WAMB on 99.3 FM

[roadrunner]

I heard big band last night on 99.3 and thought it might be WAMB and
then heard them say 1200 WAMB this morning (with no mention of 99.3).
Not a very strong frequency, and not that big of a deal but thought some of you might want to know
about it.

 

[Nashsound]

Looks like they have a 3 watt translator licensed to Donelson.

 

[scottwmro]

Looks like they have a 3 watt translator licensed to Donelson.

WAY-FM had 99.3 leased from Bill Barry, but since WAY-FM is moving thier transmitter site to Channel 2's tower, it will no longer be needed. Bill told Engineer Jim Turbo (engineer of WAY-FM) that in January that he will simulcast WKDA-AM 900 on 99.3. I guess Jim decided to go ahead and take WAY's programming off the 99.3 translator, so Bill just put WMAB on it until he get's 900 AM on it. That's what Jim Turbo told me. That's the word I got.

This, will "sort of" make this Nashville's first hispanic programming on FM.

 

[romer979fm]

IIRC...Bill Barry was given 99.3 originally to compensate for "Cuban jamming" on WAMB-AM's
previous 1160 frequency: the deal was it could only be used at night...and was to only offer
the same coverage area as the 1160 night-time signal. Barry must have some embarrasing photos
of someone at the FCC...he seems to be able to get anyting done. I don't have a problem with it,
but who else could get the nightime transmitter location to a 500w AM licensed to Lebanon (900)
moved and operating from a site basically in downtown Nashville? Weird. Day signal is available in
Lebanon and weakly in Nashville...night signal is pretty good in Nashville, but non-existant in the COL.
Barry plays 100% by the rules...he just seems to be able to help make the rules!

 

[scottwmro]

IIRC...Bill Barry was given 99.3 originally to compensate for "Cuban jamming" on WAMB-AM's
previous 1160 frequency: the deal was it could only be used at night...and was to only offer
the same coverage area as the 1160 night-time signal. Barry must have some embarrasing photos
of someone at the FCC...he seems to be able to get anyting done. I don't have a problem with it,
but who else could get the nightime transmitter location to a 500w AM licensed to Lebanon (900)
moved and operating from a site basically in downtown Nashville? Weird. Day signal is available in
Lebanon and weakly in Nashville...night signal is pretty good in Nashville, but non-existant in the COL.
Barry plays 100% by the rules...he just seems to be able to help make the rules!

Chris,
That's incorrect, I believe. I'll get Gary Brown (his engineer on all of this to back up the info on this one), but he originally had an STA on 106.7 in the late 80's, due to the Cuban interference. When Mt. Juliet Broadcasting sold the 106.7 CP to Lew Dickey in the early 90's, the 106.7 we know of now was licensed to Mt. Juliet and Bill had to turn off his translator on 106.7 in 1997. THEN, Dickey had to turn off the 6 KW signal on 106.7, due to interference to the airport. The transmitter site for the translator and the full power Class A 106.7 was in Donelson at the time.
Bill turned around and applied for 98.7, for a translator for WAMB after he lost 106.7 to the Dickeys.
The Dickeys had to pull a slick one, and file a Rule Making to relicense 106.7 to Belle Meade in 1997 to get it on the air with 1100 watts on Channel 4's tower.
He got the 98.7 application through due to he has interest in 98.9 in Lebanon and he told the FCC that 98.9 would take the interference from 98.7 in Donelson. Under normal circumstances, the FCC wouldn't have granted that.
I'm not sure how the 99.3 translator got started, but I can find out from Jim Turbo, Gary Brown, or Dale Howard and find out, but I do know WAY-FM has had it least for a long time.
Oh by the way, 900 is at 5,000 watts now, with the WKDA calls, and operates on the WANT 98.9 tower daytime, then goes to 130 watts at the WCRT (was WAMB) tower in Donelson at night. Bill moved the WCOR call letters to 1490, which he and Susie both own together with WANT & WKDA.
Bill has alot of pull at the commission and has had it for years, way before we were born. If you ever see Gary Brown, he can tell you about some awsome stuff Bill has done over the years. He is an icon in Nashville Radio!

 

[Nock]

He got the 98.7 application through due to he has interest in 98.9 in Lebanon and he told the FCC that 98.9 would take the interference from 98.7 in Donelson.
[/quote]

Amazing the battle they put up with Radio Free Nashville at 100 watts in Pasquo Tennessee on 98.9 probably 20 - 30 miles further west?

