WDBT (103.9 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to serve

Fort Rucker, Alabama Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located primarily in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training installation for U.S. Army Aviators and ...

, United States, part of the

Dothan Dothan is a place-name from the Hebrew Bible, identified with Tel Dothan. It may refer to: * Dothan, Alabama, a city in Dale, Henry, and Houston counties in the U.S. state of Alabama * Dani Dothan, lyricist and vocalist for the Israeli rock and ne ...

market. In addition, the station's digital FM signal transmits an adjacent channel, 103.9 HD2, which is also broadcast in analog on a translator signal on 107.7 FM as "Music 107.7". WDBT-FM began broadcasting in 1974, and is currently owned by Clay Holladay and the

broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary ...

held by Gulf South Communications, Inc.

History

The beginning

This station began regular broadcasting in 1974 as WAYD-FM with 3,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s of

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

on a frequency of 103.9

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

and licensed to serve the community of

Ozark, Alabama Ozark is a city in and the county seat of Dale County, Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 14,907. Ozark is the principal city of the Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area, as well as a part of the Dothan-Ozark Combi ...

. Station owner Wade B. Sullivan built it as an FM

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

to his WAYD (1190 AM, later WQLS (1220 AM)), also then licensed to serve Ozark.

The 1980s

In October 1981, Wade B. Sullivan agreed to sell this station to Raymond F. Akin, J.A. Baxter, Jr., and Gordon L. Bostic doing business as RJG Communications. The deal was approved by the FCC on December 3, 1981. The station became WORJ-FM in 1982 as "J-103", running a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

format. In February 1983, RJG Communications announced its intention to sell this station to MSB Communications, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on April 8, 1983. During the same year, the station flipped to

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

. In April 1985, Stephen G. McGowan made a deal to acquire full control of station licensee MSB Communications, Inc., from partners William James Samford, Jr., and William B. Blount. The deal was approved by the FCC on June 17, 1985, and the transfer of control was consummated on January 22, 1986. In October 1988, MSB Communications, Inc., reached an agreement to sell this station to Wesley R. Morgan. The deal was approved by the FCC on November 10, 1988, and the transaction was consummated on December 29, 1988. The station was assigned the call letters WNER by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

on January 27,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. In March 1989, Wesley R. Morgan applied to the FCC to assign the license for this station to Morgan Broadcasting Limited Partnership. The deal was approved by the FCC on April 4, 1989, and the transaction was consummated on May 2, 1989.

The 1990s

In April 1990, Morgan Broadcasting Limited Partnership completed a deal to sell WNER to Sunrise Broadcasting Corp. The deal was approved by the FCC on June 21, 1990. The station's call letters were changed to WQLS on November 26, 1990. In May 1991, Sunrise Broadcasting Corp. applied to the FCC to transfer the license for this station to subsidiary company Sunrise Broadcasting of Alabama, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on June 13, 1991. In June 1992, Sunrise Broadcasting Corp. made a deal to transfer control of Sunrise Broadcasting of Alabama, Inc., to CVC Capital Corp. The deal was approved by the FCC on July 27, 1992. When an AM sister station was assigned the WQLS call letters, this station's call letters were modified to WQLS-FM on July 9, 1993. In September 1995, Sunrise Broadcasting of Alabama, Inc., contracted to sell WQLS-FM to Woods Communications Group, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on November 21, 1995, and the transaction was consummated on January 20, 1996.

The 2000s

In May 2000, Woods Communications Group, Inc. (Charles Woods, chairman) agreed to sell this station to Jimmy Jarrell. The deal was approved by the FCC on July 17, 2000, and the transaction was consummated on July 25, 2000. Jarrell had the station assigned the WJRL-FM call letters by the FCC on February 27,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. In May 2002, Styles Broadcasting Inc. (Kim Styles, CEO) reached an agreement to purchase

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

formatted WJRL-FM and

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

formatted sister station WQLS from Jimmy Jarrell for a reported sale price of $750,000. The deal gained FCC approval on June 24, 2002, and the deal was consummated on August 1, 2002. In November 2003, Styles Broadcasting of Dothan, Inc., applied to assign the license for WJRL-FM to Styles Media Group, LLC. The deal was approved by the FCC on March 10, 2004, and the transaction was consummated on April 13, 2004. In March 2005, Styles Media Group, LLC, applied to the FCC to assign the license for this station to Styles Alabama Licensing, LLC. The assignment was approved by the FCC on March 23, 2005, and the transaction was consummated on January 31, 2006.

Magic Broadcasting

In 2006, Styles Broadcasting became the Magic Broadcasting Company. That same year, WJRL-FM dropped its "Thunder 103.9" branding and

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

music format for a "My 103.9" branding and an adult hits format. In April 2007, Magic Management Company, LLC, agreed to transfer control of licensee Magic Broadcasting Alabama Licensing LLC to Radio Broadcast Management, Inc. The transfer was approved by the FCC on June 20, 2007, and the transaction was consummated on July 1, 2007. In January 2009, the station applied to the FCC for authorization to change its

community of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

. This authorization was granted on March 25, 2009. Shortly after Noon local time on April 1, 2009, the station began stunting with a continuous loop of " For Those About to Rock" by

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

. After the stunt, the station changed formats to

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

as "103-9 The Edge", which would last less than six months, as on September 24, 2009, the station once again changed formats. This time, the format changed to

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

, branded as "Sportstalk 103.9", and picking up the market's rights to

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

athletics. On September 9, 2010, the station once again changed formats, this time to rock, branded as "Rock 104".

Sale to Southeast Alabama Broadcasters

In November 2011, the station was purchased by Georgia Edminston's Southeast Alabama Broadcasters, LLC. On January 23, 2013, WJRL-FM went silent (off the air) and its rock format moved to WLDA 100.5 FM Slocomb, Alabama, which flipped from urban. The two stations swapped call signs on January 29, 2013, with WJRL-FM taking on the WLDA call sign. On October 12, 2015, WLDA changed their call letters to WDBT. Effective October 13, 2015, Southeast Alabama Broadcasters consummated the sale of WDBT to Gulf South Communications, Inc. for $260,000. On October 14, WDBT returned to the air with a news/talk format.

WDBT-HD2

On March 11, 2019 WDBT launched an adult contemporary format on its HD2 subchannel, branded as "Music 107.7" (simulcast on translator W299BX 107.7 FM Dothan).Music 107.7 Debuts in Dothan
Radioinsight - March 11, 2019

Previous logos

References

External links

* * * {{News/Talk Radio Stations in Alabama DBT (FM) Dale County, Alabama