Great locally owned Alabama Stations.

[stereolane]

Is 900 WATV in Birmingham still locally owned? They seem like they have done very well through the years, and are a great service to their audience...

Still locally owned and according to their website they have a few local hosts beyond the usual block of religious/gospel programming from local churches on Sunday.

WATV is owned by Sheridan Broadcasting out of Pittsburgh. It was sold to them several years ago. Up until that time, it was owned by Birmingham Ebony (Shelly Stewart and Erskine Faush) who were both Birmingham radio legends.

Exactly what I tried to post above, but my post came up empty. ???

I couldn't recall if Sheridan is out of Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. Not "locally owned", but Sheridan is / was an old school broadcast group. Certainly not a CC or Cumulus. Not sure how many stations they have these days. I think maybe WATV and one or two other stations. Back in the day, Mutual News (remember them?) had a network called "Mutual Black"... I believe the Sheridan stations, of which there were a dozen or more, carried the Mutual News black network.

 

[Poledo]

I know I'm chiming in late here, the web hasn't been on my list of priorities the last couple months.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned WOOF, WABB, or WZEW (yeah, I stay down south)?

WOOF is WOOF.
WABB is having problems right now but they have yet to truly self destruct. Most posters here seem to have given up hope but all it would take is a new GM or program director with strong power to put WABB back on track. History and signal should count in this case.
WZEW is one of the best fukcing stations in the USA.

I saw WAAZ from Crestview, FL mentioned, they put at least 50% of their signal into Alabama (remember to subtract the signal going over the Gulf). WAAZ caters to Crestview but they do stretch out and serve south central Alabama quite well... just as well as they serve Fort Walton/Destin.

Also, just based on my musical taste and lack of travel to Montgomery/Atlanta in the last 5 years, I think The Tiger in Auburn deserves a nod. There used to be (?) a nice little local classic country FM in Ozark. Don't know it's current status. Also the Opp stations and don't forget the old Weevil in Elba/Enterprise.

Oh, and WTBF Brundidge/Troy was always a good one. They still playing nice with Troy State students on air?

 

[WBGR FM 93.1]

I know I'm chiming in late here, the web hasn't been on my list of priorities the last couple months.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned WOOF, WABB, or WZEW (yeah, I stay down south)?

WOOF is WOOF.
WABB is having problems right now but they have yet to truly self destruct. Most posters here seem to have given up hope but all it would take is a new GM or program director with strong power to put WABB back on track. History and signal should count in this case.
WZEW is one of the best ------- stations in the USA.

I saw WAAZ from Crestview, FL mentioned, they put at least 50% of their signal into Alabama (remember to subtract the signal going over the Gulf). WAAZ caters to Crestview but they do stretch out and serve south central Alabama quite well... just as well as they serve Fort Walton/Destin.

Also, just based on my musical taste and lack of travel to Montgomery/Atlanta in the last 5 years, I think The Tiger in Auburn deserves a nod. There used to be (?) a nice little local classic country FM in Ozark. Don't know it's current status. Also the Opp stations and don't forget the old Weevil in Elba/Enterprise.

Oh, and WTBF Brundidge/Troy was always a good one. They still playing nice with Troy State students on air?

The only little Classic FM I know of out of Ozark was WJRL 103.9... they switched formats back in 2004-ish, and have changed several times since then... Back in the day, they were owned by Jimmy Jarrell, who owns a car stereo shop in Auburn, and WELL FM 88.7, along with WJHO FM 89.7 nowadays.

Tiger Communications in Auburn does a good job as well with 93.9 The Tiger, Classic Country 95.9 The Eagle, and whatever the eclectic sounding format is on 99.9 Kate FM....

WAOQ Q100.3 in Luverne is an interesting little station too. A few years back, they had some odd sounding audio, but they've finally (kinda) got that fixed during the past 2 or 3 years.

-Travis

 

[tomservo]

WAOQ Q100.3 in Luverne is an interesting little station too. A few years back, they had some odd sounding audio, but they've finally (kinda) got that fixed during the past 2 or 3 years.

Isn't it owned (via subsidiary or shell) by Great South, who owns the Peach in Clanton and the sports station in Huntsville?

