tomservo
Walk of Fame Participant
From the "I never thought I'd see it happen" files, Brantley Broadcast Associates has filed a license to cover for WEZZ (AM) 920. After being silent for, what, nearly 10 years? I think it went off when Brantley bought it in 2007 and has either never been back on, or has only been on long enough to keep the license active.
I know it's a long shot, but is anyone close enough to Luverne, where the TX site is, to see if it's actually on and what programming they're carrying? It's under 500 watts, day only, so it's going to be a hard one to hear.
For those who are unaware of the story (as I know it) behind this move, it was part of a larger shuffling around of stations in south-central Alabama. The first step was WGZZ relicensing from Dadeville to Waverly, and switching frequencies from 100.3 to 94.3 MHz. The second step was Brantley-licensed WAOQ adding a directional antenna from their current site near Luverne, staying on 100.3 MHz. The third step is this move, taking 930 in Monroeville and moving it to the WAOQ site near Luverne, and relicensing to Brantley while dropping it a channel to 920 kHz. The next step, if I'm not mistaken, will be WAOQ re-licenseing to the community of Goshen, a move only on paper. After that, WAOQ has an application that's been pending forever to physically move to Troy but stay licensed to Goshen. Not sure if that will happen or not.
The "radio pessimist" in me can't help but think that the station is either not really on air or is only going to be on long enough for everything to be 'legit' in the eyes of the Commission, and go silent again. Once the last puzzle piece falls into place and WAOQ re-licenses to Goshen, I have a feeling WEZZ AM will be allowed to sit off air until the license lapses, since there is probably zero desire or drive for a standalone AM to operate in a town as small as Luverne, in a place as depressingly rural as Crenshaw County.
I know it's a long shot, but is anyone close enough to Luverne, where the TX site is, to see if it's actually on and what programming they're carrying? It's under 500 watts, day only, so it's going to be a hard one to hear.
For those who are unaware of the story (as I know it) behind this move, it was part of a larger shuffling around of stations in south-central Alabama. The first step was WGZZ relicensing from Dadeville to Waverly, and switching frequencies from 100.3 to 94.3 MHz. The second step was Brantley-licensed WAOQ adding a directional antenna from their current site near Luverne, staying on 100.3 MHz. The third step is this move, taking 930 in Monroeville and moving it to the WAOQ site near Luverne, and relicensing to Brantley while dropping it a channel to 920 kHz. The next step, if I'm not mistaken, will be WAOQ re-licenseing to the community of Goshen, a move only on paper. After that, WAOQ has an application that's been pending forever to physically move to Troy but stay licensed to Goshen. Not sure if that will happen or not.
The "radio pessimist" in me can't help but think that the station is either not really on air or is only going to be on long enough for everything to be 'legit' in the eyes of the Commission, and go silent again. Once the last puzzle piece falls into place and WAOQ re-licenses to Goshen, I have a feeling WEZZ AM will be allowed to sit off air until the license lapses, since there is probably zero desire or drive for a standalone AM to operate in a town as small as Luverne, in a place as depressingly rural as Crenshaw County.
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