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WDBA
‎
Broadcast area	DuBois
Branding	"WDBA 107.3"
Slogan	"The Christian Station!"
First air date	November 12, 1975
Frequency	107.3(mHz)
Format	Christian talk, music
ERP	50,000 watts
Class	B
Callsign meaning	DuBois Area Broadcasting Company (licensee)
Owner	DuBois Area Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Website	http://www.wdba.com/

WDBA is an American radio station, licensed to DuBois, Pennsylvania; Clearfield County. The station broadcasts at a frequency of 107.3 mHz with an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts.

Contents 1 History 2 Station silenced 3 Special Programming 4 Weekdays 5 Seasonal offerings 5.1 WDBA Today

[edit] History

The groundwork for WDBA actually was laid in the early 1970's. A group of ten committed Christians explored the idea of starting up a Christian-formatted radio station in West Central Pennsylvania, as there was no such radio station at the time locally that offered full-time Christian programming. This board was the initial group of investors that successfully applied for a license to operate at 107.3 mHz. What was particularly different about this was that this was a for-profit frequency owned by a non-profit organization. Generally, non-profit organizations were relegated to the non-commercial portion of the FM band, between 88.1 and 91.9 mHz.

WDBA first signed on the air November 12, 1975, and for a period of about three years, operated for 18 hours a day, signing on at 6am, and leaving the air at midnight. It was the mission of the station to serve as many Christians as possible, and one of WDBA's challenges as the station grew in popularity, was that it could not be heard everywhere within its targeted signal reach. This changed in 1978 when the group, known by this time as DuBois Area Broadcasting Company, Inc., successfully applied for a translator station which allowed WDBA to extend its signal to the more populous city of Altoona at 102.3 mHz. The translator was necessary because of the mountainous terrain that separated Altoona from eastern Clearfield County substantially weakened WDBA's reach. WDBA also extended its broadcast hours to a 24 hour day with the addition of the translator.

The rough terrain also weakened WDBA's signal within the confines of its own county. To alleviate this, another translator was installed in the county seat of Clearfield, operating at 103.7 mHz. The translator signed on in 1994.

[edit] Station silenced

On August 8, 2005, WDBA suddenly went off the air at 10am. Engineers found that the trunk tower feeder line that ran the audio signal from the transmitter to the tower in Sandy Township, had been destroyed by an apparent vandal, who damaged the line with a series of shotgun blasts. Though the gunshots alone weren't successful in taking WDBA off the air at that point, enough damage was done to allow water to seep into the line over a period of time and short the line out. The shots were believed to have been fired into the line sometime before June 2nd.

WDBA remained off the air for 18 days while the line was replaced. The special line had to be physically built by a cable company in order to meet FCC RF leakage limit standards. The station finally returned to the air at 5:45PM on Friday, August 29th. As of this writing, no arrests have yet been made in connection with the vandalism.

[edit] Special Programming

In addition to the national ministries that dominate WDBA's airwaves, it also airs a variety of local and regionally produced programs, including:

[edit] Weekdays

• 5:30am to 8:30am -- Tharren Thompson and the WDBA Morning Show
• 10:30am to 11:30am -- Your Favorite Christian Music with Tharren Thompson
• 1:30pm to 3:30pm -- Your Favorite Christian Music with Tharren Thompson
• 4:00pm to 6:00pm -- The Drive Home with Dan Kennard
• 6:30pm to 8:00pm -- Your Favorite Christian Music with Dan Kennard
• 11:00pm to 5:00am -- Your Favorite Christian Music with Jerry Meloon

[edit] Seasonal offerings

WDBA also airs District 9 high school sports broadcasts, covering football, basketball, and wresting from DuBois, Brockway, Brookville, and DuBois Central Catholic.

WDBA is also northwest Pennsylvania's radio voice for Altoona Curve baseball action.

[edit] WDBA Today

WDBA has held the distinction of being a locally-owned and operated Christian-formatted radio station with the same format since its inception. It remains at its original location at 28 Scribner Avenue in downtown DuBois. Operations Manager and Chief Engineer Gerald Meloon is the longest tenured employee on staff, having worked for WDBA since its first day on the air.