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Two More Alabama AM's axed at the chopping block

How much further east could 105.3 retain its 50kw status if it moved (closer to 105.7 on the Tall Tower). Change the city of license to Hayneville or White Hall or even Lowndesboro (since no Lowndes County commercial allotment exists), keep the tower north of US 80 and target west Montgomery. Even Autaugaville would be a good choice for a COL and then the station could easily cover Prattville, Selma, and Montgomery.
 
WKXN already has the Lowndes County thing covered.

Their City Of License is now Fort Deposit.

This station may not be the powerhouse that DWBFZ was but it still covers major ground.

I believe if WBFZ were to move to Lowndes county, they would have to decrease their power to protect Hot 105.7.

Here in my neighborhood, I can hear both 105.3 and 105.7 bleeding in with each other at 105.5 FM.

Even on a cheap battery operated radio, 105.3 FM was bleeding in at 105.7 FM and caused me to turn it to 105.8 and/or .9 to see what was happening at Hot.

R.D.P. <><

P.S. Besides that, I believe the owner(s) wanted to target the more poorer sections of the state with their presentation.
 
So if WBFZ 105.3 is deleted could that possibly open up space for WPFL 105.1 to upgrade and become a new "big signal" for south central Alabama? WPFL was on a 25k on a tower much further south with a focus on Florida listeners when WBFZ went on the air. Now WPFL has given up on the over-radioed Florida market and is targeting the area just south of WBFZ's coverage area...

If it can't help out 105.1 WPFL could any other stations take advantage of freed up bandwidth for a useful upgrade? ...kinda like WAMI-FM in Opp applied to do but never followed through with.
 
Now for my thoughts on this.

It's highly possible that WPFL could take advantage of this opening, kind sir.

Catch is, will DWBFZ ever come back.

If they don't, then I say go for it WPFL.

What have you got to lose.

R.D.P. <><

P.S. I believe that WAMI in Opp could still upgrade to 100,000 watts.  All that needs to be done is for DWYVC to go off the air.  Once that happens, they could do it and cover more areas with their wonderful and professional presentation.

B.T.W. I say let WPFL and WAMI make their moves and expand if possible.  This area of the world is over-radioed anyway.  We have more stations, than we really need. 
 
poledo said:
So if WBFZ 105.3 is deleted could that possibly open up space for WPFL 105.1 to upgrade and become a new "big signal" for south central Alabama? WPFL was on a 25k on a tower much further south with a focus on Florida listeners when WBFZ went on the air. Now WPFL has given up on the over-radioed Florida market and is targeting the area just south of WBFZ's coverage area...

If it can't help out 105.1 WPFL could any other stations take advantage of freed up bandwidth for a useful upgrade? ...kinda like WAMI-FM in Opp applied to do but never followed through with.

I strongly suspect these are paperwork snafus, and WBFZ will be back.

If WBFZ is indeed permanently gone... the channel assignment isn't. The unused 105.3 channel will remain on the books, and anyone applying for a new station or upgrades to an existing station will need to protect that unused channel. Eventually, the FCC will hold an auction and assign WBFZ's old channel to someone else.
 
So when a license gets deleted the allocation stays put and the allocation once belonging to the deleted license goes up for public bid in the next auction?

The whole WAMI 100kw upgrade potential came about when WYVC didn't renew their license on time and freed up bandwidth that WAMI could use to go from 3kw to 100kw. WAMI applied for the upgrade including an engineering report for a new frequency for WYVC if they were allowed to revive their deleted license. WYVC had no hold on their old frequency while deleted but did have an allocation for a FM radio station somewhere on the dial covering it's COL. How is the WBFZ situation different?

Or am I just completely wrong about everything?
 
I am looking for a tower site somewhere in the Selma area to launch a broadband WiMax/LTE service. I need for the tower to be as close to the population as possible - and in my search, my favorite tower is probably the AT&T long lines tower downtown. However, good luck trying to deal with AT&T.

My other searches found the selma radios stations mentioned in this post - with STL towers of probably 50 to 100 feet.

I could go with a commercial tower (and may wind up having to do so), but us little guys can't afford those big bucks. Plus, i'd like to do a launch in partnership with a Selma radio station.

