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WABF is now on 1480
- Thread starter tomservo
- Start date
If they sit on the license long enough the FCC will probably change the rules and allow them to trade 1220 for a 100-250 watt FM.
Yeah, but would something like that even work in this market? All the "experts" seem to think anything less than 100 kW is too little power for the Mobile market.
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Groove1670
Guest
They are not turning in the permit. Just a a smart programming move. Nothing to see here.
OK. So where's that tower gonna go and still put the required signal into Fairhope and a reasonable secondary signal into Mobile? Have you ever seen the prices for land near Fairhope? It's not cheap. This is going to cost a lot of money and sweat for an AM that doesn't even have an FM translator in an era where such a thing has long passed the relevancy mark for everyone who doesn't have one foot in the grave.
Having said that, they're nearing 1,000 likes on their Facebook page, which is pretty good.
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Groove1670
Guest
Both stations can be diplexed on a single tower (In Mobile). The AM translator window will open in 2017. With that said, the station has a loyal niche audience and always has. A predicted notice of proposed rule making is going to relax translator rules for many AM stations that will allow them to relocate as far as 25 miles from the primary because of land and interference issues (which most smal market AM stations are experiencing). Expect to see many changes from the commission this year on the engineering side for AM and small market stations (AM & FM).
For example: The outdated letter in public file rules, and job recruitment guidelines have already been changed in the first month and will ease this burden on broadcasters.
For example: The outdated letter in public file rules, and job recruitment guidelines have already been changed in the first month and will ease this burden on broadcasters.
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The STA had them diplexed on the WERM tower and it didn't work. Barely reached Fairhope and everyone complained, which is why they're on a longwire on Twin Beech Road now, allegedly. I don't think they're going to find a permanent solution on the west side of Mobile Bay with 1 kW on 1220. They are simply going to have to find a tower site IN Fairhope or very close to it because of our bad ground conductivity. Or keep WABF's format on 1480 and shunt the gospel permanently to a much inferior signal.
I did learn that the gospel format migrated to 1220, so it hasn't gone away. This makes me wonder if they went back to the original STA in Mobile, since that's where the audience for that format is, not Fairhope.
Also, since I mentioned Facebook likes earlier… I know that does not translate into listeners, but it's interesting if you go by those numbers, they knocked the popular format off for a niche one… WABF doesn't quite have 1,000 likes, while WERM has somehow managed to amass nearly 6,000 likes & follows. (Neither rates next to WABD's 60,000+ likes, but that is a big FM station.)
I've got an acre with a boat ramp on an island with a Fairhope street address I'll sell them for $150k. It's outside the city limits and zoned residential but that brackish water would be perfect for an AM antenna baby!
So WABF is doing something similar to what 97X in PC Beach is doing by switching/swapping stations while crippled?
So WABF is doing something similar to what 97X in PC Beach is doing by switching/swapping stations while crippled?
OK, so the owners did a flip. WABF Adult Standards/Oldies 1220 is now on 1480 (5000 watts days non-directional/4400 watts nights directional). Meanwhile WERM Gospel 1480 is now on 1220 (1000 watts days non-directional/30 watts nights non-directional).
I guess at one time they used America's Best Music from Westwood One as the syndicated music source. Westwood One, owned by Cumulus, dismissed all the voice-tracked hosts last year and runs the service with no announcements other than pre-recorded liners. But I'm listening to the live streaming and there are no network liners. It's simply music, a few standards, and mostly soft oldies, running. I guess the owners decided to do their own music. Why give Westwood One those spot avails and maybe even make small monthly payments for a service that no longer has DJs?
I happen to really like the music choices on America's Best Music. After listening for about a half hour of WABF, the local choices come close, but are not as good. But why do I hear no tags at the end of each song? Whoever recorded the music into the system should say "That's Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens" or "Strangers in The Night by Frank Sinatra." It's so simple and makes sure the station isn't just a jukebox playing music that I'm sure many listeners cannot identify.
