WAGG maintains position as Birmingham’s top gospel station

Birmingham’s historical gospel station WAGG is still holding on to the top position, according to the winter ratings period that ended in February. The station is holding the #9 position (2.7 rating) in the area, according to Arbitron. It is now the #1 religious/gospel station in the Birmingham market. Rival station Hallelujah 105.1 returned to the market in 2011 after it was suddenly pulled from the air in 2006, eventhough it was one of the area’s highest rated stations. WAGG is also ahead of WDJC, a Christian contemporary station.

These ratings come with an asterisk though, Hallelujah 105.1 is a low-powered station. In a Birmingham News article, Clearchannel VP and market manager for the station, Roy Quinn, promised that the new 105 would be a “low-commercial load, low-talk, low-hype, low-preaching gospel music station.” Time will only tell if Clearchannel will seek to regain their previous gospel music ratings powerhouse (Hallelujah 105.5 that was programmed locally by Willis Pride) and boost their signal or still rely on a low power signal and syndicated radio programming. Until then, WAGG is #1.