A minor update: For fun, I've added a few minor features to the site. One's a basic counter, located at the bottom of the index page. The other is a site search which seems to work fairly well. It's embedded in the news page, which is shown on the index page inside a frame.
If you have any problems with the site search, drop me a line through the contact button on the main page.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
The Gump gets “The Gump”
The people at Tiger Communications probably thought they'd have the Montgomery new rock market to themselves after an orchestrated flip of their two east Alabama properties a few weeks back. They were wrong.
After flipping 95.9 The Tiger and 93.9 The Eagle, it seems the folks over at WACV decided to jump into the fray. As announced on the great Montgomery Radio and TV site (linked on the right side of this blog), they are flipped Friday to new rock as "The Gump".
This will put modern rock on no less than four signals across the area, with Tiger on 93.9 and a deleted-but-operating translator at 107.1 and The Gump on 1170 and 104.9.
Let's not kid ourselves, though, the real battle will be between the two translators. And since they have nearly equal (and limited) coverage, I don't expect either one to make major waves.
By and by, this marks the second time 104.9 has been alt rock and probably who knows how many times now that Montgomery has lost an oldies station.
After flipping 95.9 The Tiger and 93.9 The Eagle, it seems the folks over at WACV decided to jump into the fray. As announced on the great Montgomery Radio and TV site (linked on the right side of this blog), they are flipped Friday to new rock as "The Gump".
This will put modern rock on no less than four signals across the area, with Tiger on 93.9 and a deleted-but-operating translator at 107.1 and The Gump on 1170 and 104.9.
Let's not kid ourselves, though, the real battle will be between the two translators. And since they have nearly equal (and limited) coverage, I don't expect either one to make major waves.
By and by, this marks the second time 104.9 has been alt rock and probably who knows how many times now that Montgomery has lost an oldies station.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Several silent AMs, TV updates and a FM switcharoo
Reports are that several Alabama AMs have gone silent recently. WKZD "Crazy about the oldies" in Priceville is reported off, but still streaming online. No word on whether the FM translator is still going.
In Birmingham, WAYE is off, probably due to continued financial woes. They've been reported off for nearly two weeks. WENN-AM is also reported off, but the translator and online stream are still going strong.
No STAs or other correspondence has been filed for any of these stations that I'm aware of.
In TV news, Fort Walton Beach's WFGX (My Network TV) has finally moved from its FWB transmitter site to one of the tall towers in Baldwin County. This extends their broadcast range to both Mobile and Pensacola now, giving the area its first viable OTA or cable carriage of the once-network. No word on if any programming is available in HD. Also, a report of a weak analog signal present on the same channel in Mobile has people wondering if LPTV Christian outlet W50CF failed to vacate the channel for WFGX. It would explain the reception problems people in Mobile were experiencing when WFGX first signed on.
On FM, WTGZ (Tiger 95.9) and WQSI (classic country) have announced a switcharoo, bringing the Tiger's alt rock to a bigger signal that should penetrate the Montgomery market better. Or, at least it will once some more translators are in place.
Finally, slightly out of market but still worth mentioning, WDIZ Panama City has dropped their several years old nostalgia format for ESPN Radio. WDIZ's signal can be caught along the coast in the Mobile-Pensacola area.
In Birmingham, WAYE is off, probably due to continued financial woes. They've been reported off for nearly two weeks. WENN-AM is also reported off, but the translator and online stream are still going strong.
No STAs or other correspondence has been filed for any of these stations that I'm aware of.
In TV news, Fort Walton Beach's WFGX (My Network TV) has finally moved from its FWB transmitter site to one of the tall towers in Baldwin County. This extends their broadcast range to both Mobile and Pensacola now, giving the area its first viable OTA or cable carriage of the once-network. No word on if any programming is available in HD. Also, a report of a weak analog signal present on the same channel in Mobile has people wondering if LPTV Christian outlet W50CF failed to vacate the channel for WFGX. It would explain the reception problems people in Mobile were experiencing when WFGX first signed on.
On FM, WTGZ (Tiger 95.9) and WQSI (classic country) have announced a switcharoo, bringing the Tiger's alt rock to a bigger signal that should penetrate the Montgomery market better. Or, at least it will once some more translators are in place.
Finally, slightly out of market but still worth mentioning, WDIZ Panama City has dropped their several years old nostalgia format for ESPN Radio. WDIZ's signal can be caught along the coast in the Mobile-Pensacola area.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
WZZN Union Grove (Huntsville) reported on
WZZN Union Grove is being reported back on the air today, this time airing Fox Sports Radio. The station had a brief stint on playing classic hits during a testing phase, but filed to go silent with the FCC in December.
This represents the Huntsville market's only full power FM sports outlet. WUMP and WTKI/WEKI have sports content but are only heard via translators.
This represents the Huntsville market's only full power FM sports outlet. WUMP and WTKI/WEKI have sports content but are only heard via translators.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Our tax dollars hard at work
A while back I ran into a problem with the government-run map server that the site uses to plot coverage maps and transmitter locations. I figured it would resolve itself in a day or twenty, so I promptly forgot that the Tiger map browser was not loading maps anymore.
That was about three months ago. And today, while working on the Montgomery page, I re-discovered the problem. No only can we (and the FCC) not plot transmitter locations, the Tiger map browser interface is completely broken.
Since this entire site is hand-written because I have neither the smarts nor the money to do a fancy-dancy database interface, that means I gotta go through and change about a hundred links to the map server on all the Technical Profile pages.
Joy.
Since there are a multitude of plotting/mapping options available on other media websites like Radio-Locator, RECnet and FM/TV Fool, I am not going to be in any hurry to fix all those links. (And I was in a hurry to do Montgomery but I still put it off for six months, so… buyer beware.)
That was about three months ago. And today, while working on the Montgomery page, I re-discovered the problem. No only can we (and the FCC) not plot transmitter locations, the Tiger map browser interface is completely broken.
Since this entire site is hand-written because I have neither the smarts nor the money to do a fancy-dancy database interface, that means I gotta go through and change about a hundred links to the map server on all the Technical Profile pages.
Joy.
Since there are a multitude of plotting/mapping options available on other media websites like Radio-Locator, RECnet and FM/TV Fool, I am not going to be in any hurry to fix all those links. (And I was in a hurry to do Montgomery but I still put it off for six months, so… buyer beware.)
Montgomery metro page now online!
The Montgomery AM/FM/TV pages are now online. I know it's been a long time coming, so try not to be too disappointed. ;)
If you have some historical information to contribute, corrections or just plain ol' kudos or criticisms, drop me a line at the e-mail address plastered all over the website.
If you have some historical information to contribute, corrections or just plain ol' kudos or criticisms, drop me a line at the e-mail address plastered all over the website.
Monday, May 24, 2010
AM radio station links updated
Links to station websites have been updated. There were a ton of new links, dead links and all manner of madness but I think got most of it sorted out. I left a few "under construction" pages linked just in case they become active in the next month or two.
If you know of a web site address that isn't listed, do let me know. Contact info is on the website.
If you know of a web site address that isn't listed, do let me know. Contact info is on the website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