Edit to add:

Here's one no one's mentioned yet: Sunny 105.7 (WCSN) in Orange Beach. They seem to really take pride in being the beach area's local station, and they have a wildly eclectic mix of classic hits and modern music.

As always, when I mention them, though, a caveat: I think they are the worst processed FM station in the state, if not the entire US of A. Tonight I stumbled on them playing the B-52's Rock Lobster and it sounded completely unlike any version I had ever heard. It was the same song, it just sounded alien because of all the horrible processing and over wrought compression! I can't believe people can be that "soncically ignorant", to coin a phrase, to not complain about it.

 

[Poledo]

I thought about Sunny as soon as I hit post. The station sucks (well, they carry Auburn Football, so they get brownie points for that) but it serves the area well and you hear it playing in every dang business in South Baldwin. The station has a signal would (could) become some type of niche rimshot signal for Pensacola, but they seem right at home in South Baldwin. Hopefully it stays local for a good long while and doesn't wind up targeting Pensacola with sports or religion one day.

 

[jovialjay]

WKAC 1080 in Athens. Live jocks, oldies format, and they dusted off some of their early '70s PAMS jingles.

Russell...those jingles are from the Gwinsound "Accelerators" package. I spent 15 minutes there in early '76.

 

[jovialjay]

Going back to S Alabama, does anyone know about WHOD in Jackson? They appear to still host the usual community show and swap shop along with local sports and Alabama football, with Rick and Bubba in the morning.

WHOD's sister station, WBMH/Grove Hill "Bama 106" is live and local in morning drive.

 

[rwells2265]

WKAC 1080 in Athens. Live jocks, oldies format, and they dusted off some of their early '70s PAMS jingles.

Russell...those jingles are from the Gwinsound "Accelerators" package. I spent 15 minutes there in early '76.

Oh yes, those. I hear some of them on a brief 1975 aircheck I have. Prior to the Gwinsound, 'KAC did have a PAMS package - Series 37 - and at least two of those cuts were in rotation early in October when I was driving through the area.

--Russell

 

[Groove1670]

'KAC did have a PAMS package - Series 37

Does a site exist to hear Pams Jingles of the past?

 

[KEVIN Country]

http://www.pams.com/listen.html has a lot of PAMS samples. (including Series 37)

 

[WBGR FM 93.1]

Miami's legandary AM 560 WQAM tribute website has some of the old PAMS jingles from the 60's and early 70's.... I dont know the website, just google in "560 WQAM tribute" and it should appear.

-Travis

 

[headlandradio]

WVVL "Weevil 101" in Enterprise is a good one.

WTBF Troy does a lot to help TU students get some experience, but beyond that it is a terrible station.

 

[rwells2265]

WTBF Troy does a lot to help TU students get some experience, but beyond that it is a terrible station.

Speaking for myself, I'm not going to say "terrible" (I know many of them, as I moonlit there in the late '90s), but WTBF is nowhere near what it's shown to be capable of. At one time, WTBF was 100% live, with a lot of students on the air. Troy Broadcasting had itself a consistent source of "cheap labor", while at the same time getting the feet wet of hundreds upon hundreds of young folk who went on to great careers in broadcasting.

That ended after the FM signed on (late 1997). Today, WTBF is off the bird far too much of the time. And I find it very sad.

--Russell

 

[headlandradio]

WTBF Troy does a lot to help TU students get some experience, but beyond that it is a terrible station.

Speaking for myself, I'm not going to say "terrible" (I know many of them, as I moonlit there in the late '90s), but WTBF is nowhere near what it's shown to be capable of. At one time, WTBF was 100% live, with a lot of students on the air. Troy Broadcasting had itself a consistent source of "cheap labor", while at the same time getting the feet wet of hundreds upon hundreds of young folk who went on to great careers in broadcasting.

That ended after the FM signed on (late 1997). Today, WTBF is off the bird far too much of the time. And I find it very sad.

--Russell

Yeah that satellite thing is bad, but also it's bad that the station does things like play country music in the mornings, at other times blues, bluegrass, gospel etc. Also they do things like read the obituaries in morning and afternoon drive and call it "news". I get it, this kind of thing was cute in the 60s, but not anymore.

That station has no sense of what people actually want to hear at all. If they would just be an oldies station and focus on that they would be much better off, but apparently that is too much to ask.

