HARROGATE, Tenn. - Plans to get local talk radio station WRWB back on the air hit a snag last week when the temporary antenna that was installed by engineers didn't work.

First reported in the Daily News Business Page on Tuesday of last week, the antenna would have allowed the station to broadcast to the immediate local area and possibly into Bell County.

“It is being reconfigured and we should be back on the air in the next couple of days or so,” said WRWB Program Director Tom Amis.

Amis said Tuesday that the FCC has also approved the school's application to erect a new radio tower.

WRWB went off the air on Nov. 7 when LMU officials had the tower removed to make way for the expansion of the university's new medical school.

A new tower was to be erected in an off-campus location, but Amis said the work had been delayed due to changes in the application process, which required special clearances for the building of the tower.

Founded in 1980, what was then called WSVQ has endured a host of ownership changes and operational starts and stops.

Amis took the reigns of the radio station in 2001 and since then he has steadily built a listener base on the backs of popular conservative talk radio programs.

Daniel Bruce is News Editor for the Daily News. He can be reached via e-mail at dbruce@middlesborodailynews.com.