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.