Nock

 

[mattthepm]

Amazing the battle they put up with Radio Free Nashville at 100 watts in Pasquo Tennessee on 98.9 probably 20 - 30 miles further west?

Nock

Try 45 to 50 miles. One can hear WANT interspersed with WRFN considerably going down McCrory Ln from I-40 (which is close to WRFN's tower). Talk about one heck of a fringe signal!

-M

 

[courier37027]

Yes, I remember WAMB went to 106.7 for a few weekends. That must have been 1995 or 1996, pre-106.7 The Planet days. I enjoyed WAMB on FM at night, even with Perry Como singing through a picket fence.

 

[junebaby62]

talking about 106.7 the planet, i kinda liked that station. i thought they would last longer than they did, they played alot of 80 tunes, which i liked. anybody remember how they did in the ratings? I know they did'nt last a year, then switched formats to kiss 106, then rooster 106, and so on and so on. another cumulos (spelling) train wreck huh! Still have some planet airchecks though, that i listen to every now or then.

 

[Nock]

Amazing the battle they put up with Radio Free Nashville at 100 watts in Pasquo Tennessee on 98.9 probably 20 - 30 miles further west?

Nock

Try 45 to 50 miles. One can hear WANT interspersed with WRFN considerably going down McCrory Ln from I-40 (which is close to WRFN's tower). Talk about one heck of a fringe signal!

-M

Was referring to how for RFN was from the translator.

Nock

 

[NashRadio]

Reply to Scott and JuneBaby

A few months (maybe weeks) before the Planet went on the air, I was scrolling throught the fm stations, came upon 106.7, which I knew had been simulcasting WAMB and it was playing active rock, no commercials or dj, and coming in very strong.

I called WAMB, asked VERY DEEP VOICE ANNOUNCER guy if this was going to continue, and he replied: "Uh...no."

 

[Tibbs4]

DEEP VOICE was right --- they canned the Planet way to early. But, the frequency sadly lives on. He was off the mark there.
Rooster, Kiss, Blazin' and ESPN radio have all but failed to. Crumulus let the better formats die to quickly and have kept the
worst rated one to long. Go figure. Are they Christmas music yet on 1067???

 

[firepoint525]

I stayed with them through the Planet and Kiss-FM (is that what they were called in 1999 when they were mostly old-school '70s r&b?) I remember them changing formats from Planet to Kiss in late 1998 while I was listening to them! I don't recall this format change previously being announced. From the Police and Alanis Morisette one minute to classic Stevie Wonder the next.

Then three days before their next format change, I remember listening to them and hearing listener comments that had been phoned in. One of them said something like "don't ever change." Then three days later, they did exactly that: they changed! : Grrrr... They HAD to have known at the time they aired that commentary that they were planning to change! I gave up on them at that time, and haven't been back to them since!

 

[firepoint525]

Re: Reply to Scott and JuneBaby

A few months (maybe weeks) before the Planet went on the air, I was scrolling throught the fm stations, came upon 106.7, which I knew had been simulcasting WAMB and it was playing active rock, no commercials or dj, and coming in very strong.

I called WAMB, asked VERY DEEP VOICE ANNOUNCER guy if this was going to continue, and he replied: "Uh...no."

I remember hearing that, too, in late 1996/1997, and being curious about it myself. I was on Broadway at the time I first heard it, and remembered thinking that, at least in that immediate area, it would interfere with the "station" broadcasting from behind the billboard at the Broadway/West End split at 106.9.

It never occurred to me to call WAMB to inquire about it, maybe because I figure that WAMB had divested itself of the 106.7 frequency by that time. When I heard the Mt. Juliet legal ID, I started calling anyone I could think of in Mt. Juliet to ask about it. I think I even called city hall! I never found out anything about what they were doing with that station at that time, but I recalled a receptionist telling me, "I will listen to it!" No advertising quite like word of mouth!

 

[scottwmro]

Re: Reply to Scott and JuneBaby

A few months (maybe weeks) before the Planet went on the air, I was scrolling throught the fm stations, came upon 106.7, which I knew had been simulcasting WAMB and it was playing active rock, no commercials or dj, and coming in very strong.

I called WAMB, asked VERY DEEP VOICE ANNOUNCER guy if this was going to continue, and he replied: "Uh...no."

