NWR Change Tracking

(Originally created 5/19/2023 and last updated 11/23/2024)

Years ago, in a simpler time, I tracked changes to the NOAA Weather Radio network and updated my site regularly, including sending out an email blast to subscribers when changes happened. Over time (and no thanks to the PATRIOT ACT) the information I relied on became harder and harder to acquire and the NWS made more of an effort to conceal locations of stations. Some local NWS offices began taking down their local NOAA Weather Radio pages. The official coverage maps were updated to reduce identifying information as to the location of transmitters. It became more difficult to track changes to power outputs, frequencies, etc.

Even so, keen observers have noted some changes to the network over the last few years. Here are some changes seen by this observer on a state-by-state basis.

ALABAMA
KEC61 Mobile – previously located near Tillmans Corner. Now at WEIQ in Spanish Fort. This shifts the coverage pattern to the east.

ALASKA
KEC43 Anchorage – previously located downtown; relocated to site south of Ted Stevens International Airport.

1/20/2024: Power adjustments from 1000 W for the following stations, to 500 W unless otherwise specified:  KXI80 Craig 300 W, WXJ26 Ketchikan, WXJ80 Sitka, WXK69 Yakutat.

ARIZONA
Several years ago, station WNG548 (formerly WXK76A) in Show Low was removed. It had become largely redundant by the addition of station KXI23 on Greens Peak.
In November 2024, KXI24 Safford moved from 162.550 to 162.475 MHz.

ARKANSAS
WXN92 Harrison switched to 162.525 MHz.

CALIFORNIA
KEC57 Sacramento – previously located on Jackson Butte west of Jackson in Amador County. Relocated to a site near Fair Play, southeast of Placerville in El Dorado County.
KZZ75 in Contra Costa County is now WNG655.
WNG584 Avalon switched to 162.525 MHz.
WNG720 Ukiah switched to 162.525 MHz.
WZ2505 Sandberg switched to 162.425 MHz.

COLORADO
KWN40 Fort Morgan – once believed to be located east of Brush. Now along I-76 between Fort Morgan and Wiggins (possibly on a CDOT tower by the eastbound weigh station).
WNG550 Franktown – some confusion still exists on this one. The map pin here clearly suggests a site southwest of Castle Rock off I-25 although the coverage map seems to skew eastward, centered on Franktown. Considering I had the I-25 location on file close to twenty years ago, I suspect the site has been moved east to Franktown (city of license). I recall at one point this transmitter was to be considered the “Parker” site.
WXM92 Fort Collins – once confirmed to be located at the intersection of Hwy. 14 and Hwy. 257 between Fort Collins and Ault. The transmitter may now be located in Fort Collins at Colorado State University based on pin placement here; however the coverage depiction still seems to suggest the old “Black Hollow” site.

DELAWARE
WXJ94 Lewes – once located near the coast at Green Hill, near the University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean and Environment. Appears to now be located near Millsboro, on a tower near Long Neck Collection Station. This location reduces coverage to the Dover area (covered out of Sudlersville, Maryland) but increases coverage in Ocean City, MD and on Assateague Island.

FLORIDA
KEB97 Lake City – replaced WWG30 Live Oak (McAlpin) sometime after 2004. Transmitter is located just north of Lake De Soto in Lake City.
KHB34 Miami – was located at the University of Miami in Coral Gables. Relocated to the tower farm in Andover southwest of Hollywood, FL.
KHB39 Jacksonville – was located on the Bank of America building by the Regency Square Mall. Now located in a tower farm off of Hogan Road in southeast Jacksonville.
KIH24 Tallahassee – coordinates I received from a NWS contact roughly 25 years ago (before heightened security after 9/11) placed the site in Tallahassee. RabbitEars.info has the site just south of Lloyd, east of Tallahassee. The NWS propagation map shows KIH24 located north of Lloyd and west of Lake Miccosukee, which lines up with a City of Tallahassee tower located off of Veterans Memorial Drive near Panther Plantation Way.
WNG522 in Palatka is currently off the air (5/3/24) pending site relocation.
WWH20, formerly in unincorporated Bethlehem close to the Florida-Alabama state line, was moved to Westville (northeast of Defuniak Springs) several years ago. Even with the relocation to the southwest I still found coverage lacking in the South Walton County area (south of the bay on 30A) a couple years ago.
WXJ70 Melbourne – was located in Melbourne, possibly on the roof of a condo tower near Livingston St. and E. Strawbridge Ave. The transmitter is now located SW of Viera west of I-95 (possibly on the Brevard County tower off of Wickham Road).
WXM58 Belle Glade — rebroadcast the West Palm Beach station when I picked it up in 2000. It has its own programming now.

