| Broadcast area | Clarksville, Tennessee–Hopkinsville, Kentucky |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1230kHz |
| Branding | NewsTalk 1230 AM/99.3 FM |
| Programming | |
| Format | News–talk |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WHOP-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | January 8, 1940; 85 years ago (1940-01-08)[2][3][4] |
Call sign meaning | Hopkinsville, Kentucky[5] |
| Technical information[6] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 27634 |
| Class | C |
| Power | 1,000watts unlimited |
Transmitter coordinates | 36°52′54″N87°30′44″W / 36.88167°N 87.51222°W /36.88167; -87.51222 |
| Translator(s) | 99.3 W257EV (Hopkinsville) |
| Repeater(s) | 98.7 WHOP-HD3 (Hopkinsville) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | whopam.com |
WHOP (1230kHz) is anAMradio station broadcasting anews–talkformat. Licensed to and servingHopkinsville, Kentucky, United States, the station serves theClarksville–Hopkinsville area. The station is currently owned byForcht Broadcasting.
The station's studios are located on Buttermilk Road (known to station management as Dink Embry's Buttermilk Road in tribute to the former on-air personality of that name[3]) offDawson Springs Road on the northwestern outskirts of Hopkinsville. The station's transmitter is located on Witty Lane offPrinceton Road northwest of Hopkinsville.
The station first began broadcasting on January 8, 1940.[3][4]: 35 The station's opening broadcast marked radio's return to Hopkinsville[4]: 89 since its first stationWFIW, which operated in the area from 1927 until 1933, had relocated toLouisville.[4]: 29–30 The station, under ownership by Paducah Broadcasting Company, Inc.,[7] was presided by Pierce Lackey, who had also been operatingWPAD radio inPaducah during the late 1930s, with Hecht S. Lackey, who provided the opening remarks in its inaugural broadcast[3], serving as station manager until he took the managing job atHenderson’sWSON when it went on the air in December 1941; F. Ernest Lackey became WHOP manager at that time.[4]: 36 In the station's inaugural broadcast after the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner," Lackey mentioned that the station was in the process of installing teletype machines for the news programming.[3] Music programs were rebroadcast fromWSM inNashville,WHAS inLouisville andWLW inCincinnati, with local talent performing at the WHOP studio.[3][8]
For its first year on the air, WHOP originally started broadcasting at 1200kilohertz with 250 watts of power from a transmitter located alongPrinceton Road. However, due to theNorth American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) of 1941, the station reallocated its AM signal to their current frequency of 1230 kilohertz.[4]: 36 The station's original frequency became a treaty frequency under the NARBA that was assigned to aClear-channel station; the 1200 kHz allocation was assigned toWOAI ofSan Antonio,Texas.
Also in the early 1940s, WHOP was one of the first radio stations in Kentucky to expand agriculture news briefs into complete farm-related shows.[4]: 46 In 1943, WHOP became affiliated with CBS Radio,[8][9] and that affiliation remains with the station to this day, thereby making the hourly news updates from CBS Radio News the longest-running program on the station.[8] The station's original owners reassigned the station's license to a newly-formed subsidiary, the Hopkinsville Broadcasting Company, Inc., in May 1944.[10]
In 1948, the station launchedWHOP-FM at 98.7megacycles to simulcast the AM signal. That simulcast lasted for ten years before it became a separate entity.[4]: 89 The station has also been serving as a longtime affiliate of theUniversity of Kentucky’sUK Sports Network, broadcasting football and basketball games since that network began in 1969.
WHOP and WHOP-FM were under the same ownership by The Lackey Family until 1999, when it was sold to its current owner, theLexington-basedForcht Group of Kentucky.[3]
Sometime in the early 2010s, WHOP had launchedlow-powered FM translator W237BV to simulcast the station's AM signal onto 95.3 megahertz. In 2023, in addition to relocating its analog FM simulcast to new translator W257EV at 99.3 on the FM dial, the station also began simulcasting on a newly relaunched HD3 subchannel of WHOP-FM.
On January 8, 2020, to mark the station's 80th anniversary, a dozen historic broadcast audio clips from the past were made available for listening on the station's website.[3][8] They were also rebroadcast over its FM sister station on that day.
As a news-talk-information format radio station, WHOP's programming content includes local newscasts, and public affairs programs.Syndicated radio programs on WHOP includeThe Rush Limbaugh Show,The Dave Ramsey Show,Coast to Coast AM, andAmerica in the Morning. Hourly national news updates are provided byCBS News Radio. WHOP also provides programming fromPremiere Radio Networks.[11]
The station is also the long-time radio home of the annual Hopkinsville Rotary Club Radio Auction, which has been broadcast on the station since 1951.[8]
Sports programming on WHOP-AM includes regionally syndicated sports packages of live coverage of games, including:
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | ERP (W) | Class | FCC info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W257EV | 99.3 FM | Hopkinsville, Kentucky | 202114 | 250 | D | LMS |