On February 23, Statesboro radio station FM 107.7 experienced an outage when a logging truck caught the guy wires of one of the station's antennas on Williams Road and brought the tower down.
Foundries FM 107.7 Fox News antenna was on that tower. The tower was also used as one of four directional antennas that handles the nighttime transmission of AM 850.
"We are buying a new FM transmitting antenna for 107.7 and placing it on one of our existing towers. The reason we had 4 towers in that location was so WPTB (850 AM) could go directional at night to keep from interfering with WRUF in Gainesville, FL. (AM signals travel farther at night because they bounce off of the ionosphere, which moves closer to the ground as the air cools. This is the phenomenon commonly referred to as "skip" by CB and HAM radio operators)," said Bryan Steele, President of Foundry Broadcasting. "We have elected not to rebuild the tower and to reduce power on WPTB-AM to prevent interference with WRUF. We will build a shorter utility tower to facilitate communications between the WPTB building and our other buildings. We are planning (pending FCC approval) to utilize one of the remaining towers for WWNS-AM (1240) so we can consolidate our technical operations in that building. The 4th tower will be removed."
They are still transmitting on 107.7, but at reduced power. 107.7 FM will be back to full power after they install the new transmitting antenna, which should happen within 60 days.
How to listen till repairs complete
You can listen to FM 107.7 Fox News on 1240 am or online by clicking this link: rdo.to/wwns.
Here are all of the local stations operated by Foundry Broadcasting:
- 106.5 FM – The Boro – Country
- 94.9 FM – The Eagle – Adult Contemporary
- 107.7 FM and 1240 AM WWNS – Fox News 107.7
- 99.7 FM and 850 AM – Top 40
Only 107.7 FM and 850 AM (impacted after dark only) are effected by the tower damage.
The popular East Georgia Morning show will continue weekday mornings from 6 AM to 10 PM with local guests on from 8 to 9 AM.
