WBHP (1230 AM)

Last updated

WBHP
Broadcast area Madison County, Alabama
Frequency 1230 kHz
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
May 23, 1937 (1937-05-23)
Last air date
October 3, 2024 (2024-10-03)
Former frequencies
1200 kHz (1937–1941)
Call sign meaning
Wilton "Buster" H. Pollard (former owner)
Technical information [1]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID 44025
Class C
Power 1,000 watts (unlimited)
Transmitter coordinates
 34°43′9.3″N86°35′42″W / 34.719250°N 86.59500°W / 34.719250; -86.59500
Translator 102.5 W273CX (Huntsville)
Repeater 102.1  WDRM-HD2 (Decatur)
Links
Public license information

WBHP (1230 AM) was a commercial radio station licensed to Huntsville, Alabama, United States, and served Madison County. [2] Last owned by iHeartMedia, it aired a talk format as part of a simulcast with WHOS (800 AM) in nearby Decatur, FM translator W273CX at 102.5 MHz and on the second HD Radio channel of WDRM (102.1 FM). Its studios were located in Madison, Alabama, and its AM transmitter was located on Peoples Road near Interstate 565 in Madison, Alabama southwest of downtown Huntsville.

Contents

WBHP went on the air in 1937. It was the indirect successor to a previous station, WBHS, which operated from 1932 to 1935. WBHP was a country music station until 1997, when it began an all-news format. The station went off the air in 2024 after its tower collapsed; it did not return, and surrendered its license in 2025.

History

The first construction permit for a station on 1200 kHz in Huntsville was issued in May 1931. It signed on the air on April 22, 1932, as WBHS, the first radio station in Huntsville. [3] It was a service of The Hutchens Company, a hardware firm; the WBHS call sign stood "World's Best Hardware Store". The studios were in the Russel Erskine Hotel in downtown Huntsville. WBHS later moved to a building on Governor’s Drive.

During the Great Depression, WBHS ran into financial problems and went off the air in 1935. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reassigned the frequency and a new station went on the air on May 23, 1937, with the call letters WBHP. [4] This call sign stemmed from longtime previous owner Wilton "Buster" Harvey Pollard. In 1941, due to the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement, WBHP moved from 1200 kHz to 1230 kHz. WBHP went through several owners until its eventual acquisition by iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications).

From its early days until the November 1997 switch to an all-news format, WBHP broadcast country music. [5] [6] In the 1960s the country music station put its format aside for one hour each Sunday afternoon to air classical music. The program was called "The German Hour" and catered to Wernher von Braun’s German rocket scientists and their families. More than 1500 German scientists, engineers and technicians were brought to Huntsville to work on developing rockets as part of Operation Paperclip.

WBHP and WHOS were the flagship stations for the 1999-2000 final season of the Huntsville Channel Cats and for the short-lived Huntsville Tornado for the 2000-2001 hockey season. [7] Both teams played their home games at the Von Braun Center and competed in the Central Hockey League. In 2018, WBHP launched FM translator W273CX (102.5 FM) to simulcast the station. In addition to its regularly scheduled talk programming, the station was an affiliate of the Auburn Tigers football radio network. [8] It also carried Auburn Tigers men's basketball. [9]

On October 3, 2024, a delivery truck clipped a guy wire and toppled the WBHP transmission tower on Governors Drive, taking the station off the air. [10] It never returned; iHeartMedia returned the WBHP license to the FCC in February 2025, [11] and it was cancelled on February 25, 2025. [12] WBHP's programming would continue on WHOS, WDRM-HD2, and W273CX; [11] [13] on March 4, 2025, iHeartMedia filed to change WHOS's call sign to WBHP effective March 31. [13]

Awards and honors

As a country music-formatted station, WBHP on-air personality Dana Webb was nominated for and won a Country Music Association Award as "Small Market Broadcast Personality of the Year" in 1986. [14]

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WBHP". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  3. ↑ "Huntsville Rewound™ (AL/USA) Rocket City USA". www.huntsvillerewound.com. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
  4. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-5
  5. ↑ Smallwood, Dean. "AM stations switch to all news format". The Huntsville Times. p. G6.
  6. ↑ "Member Facts - Ernie Ashworth". Grand Ole Opry official website. Archived from the original on October 17, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2007.
  7. ↑ Ponder, Darrell (October 5, 2000). "City's 'new' CHL club hits ice for exhibition". The Huntsville Times. p. C3.
  8. ↑ "Football Affiliates". The Auburn University Official Athletic Site. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Basketball Affiliates". The Auburn University Official Athletic Site. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  10. ↑ "FCC Report 10/6: Commission Begins Actions On Charlottesville Area LPFM Co-Op". RadioInsight. October 6, 2024. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  11. 1 2 Venta, Lance (February 16, 2025). "FCC Report 2/16: KILT Proposes Signal Upgrade". RadioInsight. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  12. ↑ "License Cancelled". Federal Communications Commission Licensing and Management System. February 25, 2025. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
  13. 1 2 Langham, Troy G (March 4, 2025). "Form 380 - Change Request". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission . Retrieved March 6, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Broadcast Awards Database: Dana Webb". Country Music Association. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
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