I have them on my preset because I occasionally listen to oldies, but man they suck. Admittedly I don't know much about radio programming, I really don't, but my dog could do better than they do.

 

[rwells2265]

Yeah that satellite thing is bad, but also it's bad that the station does things like play country music in the mornings, at other times blues, bluegrass, gospel etc. Also they do things like read the obituaries in morning and afternoon drive and call it "news". I get it, this kind of thing was cute in the 60s, but not anymore.

That station has no sense of what people actually want to hear at all. If they would just be an oldies station and focus on that they would be much better off, but apparently that is too much to ask.

I had to chuckle when you brought up the "obits-as-news" routine.  "....and Mrs. Eula Mae Tidwell of Brundidge died September 31, yadda yadda yadda, Rev. Lebuz Huggs officiating.  And now you're up to date on 'TBF!"    Yeah, that has always struck me as a bit bizarre.  Nothing wrong with obituaries, it's long been a pillar of small-town "community" broadcasting.  More stations did 'em than didn't.  Thing is, it should be partitioned as being what they are.  But that's how I see it. 

And I'm serious when I tell you that a lot of people around Troy *listen* to those obits.  When I worked there, I'd sometimes take calls asking about a given person. 

As for the music, that's a WTBF thing.  "The Morning Show" (an institution in Pike County) has always been musically all-over-the-road.  It's one of the hokiest things on radio ... and it works.  It gets talked about.  At the heart of things, WTBF makes no pretension of being anything else except a Pike County station (and maybe, to a smaller extent, Crenshaw). 

Me, I just wish they were still live all day.  :-\ 

--Russell

 

[busterluck]

Didn't WTBF give up the 500 watt night time service and take down some towers for pee-wee night power? Not a good idea, if AM stations are allowed to go all digital, the loss of night time coverage wuold hurt. Now the WTBF signal is not protected from interference at night. It is now just a daytime station for all listeners nless they are close to the tower.

 

[Groove1670]

Didn't WTBF give up the 500 watt night time service and take down some towers for pee-wee night power?

The trend seems to be to add a translator, and drop night power (especially with costly directional systems). This is actually a good idea.

 

[J Alex Bowab]

When I was youngster growing up in a small town (Atmore) I was not a fan of small-town radio... instead I put up with static and fading to hear WNOE, WABB, KAAY, WLS, WYDE et al. Now in my old age, I retrospectively appreciate the contribution radio made in a small town. My favorite: whenever the fire siren went off (Atmore was small enough so that you could hear it everywhere), you turned on WATM and they would tell you where the fire department was dispatched to. The Fire Reporter was sponsored by a local insurance agency. After giving the fire location, the sponsor message was: "friends, this could have easily been YOUR home or business. Are you fully insured? If not, it's time to call the Maxwell Insurance Agency......"

 

[stereolane]

Didn't WTBF give up the 500 watt night time service and take down some towers for pee-wee night power?

The trend seems to be to add a translator, and drop night power (especially with costly directional systems). This is actually a good idea.

Not necessarily. A crappy flea power, or poorly placed translator with bad "picket fencing" effects, that can't be picked up on a Bangladesh-made Wal-Mart clock radio can be just as bad, and sometimes, worse.

 

[rwells2265]

Didn't WTBF give up the 500 watt night time service and take down some towers for pee-wee night power?  Not a good idea, if AM stations are allowed to go all digital, the loss of night time coverage wuold hurt.  Now the WTBF signal is not protected from interference at night. It is now just a daytime station for all listeners nless they are close to the tower.

They did, and from my own observation it IMPROVED coverage in parts of Troy.   WTBF's old night pattern had two significant nulls, for instance.   My parents live just outside the city, off Shellhorn Road (northwest) -- and the 500-watt signal was non-existent, even on car radios.   In the Hillcrest area it was very weak, and 'TBF dropped out completely a couple of places along Murphree Street. 

I think it's now 43 watts, and I have to say it's not bad.  It's still inaudible on radios inside Mom & Dad's house, but on both my car radios you can hear it, although weak. 

EDIT: To my knowledge, a big reason WTBF went this route was that its towers (1957 vintage) were in terrible shape and urgently needed replacing. More economical to replace three with one and go with flea-power.

--Russell