Co-located on the WABM
television tower on Red Mtn. at Ishkooda Rd.
Power (ERP):
640 watts.
Antenna:
Omnidirectional
Antenna HAAT:
1004 feet.
Other Information:
Stereo
How's the Signal?
This station has pretty
good coverage of the metro area north of Red Mtn. and south to Shades Crest
Mtn. However, the signal is a little weaker into Shelby county and north
of Gardendale. The signal will dies off quickly near Montevallo, Sumiton,
West Jefferson and Moody.
Studios:
244 Goodwin Crest Drive
Owner:
Cox Radio Inc.
Noted Personalities:
All the previous Hot
97.3 personalities have been let go. There are currently no live disc jockeys.
How's it sound?
This was once the best sounding station in
Birmingham, in my opinion. Since they moved from top 40 to active rock
the sound quality has gone downhill considerably. The digital 'artifacting'
of MPEG encoded music is much more evident now but still below the levels
of most area stations, who seem to think you can get blood from
a digital turnip. The station still has its trademark 'quieter', less annoying
sound level. It's not driven to the brink of insanity like WQEN (ick) or
WRAX.
History:
The newest addition
to the Birmingham radio dial, WRLR has only been on the air since November
of 1998. The dial position was vacant before then. The orignal owners,
Homewood Radio LLC, sold the station August 2, 1999 to Cox Radio for $5.5
million*, who had been programming it from the beginning. The call letters
changed from WEDA to WRLR mid- September.
