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Status of WABB-AM 1480

Zach said:
WABB 1480AM serves the Mobile metropolitan area with a signal of 5,000 Kilowatts during the day, and 4,400 Kilowatts at night.
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And yet it's still not enough power to be heard in the late afternoon in Gulf Shores. ;D
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I'm sure the writer of the article for the WABB-AM site meant 5000 watts and 4400 watts. Their kilowatt equivalents would be 5 and 4.4 respectively.
 
97fmhistory said:
Guys, I'm trying to dig up the history of the old WABB building on Whistler Street in Eight Mile\Prichard. I keep reading this was a broadcast tower. So, was this actually a station at one point? The first? The building is still there. I took pictures of it today. The crumbled remains of the towers are still there too. Hurricane Frederic knocked them down in 1979 from what I hear. I'm just trying to find out when WABB operated from this location. And does anyone know of any pictures exists from this location back in the day?
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I can't find this on google earth... Where is it in relation to the intersection of Shelton Beach Rd and Whistler St?

Nevermind, I see it now. Thanks.
 
WABB-AM was broadcasting without programming for most of July until some time between last Friday and this past Monday (I first noticed programming was back on Monday). Later on Monday I noticed unusual interference on the station's frequency during its broadcast of "The Mike Gallagher Show" between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. As of this moment, the station's audio quality is fine for its broadcast of "The Laura Ingraham Show".
 
WABB AM will be sold. There are a couple of offers on the table now. Until that time, put this thread to bed.
 
musiconradio.com said:
WABB AM will be sold. There are a couple of offers on the table now. Until that time, put this thread to bed.
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Put this thread to bed? How's that old sleeper sofa in Mom's basement? Be sure to switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer before you go nighty night. ::)

I personally know someone who made one of those offers. Part of the deal has to be that they stick you with WABB's studio / offices... a 9,000 square foot white elephant in a stagnant commercial real estate market. Nobody wants the building. That's why there's nothing happening.

Don't forget to check the furnace filter, and empty the cat box.
 
Don't forget to check the furnace filter, and empty the cat box.
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Good night John Boy & Mary Ellen. Until then I would file a STA to go silent, and turn the building into a giant museum. ;D

Prediction: Sale = Six months or less....ah maybe not. Flip flop....Flip flop.
 
Mario-500 said:
"WABB-AM now a sports radio station"
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Before WABB-AM started simulcasting WTKE-FM's programming, it usually broadcast syndicated news and discussion programs as part of its own programming schedule and frequently broadcast unmodulated carriers (no programming) in between. Now that WABB-AM is part of the Ticket Sports Network, it can no longer follow its previous programming schedule since it would be expected to broadcast all programming from WTKE-FM
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Paid by the word? ;)
 
Yeah, Mario used some awful big words for the common folks that I assume read that publication. Maybe dumb it down a little next time... I'm sure the casual observer who may be a little interested in a new sports station on AM didn't understand the technical lingo in that article... but the point that they have a new option for sports programming got across... I think. I even had to read parts of it twice to make sure I understood what Mario was trying to tell me... it's like it was written for the audience on this board instead of the audience of the Mobile "rag".
*(I don't consider critiquing published writing bad etiquette, no offense is intended by these comments Mario)*


On a side note concerning College Football. Alabama and Auburn are just as popular in the Florida Panhandle (Pensacola - Destin - Panama City) as they are in Mobile, but I highly doubt that University of Florida or FSU football is very popular in Mobile. What's the point of this Mobile simulcast of a network of Florida sports stations? (It would make perfect sense if an Alabama based sports station was starting a simulcast to the Florida panhandle, but that's not happening here.)
Did Hale get this LMA on the cheap? Is the Ditman family just using the Ticket simulcast to get a new sports station off the ground that will eventually have it's own programming lineup? Maybe carry the Bay Bears games and South Alabama sports...

How will this effect the WNSP 105.5 sports rimshot from Bay Minette? Do they carry any of the Ticket's syndicated programming which could cause WABB to frequently broadcast unmodulated carriers again? ;)


One last thing before I shut up. What's the status of Omni Broadcasting (Hale's) 97.1 translator just south of Atmore? With WTKE 1490 in Milton apparently dead... maybe for good... there's nothing to feed it to the north (east) side of Pensacola. As far as I know his only other station in that area is the AM in Evergreen (another Ticket simulcast?)... still quite a few hops away. Hale does have a history of doing business with Clear Channel. I suppose he has the option of leasing an HD-2 or HD-3 from Clear Channel, if he can afford it. This patchwork Ticket network is starting to seem like it'll cost more to run than the old 100kw 98.1 when it was still licensed to Andalusia and broadcasting from Escambia Farms! ???

Theoretically, could a radio station lease a sub-channel from a commercial TV station (full power, class A or class LD) to feed audio to a 250 FM translator? If so, has it ever been done.... can anyone give an example?

On a side note about translators, I stumbled across some info today that Catholic WDWR 1230 not only owns the 103.3 translator in Pensacola but they also own a 95.3 translator license in Brewton.... with apparently nothing available to feed the Brewton translator. Interesting....
 
Mario, you keep referring to WABB as the new member of The Ticket Sports Network which consists of "WTKE-FM and WTSP-FM." You don't appear to have mentioned any of the AM members of our "Redneck Riviera Sports Talk Patchwork Network".

I know that WTKE-AM 1490 Milton-Pensacola was literally falling apart or maybe even fell down and is no longer simulcasting The Ticket Sports Network because a dark station in Milton can't broadcast OTA... but what about the other two Ticket Sports Network affiliates: WDSP 1280 in Defuniak Springs, FL and WPGG 1470 in Evergreen, AL? Have they been mentioned at all in any of the press releases your basing your articles on? Does anyone know what is happening or has happened with the rest of the AM side of The Ticket Sports Network?

Could Hale have wised up and sold off those rinky dink, haven't been relevant in over 30 years, probably have equipment over 50 years old (and are likely missing a significant amount of some copper that previous owners/contractors didn't leave behind for fear of it being stolen), radio stations buried in static on the AM band so no one even knows they even exist anymore? All of Hale's AMs (as of August 1, 2012) should just go dark and turn in the license. WABB isn't Hale's, yet. Hale should sell the 94.3 translator in FWB to Cumulus and just stick with WTKE, WTSP, and Mobile's 1480.

/end rant. I've been ranting far too much this month. I think I'm becoming addicted. Please help!

Also, I've just got to critique your article again. I had never even heard of the Mobile Examiner paper before you started posting links to articles here. I don't know who the target audience reading that paper is, but you use big words that most folks reading the Mobile paper and many people on this board don't even understand. The terms "megacycles" and "unmodulated carriers" should never be used except in a high level trade magazine or possibly a college term paper. If you find it absolutely necessary to use a term like those, you need to define it in the sentence following the term. I bet the only person reading those articles who understood the words the first time he read them was Zach.... and maybe that musiconradio guy. I got it, but I had to slow down and re-read the context to figure out what you wanted me to know.
I won't comment on the Examiner writing ever again Mario, but I felt you deserved some feedback.
 
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