they filed a modification to reduce power to something they could toss on the air in a hurry.  And boy, did they.  It was less than a month from filing the modification to going on air.

Whether they try to go with more power later remains to be seen.  Right now they're still building things out, including a website whose background looks strangely of an illicit drug.

Finally, if this new station's calls seem familiar, it's because they were used on the (now) WTXK 1210 in the Montgomery area for nearly seven years.