WTWW

WTWW is a shortwave station located in Lebanon, Tennessee. It is officially licensed to Leap of Faith, Inc. and leased mostly to Scriptures for America, a service produced by LaPorte Church of Christ. The station has sporadically operated since 2023 on three frequencies: 5.085, 9.475, and 9.93 MHz due to frequent equipment failures, a persistent problem throughout the station's history.

WTWW

Lebanon, Tennessee
Broadcast area	Canada, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa[1]
Frequency	5.085 MHz
Branding	Scriptures for America
Programming
Language	English
Format	Religious
Affiliations	Scriptures 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 ID	IHFC/P-20080122
Class	HF Broadcasting
Power	100,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates	36°16′35″N 86°5′58″W
Links
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	WTWW.org

Until 2022, WTWW had also carried an oldies/classic hits format operated by the station's then-lead engineer 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.

History

WTWW, according to the FCC,^[3] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 ^{[permanent dead link]} with programming from the Scriptures for America broadcast network, part of a long-term leasing agreement that has continued throughout WTWW's existence.^{[citation needed]} 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, 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.^[4]

The Big One on 5085

See also: WRMI § WRMI Legends

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. Among its hosts was famed sound engineer Bob Heil, who hosted an hour of "Live Theater Organ from the Ozarks."^[5] WTWW disc jockeys worked unpaid for the station, broadcasting remotely from their homes.^[6][7] 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.^[8]

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.^[9][10] WTWW sporadically returned to the air December 22, carrying Scriptures for America on the 5.085 (and eventually 9.475) frequencies.

As of January 2025, WTWW's 5.085 and 9.475 frequencies were off the air, according to Glenn Hauser, whose syndicated World of Radio was re-added after Randall's departure; Hauser did record operations on 9.93 carrying repeats of Brother Stair.^[11]

Randall died May 11, 2025.

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.^[12] 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.^[13]

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.^[14] During his time with the station, Randall commented that the transmitter carrying The Bible Worldwide worked properly almost all of the time while the ones carrying Scriptures for America frequently malfunctioned, which Randall mused could have been a case of divine intervention.^[8]

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.^[15]