WBOP

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WBOP
City Buffalo Gap, Virginia
Broadcast area Staunton, Virginia
Augusta County, Virginia
Branding "The Journey"
Slogan "Life. Hope. Music."
Frequency 95.5 FM MHz
First air date 1988[1]
Format Contemporary Christian[2]
Power 6,000 Watts
HAAT 94 meters (308 ft)
Class A
Facility ID 68304
Transmitter coordinates 38°10′55.0″N 79°13′34.0″W / 38.181944°N 79.226111°W / 38.181944; -79.226111
Former callsigns WSPV (1986-1989)
WSKO (1989-1995)
WSXI (1995-1995)
WZXI (1995-2006)
WBOP (2006-Present)[3]
Owner Liberty University
(Liberty University, Inc.)
Webcast WBOP Webstream
Website WBOP Online

WBOP (95.5 FM) is a Contemporary Christian formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Buffalo Gap, Virginia, serving Staunton, Virginia and Augusta County, Virginia.[2] WBOP is owned and operated by Liberty University.[4]

History

The station first took the callsign WSPV on September 25, 1986 and was officially launched in 1988.

WSKO

Easy Radio Inc. bought the station and on March 24, 1989, the callsign was changed to WSKO and carried a Country format, branded as "Super Country". In 1992, the format was changed to Hot Adult Contemporary.

WSXI/WZXI

On March 10, 1995, the callsign was originally changed from WSKO to WSXI, but changed to WZXI that same day. In October 1997, WZXI dropped the Hot Adult Contemporary format for News/Talk. Sometime in September 2005, the News/Talk format was dropped and the station was completely silent for about a month. Vox Communication bought the station and on October 7, 2005, WZXI became an Adult Hits format, branded as "Sam 95.5; Simply about music".[5]

Combined 95.5/106.3 History on WBOP

WBOP originally signed on at 106.3 FM on March 2, 1991, as a Mainstream Rock format, branded as "106.3 WBOP". Licensed to Churchville, Virginia, the station operated from studios in Mount Crawford.[6] In May 2005, WBOP and sister station WSIG were both sold to Vox Communications. In late June, WBOP began stunting[7] until July 1 when the format changed from Mainstream Rock to Oldies as "Magic 106.3; The Greatest Hits of All Time".[8] On August 16, 2006, the Adult/Variety Hits format on 95.5 FM was dropped when WBOP moved its format and callsign from 106.3 FM to 95.5 FM, and resumed its Oldies format as "Magic 95.5; Classic Top 40", while the 106.3 FM frequency went silent[9] until December 31, 2015 when it relaunched as WQSV-LP. 95.5 FM continued to keep the WZXI callsign until two weeks later on September 1, when the WBOP callsign officially moved from 106.3 FM to 95.5 FM.

Format flip - 2008

At 9:00 A.M. on March 30, 2008, WBOP swapped its Oldies format for Rockin' Country, branded as "Rebel 95.5; A New Kind of Country".[10]

Format flip - 2010

In February 2010, WBOP began stunting by playing a mix of Country and Hot Adult Contemporary, with a new Hot Adult Contemporary format to follow.[11] The station would continue to use the branding "Rebel 95.5". At midnight on February 26, 2010, WBOP officially dropped "Rockin'" Country for Hot Adult Contemporary and began using the branding "My 95.5; New music all day" and then changed the slogan to "The Valley's Alternative" in late 2011.

Format flips - 2012

Logo used from March 1 to November 26, 2012.

At midnight, on March 1, 2012, WBOP switched from a Hot Adult Contemporary format to Sports as "95-5 The Zone".[12]

At midnight, on November 27, 2012, WBOP changed the format again from Sports to Adult Contemporary under the branding "95-5 WBOP; Today's Hits and Yesterday's Favorites". WBOP picked up programming from the Hits & Favorites network from Cumulus Media Networks.

On December 31, 2012, WBOP and seven other properties were sold by Vox Radio to Gamma Broadcasting, LLC at a purchase price of $4,403,500.

Format flip - 2015

Effective August 31, 2015, Gamma consummated their donation of WBOP to Liberty University and started simulcasting WRVL's Contemporary Christian format in Lynchburg, Virginia on September 1 as "The Journey".

References

  1. ↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 2010 (PDF). ProQuest, LLC/Reed Publishing (Nederland), B.V. 2010. p. D-571. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Arbitron Station Information Profiles". Nielsen Audio/Nielsen Holdings. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Call Sign History". Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  4. ↑ "WBOP Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission, audio division. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Station gains new owner SAM-FM broadcast to start Friday". VARTV.com. October 6, 2005.
  6. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1999/D-Radio-NE-Ter-BC-YB-1999..pdf
  7. ↑ "More Changes in Harrisonburg". VARTV.com. June 30, 2005.
  8. ↑ "Rocker WBOP is gone". VARTV.com. July 1, 2005.
  9. ↑ "Vox blows up Sam". VARTV.com. August 16, 2006.
  10. ↑ "A little more country, a little less rock 'n' roll". rocktownweekly.com. April 17, 2008.
  11. ↑ "WBOP flips to Hot AC". allaccess.com. February 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ "WBOP spins the format wheel... again". VARTV.com. March 4, 2012.
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