FM Technical Profile: WVMB-LP

[ Home | Statewide: AM | FM | LPFM | Translators | TV | LPTV | LDTV ]
[ Metros: Birmingham | Mobile | Montgomery | Huntsville | Columbus, GA | Dothan | Tuscaloosa | The Shoals ]


Station Name:
The Voice of Madison Baptist

Frequency:
107.9

Format:
Religious

Transmitter Location:
[map] [street view] Next to the water tower on Stoneway Trail, atop Rainbow Mountain in Madison.

Power (ERP):
3 watts

Antenna:
Omnidirectional

Antenna HAAT:
529 feet

Other Information:
60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.

Former location: [mapAt the end of what appears to be a residential street, Bartlett Road, just off Old US Highway 31 (AL-251), northeast of Athens.  

More Information:
[FCC]
[FCCdata]For the previous WVMB-LP
[FCCdata] For the current WVMB-LP
[Radio-Locator]

[Wikipedia]

Owner:
Madison Baptist Church, Inc.

History:
First license:

This is one of the older LPFM stations in Alabama, having received its initial construction permit in November of 2002.  According to Wikipedia, the station was constructed and went on air for testing as early as May 2004, but records indicate they didn't file a license to cover until June, 2005.  Although the station is licensed to Madison, and Madison Baptist Church is in the city of Madison on Rauch Road, the station transmits from just outside of Athens and does not put a city grade signal anywhere near the church or the city of Madison.

In 2018 the station sought to move to a less crowded frequency, but that application was dismissed in February 2019.

The station filed a Silent STA (Special Temporary Authority) in September 2023 citing the need to move equipment to the station's new location, which had yet to be granted by the FCC.  The station does not have a construction permit (CP) to move to any new site; instead, they were granted a construction permit for an all-new facility, but still on 107.9 MHz, still licensed to Madison and still owned by the church. 

Second license:

That facility was granted in late February 2024, for 3 watts at 529 feet HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain) from a site atop Rainbow Mountain where a few other area LPFM's had once been located. In mid-April 2025, the license for the original WVMB-LP was cancelled by the FCC.

At the end of December 2025, the station requested an initial callsign of WVMB-LP to match the previous station, and also concurrently filed a license to cover for that facility. It's presumed to be on air with the same Gospel format as before.