WGIB (91.9 FM) and WQEM (101.5 FM) are

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

, listener-supported

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

s based in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. WGIB is licensed to Birmingham while WQEM is licensed to Columbiana. They are owned by the Glen Iris

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

School and they

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

format. The studios are on 10th Place South, near

Interstate 65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway System, interstate highway in the central United States. As with most primary interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between th ...

in Birmingham. Programming is relayed on a series of low-powered

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

s around Alabama. The audio is also streamed on the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

and accompanied by nature scenes on a subchannel of Glen Iris Baptist's low power television station W16DS-D. National religious leaders heard on WGIB and WQEM include David Jeremiah, Jim Daly,

Adrian Rogers Adrian Pierce Rogers (September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005) was an American Baptist pastor and conservative author. He served three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1979–1980 and 1986–1988). Early life and educatio ...

, Alistair Begg, Chuck Swindoll, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, J. Vernon McGee, John MacArthur and

Charles Stanley Charles Frazier Stanley Jr. (September 25, 1932 – April 18, 2023) was an American Southern Baptist pastor and writer. He was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta for 49 years and took on ''emeritus'' status in 2020. He founded a ...

. Some hours are devoted to

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

. SRN News supplies updates during the day. The station holds periodic on-air

fundraiser Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

s and seeks donations on its website.

History

The WGIB

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...

were assigned by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

on September 20,

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

. WQEM serves an area about south of Birmingham. It was purchased from

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. Glen Iris kept the WQEM call sign for the station after its purchase. The station was assigned the WQEM call letters by the

on August 3,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. Before its purchase by Glen Iris Baptist School, WQEM served as a repeater of Top 40 station WQEN, whose signal at the time did not adequately cover the southern suburbs of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Translators

References

External links

WGIB Online
*
WQEM Online
* GIB GIB Radio stations established in 1984 Jefferson County, Alabama 1984 establishments in Alabama {{Alabama-radio-station-stub