WBOW (102.7 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and Terre Haute metropolitan area, its metropolitan area had a populati ...

, it serves the Terre Haute metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

under the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

WPFR. The station is owned by Duey E. Wright through licensee

Midwest Communications Midwest Communications, Inc. is a Wausau, Wisconsin–based radio broadcasting company. It owns 82 radio stations located primarily within the Midwest United States, in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Il ...

, Inc.

History

The station signed on in 1961 as WPFR. When its companion station AM 1300 (now

WIBQ WIBQ (1230 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a talk radio, news/talk format. Licensed to Terre Haute, Indiana, the station serves the Terre Haute area. It first began broadcasting in 1958 in radio, 1958 under the callsign ...

) became WPFR on March 17, 1983, the call sign was changed to WPFR-FM with a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

/ CHR format, as "Power 103". By 1987, its CHR format had faded into a short-lived Rock 40 format but only lasted for less than a year, retaining back its mainstream format. The company that owned WPFR and WPFR-FM went into bankruptcy and both stations went off the air in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. Bomar Broadcasting purchased the license for 102.7 FM in 1992 and changed the call sign to WLEZ on April 1, 1992. In September 1993, the station went back on the air with a beautiful music format after a new transmitter was constructed. By 1997, the format had shifted to a soft

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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format which eventually was supplied by

Jones Radio Network Jones Radio Networks & Jones Media Group were branches of Jones International before being sold to Triton Media Group. JRN and JMN provide local radio stations with satellite-delivered formats. They also offer other services to local radio suc ...

. On May 12, 2003, the station was sold to Crossroads Communications. The call sign was changed to WBOW-FM on September 1, 2003, as "Light Rock B102-7", utilizing the call sign that had been used on

1230 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1230 kHz: 1230 AM is a regional ( Class B) frequency outside the coterminous United States (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and a local ( Class C) broadcast fre ...

and

640 AM 640 AM - The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 640 kHz: 640 AM is a North American clear-channel frequency. KFI in Los Angeles, California, KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, and CBN in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, share Class ...

in the Terre Haute metropolitan area from 1927 until 2001 when 640 AM went

dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

. The previous WBOW-FM had operated with those call letters between 1968 and 1974. The WBOW call sign was also picked up by sister station AM 1300 in 2002. WDWQ Q102

On July 1, 2012, WBOW-FM was sold by Crossroads Communications to Midwest Communications and changed its call letters to WDWQ and changed its format to country, branded as "Q102.7". The sale of WDWQ and sister station

WBOW WBOW (102.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to Terre Haute, Indiana, it serves the Terre Haute metropolitan area. It first began broadcasting in 1961 under the call sign WPFR. The station is owned by Due ...

was consummated on October 26, 2012, at a purchase price of $1.3 million. WDWQ switched to a classic hits format on December 26, 2017, and brought back the WBOW call letters. The first song to air as a classic hits format was "

Still the One "Still the One" is a song written by Johanna Hall and John Hall, and recorded by the soft rock group Orleans on their album '' Waking and Dreaming'', released in 1976; it reached No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Country singer Bill Ander ...

" by Orleans. WBOW's facilities are located at 925 Wabash Avenue, Suite 300 in Terre Haute, Indiana.

References

External links

WBOW Website
* {{Midwest Communications BOW (FM) Classic hits radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1961 Midwest Communications radio stations 1961 establishments in Indiana