WHOP-FM explained

WHOP-FM
City:Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Area:Clarksville, Tennessee
Branding:Lite Rock 98.7
Format:Adult contemporary
Erp:100,000 watts
Class:C1
Licensing Authority:FCC
Facility Id:27633
Coordinates:36.9281°N -87.5472°W
Callsign Meaning:Hopkinsville, Kentucky[1]
Owner:Forcht Broadcasting
Licensee:Hop Broadcasting, Inc.[2]
Sister Stations:WHOP
Webcast:Listen Live
Website:lite987whop.com

WHOP-FM (98.7 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary format. Licensed to and serving Hopkinsville, Kentucky, United States, the station serves the Clarksville, Tennessee-Hopkinsville, Kentucky area. The station is owned by Forcht Broadcasting, and is a sister station to WHOP. The two stations share studios located at 220 Buttermilk Road on the west side of Hopkinsville.

History

The station signed on the air as WHOP-FM in May 1948.[3]  It was the first FM station to sign on in the Clarksville/Hopkinsville radio market area, and the whole westernmost segment of Kentucky. Paducah's WPAD-FM (now WDDJ) and WKYX-FM signed on in the months after. WHOP-FM began broadcasting as a simulcast of its AM sister station WHOP. However, on December 4, 1959, the station became a separate operation by changing its callsign to WRLX, and beginning broadcasting an easy listening format. It was the first attempt in Kentucky at full separate FM programming since the early 1950s demise of early FM stations in the Louisville area.[4]

The station reverted its callsign back to WHOP-FM to match its AM sister station on December 28, 1964. Upon the callsign change, the station began broadcasting a country music format. In the mid-2000s, in response to the station's overwhelming competition against Clarksville-based but Hopkinsville-licensed WVVR and Cadiz-based WKDZ-FM, both of which were and still are broadcasting the same format, WHOP-FM changed to its current soft adult contemporary format, and rebranded as Lite 98.7. It rebranded as LiteRock 98.7 sometime in the late 2010s.

Programming

Along with its soft AC format, the station also features programming from CBS News Radio and Premiere Radio Networks.

Both WHOP-FM and its AM counterpart serve as two of three affiliates in the Clarksville/Hopkinsville market that serves as an affiliate of the University of Kentucky Wildcats sports radio network, broadcasting football and men's basketball games involving the university's athletic teams.[5] WKDZ-FM in Cadiz is the other station in the area that also serve as a UK Sports Network affiliate.

HD Radio

On February 6, 2023, WHOP-FM launched a country music format on its HD2 subchannel, branded as "95.3 The Farm". It is simulcast in the analog format via former WHOP (AM) translator W237BV.[6] On the same day, an HD radio simulcast of WHOP (AM) became available on an HD3 subchannel.

HD Radio subchannels

The station's HD radio signal is multiplexed in this manner.

Freqnency
(MHz-subchannel)
Callsign Programming
98.7 FM
98.7-1 HD
WHOP-FM
WHOP-HD1
Simulcast of the traditional FM signal
"LiteRock 98.7" (adult contemporary)
98.7-2 HDWHOP-HD2 W237BV "95.3 The Farm" (country)
98.7-3 HD WHOP-HD3Simulcast of WHOP (news/talk)

External links

Notes and References

  1. "Call Letter Origins". Radio History on the Web.
  2. "WHOP-FM Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  3. https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1965/B-All-Radio-1965-YB-All.pdf 1965 Broadcasting Yearbook, page B-63
  4. Book: Nash, Francis M.. 1995. Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and Television in the Bluegrass State. Lexington, Kentucky. HOST Communications. 89. 9781879688933.
  5. "Radio Network Information & Affiliates". University of Kentucky Athletics.
  6. https://radioinsight.com/headlines/248412/hopkinsville-has-a-farm/ "Hopkinsville Has a Farm"