Dean,
WNFN-FM, was WNPL 106.7, Officially signed on as "The Planet", playing sort of the same format that V-102.5 plays now. The announcers at WAMB had no clue what was going on when it went on, but Bill Barry did. Lew Dickey had won the allocation for a full Class A on 106.7, licensed to Belle Meade, but was licensed to Mt. Juliet before Lew got the Rule Making with the FCC pushed through to relicense WNFN from Mt. Juliet to Belle Meade, due to interference problems they were causing the FAA and the Airport.

WNFN 106.7, as Tibbs has pointed out, has been through many format changes. This is the "First One", that Lew Dickey and Cumulus has had to stick with (ESPN SPORTS/THE FAN), due to this legal battle between them and Randy Bell & Ted Johnson, majority owner of 560, WNSR.

Bill Barry knew that when the full power Class A fired up on 106.7, he would have to turn off the translator on 106.7, per Gary Brown, his engineer. That's when Bill had Gary file the application on 98.7. Bill sold the 98.7 translator, along with 1160 to Bott Communications, who changed 1160 to WCRT and kept the translator. To this day, Bott uses the 98.7 translator. Bill then moved the WAMB call letters his station on 1200, which formally held the calls letters of WKDA. AM- 900 in Lebanon now has the WKDA call letters, with the hispanic format that was on 1200, and 1490 in Lebanon has the WCOR call letters, which simulcast with WANT-FM 98.9.

Bill Barry and his daughter, Susie Bay, Jack Williams, & Skip Sparkman who all own 98.9 WANT, filed a protest against the application for WRFN-LP. WRFN is a LPFM that really doesn't get out well.

I was going to Trenton, TN a few weeks ago on a sunday afternoon, and WRFN was being stomped on by WANT. I'm surpirised the FCC allowed that application to go through. I wasn't even a mile from WRFN and WANT was all over them.
There is an application filed to move 106.7 WNFN from Belle Meade to Millersville.

 

[bub]

He is an icon in Nashville Radio!

He must be. The following is the mission statement of his stations WANT and WCOR per their website.

"It is the goal of WANT FM98.9 and WCOR AM1490 to serve this community by broadcasting the highest quality programming possible. Broadcasts are to be informative and entertaining, while reflecting a positive attitude and high moral character.
The WANT/WCOR staff will make every effort to encourage and support each other on the daily basis. Our audience and our staff should be aware of this commitment in each aspect of this business."

Glaringly missing in today's radio.

 

[w9wi]

Re: Reply to Scott and JuneBaby

I was going to Trenton, TN a few weeks ago on a sunday afternoon, and WRFN was being stomped on by WANT. I'm surpirised the FCC allowed that application to go through. I wasn't even a mile from WRFN and WANT was all over them.

Apparently to a considerable degree, the FCC will allow a LPFM to use a channel where it will be clobbered by interference from someone else, as long as the LPFM doesn't *cause* interference. I suppose they figure *some* interference-limited service is better than no service at all. Due to the ill-advised 3rd adjacent limits, 98.9 was really pretty much their only choice.

If WRFN were my station, I'd have an application worked up & ready to go to move to 103.9 the second the MITRE report is accepted & the 3rd-adjacent limits go away.

 

[NashRadio]

Clarification to tibbs

The music I heard was not the Planet, which, btw, was my favorite station during its short life. It was active rock. Loud and clear. (At least on the dowtown end of Ellington Parkway.)

 

[junebaby62]

You may think i'm crazy, but this is a true story. Late one night, a few days before 106.7 The Planet flipped to Kiss 106.7, i tuned them in for awhile, but instead of the Planet, i got Kiss 106. So i assumed they had switched! I woke up the next day, and it was back to the Planet again. Strange huh! The next day (early morning) i went back to 106.7 and again i got Kiss 106.7, I woke up the next morning and it was the Planet again! "I thought i was losing my mind". But i got to thinking, maybe it's just another station from a different city, over riding the Planets signal. A few day's later, the Planet was gone and Kiss 106 was born. Anybody experience this too? Any similar stories?

 

[jetfli]

Re: Reply to Scott and JuneBaby

WNFN 106.7, as Tibbs has pointed out, has been through many format changes. This is the "First One", that Lew Dickey and Cumulus has had to stick with (ESPN SPORTS/THE FAN), due to this legal battle between them and Randy Bell & Ted Johnson, majority owner of 560, WNSR.

The battle still rages? I found it to be quite ironic that ABC Radio Networks, a party in the suit, is of course now owned by Citadel, which of course owns the two sports stations' stronger competitor.