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Pelham to get its first radio station...sort of

passtheword

passtheword

I was looking up pending applications on the FCC website when I came across this one for Birmingham's WDXB. On 11/28, they filed an application to change the COL from Jasper to Pelham. It appears it's only a COL change only, no changes for xmtr location and power. Nothing really major, but thought I'd mention it, anyhow.

Here's the link to the record.

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_list.pl?Facility_id=2114


________________________
Radio stations come and go.
Does anything last forever?
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whitfm said:
Why would they change the city of license?
Click to expand...

It does seem odd Clear Channel would do that, considering WDXB is already broadcasting from Birmingham, and the application doesn't change anything except the COL (what difference does it make really? Whether the COL is Jasper or Pelham, most listeners probably don't know or care, anyhow that the station is currently licensed to Jasper).

I know there was a CP for a low power FM for Pelham on 105.5 at one time, seems like the calls on it were WXMT, but the record for it has since been deleted from the FCC database. Of course, that was before WENN moved from 105.9 to 105.5 and increased power to a C2, basically nullifying that CP. Maybe since WENN and WDXB are both owned by Clear Channel, could it be possible that the table of allotment change (for WENN to move from 105.9 to 105.5) was approved on the condition that the service originally designated for Pelham be replaced? Just a guess, but it's sort of interesting to note that CC wants to change WDXB's COL to Pelham, and they were the ones responsible for keeping the Pelham LP-FM from going on the air.


_________________________
Radio stations come and go.
Does anything last forever?
www.PassTheWord.net
 
passtheword said:
I know there was a CP for a low power FM for Pelham on 105.5 at one time, seems like the calls on it were WXMT, but the record for it has since been deleted from the FCC database. Of course, that was before WENN moved from 105.9 to 105.5 and increased power to a C2, basically nullifying that CP. Maybe since WENN and WDXB are both owned by Clear Channel, could it be possible that the table of allotment change (for WENN to move from 105.9 to 105.5) was approved on the condition that the service originally designated for Pelham be replaced? Just a guess, but it's sort of interesting to note that CC wants to change WDXB's COL to Pelham, and they were the ones responsible for keeping the Pelham LP-FM from going on the air.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I remember that. For some reason I had it in my head that the LPFM had been moved by the FCC to 105.9, but I cannot find any record of that anywhere. The same name on the CP for that LP also shows on the 103.1 translator for Alabama Public Radio that's on in Pelham and and app for another one at 106.3, also in Pelham.

With the FCC's recent moves to put LPFM on a more equal footing with full power broadcasters, maybe it's a pre-emtive strike to try and keep another LPFM from popping up in the area?

There has to be a more logical explanation, though. WJOX(-FM) has changed COL from Northport to Helena. It's another "on paper only" change that makes little sense.
 
There has to be a more logical explanation, though. WJOX(-FM) has changed COL from Northport to Helena. It's another "on paper only" change that makes little sense.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about that, also, when I originally posted this topic, about WJOX changing its COL from Northport to Helena, because that didn't make a whole lot of sense, either. I noticed the station was still ID'ing as "Northport" not too long after the call sign change to WJOX; the COL change was still listed as a CP in the FCC database. I don't usually listen to 'JOX, so it may have since changed its ID to Helena.

If a station is given authorization to change its COL from one location to another (i.e. alter the FM table of allotments), wouldn't a replacement station or allotment have to be reassigned for the vacated COL? For instance, when WJOX was authorized to change its COL from Northport to Helena, Citadel's WTUG changed its COL from Tuscaloosa to Northport.


________________________
Radio stations come and go.
Does anything last forever?
www.PassTheWord.net
 
passtheword said:
If a station is given authorization to change its COL from one location to another (i.e. alter the FM table of allotments), wouldn't a replacement station or allotment have to be reassigned for the vacated COL? For instance, when WJOX was authorized to change its COL from Northport to Helena, Citadel's WTUG changed its COL from Tuscaloosa to Northport.
Click to expand...

I think the FCC takes a dim view of a station moving from one city of license to another if it means that original city loses its only licensed station. So if Citadel wants WJOX's COL moved to Helena from Northport, they have to find another station to change their COL to cover the gap. In some cases, there can be a petition for a change to the table of allotments, asking for a new channel to be assigned to the old COL, allowing a new entrant into the market, but I am not real familiar with the details on stuff like that.

When Clear Channel wanted to upgrade WENN, they had to go through all kinds of hoops to get it done. I think this is how it worked:

WKGL 97.7 (Russellville, AL) moved to 103.5.

WACR 103.9 (Columbus, MS moved to 105.3 and was relicensed to Okolona, MS (Tupelo) as its first licensed station. Columbus is still served by other licensed stations so there was no real loss to the FCC. I'm pretty sure they got a power & coverage upgrade out of this move.

WKXM 105.9 (Winfield, AL) moved to 97.7.

WRTR 105.5 (Tuscaloosa, AL) moved to 105.9 and was relicensed to Brookwood, AL (Tuscaloosa) as its first licensed station. Like Columbus, Tuscaloosa still has several other stations licensed, so no loss to the FCC. WRTR's transmitter site was moved across town, presumable to facilitate the license change.

WQEN 103.7 (Gadsden, AL) relicensed to Trussville, AL, to cover the loss from moving WENN. Like Columbus and T-Town, Gadsden still has other licensees, so no loss to the FCC. Doing this allowed Clear Channel to move the transmitter site to Red Mountain from "Mount Siani" as Bubba used to call it.

WTRZ 103.9 (McMinnville, TN) moved to 103.7 and relicensed to Spencer, TN, which presumably gave them some sort of coverage or class upgrade.

WENN 105.9 (Trussville, AL) moved to 105.5 and relocated/relicensed to Hoover, giving the city its first licensed station in the process.

What a mess, eh? By the FCC, it doesn't matter that Hoover is part of the Birmingham metro and already has 41 signals to choose from, or that Spencer, Tennessee is just a few miles from McMinnville. To them it seems to be all about diversity of city names in the database.

Hopefully someone with more expertise on this can chime in...
 
All of this "first license" crap is just that - a bunch of meaningless crap that has been obsolete for decades. Once the Commission started allowing all of the moves to get small town signals into metro markets, none of this mattered anymore. It's simply a smoke-and-mirrors political move to justify the gutting of small town radio.
(And maybe keep a few people employed in a paper-pushing bureaucracy)

It's not like any station is required to have ANY connection to it's COL anyway. No studio, no tower, no offices... it's all pointless.
 
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