Classic Rock Making a Comeback in Birmingham

[passtheword]

99.5 has "Gone Country". Alan Jackson is singing about it now.

 

[Charles35080]

I really don't see how they can compete against two long-entrenched stations in the format. WZZK is the iconic station in the market. 102-5 the Bull probably outperforms 'ZZK in all dayparts except for morning drive. I give this new station no more than two years before they flip formats again.

 

[Kent]

99.5 might go with "Nash" after all. I just pulled up the Birmingham, AL listings on the TuneIn app. The listing for 99.5 has an icon which reads "Nash Icon 99.5". There is no stream, however, when I select it, and TuneIn sends me to a "similar station". Evidently, the "icon" that is mentioned on WZRR is the "Nash" icon..or at least that is what it appears to be, anyway.

That would be because Cumulus doesn't allow TuneIn to stream is stations on the mobile app (though it does allow the desktop app to link to them) because of its deal with iHeartRadio.

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

99.5 might go with "Nash" after all. I just pulled up the Birmingham, AL listings on the TuneIn app. The listing for 99.5 has an icon which reads "Nash Icon 99.5". There is no stream, however, when I select it, and TuneIn sends me to a "similar station". Evidently, the "icon" that is mentioned on WZRR is the "Nash" icon..or at least that is what it appears to be, anyway.

I feel silly, now I know why they didn't drop foggy mountain if they heard cumulus media was flipping 99.5 The Vibe (WZRR) to classic country they decided to keep foggy mountain to compete. So instead they added Rock 94.9 on 103.7 The Q (WQEN) HD 3!

 

[TheDingo]

Believe it or not, the Montgomery area translators, can be heard in west Selma. I've been able to get them all, with the exception of WAY FM, Lite 100.5 FM and The River 101.5 FM, from the parking lot of my home Church.

Dan <><

P.S. Just because a translator isn't a big boy, don't count them out. They can be heard in places well outside their main coverage area. (Examples include: The Birmingham and Selma area ones can be heard in Maplesville. The one in Marion, can be heard like a local, on most days in Selma.)

there's quite a few little blowtorch translators out there, it's not uncommon to hear Vulcan in Arab or Morgan City, fighting it out with WEUP, and i've heard of Huntsville's 106.5 translator being heard around Warrior

 

[tomservo]

there's quite a few little blowtorch translators out there, it's not uncommon to hear Vulcan in Arab or Morgan City, fighting it out with WEUP, and i've heard of Huntsville's 106.5 translator being heard around Warrior

I don't think Clear Channel is ever going to build it out, but one of the biggest in Alabama would be right up the road from me and I think it would be bigger than even the Birmingham stations except The Vulcan's CP. It's also about a big a change from the licensed facilities as one could see for a translator. Currently, it's licensed for 1 watt at 32 feet HAAT in Gulf Shores. But the CP would move it to Spanish Fort, 250 watts at 1,312 feet HAAT on the WKRG TV tower. It'd have a real world coverage of about 35 miles thanks to our flat terrain. But because of the severe tropo we experience in the summers, I don't think they'll pull the trigger on it. Sadly, the translator invasion hasn't reached Darwin's Waiting Room (Mobile) yet, even though there's several CPs active in the metro area.

 

[RollTide]

I knew Cumulus was rolling out the 80s & 90s country "Nash Icons" brand yesterday. I must say though I'm a little surprised that WWFF "Journey 93-3" in Huntsville wasn't on the list of stations to flip. This station has been at the bottom of the barrel since it first signed on and has never improved. In fact, all of the "Journey" stations that signed on back then have since flipped to other formats but WWFF. Cumulus has tried three times before to take down number one WDRM with a country music format on 93.3 with no success, but as I've said before I think classic country would work well on the frequency. Though, the Nash Icon stations aren't quite considered classic country, it is somewhat close. I would think that the frequency would be a good one to try Nash Icons on. Surely it couldn't do any worse than the severely underperforming "Journey".

 

[TheDingo]

I knew Cumulus was rolling out the 80s & 90s country "Nash Icons" brand yesterday. I must say though I'm a little surprised that WWFF "Journey 93-3" in Huntsville wasn't on the list of stations to flip. This station has been at the bottom of the barrel since it first signed on and has never improved. In fact, all of the "Journey" stations that signed on back then have since flipped to other formats but WWFF. Cumulus has tried three times before to take down number one WDRM with a country music format on 93.3 with no success, but as I've said before I think classic country would work well on the frequency. Though, the Nash Icon stations aren't quite considered classic country, it is somewhat close. I would think that the frequency would be a good one to try Nash Icons on. Surely it couldn't do any worse than the severely underperforming "Journey".

what they really need to do is move WVNN-FM to 93.3 to give Bama football a good stable FM signal for the whole area, rather than a scattering of little weak signals and an AM sitting on a national clear channel, and do something else with 92.5

I've been listening to 949 online all morning, no commercials yet, and they weren't airing the Saturday edition of Johnboy and Billy, but in typical clear channel fashion, the songs are matching up with other CC classic rockers. At one point this morning it was synced up perfectly with WTAK.

