Legacy WHTB/WNUZ/WPPT-AM 1230 -- Talladega Co. AL USA
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Benchmark Blasterz
N 33° 25.287 W 086° 07.223
16S E 581777 N 3698356
WHTB/WNUZ/WPPT-AM 1230 formerly served the greater Talladega Co. AL area from its transmitter along AL state highway 21
Waymark Code: WMWH2K
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2017
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member GeoMaulis
Views: 0

WHTB/WNUZ/WPPT-AM 1230 in Talledega AL was a small low-power (1000 watt) Class-D commercially licensed broadcast station that served the small town of Talledega AL with music, news, emergency information, and weather forecasts.

From Wikipedia: (visit link)

"WPPT (1230 AM) was an American radio station formerly licensed to serve the community of Talladega, Alabama. The station, established in 1945, was last owned by Birmingham Christian Radio, Inc. Due to transmitter damage caused by a lightning strike, WNUZ was temporarily off the air from August 2008 through August 2009.

Programming

WPPT broadcast a Gospel music format to the Anniston, Alabama, area. The station aired a mix of local and syndicated programming.

History

WHTB era

This station first signed on in 1945 as WHTB, broadcasting with 250 watts of power at 1230 kHz under the ownership of Voice of Talladega, Inc. That company, 80% owned by the Talladega Publishing Company which published the Talladega Daily Home and the weekly Talladega News, signed on WHTB-FM as a sister station in 1953.

WNUZ era

WHTB was sold to Radio Alabama, Inc., on June 1, 1959. The new owners had the call letters changed to WNUZ shortly after they acquired the station. In 1968, the station upgraded its daytime signal to 1,000 watts.

After more than 37 years of continuous ownership, Radio Alabama, Inc., reached an agreement in March 1997 to sell this station to Birmingham Christian Radio, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on May 13, 1997, and the transaction was consummated on September 10, 1997.

Falling silent

Beginning in October 2005, WNUZ began experiencing a series of technical issues that kept the station from broadcasting for months at a time in 2005 and 2006. The station fell silent again in July 2007 and stayed off the air for more than six months due to new technical issues with the transmitter.

On August 22, 2008, WNUZ "suffered direct lightning strikes" during Tropical Storm Fay which resulted in "the complete destruction of the station's transmitter" and caused unspecified damage to other electrical broadcast equipment at the station. The station applied to the FCC for authority to stay silent while their engineers repaired or replaced the damaged gear and evaluated the station's other equipment. On December 24, 2008, WNUZ was granted permission to remain off the air until no later than June 22, 2009. The station resumed normal broadcast operations on August 19, 2009.

WPPT era

On March 5, 2012, the station's call sign was changed to WPPT. On April 6, 2012, the FCC cancelled WPPT's license."

From the FCC website: (visit link)

"AM STATION APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSE TO COVER LICENSE CANCELLED

File No. AL BL-12819

Call sign: WPPT

Class: D

Applicant and Location: Birmingham Christian Radio, Talladega AL

Nature of Application: License cancelled and callsign deleted 4/6/2012 per letter"
Call signs/Frequencies/Channels/Broadcaster:
WNUZ-AM 1230


URL reference to transmitter tower/antenna: [Web Link]

Backup transmitter tower/antenna: no

Legacy transmitter tower/antenna: yes

URL Webcam: Not listed

Opening hours visitors platform: Not listed

Visit Instructions:

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Benchmark Blasterz visited Legacy WHTB/WNUZ/WPPT-AM 1230 -- Talladega Co. AL USA 07/26/2017 Benchmark Blasterz visited it