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WZEW adds an HD subchannel

Alex_0490 said:
Weren't they going to launch the new format this morning?!
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It's today at 7 am from what I recall.

seedless said:
Freedom Radio is non-commercial. Do they even need a local parent to feed a translator? They can't just feed it with WLOG like Freedom's other translators? Or daisy chain it off the 89.7 translator in Gulfport?

101.1 would also be very valuable to WOWB. Then they could ID 101.1 Mobile/Pensacola and 90.9 Jay and add something misleading in there about 100,000 watts. All Wow would have to do is lease WZEW HD-3 to feed 101.1.
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I could easily be wrong but I think they need a local station if the translator is in the commercial band. I don't think 90.9, for example, could have fed 101.1 in Pensacola directly; they needed 1450 to do it.
 
I could easily be wrong but I think they need a local station if the translator is in the commercial band. I don't think 90.9, for example, could have fed 101.1 in Pensacola directly; they needed 1450 to do it.
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So, assuming it could be upgraded, maybe WOWB could trade W214BW 90.7 to Freedom for W266CM 101.1 and cash then lease HD space from Zew?

What can WOWB do with W214BW? It's completely useless as is.
 
seedless said:
So, assuming it could be upgraded, maybe WOWB could trade W214BW 90.7 to Freedom for W266CM 101.1 and cash then lease HD space from Zew?

What can WOWB do with W214BW? It's completely useless as is.
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better feed in my opinion - a little lower bit rate and the audio is a little louder.

They are SO RIGHT that the classic rock stations play the singles....over and over again. So much potential with this...

This link may change eventually as this is normally reserved for locals...

http://centova.rockhost.com:8054/locals.m3u
 
One last thought before bed. Is it possible .Com+ could spread out 2 or 3 translators and move Sports to the translators and put music on WNSP 105.5 to flank Zew? Or is sports on the little Class A too valuable?
 
Still awake...

Seems to me there's no reason WNSP couldn't move to WZEW's owned tower. It may need to go slightly directional but it should be able to go C3 directional from that site.


If Zew could put two mildly successful eclectic music formats into Mobile... damn that would be impressive.
 
seedless said:
Still awake...

Seems to me there's no reason WNSP couldn't move to WZEW's owned tower. It may need to go slightly directional but it should be able to go C3 directional from that site.


If Zew could put two mildly successful eclectic music formats into Mobile... damn that would be impressive.
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One has to wonder why they have never tried to move 105.5 closer to Mobile. I guess where it is now is "adequate" and the expense wouldn't be worth it. They would have to re-license out to somewhere else, though. Although a C3 to C3 spacing would work out with WQBB in Biloxi, it wouldn't work with WCSN in Orange Beach. In fact going to the ZEW tower as a Class A would still not be enough. If they could snag space on the Shelton Beach Road tower that would work, but it would limit which cities they could re-license to. Bayou La Batre and Tillmans Corner are the only two towns that come to mind with no full power stations using them as a COL. BLB is too far out so that leaves TC. Maybe Semmes or Satsuma would qualify? I don't know.

Leaving Bay Minette shouldn't be a major issue, though; they still have 1110 AM and it's applied for a translator.

Still, being a class A on a tower in Mobile County means giving up a lot of Eastern Shore coverage, I think. Going up to a C3 would violate spacing to WCSN again, so that limits the possibilities that I can see.

Now… there's a movement brewing to get the FCC to create a new C4 class (insert explosive growth jokes here) that might make something feasible, but that's voodoo country, as James Spann would say.
 
tomservo said:
One has to wonder why they have never tried to move 105.5 closer to Mobile. I guess where it is now is "adequate" and the expense wouldn't be worth it. They would have to re-license out to somewhere else, though. Although a C3 to C3 spacing would work out with WQBB in Biloxi, it wouldn't work with WCSN in Orange Beach. In fact going to the ZEW tower as a Class A would still not be enough. If they could snag space on the Shelton Beach Road tower that would work, but it would limit which cities they could re-license to. Bayou La Batre and Tillmans Corner are the only two towns that come to mind with no full power stations using them as a COL. BLB is too far out so that leaves TC. Maybe Semmes or Satsuma would qualify? I don't know.

Leaving Bay Minette shouldn't be a major issue, though; they still have 1110 AM and it's applied for a translator.

Still, being a class A on a tower in Mobile County means giving up a lot of Eastern Shore coverage, I think. Going up to a C3 would violate spacing to WCSN again, so that limits the possibilities that I can see.

Now… there's a movement brewing to get the FCC to create a new C4 class (insert explosive growth jokes here) that might make something feasible, but that's voodoo country, as James Spann would say.
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All the 105 MHZ channels are short spaced at this time and agreed to accept interference back in the day when permits were filed. There are no options to move. The C4 would allow WCSN to upgrade. I have not run a study on the other stations.

The owner of 1110 and the Mobile AM has passed away.

1110 is in Bay Minette so changing the COL for 105.5 would not be a issue if a move was possible.
 
thanks for throwing that audio up on the al media page...i missed it when it initially aired (i was on vacation man, still asleep lol)
BTW - I am pretty sure I remember Tim Camp telling me one time he and Ken Johnson both owned .com+ - maybe 50/50 partners.
 
also - reading through your updates- WFMH. You list this -

http://www.almediapage.info/profiles/wfmh-fm.html

I worked for WXXR when it went on air on FM in 96. It was oldies formatted (from 1340 am ; we just simulcasted that format on 95.5 fm) until 101.1 was LMAed to the christian folks in bham ; at that time WXXR became WFMH and started airing country (which was the format 101.1 had prior to this). This happened after I went off to college in mobile, so sometime after sept 1997.
 
mrjay said:
also - reading through your updates- WFMH. You list this -

http://www.almediapage.info/profiles/wfmh-fm.html

I worked for WXXR when it went on air on FM in 96. It was oldies formatted (from 1340 am ; we just simulcasted that format on 95.5 fm) until 101.1 was LMAed to the christian folks in bham ; at that time WXXR became WFMH and started airing country (which was the format 101.1 had prior to this). This happened after I went off to college in mobile, so sometime after sept 1997.
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Whoops! I definitely goofed on that page. Not sure why I put country there, ha ha. Even the page for 1340 notes that it was oldies and simulcast on 95.5 early on. I've fixed it now.

It never ceases to amaze me how the histories I've been given for some stations (or information that I put from my own knowledge) tend to have little inaccuracies and mistakes that don't get discovered for a long time. Memories fade, people's recollections are just a bit off. Even the Broadcasting Yearbook's information can be wrong, too. Oh, and the typos. SO many typos! It's a continual source of embarrassment. :eek:
 
In other HD related news it seems WDLT has fixed their years long broken HD, although the audio is a bit lots and it's still way out of sync.

And as the Lord giveth, he taketh away: WYCT's HD is off. The analog audio is also still completely mono, sounds bad.
 
Alex_0490 said:
And both WBLX and WABD have RDS with artist and song/title tracking...
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Heavens, will wonders never cease! And I'm not being flippant about that, either. I'm genuinely surprised someone is showing these stations some love on the technical end of things.

Update: I turned on my radio to 92.9 and the RDS went off 2 seconds later. They must be working on it now. WXBM is doing song titles, too, but I can't remember if that's new or not. I think it used to just say NASH FM constantly.
 
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