WZPN (101.1 FM, "ESPN Peoria") is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

for

Glasford, Illinois Glasford is a village in Peoria County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,022 at the 2010 census. Glasford is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Glasford or Glasco as it was called in 1868, was named fo ...

in the

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria Metropolitan Area in Centr ...

radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

. From September 26, 2010 to June 6, 2018 the station aired the adult hits format

Jack FM Jack FM is a radio network brand, licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits format, in most cases not using DJs. Format characteristics Stations ...

, before becoming an affiliate of ESPN Radio.

History

Neil A. Rhones and Luann C. Dahl applied for a new station on 101.1 MHz at

Canton, Illinois Canton is the largest city in Fulton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,704 at the 2010 census, down from 15,288 as of the 2000 census. The Canton Micropolitan Statistical Area covers all of Fulton County; it is in turn, p ...

, and were granted a construction permit in 1996. The call sign WBDM was assigned to this station. In 1997, Rhones and Dahl asked the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

to move Canton's 101.1 MHz allocation, with their construction permit, to

, claiming that moving the

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American b ...

would result in adding 81,024 people to the coverage area while only losing 8,754. The FCC granted the request on August 26, 1996. In June 1999, Rhones and Dahl assigned their construction permit to Two Petaz, Inc., which was based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

and whose president was Bargard H. Walters. The station's call sign was changed to WRVP on July 13, 1999 and the station received its license on January 4, 2000. The station used the nickname "101.1 The River". The River was born as an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

station and was attempting to compete with heritage 50 kW signal

WSWT WSWT (106.9 FM, branded as "Mix 106.9") is a commercial radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. It is licensed to Peoria, Illinois, and is owned by Midwest C ...

. This did not last long; just a few months later, the plug was pulled in favor of a simulcast of sister station 98.5 as "98.5 & 101.1 The Party". 98.5 WPPY and 101.1 swapped callsigns on July 27, 2000. In March 2004, 101.1 began simulcasting WVEL (AM), which has long suffered from a weak signal outside of Pekin. As part of the simulcast, 101.1 dropped the WPPY callsign in favor of WVEL-FM. In September 2006, as part of a larger station swap between multiple Peoria groups,

Regent Broadcasting Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

sold 101.1 to newly formed Independence Media Holdings. 105.7 was being sold from AAA Entertainment to Regent, and Regent indicated it did not want the

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, qui ...

format currently on 105.7. On September 26, 2006, "Mix 105.7" (WXMP) and its format moved to the weaker 101.1 frequency and changed its name to "Mix 101.1", while the

WIXO WIXO (105.7 FM, "105.7 The X") is a radio station in Peoria, Illinois. It is owned by Cumulus Media, which also owns several other radio stations in the market. Cumulus purchased WIXO and its sister stations from Townsquare Media. Originally o ...

callsign and the "99X Rocks" format moved from 99.9 to 105.7. At midnight on September 19, 2007, the station changed its format to

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as wel ...

, branded as "Hippie Radio 101.1". The callsign was changed to WHPI to match the "Hippie" moniker. At 9:45 p.m. on September 26, 2010, WHPI changed their format to adult hits, branded as "

". WHPI remained jockless for the majority of its history after the "Jack FM" format signed on, only adding a local morning show in 2017. Independence Media Holdings sold WHPI along with its other three Peoria-area stations (

WZPN WZPN (101.1 FM broadcasting, FM, "ESPN Peoria") is a radio station for Glasford, Illinois in the Peoria, Illinois radio market. From September 26, 2010 to June 6, 2018 the station aired the adult hits format Jack FM, before becoming an List of ...

WPIA WPIA (98.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Eureka, Illinois, and serving the Peoria metropolitan area. The station broadcasts a Top 40 - CHR radio format, simulcast with WHPI 96.5 FM. Both stations are owned and operated by Adv ...

, and

WWCT WWCT is an FM broadcasting station licensed to Bartonville, Illinois. Through most of its history, the WWCT callsign was associated with Peoria's 105.7 frequency allocation; the call sign and related format was moved to 96.5 (Farmington) in 2003 ...

) to Michael S. Rea's Advanced Media Partners on November 15, 2010. On June 6, 2018, at 3 p.m., Jack announced he had "gone to find himself in Tahiti", and at that point, 101.1 became the new primary station for

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN" ...

in the Peoria market, with 96.5 serving as the simulcast until a new format for the latter is planned. The two stations rebranded together as "ESPN Peoria".ESPN Peoria Moves to 101.1 Replacing Jack FM
Radioinsight - June 6, 2018 On June 26, the two frequencies swapped callsigns, with WHPI moving to 96.5 FM and WZPN moving to 101.1 FM. During that time, the station's website was changed to a redirect to 96.5's web address. The sports format moved to 101.1 permanently on September 5, 2020, at midnight.

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References

External links

ESPN Peoria
— official website * {{ESPN Illinois Radio stations established in 1999 Sports radio stations in the United States ZPN 1999 establishments in Illinois