And I don't think some of the choices are on target. This format doesn't need The Jackson Five doing ABC, or Constantinople by The Four Lads. The Jacksons are too uptempo and The Four Lads are too old. Constantinople is really a novelty song. America's Best Music is very careful about not playing artists that are too outdated. It stays with Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, only the biggest 50s stars that are acceptable to people in their 50s and 60s. And America's Best Music won't play bubble gum music from the 70s like the Jackson Five that will turn off older listeners. (Now I'm hearing Cher singing "Half Breed." Again, a bit too uptempo for this format.) This format has to appeal to a wide range of 50+ to be successful.
Now it's the top of the hour but there's no network news. Again, most America's Best Music affiliates carry a network newscast so it's something other than just a jukebox playing music. Geez, network news is free to affiliates that carry the spots. Couldn't they just run a two minute national newscast plus a spot?
Songs heard in the last 30 minutes...
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga...Don't know the song's name
Jackson Five...ABC
Bobby Dee... Don't know the song's name
Cat Stevens...Morning Has Broken
Four Lads...Constantinople
Cher...Half Breed
Hall & Oates...I Can't Go for That
Charlie Rich...Behind Closed Doors
Rita Coolidge...All Time High
Tom Jones...Green Green Grass of Home
So I guess that's not bad. Other than ABC, Constantinople and Half Breed, the songs are similar to America's Best Music. And it's nice they spend the money to live stream. Most of these stations don't have the budget to do that.
I guess at one time they used America's Best Music from Westwood One as the syndicated music source. Westwood One, owned by Cumulus, dismissed all the voice-tracked hosts last year and runs the service with no announcements other than pre-recorded liners. But I'm listening to the live streaming and there are no network liners. It's simply music, a few standards, and mostly soft oldies, running. I guess the owners decided to do their own music. Why give Westwood One those spot avails and maybe even make small monthly payments for a service that no longer has DJs?
I happen to really like the music choices on America's Best Music. After listening for about a half hour of WABF, the local choices come close, but are not as good. But why do I hear no tags at the end of each song? Whoever recorded the music into the system should say "That's Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens" or "Strangers in The Night by Frank Sinatra." It's so simple and makes sure the station isn't just a jukebox playing music that I'm sure many listeners cannot identify.
And I don't think some of the choices are on target. This format doesn't need The Jackson Five doing ABC, or Constantinople by The Four Lads. The Jacksons are too uptempo and The Four Lads are too old. Constantinople is really a novelty song. America's Best Music is very careful about not playing artists that are too outdated. It stays with Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, only the biggest 50s stars that are acceptable to people in their 50s and 60s. And America's Best Music won't play bubble gum music from the 70s like the Jackson Five that will turn off older listeners. (Now I'm hearing Cher singing "Half Breed." Again, a bit too uptempo for this format.) This format has to appeal to a wide range of 50+ to be successful.
Now it's the top of the hour but there's no network news. Again, most America's Best Music affiliates carry a network newscast so it's something other than just a jukebox playing music. Geez, network news is free to affiliates that carry the spots. Couldn't they just run a two minute national newscast plus a spot?
Songs heard in the last 30 minutes...
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga...Don't know the song's name
Jackson Five...ABC
Bobby Dee... Don't know the song's name
Cat Stevens...Morning Has Broken
Four Lads...Constantinople
Cher...Half Breed
Hall & Oates...I Can't Go for That
Charlie Rich...Behind Closed Doors
Rita Coolidge...All Time High
Tom Jones...Green Green Grass of Home
So I guess that's not bad. Other than ABC, Constantinople and Half Breed, the songs are similar to America's Best Music. And it's nice they spend the money to live stream. Most of these stations don't have the budget to do that.
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Groove1670
Guest
Seedless. It isn't as simple as finding a piece of land in Fairhope. Engineering for am is very complex.
Tomservo: The move of the gospel to 1220 was because of the signal issues and most of the listeners are in Mobile anyway. 1480 will better serve the WABF audience. The swap solved the issues for now.
America's best music was dropped for a local presentation.
Tomservo: The move of the gospel to 1220 was because of the signal issues and most of the listeners are in Mobile anyway. 1480 will better serve the WABF audience. The swap solved the issues for now.
America's best music was dropped for a local presentation.