RDP, you look like a selma guy. Tell me what I need to do...

FYI, this is a 2.5 ghz license. I might eventually like to team up with pine belt wireless but my initial contacts in the area (brief and last November) didn't really run with it...
 
I don't know what all would be involved but I wish you success in this endeavor.

One word of advice, make sure you keep your set up protected.

Crime has been very bad around here, for a long time.

Especially with historical monuments getting stolen and copper being taken from various businesses and Churches. (My own included!)

We're now trying to put a dent in it.

And yes I've been living here since 1971.

R.D.P. <><
 
Try this one.

WDXX/WHBB's Broadcast Tower.

It's located behind our Wal-Mart Store, on east Highland Avenue.

You can reach them at 1-334-875-3350, if you want to see about renting space on it.

This spot would be ideal for your set up.

R.D.P. <><
 
I own several towers, but none in Alabama, sorry.

The old "Long Lines" towers haven't been owned by AT&T for years. American Tower ended up with most of them, smaller tower companies picked up others. The cellular companies typically do not like working with the behemoth free standing towers, but they will when there are no other options. I had the displeasure of trying to mount a 3-bay FM antenna on one of these... quite a project, that I don't care to repeat.
 
I am on some long lines towers up here in north alabama ; they work great for our application.
The building there in Selma is clearly labeled "AT&T", the tower appears to be on the roof, much like a similar tower in Decatur AL is.

I have a contact with AT&T I am considering, too. Again, just need something as close to the population as possible - that is reasonably high :)

I like having the tower on the roof - that sounds pretty secure to me...
 
DWBFZ is back on.

Caught wind of it a few minutes ago.

It looks like they will get a new license to broadcast from after all.

R.D.P. <><
 
FCC-CDBS shows WBFZ refiled their renewal request on Tuesday. Apparently the fee went through this time, as the application was accepted for filing.

Yesterday, they filed for Special Temporary Authority (STA) to return to the air while the FCC processes the renewal request. This was granted today.

So WBFZ is legally back. IIRC the temporary authority is valid for six months, but it won't take the FCC nearly that long to process the renewal. I would expect the renewal will be approved in a few weeks.

It may be interesting to keep an eye on the Enforcement Bureau. I think it's likely the FCC will levy a fine against the station for failing to properly file the renewal application and for the brief period of unauthorized operation. (between when the license expired and when the station received notice of that event from the FCC & suspended operation)
 
R.D.P. said:
DWBFZ is back on.

Caught wind of it a few minutes ago.

It looks like they will get a new license to broadcast from after all.

R.D.P. <><

A few days ago, you wrote the following:
P.S. An update: WBFZ is now a pirate radio station. They're still on, as of this post. May the FCC put them out of business for good. Bye Bye Mr. Sanders and company. It was nice not knowing you.
I'm curious...what did you mean by that, exactly?
 
I said that because the FCC ordered them to shut down.

Hence the reason why I made the statement.

Thanks for asking me this question.

Hope this helps.

R.D.P. <><
 
R.D.P. said:
I said that because the FCC ordered them to shut down.

Hence the reason why I made the statement.

But all the FCC did was make a prodcedural ruling on the station's operating license, not its business license. You went so far as to mention being 'put out of business for good', along with 'nice not knowing you' directed at Hank Sanders and his associates. What's up?
 
I was under the assumption that they were gone for good.

Hence the reason why I made that other statement.

Oh well, glad to see things getting back to normal for them.

Hope they'll learn from this lesson and not wait till the last minute to renew their license in the future.

R.D.P.<><
 
R.D.P. said:
I was under the assumption that they were gone for good.

Hence the reason why I made that other statement.
Really? I'm just saying, 'nice not knowing you' seems to be more personal than simply chiding them for a legal mishap. After all, you didn't go that far with the owners of WBYE, WVFG, WNZZ...
 
Nate Wesley said:
R.D.P. said:
I was under the assumption that they were gone for good.

Hence the reason why I made that other statement.
Really? I'm just saying, 'nice not knowing you' seems to be more personal than simply chiding them for a legal mishap. After all, you didn't go that far with the owners of WBYE, WVFG, WNZZ...

Don't feed the trolls. ::)
 
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