Across from old Winn-Dixie
supermarket shopping center in Midfield, off Bessemer Super Highway.
Power (ERP):
50,000 watts day / 500
watts night
Antenna:
1 tower day: Omnidirectional
/ 2 towers night: Directional to the south-southeast, with a secondary
lobe to the north-northeast.
Other Information:
Comments: Two site operation.
(Both day and night towers are located within 300 feet of each other.)
History:
Through the 60's and
mid-70's was WVOK, the Voice of Dixie. A daytimer with a moster signal
covering a large part of Alabama. It played Top 40 music but did not use
the formatics of major-market Top 40 stations, instead opting for a down
home style that appealed to the more rural audiences outside of Birmingham
that weren't reached by other stations. It withstood competition by generating
a following in the outlying areas. The station was home of a very popular
morning show hosted by Joe Rumore. The Joe Rumore show broadcast from Joe's
own basement! Through an intercom Joe communicated with Curely, the engineer
back at WVOK and his wife, upstairs. Mr. Rumore also owned Rumore's Record
Rack in Birmingham. Later in the 70's WVOK went country, and in the 80's
moved to oldies, where it broadcast in stereo for some time. In the early
to mid 90's it became WJOX, all sports radio, with minimal nighttime power.
And the stereo is gone. The studios and transmitter used to be located
together off Bessemer Super Highway in Midfield. The building was recently
razed (a pool is still there), but the transmitter remains. Apparently
the pool was not only for swimming but also served as a cooling pool for
the water that was used to cool the transmitter. The original owners of
WVOK also owned WFLI 1070 in Chattanooga, WAPE 690 in Jacksonville and
WBAM 740 in Montgomery. WAPE had a similar setup where a pool was used
as a cooling pond for the water cooled transmitter's cooling system.
