Great locally owned Alabama Stations.

[TALLRED]

Miami's legandary AM 560 WQAM tribute website has some of the old PAMS jingles from the 60's and early 70's.... I dont know the website, just google in "560 WQAM tribute" and it should appear.

-Travis

[headlandradio]

WVVL "Weevil 101" in Enterprise is a good one.

WTBF Troy does a lot to help TU students get some experience, but beyond that it is a terrible station.

[Russell W.]

WTBF Troy does a lot to help TU students get some experience, but beyond that it is a terrible station.

Speaking for myself, I'm not going to say "terrible" (I know many of them, as I moonlit there in the late '90s), but WTBF is nowhere near what it's shown to be capable of.  At one time, WTBF was 100% live, with a lot of students on the air.   Troy Broadcasting had itself a consistent source of "cheap labor", while at the same time getting the feet wet of hundreds upon hundreds of young folk who went on to great careers in broadcasting.   

That ended after the FM signed on (late 1997).   Today, WTBF is off the bird far too much of the time.  And I find it very sad.

--Russell

[headlandradio]

WTBF Troy does a lot to help TU students get some experience, but beyond that it is a terrible station.

Speaking for myself, I'm not going to say "terrible" (I know many of them, as I moonlit there in the late '90s), but WTBF is nowhere near what it's shown to be capable of.  At one time, WTBF was 100% live, with a lot of students on the air.   Troy Broadcasting had itself a consistent source of "cheap labor", while at the same time getting the feet wet of hundreds upon hundreds of young folk who went on to great careers in broadcasting.   

That ended after the FM signed on (late 1997).   Today, WTBF is off the bird far too much of the time.  And I find it very sad.

--Russell

Yeah that satellite thing is bad, but also it's bad that the station does things like play country music in the mornings, at other times blues, bluegrass, gospel etc. Also they do things like read the obituaries in morning and afternoon drive and call it "news". I get it, this kind of thing was cute in the 60s, but not anymore.

That station has no sense of what people actually want to hear at all. If they would just be an oldies station and focus on that they would be much better off, but apparently that is too much to ask.

I have them on my preset because I occasionally listen to oldies, but man they suck. Admittedly I don't know much about radio programming, I really don't, but my dog could do better than they do.

[Russell W.]

Yeah that satellite thing is bad, but also it's bad that the station does things like play country music in the mornings, at other times blues, bluegrass, gospel etc. Also they do things like read the obituaries in morning and afternoon drive and call it "news". I get it, this kind of thing was cute in the 60s, but not anymore.

That station has no sense of what people actually want to hear at all. If they would just be an oldies station and focus on that they would be much better off, but apparently that is too much to ask.

I had to chuckle when you brought up the "obits-as-news" routine.  "....and Mrs. Eula Mae Tidwell of Brundidge died September 31, yadda yadda yadda, Rev. Lebuz Huggs officiating.  And now you're up to date on 'TBF!"    Yeah, that has always struck me as a bit bizarre.  Nothing wrong with obituaries, it's long been a pillar of small-town "community" broadcasting.  More stations did 'em than didn't.  Thing is, it should be partitioned as being what they are.   But that's how I see it.  :-)

And I'm serious when I tell you that a lot of people around Troy *listen* to those obits.  When I worked there, I'd sometimes take calls asking about a given person. 

As for the music, that's a WTBF thing.  "The Morning Show" (an institution in Pike County) has always been musically all-over-the-road.  It's one of the hokiest things on radio ... and it works.  It gets talked about.  At the heart of things, WTBF makes no pretension of being anything else except a Pike County station (and maybe, to a smaller extent, Crenshaw).  

Me, I just wish they were still live all day.    

--Russell

[busterluck]

Didn't WTBF give up the 500 watt night time service and take down some towers for pee-wee night power?  Not a good idea, if AM stations are allowed to go all digital, the loss of night time coverage wuold hurt.  Now the WTBF signal is not protected from interference at night. It is now just a daytime station for all listeners nless they are close to the tower.

[musiconradio.com]

Didn't WTBF give up the 500 watt night time service and take down some towers for pee-wee night power?

The trend seems to be to add a translator, and drop night power (especially with costly directional systems). This is actually a good idea.

[J Alex Bowab]

When I was youngster growing up in a small town (Atmore) I was not a fan of small-town radio...  instead I put up with static and fading to hear WNOE, WABB, KAAY, WLS, WYDE et al.  Now in my old age, I retrospectively appreciate the contribution radio made in a small town.  My favorite:  whenever the fire siren went off (Atmore was small enough so that you could hear it everywhere), you turned on WATM and they would tell you where the fire department was dispatched to.  The Fire Reporter was sponsored by a local insurance agency.  After giving the fire location, the sponsor message was: "friends, this could have easily been YOUR home or business.  Are you fully insured?  If not, it's time to call the Maxwell Insurance Agency......"

[stereolane]

Didn't WTBF give up the 500 watt night time service and take down some towers for pee-wee night power?

The trend seems to be to add a translator, and drop night power (especially with costly directional systems). This is actually a good idea.

Not necessarily. A crappy flea power, or poorly placed translator with bad "picket fencing" effects, that can't be picked up on a Bangladesh-made Wal-Mart clock radio can be just as bad, and sometimes, worse.

[Russell W.]

Didn't WTBF give up the 500 watt night time service and take down some towers for pee-wee night power?  Not a good idea, if AM stations are allowed to go all digital, the loss of night time coverage wuold hurt.  Now the WTBF signal is not protected from interference at night. It is now just a daytime station for all listeners nless they are close to the tower.

They did, and from my own observation it IMPROVED coverage in parts of Troy.   WTBF's old night pattern had two significant nulls, for instance.   My parents live just outside the city, off Shellhorn Road (northwest) -- and the 500-watt signal was non-existent, even on car radios.   In the Hillcrest area it was very weak, and 'TBF dropped out completely a couple of places along Murphree Street. 

I think it's now 43 watts, and I have to say it's not bad.  It's still inaudible on radios inside Mom & Dad's house, but on both my car radios you can hear it, although weak. 

EDIT: To my knowledge, a big reason WTBF went this route was that its towers (1957 vintage) were in terrible shape and urgently needed replacing.  More economical to replace three with one and go with flea-power. 

--Russell