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WMLB AM 1690 Testing

1

1030khz

WMLB AM 1690 woke up from the dead. I heard them testing between 1p and 4p yesterday (1/7/19) with music and announcements between music tracks announcing they were testing.

They recently were granted an extension by the FCC to remain silent because they did not find a buyer for the facility since their sign off in March 2018.

Perhaps dusting off the cobwebs to show a possible buyer?

- Harry in Buford, GA
 
To avoid the FCC deleting a silent station, it has to go back on the air, at least temporarily, within a year. If it signed off in March 2018, this brief broadcast in January 2019, may just be to save the license. Perhaps it was a test drive for a future buyer, perhaps it was just to tell the FCC it was on the air.
 
I think they have to be on for a certain number of days to satisfy the FCC. If it was just a few hours, then it was probably for somebody kicking the tires.
 
Driving by the Cheshire Bridge tower site where WMLB is multiplexed on to the shared tower, there was an unmodulated carrier on 1690 kHz. There was nothing heard while I was in the area (no announcements, no music). However, the signal quickly faded as I drove away. Overtaken by the stations on 1690 from Chicago and Toronto. So I presume WMLB was at their nighttime power of 1 kW.

Harry in Buford, GA
 
1030khz said:
Driving by the Cheshire Bridge tower site where WMLB is multiplexed on to the shared tower, there was an unmodulated carrier on 1690 kHz. There was nothing heard while I was in the area (no announcements, no music). However, the signal quickly faded as I drove away. Overtaken by the stations on 1690 from Chicago and Toronto. So I presume WMLB was at their nighttime power of 1 kW.

Harry in Buford, GA
Click to expand...

1kW should carry farther than that...
 
jabba17 said:
1kW should carry farther than that...
Click to expand...

Groundwave at 1690 with the conductivity of the ATL area will cover a very limited area.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Groundwave at 1690 with the conductivity of the ATL area will cover a very limited area.
Click to expand...

Not up to Buford, sure, but I would expect more than a quick fade driving away from the tower.
 
WFOM (1230) Marietta makes it into the Spaghetti Junction on 1KW and thats across the congested top-end perimeter area.
 
I've picked up 1kW WIFN 1340 out to Sugarloaf Parkway.
 
WMLB 1690 was heard testing again starting at 7:30a this morning (Friday, January 25) with a bunch of skywave fading in the far northern suburbs. A variety of music played, mostly Oldies, interspersed with testing announcements between songs. After sunrise, reception was solid with their typical daytime power ground wave coverage.
 
Don't know if you've noticed but WAZX (1550) has had a dead carrier on for the last two weeks or so.
 
Many years ago during my formative years, an FM station down the block from me had gone off the air but their oscilator and maybe their driver was or were still on, so when I called in and repeated their conversation to them including their Trumanesque vocabulary, they went into severe cognitive dissonance, denying the possibility that I could know what I knew.
 
This afternoon I just heard an oldies station playing music, then an announcement "WMLB Avondale, testing." This was over and under WVON and WPTX here in Huntsville AL.
 
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