• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Richardson Buys WAYE 1220 in Birmingham

R

rambo2

Heard that this morning on WJLD, I was curious about the stopping of the simulcasting on 104.1, I heard Gary Richardson who hosts a morning talk show say he purchased WAYE 1220. I found a newly created website: http:www.waye1220.com. The logo says Praise 1220.
 
Just wondering how much they paid for WAYE. Last I heard Willis wanted anywhere from $700-775K for the station. My guess it was a fire sale, lol. WAYE has been off the air for more than a year now.
 
I clicked on the 'listen live' link, and a pop-up appeared saying: "Just sit tight...we'll be on the air August 15th!"

Gary Richardson has been busy, working a deal to allow CC to use translator 104.1 and now reviving the silent [and for sale] WAYE--both with debuts within two weeks of each other. I wonder if he'll have locally programmed music or he'll go with a 24/7 format (like Sheridan's "The Light" or "Rejoice! Musical Soulfood" by Urban Choice Media).
 
Will it matter what format they put on WAYE? Doesn't it have one of the worst signals of any AM station in Birmingham?
 
I hate to admit it, since I grew up not too far from where their studio is located on Lomb Avenue, but that's not an area of town I would want to be in at night. Where exactly is their tower?
 
Charles1 said:
I hate to admit it, since I grew up not too far from where their studio is located on Lomb Avenue, but that's not an area of town I would want to be in at night. Where exactly is their tower?
Click to expand...

From my site's data page on WAYE: "Mims Avenue between 14th and 16th Avenues in west Birmingham, near Elmwood Cemetery." It's just south of Dennison Avenue.

There's a decent satellite view of the stick, unfortunately Google Street View cars were wise enough to not drive down some of those roads, so we can't see it up close. It's in an industrial area, surrounded by several warehouse type buildings that, when I visited a few years ago, were mostly abandoned. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say half the ground radials are paved over with parking lot at this point.
 
Mason City (the name of the community where the tower is located) isn't a place I'd want to be driving through at nighttime, either. Come to think about it, I wouldn't suggest driving through there during the day, either.
 
Zach said:
It certainly has limited appeal if you look at the entire metro, but it still covers a lot of urbanites in Birmingham and the west side. The night signal is limited to Jones Valley, though.
Click to expand...

In the past, WAYE's signal during the nighttime hours would get out farther than the Jones Valley area. I have been able to receive the station at night in Hoover and as far south as Pelham. Whether they were broadcasting with the 75 watts they are allocated at night (or using the daytime power of 1000 watts) is anybody's guess.
 
Charles1 said:
Mason City (the name of the community where the tower is located) isn't a place I'd want to be driving through at nighttime, either. Come to think about it, I wouldn't suggest driving through there during the day, either.
Click to expand...
I grew up around Birmingham. Cutting through Wenonah and West End and College Heights and all that, that's how I grew up getting around town. I wouldn't recommend those roads for just any old tourist passing through, but if you know where you're going it isn't so bad.

Then again, I've been through West End ATL at night, Memphis (all of it!) for years and years and the worst parts of Compton and NYC and never really been too scared, so Birmingham is just another city where you keep an eye on your surroundings.

You wanna scare me, make me go through some bad spots of Chicago or New Orleans. Those are places I avoid! ;)
 
I can top that. I remember when 1220 was the home of WAQY, with Tommy Charles and Doug Layton. On Sunday mornings they did a live broadcast of the morning service at Hunter Street Baptist Church.
 
I believe Charles wins! I don't remember WAQY, but I have heard my dad tell me about "Wacky" since he lived in Birmingham at the time. He can also recall when the station was WEZB (after previously being on AM 1320). I also remember when 1220 was WBUL, "The Bull"- too bad those calls aren't being used by the current (and very different) "Bull" that's in Birmingham today. I mostly remember listening to this station back in '83-'84 when it was WTWG, an adult standards station (yeah, I was a weird kind of kid...listening to big band and adult standards, lol). From what I understand, 1220 started out as WEDR back in the late 40's.

btw...if you're interested in hearing what AM 1220 WAQY sounded like way back when, Birmingham Rewound's "This month in history" has an mp3 file of the Tommy Charles & Doug Layton show from 1966. Just scroll down to "April 2010" under "Previous Radio Clips". :)
 
passtheword said:
I mostly remember listening to this station back in '83-'84 when it was WTWG, an adult standards station (yeah, I was a weird kind of kid...listening to big band and adult standards, lol).
Click to expand...

I was weird, too. ;) I remember when WAPI was standards as well; my grandmother would have it playing on her "modern compact radio" that was the size of a notebook computer anytime we came to visit from Tuscaloosa. It never dawned me as a kid that I could have probably heard 1070 in Tuscaloosa easily, but I enjoyed the music then and still do now (well, without all the modern songs and oldies that standards stations play these days).

Mostly I made do with listening to WJRD and wishing the radio could play it in stereo (they ran C-QUAM in the 80s) and later I was glued to WCRT when I moved to B'ham. All my friends either a) listened to Kicks or I-95 or b) eschewed the radio altogether for them newfangled CDs.
 
1220 has been off the air for about a year. There is no STA on file with the FCC. It is a wonder that the FCC has not canceled the license.
 
rtech said:
1220 has been off the air for about a year. There is no STA on file with the FCC. It is a wonder that the FCC has not canceled the license.
Click to expand...

I noticed that as well...that nothing was ever filed with the FCC for WAYE to remain silent. Not a big surprise...it's the status-quo for Willis Broadcasting.
 
A friend of mine just sent me this link from RBR.com about the WAYE purchase, for those of you who might be interested:
Richardson finds a WAYE to double in Birmingham

WAYE is scheduled to return to the air on Monday. Just curious...anyone heard the station testing? I haven't heard them doing any myself.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom