WTWW
Broadcast areaCanada, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa[1]
Frequency5.085 MHz
BrandingScriptures for America
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatReligious
AffiliationsScriptures For America
Ownership
Owner
  • Leap of Faith, Inc.
  • (George McClintock, chairman)
History
First air date
February 19, 2010
Former call signs
WBWW (during construction)
Call sign meaning
We Transmit World Wide
Technical information
Facility IDIHFC/P-20080122
ClassHF Broadcasting
Power100,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
36°16′35″N 86°5′58″W / 36.27639°N 86.09944°W / 36.27639; -86.09944
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitesfawbn.org

WTWW is a shortwave station located in Lebanon, Tennessee. It is officially licensed to Leap of Faith, Inc. As of December 2022, WTWW has one working transmitter, that on 5.085 MHz, which operates during the evening hours carrying Scriptures for America, a service produced by LaPorte Church of Christ.

Until 2022, WTWW had also carried an oldies/classic hits format operated by Ted Randall, who also appeared on several programs on the station, and his wife Holly on the 5.085 MHz and 9.94 MHz frequencies.[2] WTWW went off-air November 10, 2022, with Randall taking the oldies format to WRMI; the station returned to the air sporadically in December solely carrying Scriptures for America. WTWW is licensed several other frequencies that are off-air.

History

WTWW, according to the FCC, was originally licensed a construction permit as WBWW on June 30, 2009. Testing began in January 2010 and ending mid-February 2010. Testing frequencies used were 5.755 MHz and 9.48 MHz, and recorded by several listeners who uploaded the audio to YouTube. WTWW broadcast throughout its existence via a heavily-used transmitter donated by KNLS, after that station upgraded to a new transmitter.

WTWW officially signed on at 15:00 UTC on Friday, February 19, 2010 using the 9.48 MHz frequency with low power and streaming with programming from the Scriptures for America broadcast network, part of a long-term leasing agreement that has continued throughout WTWW's existence. Both the frequencies 5.755 MHz and 9.48 MHz and their transmitters were previously used by Christian shortwave outlet KAIJ in Dallas, Texas.

In January 2010, WTWW (as WBWW) was licensed to operate at 100 kilowatts with an azimuth of 40 degrees, every day, on 5.755 MHz from 00:00 to 07:00 UTC and on 9.48 MHz from 12:00 to 19:00 and 22:00 to 24:00 UTC, targeting CIRAF zones 4 and 9 (eastern Canada), 18 and 27–28 (Europe), 37–38 (north Africa), 39 (the Middle East), and 46–47 (western and central Africa).[1]

In 2015, WTWW briefly served as the terrestrial broadcast home of Art Bell's overnight radio program Midnight in the Desert.[3]

The Big One on 5085

From August 2018 to 2022, WTWW's lead engineer Ted Randall operated a locally originated personality oldies format on the 5.085 MHz signal in the evenings, with veteran disc jockeys and voiceover artists to host the programming. WTWW disc jockeys worked unpaid for the station, broadcasting remotely from their homes.[4][5] In a 2017 interview with The Spectrum Monitor, Randall described his arrangement with WTWW as a barter agreement with its owners, providing engineering services in exchange for the right to use the WTWW transmitters for music and ham radio programming as he saw fit, akin to a local marketing agreement.[6]

Temporary shutdown and departure of The Big One

On November 9, 2022, Randall announced his departure from the station, eventually taking the station's programming to a WRMI transmitter five days later. The station briefly shut down after Randall's departure.[7][8] WTWW sporadically returned to the air December 22, carrying Scriptures for America on the 5.085 (and eventually 9.475) frequencies.

Programming

Scriptures for America operates primarily as an outlet for the pre-recorded sermons of LaPorte Church of Christ founder Peter J. Peters (who died in 2011 shortly after the station began broadcasting) and his successors.[9] The Anti-Defamation League has identified Peters's programs as "bigoted pseudo-religious Christian Identity (and) antisemitism" and had attempted to take stations that had carried the program at the time (before WTWW had signed on) to be subjected to FCC investigations for broadcasting to domestic audiences, as the ADL argued such programs had no relevance outside the United States.[10]

LaPorte had also previously offered The Bible Worldwide, which offered audiobook broadcasts of the Holy Bible in various languages (with the King James Version being used for English readings), when WTWW had an additional frequency to spare.[11]

As of October 2023, WTWW began accepting programming from other religious broadcasters under the guidance of Bob Biermann, including Biermann's talk show Truth2Ponder, which originates from WRMI.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 "FCC HF Stations Seasonal Operating Frequency Schedules" (Winter '09 Version 2 ed.). Federal Communications Commission. 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
  2. ↑ Sulek, Marissa. "Lebanon radio station tunes broadcast to Ukraine and Russia". WVLT. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  3. ↑ Art Bell returns again. RadioSurvivor.com. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
  4. ↑ Wilbanks, Kase. "Lubbock radio DJ reaching Ukraine on shortwave WTWW with truth, hope, classic hits". KCBD. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  5. ↑ Little • •, Joe. "San Diego Radio Host Broadcasts from His Closet for Listeners in Ukraine". NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  6. ↑ Baker, Keith (January 2017). Living the Shortwave Broadcasting Dream at WTWW. The Spectrum Monitor. p. 9. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  7. ↑ Glenn Hauser logs November 8, 10-11, 2022
  8. ↑ Glenn Hauser log November 10-16
  9. ↑ Network Programs. Scriptures for America. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  10. ↑ "ADL REPORT FINDS RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS USE SHORTWAVE RADIO TO TARGET U.S. AUDIENCES; ASKS FCC TO INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE VIOLATION OF REGULATIONS". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2023-09-11. Pastor Pete Peters, a leading figure in the bigoted pseudo-religious "Christian Identity" movement, preaches anti-Semitism on his show, "Truth for the Times," on WRNO and WWCR.
  11. ↑ The Bible Worldwide (2015 archived version). WTWW Web site. Retrieved September 12, 2023. The inclusion of "Pastor Peters" in the programming indicates its origins from LaPorte.
  12. ↑ Hauser, Glenn (October 5-11, 2023). World of Radio Episode 2212. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
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