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Status of WABB-AM 1480

Bob is still around; I run into him on the street occasionally. He does part time announcing at WHEP Foley. He's a good broadcaster. I didn't agree with his policy of signing off at 6 pm year round, even tho a daytimer can stay on until 8 pm in the summer. I wouldn't call the music "AC" back then - it was more like pre-nostalgia. I used to hear off-the-wall things that some old timer announcer played which went too far back for anyone to remember. The current satellite format music is well researched; my significant-other (63 yr old female) listens to it for hours every day.

Not only would I not have signed off at 6; I would have stayed on the air with the 40 watts or so that the FCC allowed, using an automation system.

I'm sure someone would listen to the Sat AM tape delay of a Fri nite high school football game, and the sponsors might buy it ... but it's not my cup of tea.

The station had a good record of community inolvement during Bob's tenure, and the same goes for the next owner, John Ward Hinds.

It took the next owner (Hagen) to finally get FCC to allow it to go non-directional, as the DA pattern was nulling a station that ceased to exist in 1963, and the null made the station unlistenable in the adjacent communities of Daphne/Spanish Fort.
 
Hi, J. Alex and John Patrick!

I've been a long-time lover of AM radio, and a lifetime resident of Mobile. Bernie Dittman was also a customer of mine before he passed on (parts for his marine engines & his home generator). Just want to tell you guys, thanks for the great posts and your work and influence in the radio market!

I also want to comment on WABB AM. I'd contacted them several years ago when I noticed the audio degradation and lack of same. Betsy Dittman called me herself (and gave me her personal cell phone number- which is no longer any good- in case I wanted to call her) and we had a good conversation about the station and her dad; she also had her CE contact me via e-mail, who told me that they were rectifying the problem. The problems went away- mostly....

Later, they went back to the same format: news at the top of the hour, then, silence, until :30 after, more news, then silence again. After trying to call Betsy and her cell phone message saying, "...not taking incoming calls..." and no one answering at the station, I figured something was up.

It hasn't changed today. Still lots of dead air.

Sad, for a station that was once a great one, in Mobile's market. When I was a kid, I wanted to work for them, then later, I wanted to go to Little Rock & work for KAAY, but I saw early on that a deejay's pay wasn't that glamerous...I stayed with my regular mode of earning pay, BUT, I always listened- and I still do. I still have a soft spot for AM radio & still scan the band. I'm friends with several of Mobile's finest- in fact, a couple of them are Ham radio operators (I hold an Extra Class ticket) and talk with them quite a bit. One, Charlie Moss, is writing a book about broadcast radio in Mobile. I told him I would camp out on his front step for a signed copy....

Speaking of "Moss", I was just contacted by Wayne Moss, a former WABB and KAAY employee. I help run a blog re: "The Mighty 1090" KAAY and Wayne was the first "Sonny Martin" there, later to return under his own name when someone else had the moniker. See our blog:

http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/

So many great stations have gone down the drain...but some of the greats are still on the air. Keep up the good work, y'all!

Bud ([email protected])
 
Hi Bud,

Thanks for checking in! Alex and I have relived some great memories on this board. I was lucky to start with WABB AM as a Spring Hill College student in January of 1978. I was there during their final months as the number one station in the market.
WKRG-FM(G100)debuted in April of that year and really had a well-laid plan and beat us. Bernie changed the FM in mid book from AOR to more of a "hits" format which only confused the matters.

With the exception of one year in Cleveland, I was with Bernie through 1989. Alex was right when he stated we ran several formats on that station...we did whatever we could to generate interest...sometimes admitting to catch lightning in a bottle.
Bernie never saw the potential of the AM, and I'm not knocking him for that. He was just so focused on his FM CHR's in Mobile, Birmingham, and for a time, Memphis. He also had a successful AM in Birmingham but that was because Bernie Barker was dedicated to make it succeed.

I'm proud to have WABB as part of my resume. I have chatted with a number of people, who have commented such as yourself, on the dead air issues on the AM. I live up here in Milwaukee and in the last ARB numbers before the switch to PPM, the top two stations here have been...AM! It is a viable source, and I wish someone would see that.

Mobile continues to be my second home, and it's always great talking about the market. Thanks for your input, Bud!

John "Patrick" Bowler
 
I was checking back on this post and re-reading my earlier entry and it seemed to me I may have been a little critical of Bernie.
That is absolutely NOT the case. I worked for Bernie for a number of years and even after I left, we remained great friends until his passing four years ago. He was a great reference for me, and even invited me back to handle his Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo Reports for 6 years. He was like Johnny Carson in the sense that ever since the first WKRG-FM book, Bernie and his staff fought back and they were out of the format a few years later and was successfully able to fend off any future competitors...i.e. WJLQ and WIZD. My frustration lies in the current state of the AM station where I cut my teeth. I hate all the comments of the audio and the dead air over a former #1 station in the market.

Thanks.

John "Patrick" Bowler
 
Hi, John!

