Technical Profile: WVNA-FM

FM Technical Profile: WVNA

Station Name:: The Big Dog
Frequency:: 105.5
Format:: Rock
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] Just off New Cut Road near its intersection with Milk Springs Road, west of Old Highway 43 south of Tuscumbia. On the shorter of the three towers at this site. The tallest tower houses WQLT and WFIX.

[map] [street view] Just off Darrell Road near its intersection with Milk Springs Road, west of Old Highway 43 south of Tuscumbia. Co-located with WLAY-FM. (CP)
Power (ERP):: 4.4 kW
1.9 kW
Antenna:: Omnidirectional
Antenna HAAT:: 574 feet (CP)
Other Information:: 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.; :

PS-The Big Dog Rock 105.5
Time-present
Text-(blank)
PTY-Oldies
PI-WVNA-FM; AUX: 360 watts @ 345 feet. 60 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.
More Information:: [FCC]; [FCCdata]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
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[Image] RDS display from an Insignia portable radio.
[Image] RDS decoded on an AT&T Insite phone in Florence, showing the PS (station name) and PTY (format) fields, May 2019.

[Studio] Street View imagery of the Singing River Media studios on East 2nd Street in Muscle Shoals.
Owner:: Singing River Media Group
History:: The Slatton-Quick Company, owners of WLAY on 1450 kHz, was granted a permit for a new Class A (3 kW) station on 105.5 MHz in Muscle Shoals. The station signed on in September 1964 from studios and a transmitter site at 620 E. 2nd Street. The calls were originally WLAY-FM. From the start, it appears the station had an SCA (Subsidiary Communications Authority) for 67 kHz. While the AM was the home of the Shoals' rock and roll (and hosted many legendary acts in studio) the FM did Country music.

That changed in the early 70's; for a short period of time the AM was Top 40 and the FM did a less aggressive Pop Music format. But by '77 it was back to tried-and-true Country music.

In 1995, D. Mitchell Self bought the Slatton-Quick Company stations for $1.7 million. At the time both the AM and FM were country.

The WLAY-FM calls, country format and hosts all swapped places with WVNA-FM in the spring of 2000. This put the country on a big 100 kW signal while moving that station's classic-leaning rock format to the (much) smaller signal here. Clear Channel acquired the station(s) in December of 2000. It appears that URBan Radio Licenses acquired the stations in 2005.

The station's format had been Classic Rock-leaning through the mid-2010's but moved to a more straight-up Rock presentation in the 21st Century. On 5 July 2017, Tuscumbia Utilities disconnected the power to all the URBan Radio studios in town, causing them to lose their programming feeds. The stations fell silent (but remained on with dead air). The station returned to the air on 12 July 2017.

iHeart Radio received a construction permit for a new FM translator on 104.7 MHz in September, 2018, to relay this station. That permit was soon updated to to sister station WMXV when the license was transferred from iHeart to URBan Radio Licenses.

The station was sold, along with the other URBan Radio group of stations, to Singing River Media Group in October 2018, for $1.275 million. Singing River Media Group is headed by James Michael Self, whose father was the former owner of WLAY AM and FM.

As of the start of 2020, the station is reported to be simulcasting sister station WVNA. In May 2020 the station was granted a construction permit to relocate to a site off New Cut Road near Milk Springs Road, on the same tower as WLAY-FM. That permit was for 1.6 kW at 381 feet HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain).

The simulcast with WVNA AM appears to have ended in July 2022, when the AM (while not actually being on the air!) flipped to News/Talk, feeding a translator.

The station filed a Special Temporary Authority (STA) in May 2023 noting that it was unable to construct the previous construction permit from 2020. Instead it was operating with 750 watts at 572 feet HAAT from a tower off Darrell Road west of Milk Springs Road, just south of the previously licensed location. This tower currently houses co-owned WLAY-FM. In August 2023 the station applied and was granted a permit to make this location permanent with 1.9 kW at 574 feet HAAT.

A license to cover for that change was granted in May 2024.