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WBNM Alexander City

S

StrayKats

1050 AM WBNM is now part of Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel. (www.wbnm1050.com)

Back in the days, I always thought WRFS (AM and FM 106.1 pre WSTH era) defined how Top 40 should be presented and did amazingly well for a less than small market. Every radio in the summer on Lake Martin was tuned in, and usually on AM during the day because that signal boomed while the original FM signal barely reached Martin Dam.

WBNM did retain the Finebaum show in the afternoon but its now oldies the rest of the time.

Also, in checking the stations which don't exist any more, I noticed the "other" AM station in Alexander City which disappeared long ago is not mentioned. It was a daytime country station on AM 1590, and of course now I cannot find the notebook from decades gone past which listed the call letters, nor can I find them on the internet.
 
RFS was the only AM station in town when I lived there in the mid/late 90's. WZLM was just making the change from mostly live/local to automation off the bird.

I often used RFS in my office for on-hold and background music since it was hard to pick up much of anything right next to a huge server. I never felt right playing a Montgomery Station in the office and wanted to do my part supporting the only local voice in town beside the local UHF on 64 at the time. I always had to remember to switch the radio during the winter months so people didn't hear static when we put them on hold.

The other station I liked to use was WJZF 104.1 which was tricky to get with the computers around.
 
StrayKats said:
Also, in checking the stations which don't exist any more, I noticed the "other" AM station in Alexander City which disappeared long ago is not mentioned. It was a daytime country station on AM 1590, and of course now I cannot find the notebook from decades gone past which listed the call letters, nor can I find them on the internet.
Click to expand...

That appears to be WACD, and I've created a small history template for it on my site. Let me know if there's anything you guys can add to it. :)
 
Gentlemen, I would like to add a bit more to this discussion of Alexander City, Alabama's two AM daytimers. I worked briefly at both - WACD 1590 AM (1kw) (Summer of 1981) and WRFS 1050 AM (1kw)/106.1 FM (4.6kw) (Fall 1981-Summer 1983). The information previously posted comports with my memory of both stations. WACD came on the air in 1976 with what they billed as an "adult contemporary" format. It played mostly standards with a good emphasis on local news. Around 1977 or 78 it switched to country and remained so until it went silent. WACD's studios were located on Cherokee Road as previously mentioned (just down from Radio Shack), but in the final years of operation it was relocated to the vacant space atop White's Furniture Store on Tallapoosa Street. J.P. White bought WACD and thus moved it to his building on Tallapoosa street later. I don't live in Alabama anymore, but the last time I was in Alex City that building and the old WACD studios were home to a low power FM Christian station. About WACD's transmitter and tower, they were indeed located at the north end of I Street (Northside area of town) in a wooded area that now hosts a cellular tower. I think WACD's tower was removed some time ago. As for the origin of the call letters, I heard at the time it came on the air that the call letters corresponded with the last names of the station's original owners (a trio of local businessmen): Allen, Causey and Davis I might be wrong about that. Some folks have also speculated about the origin of WRFS's call letters. When I worked there they had stationery from their early days referring to it as "Radio's Friendliest Station." I also worked at the defunct WDLK AM 1450 in Dadeville (just down the road) for a while (I worked on air at all three while I was in college). WDLK was a flame-throwing 250 watts at the time! Soon after they got permission to go with a full kilowatt. I often think back about those days.
 
I would +1 that if we had the option here.

I have only been back to Alex City a couple times since I lived there but always thought it was a nice little town.

I noticed the LPTV station is no longer around. It's was very active and seemed to have allot of viewership considering it was on ch 64 and with rather low power. It was on allot of the cable systems around the area however.
 
Michael said:
I would +1 that if we had the option here.

I have only been back to Alex City a couple times since I lived there but always thought it was a nice little town.

I noticed the LPTV station is no longer around. It's was very active and seemed to have allot of viewership considering it was on ch 64 and with rather low power. It was on allot of the cable systems around the area however.
Click to expand...

WAXC is still around as far as I know, but digitally now on channel 31.
 
Oh your right Zach good catch. I am glad to see they are still there. I listened to WKGA for a bit today. I guess this is what was once WZLM 97.3 after all the moves. Zach you may know the answer since i'm not in the area and lost track of all the changes with that station. Where did the 97.3 license end up?
 
not Zack, but its the same license - they just moved one down the frequency street from 97.3 to 97.5 (which I always found interesting, especially considering the nearby WKKR and WHPH at 97.7). At about the same time the Peach made a significant power upgrade although moving away from the old WZLM transmitter site. It did give WNCB in metro Birmingham a bit of breathing room, although I doubt the 97.3s rarely if ever clashed. Soon after the frequency change the format change to country and the call letter change to WKGA (KowaliGA country) took place. And, too coincidentally, I see where the WZLM call letters are now assigned to a new non-comm licensed to Jemison.

