WHRP (94.1 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 ...

licensed to serve

Gurley, Alabama Gurley is a town in Madison County, Alabama, Madison County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 816. History The community takes its ...

, United States. The station is owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

and the license is held by Cumulus Licensing LLC. WHRP broadcasts an

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

music format to the

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...

, market. Its transmitter is located southeast of downtown Huntsville, but its main studios are in

Athens, Alabama Athens is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, in the U.S. state of Alabama; it is included in the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city is 25,406. Hist ...

Programming

Notable personalities on WHRP include local weekday hosts Toni Terrell with the "At Work Network" mid-days, Big O ( The Mayor of Soul) Saturday mornings with Classic Soul on "The Time Tunnel", and Huntsville radio veteran Kevin "The Nighthawk" Williams weekends. Notable syndicated hosts include Tom Joyner of ''The Tom Joyner Morning Show'', Michael Baisden of ''The Michael Baisden Show'' and

Keith Sweat Keith Sweat (born July 22, 1961) is an American singer, producer and songwriter. An early figure in the new jack swing musical movement, he is known for his collection of hits including "I Want Her," "Make It Last Forever (song), Make It Last For ...

of ''The Keith Sweat Hotel''. Notable former on-air personnel include Bobby Wonder, Nia Noelle and Ronnie Rio. Former WXQW mid-day host Chuck Boozer, apparently local, was actually the evening host at WWMG-FM in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

. Boozer recorded his WXQW air shift in about forty minutes on a computer in Charlotte as digital voice tracks for later playback on the air in Huntsville. This use of "

voice tracking Voice-tracking, also called cyber jocking and referred to sometimes colloquially as a robojock, is a technique employed by some radio stations in radio broadcasting to produce the illusion of a live disc jockey or announcer sitting in the radio stu ...

" is a practice common to many Clear Channel-owned radio stations, as then-WXQW was at that time.

History

This station received its original

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

from 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 ...

on January 19,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. The new station was assigned the call letters WDJU by the FCC on March 14, 1995. In June 1995, control of permit holder Digesu Broadcasting, Inc., was transferred from Frank Digesu Sr. to R. Parker Griffith and Thomas H. Griffith. The transfer was approved by the FCC on August 9, 1995. In October 1995, Digesu Broadcasting, Inc., reached an agreement to sell this station to Griffith Broadcasting, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on November 30, 1995, and the transaction was consummated on the same day. The new owners had the FCC change the callsign for the station, still under construction, to WXQW on November 10, 1995. WXQW received its license to cover from the FCC on June 3, 1996. In June 1997, Griffith Broadcasting, Inc., reached an agreement to sell this station to Southern Star Communications, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on August 8, 1997, and the transaction was consummated on October 2, 1997. Southern Star Communications is a regional operating company of Capstar Broadcasting Corporation. On October 1, 1997, the station flipped formats from

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 ...

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 ...

music. In December 2005, Cumulus Media purchased this station (then known as WXQW) and sister station WWXQ (now WVNN) from the Capstar TX Limited Partnership division of Clear Channel Communications for a reported $3.3 million. On December 21,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, WXQW switched to the WHRP call letters of its

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

and that former WHRP was assigned new call letters WWFF-FM. Several other unrelated stations have held the WHRP call letters over the years, including the current WQKR (1270 AM, Portland, Tennessee) which was known as WHRP from 1986 to 1990 and WRJR (670 AM, Claremont, Virginia) which was known as WHRP from 2000 to 2001.

References

External links

WHRP official website
* {{Cumulus Media HRP Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1996 1996 establishments in Alabama Cumulus Media radio stations