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WMLB (1690) Testing Again

The best I can tell from the FCC website, they have been off the air since the beginning of May in 2018. I thought you only got one year but the FCC is cutting a lot of stations nationwide a lot of slack. I don’t know how long you have to “run” the station in order to get another STA, but I suspect they will run it how ever long it is required then reset the STL before May this year.
 
What's the status of WAZX (1550)? Been off for quite a while. Have they been deleted?
 
Last items as of this morning (1/14/2020) is that WMLB had until the end of the month (January 2020) to resume full time operations according to the correspondence folder on the FCC website. They may have resumed for a prospective buyer to kick the tires or it may be another good faith effort to stay active and keep the license going and get another STA Silence extension from the FCC. Who knows? Maybe someone on this board?

BTW, the groundwave coverage of this station may suck being it is in the RF soil conductivity pit of the U.S. in the Atlanta area, but the skywave signal still gets out there. This afternoon (2pm!) I noticed it was coming in on remote receivers in Fort Rucker, AL and Charleston, SC. ( http://rx.linkfanel.net/ ) BUT, nobody cares about skywave coverage when you are selling an AM station these days. The scant crazy buyers want: #1, "does it have an FM translator" (WMLB does not), and #2 or maybe I should say #99 "what's the groundwave coverage" (WMLB sucks since it is also on the upper end of the dial).
 
My first reaction was, I hope it isn't going to interfere with distant reception of WPTX on 1690, especially in Europe. Now, seeing that they are running day power at night, maybe they will interfere. Not a great way to impress the FCC. Hope it was just a one-time mistake.
Stations can come up un-silent for various periods, to keep their license alive. Some will only broadcast a few hours, most will stay up a few days or so.
I have listened to WPTX on the North Georgia SDR (the Netherlands SDR has some serious RFI problems on the X-band)....that may be ending now.
 
Sounded like they were on low power last night. Probably WPTX complained.
 
kf4rca said:
Sounded like they were on low power last night. Probably WPTX complained.
Click to expand...

Or WMLB caught the one night error and corrected it? WPTX is entirely satellite run "America's Best Music" format, probably a PC in the smallest studio at the company's complex. Doubt the station gets much attention outside a few older listeners and DXers like us.

Also they do stream if normal RF is an issue. https://1690wptx.com/
 
Bet they get listener reports from Sweden. I know WMLB did, at one time.
Sounds like WMLB is running demo automation software that limits you to 32 events in the playlist.
The owners of these dark broadcast properties really need to re-think their strategy. The longer they hold on to it, the more worthless it will become.
We're already seeing the licenses go for a dollar, but the fixed assets go for more.
But, at some point, fixed assets like the transmitter will become outdated and parts will be difficult to come by.
And the station will become absolutely worthless.
 
kf4rca said:
Bet they get listener reports from Sweden. I know WMLB did, at one time.
Sounds like WMLB is running demo automation software that limits you to 32 events in the playlist.
The owners of these dark broadcast properties really need to re-think their strategy. The longer they hold on to it, the more worthless it will become.
We're already seeing the licenses go for a dollar, but the fixed assets go for more.
But, at some point, fixed assets like the transmitter will become outdated and parts will be difficult to come by.
And the station will become absolutely worthless.
Click to expand...


a station in south Dakota fairly recenyl went for $1.. the license.. and the physical assets went for like 400,000

it had to do with taxes and stuff... so to make blanket statements about the licenses going for a dollar is a little bit of a misnomer
 
WMLB seemed to be back off the air this morning. 1690 was mostly dominated by WVON out of Chicago.
 
WMLB AM 1690 kHz was on the air today yet again on Monday (5/4/2020) testing. I first noticed this actually on Monday night. The signal could be heard on remote receivers in Knoxville, TN, St Simons Island, and Key West, FL where WPTX is not that strong or faded out. I do not if they are at day or night power but it seems mostly skywave here in Buford and the remote receiver in Woodstock.

- Harry S.
Buford, GA
 
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