GEORGIA
WXM88 Waynesboro was decommissioned in 2024. https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf_2023_24/pns24-16_wxm88_decommissioning.pdf
KEC85 Savannah – several years ago, was moved from downtown Savannah to a site east-northeast of Hardeeville, South Carolina.
KXI28 Sandersville switched to 162.450 MHz.

There have been some changes to simulcasts on stations programmed out of the Peachtree City office. According to reports (confirmed by YouTube recordings) WWH23 Buchanan and KXI76 were separated to each have their programming in 2020. However, recordings from 2021 and more recently indicate that the two stations are paired once more.

KPS506 Washington also simulcast WXK56 Athens for several years but since 2022 has had its own separate programming.

KXI75 Blue Ridge has also been separated from KXI22 Brasstown Bald as of 2021.

HAWAII
Originally, all Hawaii transmitters relayed the KBA99 Honolulu signal on either 162.550 or 162.400 MHz, with transmitters synchronized so as to reduce echo/interference if receiving the signal from multiple sites at once on the same frequency.  Since then, WWG75 Mt. Haleakala (Maui), WWG27 South Point (Big Island), and new station WZ2557 Lihue (Kauai) have been spun off to have their own programming. It’s unclear to me at this time (5/2023) whether WWG74 (Kauai), WWG76 (Kulani, Big Island), and WZ2540 (North Kohala, Big Island) rebroadcast KBA99 or a nearer transmitter. I know that WWF39 Hawaii Kai (east tip of Oahu) rebroadcasts KBA99 on 162.450 and WWH21 in Kaneohe is gone as WWF39 was optimized in the past 20 years to serve much of the windward side of Oahu.

ILLINOIS
KXI79 Hillsboro is off the air pending a move to a new transmitter site.
WXJ76 Champaign was relocated from a site on the south side of Champaign near Windsor Road to the WCIA-TV tower west of Seymour.

IOWA
KZZ80 Milford – originally broadcast from a site a few miles east of Spirit Lake off Hwy 9.  Now transmits from a site about 3 miles west of Milford.

KANSAS
WNG534 Belvidere switched to 162.525 MHz.

KENTUCKY
WWG71 Morehead switched to 162.400 MHz.

MAINE
KHB54 Milo switched to 162.550 MHz.

MICHIGAN
KIG63 Grand Rapids (Kentwood) was shut down a few years ago and replaced by a new transmitter, WZ2560, located several miles east-northeast of Grand Rapids near Cannonsburg.
WWF34 serving the Kalamazoo area relocated from Oshtemo to a site between Plainwell and Richland (licensed to Plainwell), northeast of Kalamazoo.

MINNESOTA
WZ2515 Grand Marais switched to 162.450 MHz.

MISSISSIPPI
Consolidation of service areas several years back led to the deletion of three transmitter sites: Columbia (served by Hattiesburg and Bogalusa), Kosciusko (served by Ackerman and Carthage), and the Mississippi State Penitentary in Parchman (served by Inverness and Oxford). The power level at Oxford was increased to cover a large number of northwest Mississippi counties and the frequencies of both Inverness and Oxford were changed.
KIH38 Jackson – At some point (possibly after the Magee transmitter was added) the transmitter was moved from a location close to downtown Jackson to a site south of Raymond in Hinds County, which appears to line up with the location of WMPN, the flagship station of Mississippi Public Broadcasting. This likely improved coverage in Vicksburg, which I remember was very weak when I visited in 2000. In 2023 I found the coverage from KIH38 strong to the north until about Yazoo City, where KIH50 Inverness became the stronger signal.

