Broadcast Coverage Maps

FM Stations - Detail         FM Stations - Printable

Public Radio Stations in State

Main stations in bold followed by associated repeaters
Facilities in italics operated by out-of-state broadcasters
Location in ( ) - actual location of transmitting facilities
N - New facility since 1989 study     # - Station now meets study criteria

FM Stations
WBHM		90.3	Birmingham		WTSU		89.9	Montgomery-Troy
WSGN		91.5	Gadsden		WRWA		88.7	Dothan
WLRH		89.3	Huntsville		WTJB	N	91.7	Columbus, GA
WJAB	N	90.9	Huntsville					(Phenix City, AL)
WLJS	N	91.9	Jacksonville		WUAL		91.5	Tuscaloosa
WHIL		91.3	Mobile		WQPR		88.7	Muscle Shoals
WVAS		90.7	Montgomery		WAPR	N	88.3	Selma

AM Stations

None

General Comments

Thirteen stations provide public radio service to Alabama residents.  All of the stations except WLRH are operated by university licensees.  WLRH is operated by the Alabama Educational Television Commission, the state agency that provides Alabama’s public television service.  Two stations provide regional coverage. WTSU provides service from three stations in southeast Alabama, and WUAL provides service from three stations in central and northwest Alabama.  Multiple program services are available in Montgomery and Huntsville, two of the state's four largest cities.

FM Service

The 1989 PTFP study reported that ten stations served the state.  During the past 15 years, Alabama public broadcasters have added four new stations.  The construction of WLJS has increased service to Cleburne, Clay, and Talladega counties in eastern Alabama, although significant portions of those counties still lack service.  The construction of repeater station WAPR Selma by WUAL filled in a previously unserved area in south-central Alabama.  The construction of two stations, WJAB Huntsville and WTJB Columbus, Georgia (with its transmitter located in Phenix City, Alabama), provided additional services in those areas. 

A fifth station, WSGN, increased its signal strength in 2000 to serve residents of Calhoun and southwest Cherokee counties. 

One station in southern Alabama, WYJD Brewton, went off the air when the community college gave up the license, leaving 16,800 of Escambia County's 38,000 residents with no public radio service. 

Alabama has increased the percentage of the population receiving a public radio signal from 83% in 1989 to 89.8% currently.  The number of people who cannot receive public radio decreased from 651,000 in 1989 to 453,765.

AM Service

None

Service from Adjacent States

Signals from the state radio networks in Georgia and Mississippi reach narrow areas along the eastern and western borders, providing some service to portions of counties not otherwise served.  WTSU's repeater, WTJB, is licensed to Columbus, Georgia, but the transmitter is in Phenix City, Alabama.

Unserved Areas

Region A

Four counties in northwest Alabama -- Marion, Winston, Lamar, Fayette -- and the northern part of Pickens County have 68,250 residents without public radio service.

Region B

Mountains in the far northeast corner of Alabama and the Tennessee River Valley compromise coverage in Jackson and DeKalb counties, where 20,550 residents are without public radio service.

Region C

This area east of Birmingham includes the unserved counties of Cleburne, Clay, Randolph, Coosa, Talladega and Tallapoosa.  Approximately 107,400 persons there do not receive public radio service.  WBHM has expressed interest in locating a full-power station or translators in the region.

Region D

An eleven county area beginning along the state's southern border with Florida and curving northwest to the Mississippi border -- consisting of parts of Covington, Conecuh, Escambia, Monroe, Clarke, Washington, Choctaw, Sumter, Marengo, Greene and the southern part of Pickens -- is home to about 152,500 residents who do not receive public radio service.  WTSU indicates that it would like to provide low-power or translator service for the cities of Andalusia and Opp in Covington County.  Miles College has filed an application with the FCC for a construction permit to activate a station in Demopolis that would benefit the residents living in the middle of this large area.