WDXZ files for 25kw

WDXZ Robertsdale files for 25KW. 10KW CH.

Is this so they can feed a full power translator from atop a tall tower at Wilcox Rd.?

Or do they expect to serve more people/communities with a 25kw day timer?

I wonder if 25kw will make it into Florida?

They are also proposing to move to 1020 from 1000 kHz.

Not sure why they are bothering, the signal in Baldwin County is actually pretty decent for 1 kW. If you'd told me it was 5 kW I wouldn't question it. It's a daytimer and while they could certain acquire a translator from out of the market, they are limited as to where they could locate a translator. As I understand it, a translator's 60 dBu cannot exceed either the 2mV/m contour or 25 miles from the transmitter location, whichever is smaller. There was talk of changing that rule but I haven't seen anything about it lately.

The proposed facility's 2 mV/m would probably reach west Pensacola and downtown Mobile, and parts of each area are within 25 miles, but the 60 dBu wouldn't be able to exceed that so that would still limit them to basically Robertsdale/Summerdale/Foley or the Eastern Shore. Who knows, maybe they want to acquire that waste of space translator on 106.9 that is on WABF's tower and relaying WBHY AM. WBHY doesn't need it anymore, WABF hasn't snatched it up… Someone needs to do something with it.

For what it's worth, the maps show the current 0.5 mV/m contour as reaching the Florida state line and Theodore in the opposite direction. The proposed CP will reach Navarre to the east and Pascagoula to the west. It would significantly bolster coverage in Mobile west of downtown but it still wouldn't be a really good, interference-resistant signal.

I would predict a translator is in the works, and the signal expansion has something to do with that. I also predict another AM station sale and or translator soon.

Poor old 540 and 1110 are just hanging around, unloved.
Daytimers are only good for religion and feeding translators.

It makes sense. There are many areas around Foley, Gulf Shores and Fairhope where it can be hard to pick up near power lines. There is so much noise on the power lines along Highway 90 from Malbis to Loxley that it can be tough to pick up over the noise, especially closer to Malbis

Tomservo: WABF has an option to purchase the 106.9 translator before anyone else is allowed to. That's in the agreement between WABF and Wilbur Goforth so that he can be on the tower. WABF wants to buy it and I can tell you that for a fact. Wilbur doesn't want to sell it even with 103.3 in Spanish Fort. Maybe that will change soon

thegulfcoast said:

It makes sense. There are many areas around Foley, Gulf Shores and Fairhope where it can be hard to pick up near power lines. There is so much noise on the power lines along Highway 90 from Malbis to Loxley that it can be tough to pick up over the noise, especially closer to Malbis

Tomservo: WABF has an option to purchase the 106.9 translator before anyone else is allowed to. That's in the agreement between WABF and Wilbur Goforth so that he can be on the tower. WABF wants to buy it and I can tell you that for a fact. Wilbur doesn't want to sell it even with 103.3 in Spanish Fort. Maybe that will change soon

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Ah, that makes a lot of sense. I never did understand how that translator wound up there but relaying someone else. I hope they're at least making money leasing tower space to the God Squad, too. That frequency is limited in where it can go, thanks to an active translator in Pensacola and the Lumberton country station that seems to rimshot NW Mobile County pretty well.

I think they are relaying their AM signals. Many competing stations lease tower space when there are few options, or in some cases when the station is sold the seller still keeps the tower because of the revenue.

I know of several cases that a radio tower is sold to a cell phone company, the FM makes a deal to stay on that tower.

The station gets money, and doesn't have the burden of keeping up the tower.

Groove1670 said:

I think they are relaying their AM signals.

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Wait… Are you referring to Goforth or Tri City Radio?

Either way I believe you're right. Goforth's three translators all relay WBHY-AM, and I just went to WPMO's website (such that it is) and all they have is a banner saying "1580 The Game", which matches the slogan for WDXZ. The are live streaming CBS Sports Radio but WDXZ is just dead air right now so I can't tell if they're simulcasting. I know I've heard both CBS and NBC Sports on 1000 before. I have them listed as also simulcasting with 1140 WNWF in Fort Walton Beach. So is this a "quad-cast" between 1580-1440-1000-1140? That would cover a lot of territory.

WPMO does not simulcast with WVGG anymore. That was with a previously agreed to LMA with WRBE-FM when they were both political talk. WDXZ went ESPN last year

I'll have to update some stuff with WPMO's history, then. Last I heard they had a 12 year LMA agreement between WPMO and WVGG.

BTW, I was listening to WDXZ earlier and they clearly said CBS Sports. I thought 105.5 was ESPN? I don't listen to sports as a habit so I don't keep up with who has what affiliation much.

WNSP dropped ESPN a couple of years ago. AM 660 runs CBS Sports on the weekend

Thanks for your page by the way! I love looking into the history of so many local stations! It's very informative. My father in law is the pastor of a small independent church in Elberta and you caught his voice on your air check for WHEP with his radio program.

thegulfcoast said:

Thanks for your page by the way! I love looking into the history of so many local stations! It's very informative. My father in law is the pastor of a small independent church in Elberta and you caught his voice on your air check for WHEP with his radio program.

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Thanks for the kind words - that's really cool. I hope he doesn't mind being immortalized on that clip.

I hate it that I can't keep the current stuff updated properly. I think I do have ESPN being dropped from 105.5 on the history for that station, I just can't keep it in my mind, so to speak. Speaking of 660, I was expecting to hear talk or sports on there today but it's been a simulcast of WGOK again. Red Eye Radio is on now, so it must be a Sundays-only thing, but it does blow out several weekend programs they had listed on their website.

Going back to Tri-City Radio properties for a moment, I noticed they also have a CP for the Fort Walton Beach station, to move from 1120 to 1140 and from 1 to 3 kW during the day. The website is www.1140thegame.com, and if you type in www.1000thegame.com it redirects to that site. WPMO's website still seems to be www.1580thelight.com, but both www.talkradio1580.com AND www.1580thegame.com both redirect to "The Light" URL.

It looks like The Game has us surrounded. It snuck in when no one was listening. And I'm still not listening.

I have never heard WNWF on 1120 or 1140 or whatever other frequencies that station has been on. It either has an awful signal or spent most of the past 20 years off the air.

WNWF has a much better signal to the east than it does the west. It's not bad in Defuniak Springs and surprisingly there near Panama City. I know they were off the air for a while a couple of years ago after a big lightning strike. When I go to Destin (when I went 2012-2014) I always check and only heard it on once for a couple of years there. It was on all year in 2015