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WGOP (540 AM) is a commercial
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 ...
licensed to
Pocomoke City, Maryland Pocomoke City, dubbed "the friendliest town on the Eastern Shore", is a city in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland, United States. Although renamed in a burst of civic enthusiasm in 1878, the city is regularly referred to by i ...
, United States, airing a classic hits format. It is owned by The Waters Group, LLC, and is also broadcast over low-power
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
W293DN (). WGOP began broadcasting as WDVM on August 1, 1955, changing to WDMV in 1959. The station was 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 ...
outlet until switching to country music in 1980. In later years, it offered oldies music and sports talk programming. On August 18, 2022, the station was destroyed in an accidental fire; it was sold a year later.


History

On January 19, 1955, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) approved an application for a new 500-watt, daytime-only radio station on 540 kHz in Pocomoke City by G. Russell Chambers, trading as Eastern Shore Broadcasting Company. WDVM began to air on August 1 and was the second radio station on the Lower Eastern Shore. It was allowed to begin 1,000-watt broadcasting in 1957 but forfeited the authorization. The call sign was changed from WDVM to WDMV in 1959, after it was purchased by Ernest Tannen. An additional facility in
Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
was added in 1962. Tannen sold his radio holdings, which included WDMV and stations in
Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
and
Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area (also known as the Delaware Valley) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. ...
, in the 1970s to devote himself to other ventures. Leisure Time Communications acquired WDMV in 1973, followed by Mesta Communications in 1978. It switched from
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 ...
to country music in 1980. WDMV was silent for several years in the mid-1990s. The station used the WDMV call letters up until July 1, 2004, when it exchanged call signs with 700 kHz in Walkersville, Maryland, to become WGOP. In April 2015, WGOP switched formats from oldies to sports talk, branded as SportsRadio 540. Later the format changed to classic country music and then to oldies, including sports such as
Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...
baseball. On August 18, 2022, WGOP was destroyed by a fire caused by a faulty electrical wire in the attic of the studio building. Fifty firefighters took three hours to put out the blaze. The building was not insured and has been declared a total loss, but rebuilding is planned. On April 13, 2023, The Waters Group filed a $200,000 deal to purchase WGOP from Birach Broadcasting, along with a plan to WGOP under a time brokerage agreement until closing.


Former programming

Over the years, the station has been home to several formats. It once programmed an
urban gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genr ...
format, as well as
oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...
, and
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
and even simulcast LMA partner WBEY-FM (97.9 FM). The Party Line on WBEY-FM was once simulcast on WGOP, until the station went to a
sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...
format. Circa late 1950s "Mama's Country Youngin" Eddie Matherly was a popular WDMV personality. In the early 1960s the station's music format "Delmarvarama" featured "America's Best Loved Music And Song." During that era the station promoted itself as "Big Signal Radio" in reference to its 540 AM frequency which in those days covered much of the lower and mid Eastern Shore with a strong signal. Its low frequency and abundance of water in the Eastern Shore area still allow the signal to blanket up to DC's southern suburbs, down to all of the Tidewater/Virginia Beach metro and into North Carolina. Radio shows that formerly aired on both WBEY and WGOP include ''The Oldies but Goodies Show'' on Saturday nights, ''The Old Country and Bluegrass Show'' on Sunday nights and ''Light and Easy Cafe'' on Monday nights.


References


External links

{{Washington Radio
GOP The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is a right-wing political party in the United States. One of the two major parties, it emerged as the main rival of the then-dominant Democratic Party in the 1850s, and the tw ...
Radio stations established in 1955 Classic hits radio stations in the United States 1955 establishments in Maryland Pocomoke City, Maryland