FM Technical Profile: WDLT

Station Name:
104-1 WDLT
Frequency:
104.1
Format:
Urban Contemporary
Transmitter Location:
[map] [street view] At the end of Ard Road, just south of I-10 exit 53. Co-located with WEAR-DT, WHBR-DT and WFGX-DT; FM stations WKSJ, WJLQ and WBLX.
Power (ERP):
98 kW (100 kW with beam tilt)
Antenna:
Omnidirectional
Antenna HAAT:
1667 feet
Other Information:
60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.
:PS-[?] Time-[?] Text-[?] PTY-Rhythm and Blues PI-[?]
(inactive)
More Information:
[FCC]
[RECnet]
[Radio-Locator]
[Wikipedia]
[Facebook]
[Aircheck] WYOK's flip from Jack FM to contemporary hit radio "104-1 WABD" in HD. (3'05", 4.25 MB)
[Aircheck] First hour scoped jingles/sweepers as "104-1 WABD" in HD. Includes Daughtry concert promo mentioning "Q100", Cumulus' Atlanta CHR station. Duh. (3'22", 4.65 MB)
[Aircheck] A quick Friday afternoon sample of WDLT in HD during a blues-heavy hour.  Includes host banter, local commercials are lots of promos for the all-blues Saturday programming.  (6'22", 11.66 MB)
Owner:
Cumulus Broadcasting LLC
Noted Personalities:
Tom Joyner, mornings.
History:
Originated in May 1966 as WATM FM, automated easy listening facility of WATM AM, an Atmore daytimer. Around 1980 it went country under new ownership as WSKR, Kicker 104. Sold again in 1984, it became WIZD (Wizard) in 1987, a highly promoted hot adult contemporary station aimed at Mobile and Pensacola. After only a year, the station was sold again and became WGCX, classic rock.

 
In 1994 a new owner wanted to use the station to compete against WKSJ, the dominant country outlet. WGCX format and calls were moved to 92.1 and 104.1 became WDWG, The Dawg. A few years later WKSJ and WDWG were owned by the same company, so The Dawg became classic country to differentiate itself from it's more sucessful sister station. In 1999, Classic Country 104.1 swapped frequencies with WYOK 104.9, a rap station. The WYOK calls and format that prevailed on 104.1 went by the wayside in mid October when the station switched to a contemporary Hot AC / CHR-ish format. The slogan became Star 104. The change came because the new owner already had other black contemporary stations in its fold.
In 2004 the 1800 foot tower that held WPMI-TV, WHBR-TV, WJLQ-FM, WKSJ-FM, WBLX-FM and WMEZ-FM fell during Hurricane Ivan.  The stations later relocated to alternate tower facilities.  Before this incident, Star 104 was on the road to beating Mobile's legendary WABB in the contemporary music race.

 
In the spring of 2006 the station flipped to contemporary country as "Kicks 104.1", in part because the ratings never recovered from being off air due to Ivan.

 
In mid-March 2009 the station stunted as "TV 104", encouraging listeners to tune in on March 19th at 1:04pm.  Rumors fly that this will be another variety hits format.  And those rumors were right, with WYOK picking up what appears to be satellite-fed Jack.

 
On 28 February 2012, on the heels of Mobile's WABB dropping CHR, the station's calls changed from WYOK to WABD in preparation for a format flip to CHR.  The flip occurred midnight on 1 March 2012 after 30 minutes of a bell tolling.  The station's slogan, "All the hits 104-1 WABD" and logo are very similar to the old WABB logo.  The station later hired Q-Tip and Nick Fox from WABB to further pick up the reigns of the old station.  In May 2012 the station was granted a permit to change city of license from Atmore to Saraland, along with some very minor technical modifications to the license.

 
As part of a shakeup of Mobile stations, WABD moved to 97.5 on 14 July 2012, while K-Love took over WDLT's slot at 98.3.  WDLT's format migrated to 104.1.  Immediately after the switch, this station ID'ed on air as WLVM, but with the WDLT format.  Shortly after the conversion of the 98.3 signal to noncommercial status, all the call letters were moved to their correct positions and this became WDLT officially.  After the switch, a setting of some type on the HD encoders was changed and the station, while still broadcasting a strong HD signal, no longer decodes on most radios, showing an "HD Radio Live" logo on select new car stereos.