Technical Profile: WAFN-FM

FM Technical Profile: WAFN

Station Name:: Fun 92.7
Frequency:: 92.7
Format:: Oldies
Transmitter Location:: [map] [bird's eye] [street view] At the intersection of Shoal Creek Road and AL-69.
Power (ERP):: 1.15 kW
Antenna:: Omnidirectional
Antenna HAAT:: 663 feet
Other Information:: 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.
More Information:: [FCC]; [FCCdata]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]

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[Studio] Street View imagery of the station's studio off US-231 in Arab.

[Image] Google Photos image of one of the studios' interior.

// WAFN Somerville
// W285EN Priceville
Owner:: Fun Media Group of Alabama, LLC (Louis and Melanie Anzek)
History:: An original construction permit for a Class A station licensed to Arab was initially granted in 1972, to Brindlee Broadcasting Corporation, run by former State Finance Director and gubernatorial candidate Sid McDonald. The original transmitter located was supposed to be on Arlington Road, west of Brashiers Chapel Road, south of Scant City, but after several years of permit extensions, it was moved to a site just off Belair Drive, east of Arab and south of AL-69. The station finally signed on in late 1979, using a Harris FM-2.5K transmitter feeding a Harris FML-3E three element antenna with 2,000 watts of power. The original call sign was WCRQ-FM, and at the start it had a Country Music format.

The station was sold to Roland Broadcasting in 1993 for $546,000. They flipped the format to Adult Contemporary. Two years later it was purchased for $675,000 by Williams Broadcasting Corporation. Two years after that (1997), it was sold to Fun Media Group of Alabama for $492,500. They flipped the format to Oldies as WAFN (Arab FuN).

From 2000 onwards, the station applied for and received several different construction permits to improve their coverage area, none of which appear to have ever been built out. Instead, in 2007, they received a permit to locate just a few hundred feet to the south to the current tower site, and increase height for a larger coverage area. A license to cover for that facility was filed in July 2012.

In June 2020 it was announced that Fun Media Group would be purchasing Arab's only other local radio station, AM 1380 WRAB, for $100,000. It was announced that as part of a court settlement, Louis Anzek would be purchasing the stake of Fun Media Group held by Susan McKenney for $250,000.

The station changed antennas in the fall of 2022; the change was to a full spaced ERI 2-bay antenna.