MISSOURI
KEC77 St. Joseph – Information I received over 20 years ago showed the transmitter as located by the Missouri River near Rosecrans Memorial Airport. The transmitter is now located several miles southwest of Wathena, Kansas (believed to be on the KKJO-FM tower).
KID77 Kansas City – Originally located in downtown Kansas City; was later moved to a radio tower off of E. Truman Road east of I-435 in Independence. Before the move, it was easier to get KEC77 than KID77 in the Platte City area. The move to the radio tower significantly boosted reception for KID77 across the entire Kansas City area.
KWN55 Jamestown – first signed on as WNG580 Prairie Home, however, as KWN55 it seems to transmit from the same location as WNG580 (the Cumulus Media radio tower serving the Columbia and Jefferson City areas). KWN55 provides city-grade service to most of Columbia and is stronger than WXL45 (Fulton, but licensed to Columbia) in some parts of Columbia.
KZZ39 Clinton – The information I received about 20 years ago had coordinates on the west side of Warrensburg. A Google Map of NWR sites easily found on the Internet also shows KZZ39 as being located adjacent to the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. I do not believe the transmitter has ever been located in Warrensburg. The correct site is near Shawnee Mound north of Clinton, although from that site KZZ39 does serve Warrensburg as well.
WNG648 Crocker – If anyone knows where this transmitter really is located, please stand up! The official NWS coverage map shows the transmitter as being located between Dixon and Jerome, which is considerably east from Crocker and would provide service to Rolla. However, Dixon is the former city of license for this transmitter.  It appears that the transmitter was originally located east of I-44 near Jerome and has moved west. But has it moved west yet again?  If it has moved even closer to Crocker, Rolla is probably out of range now. Unfortunately, I did not check for local NWR signals the last time I was in Rolla.
WNG728 Hawk Point – moved from Bellflower in 2023, still on 162.425 MHz. The site is now located on a cell tower and has significantly less range especially to the west and southwest. (Several years ago, this transmitter broadcast on 162.450 MHz, same as KXI70 Jerseyville, IL. However, there was considerable overlap in Calhoun County, IL and as far east as Grafton, IL with both transmitters on the same frequency, and WNG728 was switched to 162.425 MHz.)
WXL47 Bloomfield – now located just east of Bloomfield in Stoddard County. Was originally licensed to Sikeston and located near Idalia. The community of license was changed to Dexter and now Bloomfield.
WZ2548 Eldon – replaces WXJ90 Camdenton which was located in Osage Beach. WZ2548 is located between Eldon and Osage Beach west of US 54.

NEBRASKA
KIH61 Omaha – previously located on the KYNE tower at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. That tower has been demolished. I heard at one point that a site on the west side of downtown Omaha was selected, however, to this date coverage maps for KIH61 still appear to indicate transmission from UNO.
WXL67 Scottsbluff/Angora – frequency swap with WXM37 Cheyenne between 2005-07. WXL67 moved to 162.475 MHz and WXM37 to 162.550.
WXM20 Lincoln – previously confirmed to be located on the KOLN studio tower (now also the transmission tower for KCWH-LD). It seems as though the taller tower now used for KFOR (AM), K268DF and K277CA just to the southeast MAY now host WXM20, though this is unconfirmed.

NEW MEXICO
WXN24 Artesia and WWF37 Carlsbad remain off the air for an extended outage period, leaving WXJ36 Hobbs/Maljamar to cover extreme southeastern New Mexico.
WZ2516 Silver City switched to 162.425 MHz.

NEW YORK
KWO35 New York City – This transmitter has moved around Manhattan over the years. Around 2000 it was located on the GE Building at 570 Lexington Avenue. It was also atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza for some time and was later moved to the MetLife Building at 200 Park Avenue. In 2014 it was temporarily relocated to a building near Times Square. According to the NWS signal propagation maps and Spectrum News 1 NY, KWO35 now broadcasts from two antennas on the 81st floor of the Empire State Building. One antenna is on the northwest corner of the building and the other is on the southwest corner.
WXM80 Riverhead has been separated from KWO35 to have its own programming for eastern Long Island.

NORTH CAROLINA
KJY85 Mooresville – Relocated to a tower south of Statesville in 2024.
WXL50 – Relocated from Fort Bragg to a site south-southwest of St. Pauls, south of Fayetteville. This site also made WWF89 Lumber Bridge obsolete, as it had previously covered areas to the south of Fayetteville.

NORTH DAKOTA
WWG25 Webster – According to information I received years ago, WWG25 was licensed to Devils Lake but broadcast from a tower in Webster. (This information also lines up with the location shown on a Google Map easily accessible through Google search.) Transmitter facilities now appear to be a couple miles west of Hwy. 20 between Webster and Devils Lake, although the station is now licensed to Webster and not Devils Lake.

OHIO
KHB97 Sandusky – relocated from Castalia to just south of Bellevue.

OKLAHOMA
KHA37 Vian – replaced by WNG632 Oktaha/Muskogee, a move roughly 30 miles to the northwest. This improved service in Muskogee (although Muskogee also receives service out of Tulsa) while leaving Vian with only fringe service from Oktaha and Fort Smith.
WWH38 Grove/Jay switched to 162.525 MHz.
WXK86 Lawton – appears to have moved a few miles to the west-northwest, closer to Cache.
WWG97 Altus – originally a 95 watt transmitter in Altus (I believe it was on a water tower).  Now located about 9 miles south of Altus by Highway 283.

