Technical Profile: WASG

AM Technical Profile: WASG

Frequency:: 540
Format:: Religious
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] [bird's eye] Off Talisman Avenue, near the intersection of Interstate 65 & 165, co-located with WIJD.
Power (ERP):: Day: 2.5 kW; Night: 19 watts
Antenna:: Omnidirectional
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files
[FCC]
[FCCData.org]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
[Image] Image of the temporary tower that was erected put WIJD, its FM translator and WASG back on the air from Prichard in late 2012.
[Audio] Top of the hour ID audio, recorded 9 March 2021. M4A format. 77 kb, 6 seconds.
// W291CY Mobile, AL; Owned by Alabama Radio Corporation (Wilkins Radio Network, Inc.)
History:: Starting out on 1140, WASG originated in 1981 as contemporary Christian -- one of the few Native American owned radio stations in the country. According to the NAB in 1985, the station broadcast in stereo with the Motorola C-QUAM system. Boosted power to 50 kW days, then moved to 550 kHz with low power but comparable coverage. Obtained FM companion WYDH, then the new owners shut the AM down. Later owned by Pensacola Christian Radio, they resurrected the 550 signal, moved the station to a site near Cantonment, Florida (co-located with co-owned WNVY) then boosted the power to 10 kW days.; The station was reported silent again as of March 2008. An application was filed in July 2007 to move to Daphne, which was granted in January 2009. The new tower site is in Prichard, co-located with WIJD. It remained on the FCC silent list until a program test authority was filed in January, 2011.; A license to cover was filed in February 2011, but shortly thereafter the station was silent. It is unclear if the station was ever actually on the air at all, or just long enough to show the new facility as operational before being shuttered again.; The station was finally confirmed on air around 28 July 2011. Contemporary Christian music was heard being played with no segues, announcing or other interruptions except for the top of hour ID. It's worth noting that the original license for the Daphne move was for 10 kW, but as of the last update from the FCC (Feb 2011), the day power has dropped to 2.5 kW. In late September 2011 it was announced the station was sold to Alabama Radio Corporation, owned by Bob and Luann Wilkins. They also own co-located WIJD. The station fell silent on 23 October 2012 when the tower was taken down by emergency dismantling after being declared a safety hazard. The tower also held FM station WAVH and another AM, WIJD. WIJD and WASG resumed low power broadcasting in mid-November from a temporary tower on the site of their previous license site. Wilkins eventually got a new tower built on the same site, and full power broadcasting resumed by March of 2015. During the rebuilding phase, Wilkins put the station up for sale for $540,000, but had no takers. In March 2016 they filed to modify the station to commercial operation. In the fall of 2016 the station began to be heard on FM translator W291CY on 106.1 MHz.