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Birmingham Any news on WAPI 1070?

passtheword

passtheword

Anyone in the know as to what, if anything, is taking place with WAPI? The STA to remain silent ends in about a week on 3/8. Maybe another STA filed? I'd hate to see WAPI fall by the wayside, either from the license being canceled or Cumulus turning in the license. I have a lot of fond memories listening to WAPI when they were an doing adult standards format, initially from 1983 to Jan, '85 and again for many years after WSGN dropped their standards programming to become WZZK-AM.

I imagine WAPI wouldn't be a good candidate to be sold since it has no FM companion, translator or otherwise. I could see Cumulus possibly selling the station to a christian/non-profit broadcaster, however.
 
Cumulus has taken a number of the company's AM stations dark in recent years. True, Cumulus said it was possible 1070 AM would be back. I think it said the same about 560 in San Francisco. On the day 1070 ended its broadcasts, six other Cumulus stations also bit the dust.

You'd think SOMEONE would be interested in one of the best AM signals in Birmingham. 50,000 watts non-directional, the maximum, by day. And 5,000 watts directional at night. Most AM stations have nothing that good.

But these days, with AM radio dying quickly, I don't know of anyone who'd want to take a chance on it, no matter how good the signal. In its final years, it was a simulcast for a talk format that's also heard on 99.5 WZRR. Also in Birmingham, iHeart continues to simulcast its talk station on both 105.5 FM and 960 AM, WERC. Audacy has plenty of AM-FM simulcasts around the country. But Cumulus doesn't seem interested in keeping its AM simulcasts on the air.
 
1070 was not a total simulcast. The did break away to air Bongino while the FM stayed local. And the first couple of hours of Mark Levin were live while FM stated local.
960 is not a bad signal. Shortly afer moving WERC to 105.5, IHrt flipped 960 to alt rock to feed a translator. That did not last long when they flipped it back to simulcast.
 
JJSPC said:
Nothing filed with the commission yet. And even Christian broadcasters don't want AM's anymore.
Click to expand...
Granted the bigger CCM groups such as K-Love and Air-1 aren't interested in owning AM stations since their programmimg is primarily music, However, some of the christian nonprofit groups which program christian talk and/or preaching are still interested in and buying AMs. I mentioned this in my previous post below.

radiodiscussions.com

Birmingham - Cumulus files an extension for WAPI to remain silent

Cumulus filed an extension of their STA today. Anyone think Cumulus will sell off WAPI? Turn in the license? https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f9198d1eaab019954385e5e1ec0
radiodiscussions.com radiodiscussions.com
 
passtheword said:
Granted the bigger CCM groups such as K-Love and Air-1 aren't interested in owning AM stations since their programmimg is primarily music, However, some of the christian nonprofit groups which program christian talk and/or preaching are still interested in and buying AMs. I mentioned this in my previous post below.

radiodiscussions.com

Birmingham - Cumulus files an extension for WAPI to remain silent

Cumulus filed an extension of their STA today. Anyone think Cumulus will sell off WAPI? Turn in the license? https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f9198d1eaab019954385e5e1ec0
radiodiscussions.com radiodiscussions.com
Click to expand...
WAPI has returned to the air today and is simulcasting WZRR "Talk 99.5".
 
Are they still owned by Cumulus? I believe they are and if that be the case, they may be just having it on, to satisfy the license requirements. Also, if that be the case as well, there may be something in the works, maybe a buyer, if they are on. All of this is of course, from the armchair, so to speak.
 
passtheword said:
Granted the bigger CCM groups such as K-Love and Air-1 aren't interested in owning AM stations since their programmimg is primarily music, However, some of the christian nonprofit groups which program christian talk and/or preaching are still interested in and buying AMs. I mentioned this in my previous post below.
Click to expand...
Salem is a primarily an AM operator. They started out "for profit" but been "non profit" for while.🤣
 
It appears WAPI is off the air today. I am about thirty miles south of the WAPI transmitter but I'm not hearing anything on 1070 at 6:30 pm (I normally receive the station during the nighttime hours). Maybe was on the air temporarily in order to keep the license active?
 
WAPI is back on the air again today (3/11), still simulcasting WZRR "Talk 99.5".
 


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