OREGON
WWF57 Umatilla – used to operate on 162.500 MHZ even though another station, WWH27, broadcast on 162.425 MHz from just across the Columbia River in Plymouth, Washington. WWF57 is now defunct while WWH27 remains on the air.
WWF95 Tillamook – information I received over 20 years ago indicated the transmitter was located on the roof of the hospital in Tillamook. It is now located on a hilltop between Tillamook and Cape Meares.
WWH28 Heppner – there was for a time also a second Heppner transmitter, WWH29. It was located a few miles north-northeast of WWH28 and apparently served as a backup site.
WXL95 Spout Springs – originally licensed to Pendleton while transmitting from Spout Springs.  WNG708 later signed on from just west of Pendleton, near the airport, and so the city of license for WXL95 was changed to Spout Springs as it remains today.  WNG708 is now defunct, however.  WZ2522 transmitting from Carney Butte between Pendleton and Ukiah now also reaches the Pendleton area.

PENNSYLVANIA
KIH28 Philadelphia – It has been roughly 20 years since this move took place, but KIH28 used to be located in Roxborough.
WNG705 Honesdale – switched to 162.450 MHz.
WXM95 Towanda – switched to 162.525 MHz.

PUERTO RICO AND USVI
For a few years there was a NWR transmitter in Culebra, PR – WNG693 on 162.450 MHz.  It was later replaced by WZ2561 St. Thomas, USVI on the same frequency, although coverage maps show the signal to be spotty around Culebra. There was also a former transmitter at Frederiksted, St. Croix, USVI, WNG677 on 162.500 MHz, and WXM96 St. Thomas some years before that. Those transmitters are no longer broadcasting.

SOUTH DAKOTA
WXM25 Aberdeen – relocated to Bath, east of Aberdeen, about 20 years ago.
WXM26 Pierre – formerly located on the KPRY-TV broadcast tower near Presho. WXM26 later moved to a site about 6 miles north of downtown Pierre. The area formerly covered from Presho is now covered by transmitters in Reliance and White River.

TENNESSEE
WNG629 Spencer switched to 162.450 MHz.

TEXAS
KEC56 Dallas – relocated from a site north of I-635 near Richardson a few miles southeast to a site in Garland.
KGG68 Tomball – relocated from downtown Houston several years ago. The transmitter is now north of the Grand Parkway loop on the northern edge of the metro area.  Coverage closer to Houston is provided by WZ2572 Richmond and KHB40 Galveston, both of which completed relocations of their own in the last decade or so.
KHB40 Galveston – relocated from Galveston to Hitchcock.
KXI88 Stinnett – relocated from Borger in 2023.
WXK26 Laredo – frequency changed from 162.550 to 162.475 in November 2023.
WXK36 Tyler – relocated to a site southwest of Lindale.
WXK67 San Antonio – relocated from a site at Methodist Hospital/University of Texas Health Science Center to a site off of Highway 281 near Timberwood Park, farther north from San Antonio in the hills.
WZ2572 Richmond – relocated within Fort Bend County in 2020.

VIRGINIA
New station KAE42 Providence Forge, on 162.500 MHz, began broadcasting in May 2024.

VERMONT
WXM68 – relocated from Ames Hill near Marlboro, VT to Leyden, Massachusetts.

WASHINGTON
KAD93 Blaine switched to 162.525 MHz.
WXL86 Spokane switched to 162.400 MHz.
WXM62 Olympia – relocated from to Capitol Peak (from Boistfort Peak) about twenty years ago.

WEST VIRGINIA
WWG58 Parkersburg – was only on the air for a brief time about twenty years ago, on 162.425 MHz.  The 162.425 MHz frequency went to Athens, OH and coverage of the Parkersburg area was assumed by WNG734 in Marietta, OH.
WXM70 Garfield – relocated from Spencer about twenty years ago.

WISCONSIN
KZZ79 Spooner – formerly licensed to Webster and the transmitter was moved to a location near Spooner. Later, the city of license was changed to Spooner and the transmitter was relocated to Lampson. The frequency was changed to 162.475 MHz.
WWG88 Crandon was changed to 162.450 MHz.

WYOMING
WNG569 Afton was changed to 162.475 MHz.
WNG573 Thermopolis was changed to 162.500 MHz.
WXM37 Cheyenne – frequency swap with WXL67 Scottsbluff between 2005-07. WXL67 moved to 162.475 MHz and WXM37 to 162.550.

Have a question or comment or want to get back in touch?  Email me at m&a&i&l (without the & symbol) AT [the domain of this site].