| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Huntsville metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 800kHz |
| Branding | News Radio 102.5 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Talk radio |
| Network | Fox News Radio |
| Affiliations | Premiere Networks |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | October 1948; 77 years ago (1948-10) |
Former call signs | WHOS (1948–2025) |
Call sign meaning | Wilton "Buster" H. Pollard, former owner ofWBHP (1230 AM)[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 44023 |
| Class | D |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 34°35′55.3″N87°0′24″W / 34.598694°N 87.00667°W /34.598694; -87.00667 |
| Translator | 102.5 W273CX (Huntsville) |
| Repeater | 102.1 WDRM-HD2 (Decatur) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (viaiHeartRadio) |
| Website | wbhpam |
WBHP (800kHz) is acommercialAM radio stationlicensed toDecatur, Alabama, with studios on Peoples Road nearInterstate 565 inMadison, Alabama. WBHP is part of the group of stations in theHuntsvilleradio market owned byiHeartMedia, Inc.[3] The station issimulcast on anFM translator at 102.5MHz in Huntsville, and on the secondHD Radio channel ofWDRM (102.1 FM).
WBHP broadcasts atalkradio format and serves northwestAlabama and south-centralTennessee.[4] By day, the station is powered at 1,000 watts. As800 AM is a Mexicanclear channel frequency, WBHP reduces power at night to 215 watts to prevent interference. Thetransmitter is off 2nd Street SW at 14th Avenue SW in Decatur.[5]
Weekdays on WHOS begin withAlabama's Morning News with JT, based at co-ownedWERC-FM inBirmingham. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up ofnationally syndicated talk shows, mostly from co-ownedPremiere Networks:The Glenn Beck Radio Program,The Sean Hannity Show,The Michael Berry Show,The Jesse Kelly Show,Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb andCoast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory.
Weekends feature shows on money, health, technology, travel and religion. Weekend syndicated programs includeRudy Maxa World Travel,The Weekend with Michael Brown,Armstrong & Getty,Rich DeMuro on Tech,The Ben Ferguson Show andSunday Night with Bill Cunningham. Most hours begin with an update fromFox News Radio.
In addition to its regularly scheduled talk programming, the station is anaffiliate of theAuburn Tigers football radio network.[6] It also carriesAuburn Tigers men's basketball.[7]
The stationsigned on the air in October 1948 as WHOS, a 1,000-wattdaytime-only station broadcasting at 800 kHz.[8] Originally owned by North Alabama Broadcasting, the station was randomly assigned the WHOScall letters by theFederal Communications Commission; they did not stand for anything in particular.[9]
As a daytime-only station, WHOS could not broadcast at night.XEROK inCiudad Juarez is theClass A station on the frequency and WHOS had to go off the air to avoid interference. WHOS ran acountry music format for most of its first 40 years.
In February 1987, the broadcast license for WHOS was transferred from Dixie Broadcasting, Inc., to Dixie Broadcasting, Inc. as Debtor-In-Possession. The transfer was approved by the FCC on February 26, 1987.[10] Dixie Broadcasting had filed bankruptcy in an effort to stave off an adverse civil lawsuit outcome regarding the contracted sale ofWDRM to W.H. Pollard, Jr., the then-owner ofWBHP (1230 AM) inHuntsville, Alabama.[11]
In October 1988, the station, which had been airing aSouthern Gospel music format, flipped to an all-Elvis Presley format. It used the advertising tagline "WHOS alive?".[12] This novel format garnered the station national media attention, but failed to gain a local audience and lasted just six months, in effect a lengthystunt.[13] After the Elvis format ended, WHOS switched to a simulcast of WDRM and its country music format, which was by this time very successful and among North Alabama's top-rated stations.
In January 1992, a deal was reached for the broadcast license for WHOS to be transferred from Dixie Broadcasting, Inc. as Debtor-In-Possession back to Dixie Broadcasting, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on March 26, 1992, and the transaction was consummated on September 15, 1992.[14]
In December 1991, Dixie Broadcasting, Inc., reached an agreement to merge ownership of this station with the ownership of WBHP to a new company named Mountain Lakes Broadcasting, Inc., pending the resolution of Dixie's legal difficulties.[15] In October 1993, with Dixie Broadcasting back in good financial standing and the legal issues settled by the appeals courts, the merger moved forward.[16] The deal was approved by the FCC on November 3, 1993, and the transaction was consummated on November 11, 1993.[17]
In November 1996, J. Mack Bramlett, W.H. Pollard Jr., and Trust B Under The Will Of W.H. Pollard Sr. reached an agreement to transfer control of Mountain Lakes Broadcasting, licensee of this station as well as WDRM and WBHP, to Osborn Communications Corporation.[18] The deal was approved by the FCC on January 29, 1997.[19] By May 1997, the three stations were part of the Capstar group, which was also in the process of acquiringWWXQ,WXQW, andWTAK-FM.[20] In November 1997, WHOS and WBHP dropped their shared country music format for anall-news format featuringCNN Radio 24 hours a day.[21]
Capstar and Chancellor Media announced in August 1998 that they would merge (Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst was a major shareholder in both companies);[22][23] upon the merger's completion in July 1999, the combined company was named AMFM Inc.[24] In September 1998, Mountain Lakes Broadcasting, LLC, filed to transfer the WHOS license to Ameron Broadcasting Corporation. The transfer was approved by the FCC on October 2, 1998, and the transaction was consummated on November 5, 1998.[25] In February 1999, Ameron filed to transfer the station to Capstar Royalty II Corporation. This was approved by the FCC on March 2, 1999, and the transaction was consummated on March 5, 1999.[26]
AMFM was acquired by Clear Channel Communications (forerunner to iHeartMedia) in a deal announced on October 4, 1999,[27] and completed in August 2000.[28] The five Huntsville stations affected in the merger were a small part of the larger $16.6 billion transaction.[29]
WHOS's simulcast with WBHP ended in 2024, after that station's tower collapsed; WBHP's programming would continue on WHOS, WDRM-HD2, andFM translator W273CX (102.5 FM). The WBHP license was surrendered in February 2025;[30] on March 4, iHeartMedia filed to change WHOS's call sign to WBHP effective March 31.[31]
Notable former WHOS on-air staff included George Rose, who, along with his alter-ego "Cousin Josh" character, hosted "The Cousin Josh Jam-O-Ree" on several North Alabama radio stations in a career that began in 1948 and ended with his death in 2006.[32]
WHOS and sister station WBHP were the broadcast flagships for the 1999-2000 final season of theHuntsville Channel Cats and for the short-livedHuntsville Tornado for the 2000-2001hockey season.[33] Both teams played their home games at theVon Braun Center and competed in theCentral Hockey League.
Straight from the gospel to the Pelvis . . . such is the overnight odyssey of radio station WHOS in Decatur, Ala., which switched formats overnight from gospel music and religious programming to an all-Elvis format Monday morning...
WHOS in Decatur, Alabama underwent a similar short-lived experiment, converting from gospel to an all-Elvis format, which for six months generated more media attention than listenership.