In fact, there really is a cluster of stations 97.x in a box from Birmingham eastward along 20 to Georgia, down the state line to Eufaula, westward to Troy/Pine Level, and back NNW again. You almost literally need a program to keep score.
 
That is what I was thinking but the FCC records confused me as the call sign history shows WSSY as the original calls. Which was Sunny an automated AC station in Sylacauga back when I lived there.
 
StrayKats said:
not Zack, but its the same license - they just moved one down the frequency street from 97.3 to 97.5 (which I always found interesting, especially considering the nearby WKKR and WHPH at 97.7). At about the same time the Peach made a significant power upgrade although moving away from the old WZLM transmitter site. It did give WNCB in metro Birmingham a bit of breathing room, although I doubt the 97.3s rarely if ever clashed. Soon after the frequency change the format change to country and the call letter change to WKGA (KowaliGA country) took place. And, too coincidentally, I see where the WZLM call letters are now assigned to a new non-comm licensed to Jemison.

In fact, there really is a cluster of stations 97.x in a box from Birmingham eastward along 20 to Georgia, down the state line to Eufaula, westward to Troy/Pine Level, and back NNW again. You almost literally need a program to keep score.
Click to expand...

For a while, from around 2005 to 2007, WKGA was on 100.3 after they moved from 97.3... then in 2007, they moved to 97.5 and WGZZ FM in Auburn was born on 100.3.

-Travis
 
WGZZ in Auburn is actually the original WZLM. Tallred filled in the missing link.

the original WZLM changed frequencies and moved. WSSY came on in 1990 later becoming WZLM for a few days and then WKGA (The station now located in Alex City.)

I remember all the shuffling StrayKats was referring to. I was not in the area and didn't keep up with it well enough to remember every station involved. Before it was over stations all over moved and swapped frequencies.
 
I'm glad the other guys were able to fill in the gaps because I doubt I could have done it that well. ;)

To this day, I still get a lot of the details confused. There was some movement all around the region for some of the frequency moves/swaps in that area that all centered around 97.3's power upgrade in Birmingham, then another massive set of moves to accommodate the 105.9/105.5 frequency mess, again centered around a Birmingham station. The 105.9 thing moved Gold 106 in Winfield to 97.7, further congesting that frequency around central Alabama.
 
I would like to correct my previous comment about the former WACD 1590 AM in Alexander City, AL. I was just in Alex City last week and drove by the tower site. I was in error. WACD's tower is still standing. It is near a taller cell tower which gets more attention as you pass by. The former broadcast tower is not painted or lit. Both are in a wooded area off Northern Central Avenue as previously noted. The original WACD studios on Cherokee Road now house an art frame business. I will note a little irony about WACD. After it went silent, its call letters were eventually transferred to an FM station in Antigo, Wisconsin which uses the same frequency (106.1 mHz) as the former WRFS FM in Alexander City (now, WSTH of Columbus, GA), WACD's one-time cross-town rival. The new WACD FM 106.1 in Antigo, Wisconsin is also country like it's past AM version in Alexander City, AL. Small world.

WACD 106.1 FM in Antigo, WI: http://www.country106.fm/
 
I never scoped that site out when I lived in Alex City. I lived on South Central Avenue in this house which you can see on street view.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=298+s...us&z=17&vpsrc=0&panoid=NCkq2qyo2ZDO0hYGmlUjPw


Not far away at all.

At the time when I lived there WZLM's Studio and Tower were co-located in Jackson's Gap. I tried to find a street view of where it was located but can't seem to find it. That area has changed allot since I lived there. In fact 280 was 2 lane through there still.
 
Michael,

The old WZLM FM tower is still standing in Jackson's Gap. I drove by it on Tuesday. Maybe this link will work to show you an aerial view:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=13263...068&sspn=49.757664,78.662109&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=19

As for the old WACD tower, it is actually at the intersection of I and Ann Streets behind a public housing development in Alex City (a bit east of North Central Avenue, my bad - guess I'm getting old). Looking at that patch of land on Google maps, I can only clearly see the cell tower nearby. But the old WACD tower is still standing. I passed by it last weekend.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=I+Str...948928&spn=0.001622,0.002401&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6

ML
 
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