Don't count on it. WABB is a heritage set of calls and I imagine that like Salem did when buying heritage stations all over the US, they will keep the calls.
Sort of the spoils of the war, ya know?
After I posted this I saw on the Local 15 news reporting that EMF does plan to change the calls. The real original WABB (1480) will keep the calls and Dittman ownership. Which again if they wanted out, it makes me wonder why they couldn't unload the AM or even donate to one of the dozens of other non-profit religious groups out there these days. Odd indeed.
i can't believe that WABB FM is going to be christian format. because there is no good coverage area in Leakesville, Lucedale, and Pascagoula area after WABB goes christian, for top 40 format unless someone will pick up coverage area like 93.7FM, 96.1FM, 99.9FM, 103.1FM, 107.9FM or put the The Monkey back on 105.9 FM
I'm glad you brought the Mississippi region into this because so far all I've thought about is Mobile and Pensacola. You guys are definitely in a hole, too far from Pensacola and too far from New Orleans to get anything.
I saw much of the same attitude a year, or so, ago when Daystar, a religious TV broadcaster, bought WMFE, the main PBS affiliate in Orlando. There was much consternation and call for FCC denial. Apparently, religious broadcasters are not deserving of broadcast licenses.
Some of it is certainly an anti-religious stand. Personally I haven't a dog in the fight as I don't do CHR and don't do CCM, but I do hate to see a big commercial signal go non-commercial when we already have half a dozen religious stations on FM alone in the metro. I'm aware that EMF is a good operator and their K-Love and Air1 are respected, quality formats, but when it comes down to it, I prefer local over satellite. Even if I did complain about the quality of WABB's product compared to Hit Music Now.
But consider too that years ago it was an open secret that certain religious media groups had a stated purpose of taking every open radio channel they could get their hands on. Not to minister so much as to deny the "Godless, pro-homosexual and pro-abortion" leftists of NPR a place on the dial. That certainly left a foul taste in my mouth when I lived in B'ham and Grenada where we only had one real local NPR station. Here it's a bit better with MPB, APR and WUWF but there still isn't much public radio diversity to speak of compared to the rest of the noncomm dial that's crowded one on top of another with small church-owned stations. And beyond that they gave us the great translator invasion which was completely legal but still a huge mess that has seen the dial swamped with low power God-box relays all over the place. (I'm less angry at this now that EMF has made a killing selling them to commercial operators who start HD-2 stations and bring new content to markets via these translators.)
No. It's because it's a disservice to the public for EMF to turn it into yet another K-Love repeater. The airwaves are public property and have to be used in the public interest.
The FCC needs to deny the sale. It must.
It simply will not be denied.
And if you look at it from a completely dispassionate point of view, this is a deeply conservative, Christian religious area. Why shouldn't their musical tastes be catered to?
As I said before I have no dog in the hunt because I like neither CHR nor CCM but I am sure I'd be as deeply upset if it went to Cumulus who announced they'd launch yet another country music competitor, for example. From a strictly personal standpoint I am surprised Cumulus didn't "find" the cash for it for their own CHR purposes or Clear Channel to put WNTM on it.
