Signal is excellent
over all of Jefferson and Shelby counties. Signal can be received
quite well in Cullman, Tuscaloosa, Pell City, Clanton and more...
Studios:
Beacon Parkway West,
Birmingham
Owner:
Cox Broadcasting
Noted Personalities:
Burt and Kurt, mornings;
Bobby Simon, middays; Brother John, afternoons; Big John Williams, evenings;
Mike McKensie, overnights.
How's it sound?
Digital artifacting. If you've never heard
it, just listen to this station. The benefits of lossy compression are
lost when you squeeze too much -- the music sounds like crap. Treble is
sparkling and watery. It's noticeable more on promos than on songs, but
some songs are really bad. Very annoying, considering Oldies 106.9 used
to be one of the technically best sounding stations around, which pretty
much made up for their lack of a decent oldies library. *grin*
History:
Was originally WTNB-FM
in the 50's before becoming WBRC-FM, companion to WBRC 960 AM. Has been
easy listening, progressive rock and CHR. Was WERC-FM in the 70's, then
WKXX during the rock/CHR years (Kicks 106). When it became Kicks 106, it
because the first Top 40 station on FM in Birmingham. It eventually led
to the demise of sister station WERC-AM (96ERC) and then 610 WSGN. Kicks
106 also gave the city its first personality-driven morning show, "Greg
(Bass) and Courtnet (Haden)" whose humor was great if your IQ was over
115. Between the Kicks 106 and Oldies 106.9 days, the station had other
stints. First, with satellite-fed country music. The calls were WBMH
and the slogan was Real Country 106.9. The second was as WIKX, still with
country music but with many of the old CHR-Kicks 106 jingles.
