Technical Profile: WAMI

AM Technical Profile: WAMI

Frequency:: 880
Format:: Religious
Transmitter Location:: [map] [alternate map view] [street view] Just west of US 331, near where Main Street Extension ends and US 331 and N Main Street split. Co-located with WAMI-FM.
[map] South of Lake Martin, on Deer Track Road in rural Elmore County. (CP)
Power (ERP):: Day only: 1 kW
Day only: 13 kW (CP)
Antenna:: 1 tower
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files

[FCC]
[FCCdata]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]

Owned by Christopher W. Johnson

Silent
History:: Signed on in December, 1952. The call sign stood for "Where Agriculture Meets Industry". The station originally had a block format with programs of country, gospel, easy-listening and popular music. This changed in 1986 when WAMI (AM) switched to a country format. (WAMI-FM switched to easy-listening). The station was originally daytime only. Low-power night-time operation was authorized in 1986. The station has never changed frequencies, and used the tower that was erected in 1952 until sometime in the 2000s when it moved a short distance to a newer WAMI-FM tower up the street. The station has been reported silent in June of 2010 and 2011.; At one time they had an application pending to relocate the facilities to Kanab, Utah, on 1540 kHz, but it was dismissed in February 2012. In June of 2016 a license transfer was initiated to transfer ownership from Opp Broadcasting Company, Inc., to Christopher W. Johnson. The station, which has been silent for years, won a construction permit to move up 20 kHz to 880 kHz, with 1,000 watts during the daytime only. A license to cover was filed for that facility in early October, 2016. The station was reported off air starting on 10 March 2017, and a silent STA was filed on June 26th 2017. That same day, the station applied to move to a site near Clanton, in Chilton County. Not too long after that in August 2017, the station was sold by Johnson to Brantley Broadcast Associates for $16,000 and rent free use of a tower site. The application to move to Clanton (but be licensed to nearby Maplesville) was approved in mid-November 2017. It appears as of 2022 the license transfer was never approved, or was cancelled, returning ownership to Johnson.

In early June 2018, the station filed to resume operations from their Opp-area tower with just 50 watts, citing concerns that a diplexer needed to get the station on the air from the WKLF tower in Clanton would not be ready before their previous STA to stay silent expired. It's unclear if the station ever returned to the air in Opp, however. The station filed another STA in late August 2020, noting that they lost the transmitter site in Opp and would need to remain off the air until the Maplesville Construction Permit could be built out.

In June 2021, the station filed a resumption of operations notice with the FCC, saying they were able to get back on the air from their currently licensed site in Opp. It's said the format is Bible Readings. The FM translator signed on in early June 2021. The move to Maplesville was subsequently nixed.

The station was reported silent in late March 2022, citing "feuding co-owners of the transmitter site" and a pending eviction. Around the time the silent notice was filed with the FCC, station owner (Johnson also applied to move the station a new transmitter site in rural Elmore County, northeast of Eclectic, while being re-licensed to the city of Jackson's Gap in Tallapoosa County. The station would run 13 kW daytime and critical hours only, while remaining on 880 kHz. That facility was approved in July 2022. In December 2022, it was reported that Johnson would also be buying the (silent) paired translator, W237FK in Opp, to move to Tuskegee, for $138. The FCC denied that sale and move request in January 2023. In April 2023, after an informal objection by Marble City Media, the FCC denied the translator's application to move, revoked the operating license for it and deleted the facility record.

In early November 2024, the station again filed a permit to move out of Opp, this time to relocate to a site northeast of Clanton on Lay Dam Road, with 1 kW days and 7 watts at night. As of the last update to this page it remains pending at the FCC.