Yes, I agree...hence, the reason I called the station in the first place, and expressing my concern to Betsy Dittman, to begin with. If, and only IF, someone buys the station, I hope they're able to bring it back to spec...it'd be hard to bring it back to its former glory, AM radio being what it is today. Nowadays, I hardly tune to 1480 any more; it's a dissappointment hearing nothing but dead air most of the time, especially on the weekends. I've been listening to 106.5 Talk lately, with Wayne Gardner and Sean (can't remember his last name right now).

Lately, I've been mainly tuning around, settling on KMOX out of St. Louis, hoping they'll bring back "Route 66" and Johnny Rabbitt, but they've been broadcasting lots of sports lately. Listen to WSM out of Nashville & the Grand Ole Opry, as well . I also dial around in the evenings, just listening to the strongest signal. I occasionally find a gem early in the morning, when I can't sleep. Sunday mornings, 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., "When radio Was" is broadcast on KMOX and I enjoy the old radio shows...but I'm running a rabbit trail here....

Suffice it to say, WABB was one of the stations I grew up on, after finding it in the late '60s...sure isn't like it used to be. And I can't even listen to the FM at all (not my brand of music). Will someone rescue this station, please?

John, I appreciate all you did and no, you weren't critical of Bernie. He did a good job with the station while he had it. may he rest in peace.

Bud
 
Do any of you know how to contact Ron Frasier?I have lost contact with him since he left WABB.We worked together for a few months in 2002 at WBYP In Mississippi.Thanks for any help!
 
According to WABB-AM's World Wide Web site, the station has replaced "Dr. Laura" with "The Lou Dobbs Show" for the time between 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM when the program is produced live.
 
I have heard local news segments on WABB-AM recently. The segment would be broadcast about 33 minutes after the beginning of an hour between a news segment from CNN Radio and a syndicated program. Eugene Willard is the announcer during the local news segments (I cannot find any information about the announcer on the World Wide Web).
 
I saw on All Access where WABB-FM has hired Jack Spade as its new pd from one of my old stomping grounds...Grand Rapids, MI.

I know this will be last on his laundry list, but it would be nice to hire a full time baby sitter for WABB AM. A month ago, I made a last
minute decision to attend my Spring Hill College reunion. On that Saturday, I drove around Mobile on and off again all day and night.
Every time I punched up 1480 AM, I found silence....not transmitter silence...automation silence. From 10am-11pm, I checked periodically and got nothing.

Sunday morning, they were back on the air, but very sloppy going in and out of commercial breaks and at least 30 seconds of
dead air prior to one of the top of the hour id's.

Can't somebody on the FM walk down to the AM and hit the "reset" button? I mean, there's always someone in the FM studio, right?
It's not as though we're talking about a completely unattended operation. I know I'm old school and got my start on WABB AM, when it was #1, and I know for years the FM has been the gravy train, but for a legendary station that has been known for some of the best talent in the country...what a sad state.
I know it's been discussed and argued before...Please donate the station to Spring Hill College. Believe me, they'll make better use.

JPB
 
Considering Spring Hill just sold the FM to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, I'm not sure they'd want to be burdened with another radio property. Especially one that, judging by the way it sounds, needs a complete rebuild from top to bottom.
 
WABB-FM is the longtime CHR of the Mobile/Pensacola coast. It is literally the soundtrack for young people/young adults with some cash and party time. It's a wonder to me, then, that their stand-alone sister (or mother?) station caters to the exact opposite demos with political talk radio. That, and consider the fact 1480 is easily double teamed by one talker on FM and another with Limbaugh & Hannity.


At this point, is there anything to lose by a real format shakeup? ESPN Radio just became free, er, uh, available. But even before that, I had an idea for a fresher sports/comedy/talk 'hybrid' station that might look like this:

5-8am Free Beer & Hot Wings
8-11am Dan Patrick
11-2pm Jim Rome
2-5/6/7pm Rick & Bubba
5 or 6pm-5am 24/7 Comedy

Add an FM translator (W278AP 103.5, Daphne/Spanish Fort would be great if allowed), and you could be have something that almost promotable on 97.5.
 
Have you seen the [urlhttp://maps.google.com/?q=http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/contourplot.kml?gmap=2%26appid=1413038%26call=W278AP%26freq=103.5%26contour=60%26city=SPANISH_FORT%26state=AL]coverage map[/url] for that translator's construction permit? Looks like they're aiming for Mobile. Literally! It's listed as relaying WBHY-AM.

Pair it up with WABB and a flip to ESPN and I agree it could be something, although I like your idea of a comedy/talk hybrid. Are Rick & Bubba not on in the market now? I thought they were.

Mobile was also a longtime Don & Mike show hotbed (known as "Darwin's waiting room" by Don Geronimo) and Mike O'Meara is still cranking out 1 hour podcasts that are radio friendly, maybe it could be added to your lineup?

"Everybody's a programmer." ;D
 
Nate, I actually like that line-up idea. WNSP is a joke of a sports station. I'm talking presentation wise and SNR is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the national feeds. Hearing Rome and Patrick would be very refreshing.
 
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