Technical Profile: WDNG

AM Technical Profile: WDNG

Frequency:: 1450
Format:: Classic Rock
Transmitter Location:: [map] [bird's eye] [street view] Between W 15th and W 16th Streets, off Crawford Avenue, in Anniston.
Power (ERP):: Day and night: 1 kW
Antenna:: 1 tower
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files

[FCC]
[FCCdata.org]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]

[Facebook] For 95.1 The Mountain

[Aircheck] Audio of the flip from News/Talk to Classic Hits, from 6 August 2018.
[Studio] Street View imagery of the station's Leighton Avenue studios in Anniston.

// W236CQ Anniston; Owned by Lake Broadcasting
History:: The history of this station may date back all the way to 1929, when it was WFDW in Talladega, on 1420 kHz. It's possible this station moved to Anniston in 1931, becoming WAMC in 1934, then being reborn as WHMA.

The FCC issued an initial construction permit to Harry M. Ayers for the station as it exists today in 1938 for a 100 daytimer on 1420 kHz, with 100 watts. When it signed on as WHMA the fall of 1938, studios and transmitter were located at the Radio Building, 1330 Noble Street in downtown Anniston.

The station began operating 24 hours a day in 1940. As part of the NARBA frequency realignment in 1941, the station moved to 1450 kHz. The station moved to its current transmitter site in the summer of 1946. The license was transferred to Anniston Broadcasting Company in 1947.

The station installed a new Collins 300-J in 1953. The station attempted to move to 1240 kHz in 1954, but the move was denied by the FCC. In 1957, the station was transferred to Ralph M. Allgood and Grover Wise d/b/a The Southland Broadcasting Company of Montgomery. It's likely around this time that the studios left downtown for a building at the transmitter site. Potts Broadcasting Company, Inc. acquired the station in 1959 and swapped it with WDNG on 1390 kHz.

In 1960, Potts moved the studios from the transmitter site to 1031 Noble Street in downtown Anniston. The station boosted power to 1 kW full time in 1962, after installing a Collins 20-V transmitter.

Through the entirety of the 80's, the station had a Top 40 music format.

In 1990, the station had migrated to an Adult Contemporary music format, but it was short-lived as the station was doing News/Talk by 1992.; In October 2013 it was revealed that one of the partners in the station's ownership (as "WDNG, Inc."), Francis DiPietro, had failed to pay the IRS taxes on the station from 2009 to 2013. The other partner, Charles Fuller, paid the back taxes from his personal account to keep the station going. As repayment, a representative of DiPietro (who was convicted for theft of property) has transferred all ownership to Fuller in exchange for the IRS payments, totaling over $64,000. In January 2015, Charles Fuller passed away, willing the station to Charlene Fuller Gossett.

Near the end of January 2016 this station was granted a construction permit for a minor update to the coordinates of the transmitter site. The previously listed coordinates on file with the FCC dated back to the station's construction in 1938 and were inaccurate by nearly 1,000 feet. This site already had the correct coordinates and street view imagery, so no changes needed to be made. In April 2016 the station purchased an unbuilt translator in the Talladega area and was permitted to move it to Anniston to rebroadcast the station. That facility came on the air in early December, 2016.

The station flipped to a locally-programmed and community-oriented Classic Hits and Adult Contemporary format as "My 95" on 6 August 2018. The station is being run by Stocks Broadcasting (Adam and Karen Stocks), who also owns WFHK in Pell City ("94.1 The River"). They agreed to buy the station outright in October 2018, for $130,000.

In April 2021 they announced that the format would be flipping to Classic Rock on 24 April 2021, as "95.1 The Mountain". This coincided with a Local Marketing Agreement (LMA) with Lake Broadcasting. In July 2021, Stokes Broadcasting sold the station to Lake for $235,000.