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WBZR Atmore

P

Poledo

A small blurb lead me to this article about WBZR 105.9 Atmore-Bay Minette. Hopefully this newly formed combo with WPFL 105.1 will be successful. The history of this small radio station has been erratic over the past decade with ownership and format changes ranging from Americana to Talk. It appears the new combo will comtinue to run with Classic Country on the big signal of WPFL with a new Pop Country format on the smaller 105.9 signal.

http://www.atmorenews.com/2014/07/30/whites-buy-atmore-station/

The article also mentions that priorty #1 for the new owners is the boost the signal. This station is squeezed in tighter than #%@& and the current transmitter/antenna probably dates from their transition to non-directional 5 years or so ago.

Musiconradio.com dude, got any insight? Zach, your contacts share any info yet?
 
I knew it was for sale (I looked at it before we purchased our current station). The new owners have done a great job with WPFL (it was dark for a long time). The combination of both stations is a winner. Congrats to the new owners.
 
Any idea what they might think they can do to improve the signal?

WNSP, WCSN, WZHT, WRRX, WBMH, WKNU... Seems like they're hemmed in in all directions, unless they return to a directional antenna maybe?
 
Directional could be a option (in combination with some sort tower move). Different antenna.
 
Will your new 103.5A have a decent signal in Atmore?

Now I wonder what those two Indian LPFMs are going to program in Atmore. That little town is getting back in the radio game after loosing all those AM and FM signals over the decades. Cool.

Didn't I read that the owner of the Brewton AM/FM combo passed away? Adding those two stations would make a hell of a cluster with 105.1 & 105.9.
 
Atmore has always struck me as the kind of small town that would be a good fit for a strong local radio station, so my best wishes to the new owners to make that happen.

I don't think they can really do much to improve the licensed facility, but I'm wondering if the "improvements" simply mean getting back to full power. The station suffered a lightning strike in 2010 and they filed an STA to run at just 500 watts; that was for just 180 days, but I have never heard any mention of them getting back to the full 5.5 kW, and I haven't heard one peep of the station down here in Foley, where it's traditionally been a deep fringe signal. I didn't hear it in Bay Minette earlier this week, either, although that could have been sheer coincidence since I was using a poorer quality receiver to do my bandscan.

Even if it's running full authorized power now, something tells me that it could use a good scrub down and updating in the transmitter plant. Who knows… a new TX, some new feedline and a quality antenna and it might become a competitive signal.

I haven't listened to WPFL in ages. Are they still pretending to be a Pensacola station or have they resigned themselves to serving the smaller towns they actually cover? The last two times I was in Pensacola up near the mall, all I heard on 105.1 was Panama City loud and clear.
 
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