It was a pleasant surprise to hear and identify WNGL Moblie AL on 1410 kHz (a personal first) on the 15th September 2011 during the previous dxpedition to Seefontein.
The station's 4.6 kw signal made it through over a distance of 13 186 km via the Icom R71E and 220 metre beverage antenna directed towards Eastern Canada.
Station Manager David Renshaw kindly responded to my follow-up reception report with a prompt email reply. David seemed to recognise the call letters from the female announcer on the audio clip and added that there are no female announcers at the station (My guess is that the top-of-the-hour id announcement was possibly pre-recorded and aired during the time when the previous station manager, Daniel diSilva, was in charge).
Audio Clip
A careful listen to the recording at 0500 UTC on the 15th September 2011 revealed the station id : " ... WNGL 14-10. You're listening (static crash) to Archangel Radio ... ".
A Brief History
As the oldest radio station in Mobile, WODX first broadcast from the Battle House Hotel on February 7, 1930.
WODX engineer and equipment (Photograph : Erik Overbey c1930).
The radio station has undergone various ownership and callsign changes : WODX (1930-1933), WALA (1933-1963), WUNI (1963-1984), WMML (1984-1991), WLVV (1991-2009) and WNGL (2009-present).
A Brief History
As the oldest radio station in Mobile, WODX first broadcast from the Battle House Hotel on February 7, 1930.
The radio station has undergone various ownership and callsign changes : WODX (1930-1933), WALA (1933-1963), WUNI (1963-1984), WMML (1984-1991), WLVV (1991-2009) and WNGL (2009-present).
The WLVV transmitter building and antenna towers, situated on the coast between Mobile and Baldwin Counties (Photograph : Google Maps Street View).
In late April 2010 WNGL received a construction permit to move from the marshland transmitter site (pictured above) to one off Peach Street in Mobile. In late September 2010 the station was reported as active from the new site.
3 comments:
I heard WLVV from Marlo in Victoria way back in the early 90's. Sadly they never replied to my three letters. What a shame when stations are sold and renamed that your chances of a reply are gone forever, unless of course they still used the same chief engineer. Very nice Gary.
Thanks Dave. Well done with your reception of 1410 WLVV. I've had the same experience with no response from various AM stations from a previous broadcasting era (Just a thought - perhaps you could share a brief report of your reception online - particularly if its a rare occurrance - someone who used to work at the station might respond after an internet search).
Hi, My dad was the engineer of radio station 1410 in Mobile, AL from 1944 when it was WALA,then when it was WUNI,then when it was WMML until he retired in 1984.
Post a Comment