They're under new ownership, so we gotta give them time to see what materializes. It was only a month or two ago that they moved 1220 to new studios in downtown Fairhope, so they are at least committed to keeping it "live and local" in that respect. The swap shop is staying, which me being a city boy I've never understood the appeal of that programming, but it seems to be well liked.
The last two days I've thought to check, 1480 has been off the air, but they mentioned on their new FB page this was going to happen. I have a feeling they are bringing 1220 back to be diplexed on the 1480 tower, as their original STA indicated. (That was quickly abandoned for a longwire on Twin Beech Road when it was found to not cover Fairhope adequately.)
Another thing is it looks like they are merely updating the music to reflect current trends in "standards" radio, which is basically abandoning the older music for soft oldies. I can't remember now where I was reading that, but it seems to be a small trend. After all, regular 60's and 70's oldies are way out of the money demos, so standards like America's Best Music are positively in the grave at this point. At least as far as advertisers are concerned. It's a shame, but that's life. God knows I learned to not expect true oldies on terrestrial radio anymore… Luckily I found AccuRadio online and listen to it exclusively for music now. Low spot load and hundreds of channels, plus decent smartphone apps and a good web-based PC streaming site negate the need for tuning to local radio anymore.
Every time I would listen to WABF when it was still with the previous owners and at the previous site… I heard newer artists mixed in with older artists, but still with the same style of music. Michael Bublé and Harry Connick Jr., stuff like that. But even America's Best Music played the occasional "soft oldie" like "Monday Monday" by the Mammas and the Pappas.
Groove1670, I talked to someone at WABF and they did say this change is permanent… I don't understand all the requirements for AM stations covering their licensed markets, but I'm going to assume the 1480 facility can adequately be re-licensed to Fairhope, and 1220 can be adequately re-licensed to Mobile. 1220 as a class D from the WERM tower didn't put enough signal into Fairhope to qualify, from what I read.
Of course, looking at the coverage maps, 1480's 2 mV/m contour only covers about 50% of Fairhope's city limits, the part within a few miles of Mobile Bay. That's not exactly stellar, but again I don't know the rules for this sort of thing.
America's Best Music serves several 50+ audiences. A) Those simply looking for soft music on the radio (Carpenters, Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick). B) Those looking for Adult Standards (Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee). C) Those looking for older oldies (Elvis, Bobby Dee, Brenda Lee). No one category of music should step too hard on another. The standards must be mostly songs that also made the Top 40 in their day, getting played on Contemporary radio stations. The older oldies shouldn't be too doo wop.
Anyone programming a station like this should understand this three-legged stool. I'm there for the soft music but I don't want to hear standards that sound too old. I like some 50s/60s oldies, but not too much. I'm sure someone else would say they'll go along with some of the soft hits, but again, not too much to make them feel sleepy. All must work well together.
And this station being aimed at a 50+ audience, hourly network news is clearly part of the package, especially for a station that will be automated much of the time. Once per hour, we should have a live voice telling us what's going on, even if the weather is clearly pre-recorded. Can they get someone to record the weather where it doesn't sound like a chore the announcer really doesn't want to do? I'm sure Total Traffic would do it, with a musical bed, if they could attach a commercial to it. It's not like the station is overcrowded with spots. When I listened, there were no spots at all.
Anyone programming a station like this should understand this three-legged stool. I'm there for the soft music but I don't want to hear standards that sound too old. I like some 50s/60s oldies, but not too much. I'm sure someone else would say they'll go along with some of the soft hits, but again, not too much to make them feel sleepy. All must work well together.
And this station being aimed at a 50+ audience, hourly network news is clearly part of the package, especially for a station that will be automated much of the time. Once per hour, we should have a live voice telling us what's going on, even if the weather is clearly pre-recorded. Can they get someone to record the weather where it doesn't sound like a chore the announcer really doesn't want to do? I'm sure Total Traffic would do it, with a musical bed, if they could attach a commercial to it. It's not like the station is overcrowded with spots. When I listened, there were no spots at all.
So we have a Mobile station serving Fairhope. Kind of a reverse move-in huh?
Last time I heard 1480 a couple of weeks ago, the TOH ID was given as "WABF, Fairhope". The call sign for 1480 is still WERM and 1220 is still WABF, at least according to the FCC database, anyway.
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