AM Technical Profile: WMCJ

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Frequency:
1460
Format:
Business Talk, Sports
Transmitter Location:
[map] [bird's eye: view 1 | view 2] [street view] On the north side of Warnke Road NW in Cullman, just west of US-31 (2nd Avenue NW). Co-located with WFMH.
Power (ERP):
Day: 5 kW
Night: 500 watts
Antenna:
Day: 1 tower
Night: 2 towers [pattern - PDF]
Other Information:
0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files
[FCC]
[FCCData.org]
[FCCInfo]
[Radio-Locator]
[Wikipedia]
Owned by Jimmy Dale Media, LLC
Silent?
History:
This station dates back to March 25th, 1950, when it came on the air as WFMH on 1300 kHz with a Raytheon RA-1000 transmitter. It was put on the air by L. E. Duffey and B. C. Eddins (The Voice of Cullman).  The studios at debut were at 206 Second Avenue in downtown Cullman, and the transmitter site was just off State Highway 112.  At launch the station was a daytimer with 1 kW. 

Early to the FM game, the owners launched an FM companion station, WFMH-FM, on 101.1 MHz the same year the AM debuted. 

The station changed over to 1460 kHz and got a boost to 5 kW in the summer of 1955. 

The station added 500 watts of night power in 1960, and built a directional antenna array at the current transmit location to accomplish the task.  The facility didn't go on the air until 1962.  An RCA 5DX was pressed into service at this time. 

For whatever reason, the company that owned this AM and its sister FM never listed the format for the stations in the Broadcasting Yearbook until 1992, when it was shown to be a mix of Country, Gospel and Adult Contemporary, and still simulcasting with the FM. 

The FM got a big coverage boost in the late 90's, and split off from the AM finally, to do its own country thing.  Around that time, the AM went Southern Gospel.  It's around this time that the license passed to the General Manager of the station, B. C. Eddins (As Eddins Broadcasting). 
 
Lay Catholic radio owners Queen of Peace Broadcasting bought the station in 2002 and installed their religious programming on the station.  The WFMH calls and gospel music moved to AM 1340, which had been WXXR.  This station became WMCJ.  They sold the station to Walton E. Williams Communications in 2005, who put on black gospel programming as "Solid Gospel 1460".  This had been heard previously on the aforementioned AM 1340. 
 
The station has been off the air several times in 2009 due to still using the same transmitter from the 50's.  In late 2009, a pending ownership change to Jimmy Dale Burgess was in progress; he planned to repair the station and put it back on with a news/talk format.  Early November 2010 has this station re-emerging as "Business Talk 1460".  In the summer of 2011 it has been listed as an affiliate of the new Yahoo! Sports Network, but has also been reported as silent for much of 2011.

As of April 2018, the exact status and/or programming of this station is not known. 

The station ownership was fined $6,000 for failing to file timely renewals for this station and WFMH in Cullman.  The license renewal was filed and granted in February 2021, but it's still unclear if the station has been on at all during this time.