WNOP is a radio station located in

Newport, Kentucky Newport is a home rule-class city at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers in Campbell County, Kentucky. The population was 15,273 at the 2010 census. Historically, it was one of four county seats of Campbell County. Newport is a major ...

that can be heard in/around the

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

area. It now broadcasts for Cincinnati's

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

community and archdiocesan base and is an affiliate of

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

radio for most (if not all) of its programming. WNOP was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

station for 38 years, except for a brief run as a

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline Ne ...

affiliate from 1992 to 1994. Cincinnati.com July 28, 2008 - "WNOP has seen it all" http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20080728/NEWS0103/111110002/WNOP-has-seen-it-all accessed March 26, 2010 WNOP's current religious talk format started on December 31, 2000,

History

Startup

The station was first on the air with a combined country music and pre-recorded radio shows, receiving its

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 ...

(FCC) license on May 29, 1947. The first broadcasts were on August 21, 1948.

Jimmie Skinner Jimmie Skinner (April 27, 1909 – October 28, 1979) was an American country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist. He also was known for a mail-order record business and retail store in Cincinnati, Ohio. Biography Sk ...

hosted a radio program, which featured singer

Connie Hall Connie Hall (June 24, 1929 – January 7, 2021) was an American singer who had brief success as a country music artist in the late 1950s and 1960s. She was also a songwriter. Early life and career beginnings Hall had a career as a country ...

Jazz era (1962–2000)

Despite its relatively weak signal (not to mention almost bumping right into AM powerhouse

WLW WLW (700 AM) is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a clear-channel station, often identifying itself as The Big One. WLW operates with around the clock. Its daytime signal provides ...

), WNOP had a core audience of loyal listeners during the years when its musical programming was mostly jazz. Its studios were on Monmouth St., in Newport, Kentucky where Ty Williams bravely played music during a studio fire. From there they moved to the "Jazz Ark' - floating studios on the Ohio river. It wasn't all jazz, however —sometimes, breaks between songs were filled with recordings of

stand-up comedians Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

. For the favorite comedy cuts the punch lines would be saved to a Gates ST-101 Spot Tape machine. They could be played as the DJ felt appropriate anytime between music tracks, or commercial VO. From Monmouth St. the station moved to studios that were a tiny floating facility on the Ohio River, called "the jazz ark." Also known as "Free and Floating WNOP", the studios consisted of three 20,000-gallon fuel drums welded together with crosswalks and outfitted with all the necessary gear. Unique for its time and place, the station maintained an on-air irreverence that could jolt you without warning. For instance, it sometimes identified itself as being "just a little to the right of WLW," while at other times, it claimed to be "Radio Free Newport," and Shelly Berman would often announce the call sign "WNOP - We're North Of Paraguay". On winter days when Cincinnati was hit with large amounts of snow and most stations announced school and workplace closings, morning on-air personality

Leo Underhill Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * '' Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts a ...

instead would inform listeners which bars were closed due to bad weather.
"Dick Pike jazzed up radio's small, but legendary, WNOP"

Sacred Heart Radio (2000–present)

Sacred Heart Radio assumed ownership of the station on January 1, 2001. The program format was changed from Jazz to

religious talk radio Religion is usually defined as a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, tran ...

....much of it coming from

Global Catholic Radio. The last song played before the switch was "The Vatican Rag" by

Tom Lehrer Thomas Andrew Lehrer (; born April 9, 1928) is an American former musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, having lectured on mathematics and musical theater. He is best known for the pithy and humorous songs that he recorded i ...

. The Son Rise Morning Show which airs weekday mornings on EWTN Radio originates from WNOP's studios which are now located at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center (the former St. Gregory's Seminary) at 5440 Moeller Avenue in

Norwood Norwood may refer to: Places Australia * Norwood, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide ** Norwood Football Club, an Australian rules football club * Electoral district of Norwood, a state electoral district in South Australia * Norwood, Tas ...

. On August 24, 2010 WHSS, 89.5 MHz in Hamilton, was sold by the Hamilton City Schools to Sacred Heart Radio. It is now an FM repeater of WNOP reaching the northern Cincinnati region of Hamilton, Middletown, Mason and the surrounding area. In April 2016 Sacred Heart Radio Inc. purchased

WPFB WPFB (910 AM) is a radio station broadcasting Catholic programming after a switch from an adult album alternative format as a simulcast of WNKU. It is licensed to Middletown, Ohio, United States, and serves the Dayton area. The station is owne ...

, 910 AM in Middletown from

Northern Kentucky University Northern Kentucky University is a public university in Highland Heights, Kentucky. It is primarily an undergraduate institution with over 14,000 students; over 12,000 are undergraduate students and nearly 2,000 are graduate students. Northern K ...

to serve Middletown and the Dayton area. On June 3, 2016 WPFB commenced Sacred Heart Radio's programming.

On-air talent

Talent prior to 1962 (country music era)

* Bob Anderson, sportscasterSies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920–1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 9. *

Roy Moss Roy Moss (born August 1929) was an American rockabilly singer. Moss was born in Plainview, Arkansas, and was the cousin of governor Orville Chaney. Little is known of his childhood. Moss began his career after meeting songwriter Jimmie Skinner, ...

On-air staff (1962–2000)

* Marc T. Bolin * "Downtown" Scott Brown * The Darksoldier (Phil Tucker) * Jim Edwards * Robyn Carey (Allgeyer) * Angelo Catanzaro * Jack Clements * Val Coleman * Dee Felice * Kristi Heitzman * Gary Keegan * Wilbert Longmire * Dennis "The Ironman" Michaels * Bob NaveDa * Geoff Nimmo *

Dick Pike Dick Pike (November 7, 1924August 16, 2003) was a disc jockey and general manager who turned WNOP (740) into a jazz station. Career Pike worked most of his career at WNOP, a jazz station with studios in Newport, KY. When Pike returned to the s ...

* Jim Planky * Mike Roberts * Brian Schwab * Ray Scott * Jean Shepherd * Mark Stevens (Mark Schlachter) * Bunky Tadwell (Walt Harrell) *

Oscar Treadwell Oscar Treadwell (born Arthur Pedersen) (May 11, 1926 - April 1, 2006) was an American jazz radio journalist and presenter. Known as "OT", he became known mainly by a dedication to him by Charlie Parker, a composition called "An Oscar for Treadwe ...

* Leo (Old Undies) Underhill * Chris Wagner * Max Warner * Christopher Geisen * Stew Williams * Ty Williams * Dave Worford * Carmen "Catman" Catanzaro * Candy McGinnis • Scott McKay (Scott Marinoff)

On-air talent (after 2001)

* Brian Patrick * Bill Levitt * Anna Mitchell * Matt Swaim * Paul Lachmann * Rev. Rob Jack

References

External links

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