Technical Profile: WAVH

FM Technical Profile: WAVH

Station Name:: FM Talk 106.5
Frequency:: 106.5
Format:: Talk, News
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] [bird's eye] Off Shelton Beach Road in NW Mobile at Pallister Place South.
Power (ERP):: 50 kW
Antenna:: Omnidirectional
Antenna HAAT:: 466 feet
Other Information:: 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.; :

PS-(show) on FM TALK 106.5
Time-present Text-FM TALK 106.5 online at www.FMTALK1065.com
Text-(blank)
PTY-Talk
PI-WAVH-FM
More Information:: [FCC]; [FCCdata]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
[Facebook]

[Picture] A poster for the station during its years playing oldies music.
[Picture] Image of the RDS text display on an Insignia HD portable, showing PI (call letters) and Radio Text fields.
[Picture] Image of the RDS text display on a Sony Bluetooth portable headset, showing a different part of the Radio Text field.
[Picture] Image of the RDS text from a Mazda sedan's radio, showing the PS (station name), Radio Text and PTY (format) fields.; Mono
Owner:: Bigler Broadcasting
History:: This station dates back to an original construction permit issued to Baldwin Broadcasting in March 1990 for a new station on 106.5 MHz running 2.6 kW from a site about halfway between Bay Minette and Spanish Fort in Baldwin County, off Alabama 225. It appears the station signed on from this location but only operated from the site for a short time before moving south. The format at debut was Soft Adult Contemporary with a Smooth Jazz component, with the WFMI calls. In May 1993 the station was granted a permit to move to the old WKRG-TV tower in Spanish Fort and boost power to 7.3 kW at 600 feet Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT). A license to cover for that facility was filed in August 1993. The station was granted another construction permit in August 1994, this time for a move into Mobile. The change saw a boost in power to 50 kW from 449 feet HAAT from the WIJD tower located at the intersection of I-65 and I-165 in Prichard. It's likely that around this time the station flipped to Oldies as WAVH; those calls and format were previously heard on 96.1, who abandoned the format for a stab at country music. As part of this change, the station was re-licensed from Bay Minette to Daphne.

It appears the station was sold to American General Media in 1997 for $4 million, but later filings showing the station back in Baldwin Broadcasting's hands as debtor-in-possession.

In 2004 the station attempted to transfer the license to Cumulus but that was dismissed. In August 2006, the station began stunting as "Jimmy 106 - All Jimmy Buffet, all the time", later flipping to Adult Hits as "106-5 The Pirate". In November 2007 the station was sold to Bigler Broadcasting, LLC, owned by Don G. Bigler, a former aerospace engineer.

On 1 May 2009 the station flipped to a News/Talk format featuring conservative viewpoints. Station promos at the time were making a big deal of hearing talk in "digital FM stereo", despite the fact the station broadcasted in analog only, and in mono. Notable syndicated hosts included Neal Boortz, Clark Howard, Herman Cain and Mike Huckabee. Over time, however, the station began to emphasize local talk as much as syndicated talk.

On 23 October 2012, the station's tower (which also hosted two religious AM stations, WIJD and WASG) was taken down with almost no warning by the tower's owners. They reported that the structure was unsafe and could collapse. This left the three stations in a lurch as they scrambled to find alternative ways to get back on the air. WAVH quickly assembled a backup transmitter from a tower off Shelton Beach Road in west Mobile. With 2.5 kW it was able to cover most of metro Mobile. In May 2013 the station was granted a construction permit to permanently relocate to the Shelton Beach Road tower with 50 kW; it filed a license to cover for that facility that same month.

In early December 2023 Don Bigler passed away, although it appears that day to day operations of the station (and, indeed, ownership of Bigler Broadcasting) were already being handled by talk show host Sean Sullivan.