Technical Profile: WVMB-LP

FM Technical Profile: WVMB-LP

Station Name:: The Voice of Madison Baptist
Frequency:: 107.9
107.9 (CP)
Format:: Religious
Transmitter Location:: [map] At the end of what appears to be a residential street, Bartlett Road, just off Old US Highway 31 (AL-251), northeast of Athens.
[map] [street view] Next to the water tower on Stoneway Trail, atop Rainbow Mountain in Madison. (CP)
Power (ERP):: 41 watts
3 watts (CP)
Antenna:: Omnidirectional
Omnidirectional (CP)
Antenna HAAT:: 151 feet
529 feet (CP)
Other Information:: 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC. For WVMB-LP.
60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC. (CP)
More Information:: [FCC] For WVMB-LP
[FCC] (CP)
[FCCdata]For WVMB-LP
[FCCdata] (CP); [Radio-Locator] For WVMB-LP; [Wikipedia]
Owner:: Madison Baptist Church, Inc.
History:: 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 did 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. 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.