One Strange Radio Station...

WTCL-AM 1580 in Chattahoochee has become one strange radio station operation.

This station was once WSBP, a country station that I not only liked (when I could hear it as it had less power in those days), I've gotten the bulk of its country library from former station owner Erwin O'Conner. I love this older country..and many songs have already begun to appear on my playlist on WJJD.

About two years ago, WTCL appeared to be silent. We drove over and found the building to be relatively neat, but the old Gates transmitter was sitting out in the back yard. No one was there,
but there was a note on the door, posted by "Radio Metz." Ultimately, someone named Chris said a new transmitter was on order, and a couple of months later the station did come back on, with black gospel music in the early morning, preachers in middays and Spanish in the afternoons.

Now the programming is all in Spanish. I can't tell you what kind of format it is, because my Spanish is not good enough for me to translate the broadcasts. All of the gospel and preaching programs appear to be gone.

The programming appears to be satellite-delivered. It has been suggested to me that this station is a front for a drug operation, among other things. Maybe so, maybe not. I don't know.

For stations to be licensed as "public airwaves" by the FCC any more is a joke. Stations exist to make money for their owners and stockholders, and it really doesn't matter what you, the listener, want or like. Listener tastes factor very little into these decisions.

I am glad the old WSBP records ended up here rather than in a dumpster. They will be used
as a regular part of WJJD's country/classic country format.