 

[RollTide]

I completely agree. I too have been calling for that move for years now but they don't seem to agree with that decision. WVNN pulls pretty good numbers to be on the weak signal it's on. I would think a move to 93.3 would be a no brainer to them but apparently not. As bad as they seem to want a country station in Huntsville though, I'm surprised they didn't put Nash Icons on it.

 

[TheDingo]

noticed yesterday the eagle got a new female voiceover package, and is now referring to themselves as "the only classic ROCK station", wonder if its related.

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

Rock 94.9 has applied to increase from 70 watts to 88 watts

 

[TheDingo]

Drove through on the way to Tuscaloosa today, I'm fairly impressed with the signal for only being 70w (or 88 if they've bumped it up yet) heading south I first heard it just north of exit 310 in Cullman, which is just a few miles below where 103.1 switches from WEUP to Vulcan, and had it heading west until the Mercedes plant. Little to no overlap with Rock 106-3 out of Tuscaloosa, which begins picking up just west of Mercedes. Sounded great also, other than a brief drop out every few minutes, sounds like some STL drops, or something with the reception of WQEN-HD3.

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

Drove through on the way to Tuscaloosa today, I'm fairly impressed with the signal for only being 70w (or 88 if they've bumped it up yet) heading south I first heard it just north of exit 310 in Cullman, which is just a few miles below where 103.1 switches from WEUP to Vulcan, and had it heading west until the Mercedes plant. Little to no overlap with Rock 106-3 out of Tuscaloosa, which begins picking up just west of Mercedes. Sounded great also, other than a brief drop out every few minutes, sounds like some STL drops, or something with the reception of WQEN-HD3.

I had my friend who was traveling south to test the signal of Rock 94.9 and see when WMSR Star 94.9 out of Shoals would be taken over by Rock 94.9 out of Birmingham. They got similar results to the yours Dingo, after driving through Moulton when they got to the Morgan County line WMSR Star 94.9 started to go out by the time they got to West Point Rock 94.9 was stronger but there was still some static. Rock 94.9 didn't completely take over till they got on I 65 at Cullman. Looks like this hurt WMSR Star 94.9's coverage area a little bit. Anyway Rock 94.9 made it all the way to Clanton before going completely out. As you said this is pretty impressive for only a 70 watt signal. The app to go up to 88 watts looks like it is still waiting approval or denial by the FCC at least of when I checked Yesterday. I wonder how this compares to their 103.7 WQEN HD 3 Signal ? I went to Birmingham in February and started to pick up the WQEN HD 1 (103.7 The Q) and HD 2 (103.1 The Vulcan) around Cullman of course there wasn't an HD 3 at the time and HD 3's are usually a little weaker.

 

[tomservo]

Yeah, but how much further into town do you have to go before the WQEN HD signal is dropout free? Birmingham had to be one of the worst markets for reliable HD reception I've ever experienced.

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

Yeah, but how much further into town do you have to go before the WQEN HD signal is dropout free? Birmingham had to be one of the worst markets for reliable HD reception I've ever experienced.

I can answer your question back in February when I tested it, It was dropout free at some point between the Dodge City exit and Hwy 91 exit. That's a 3 and a half to 4 mile stretch on I 65 couldn't tell you the exact point.

 

[tomservo]

I can answer your question back in February when I tested it, It was dropout free at some point between the Dodge City exit and Hwy 91 exit. That's a 3 and a half to 4 mile stretch on I 65 couldn't tell you the exact point.

You must have a much better radix than I... I get dropouts everywhere. Downtown, Homewood, Hoover, Alabaster, Bessemer... Last time I stayed in a hotel south of downtown, the only HD I could get to lock was WUAL from Tuscaloosa.

 

[Rrrrzzzz419]

You must have a much better radix than I... I get dropouts everywhere. Downtown, Homewood, Hoover, Alabaster, Bessemer... Last time I stayed in a hotel south of downtown, the only HD I could get to lock was WUAL from Tuscaloosa.

Back in February when I was in Birmingham I didn't try WUAL. I only tried Birmingham stations(and Huntsville on the way down). The only place the radio had trouble was around the summit.

WQEN I already told you about WBHJ's and WEZZ's HD signal came in around the same area WQEN did (I think WMJJ's as well). I started to get WDXB's HD signal as far north as Hartselle (dropout free by Falkville). Just past Falkville WDJC's started to come in. WERC's HD signal was the weakest not coming in dropout free till warrior. The strongest HD signal is WYDE which I've picked up in NW Alabama, NE Mississippi, Around Athens and Decatur (Not in Huntsville however). On WYDE though, by the time I actually got in Birmingham city limits the HD signal wouldn't pick up anymore.