WDXB
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| City of license | Jasper, Alabama |
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| Branding | 102-5 The Bull |
| Slogan | A Better Brand of Country |
| Frequency | 102.5 MHz |
| Format | Country |
| ERP | 90,000 watts |
| Class | C1 |
| Callsign meaning | W DiXie B (the previous name of the station was Dixie 102.5) |
| Owner | Clear Channel |
| Website | www.1025thebull.com |
WDXB, known on the air as “102-5 the Bull”, is a Clear Channel-owned country FM radio station licensed to Jasper, Alabama that serves Birmingham and north-central Alabama. Other stations in the Birmingham market owned by Clear Channel include WMJJ-FM (96.5), WQEN-FM (103.7), WENN-FM (105.5), and WERC-AM (960).
[edit] History
Until the mid-1980’s, WWWB-FM was a small-market radio station that served only Jasper and parts of northwest Alabama playing country music. In 1986, WDBB-TV in Tuscaloosa erected a new transmission tower near the border of Jefferson County and Tuscaloosa County to enable its signal to cover the Birmingham area. At that time, WWWB began broadcasting off the new WDBB tower and dropped country music for Top 40. It was at that time that the call letters were changed to WZBQ, and the station was known on the air as Z-102.
While Z-102 was fairly successful in the smaller Tuscaloosa market, it did not make a very big impact in Birmingham; Birmingham had two other Top 40 stations at the time (WAPI-FM/I-95 and WKXX/Kicks 106) and Gadsden’s WQEN/Q-104 covered most of the market as well. WZBQ continued with its Top 40 format throughout the rest of the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s. In early 1994 the format was changed to oldies, and the station was renamed Cool 102.5. In August 1994, new owners dropped the oldies format in favor of country and changed the call letters to WOWC. The station was known on the air as Wow Country 102 and began broadcasting from studios in Birmingham.
Wow Country was the first direct challenge presented to the Birmingham market’s top-rated station, WZZK, in nearly eight years; however, due to signal limitations presented from broadcasting from a tower 30 miles west of Birmingham, WOWC initially enjoyed only marginal success. In 1999, the call letters of the station were changed to WDXB and the station was renamed Dixie 102.5, as more classic country songs were added to the playlist.
Two factors enabled WDXB to become a truly serious competitor to WZZK. First, the station began broadcasting from a tower more centrally located to Birmingham in 2002, enabling its signal to cover the entire market. Then in 2003, the station hired the popular morning-drive team of Patti Wheeler and “Dollar” Bill Lawson, who had been forced out at WZZK earlier that year. In 2005, 102-5 the Bull, as WDXB was known by then, finally passed WZZK in the local Arbitron ratings. Today, the two stations enjoy a heated rivalry and trade positions in the ratings.
[edit] Trivia
The call letters WDXB were previously assigned to a radio station in Chattanooga, TN, located at 1490 AM.
[edit] External links
| FM Radio stations serving the Birmingham / Tuscaloosa / Anniston/ Gadsden area (Arbitron #56 and 234) | |
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WBRC 87.7¹ | WLJR 88.5 | WBFR 89.5 | WBHM 90.3 | WJSR 91.1 (covers the northern half of the city) | WVSU 91.1 (covers the southern half of the city) | WGIB 91.9/101.5 | WPHC 92.5 | WDJC 93.7 | WYSF 94.5 | WBHJ 95.7 | WMJJ 96.5 | WNCB 97.3 | WKLD 97.7 (Oneonta: covers northern suburbs) | WHPH 97.7 (Jemison: covers southern suburbs) | WBHK 98.7 | WZRR 99.5 | WRAX 100.5 | WYDE 101.1 | WDXB 102.5 | WQEN 103.7 | WZZK 104.7 | WENN 105.5 | WBPT 106.9 | WUHT 107.7 ¹ Audio for TV channel 6 (Fox) |
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WMFT 88.9 | WVUA 90.7 | WUAL 91.5 | WTUG 92.9 | WZBQ 94.1 | WFFN 95.3 | WTXT 98.1 | WDGM 99.1 | WBEI 101.7 | WNPT 102.9 | WQZZ 104.3/97.3/100.1 | WRTR 105.9 |
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WJCK 88.3 | WKNG 89.1 | WGRW 90.7 | WTBJ 91.3 | WPIL 91.7 | WLJS 91.9 | WTDR 92.7 | WHMA 95.5 | WVOK 97.9 | WTRB 98.3 | WRHY 105.9 | |
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WTBB 89.9 | WSGN 91.5 | WGMZ 93.1 | WKXX 102.9 | WQSB 105.1 | |
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