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WSHP-FM (103.9
MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
, "His Radio Praise") is an FM
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
Easley, South Carolina Easley is a city in Pickens County (with parts extending into Anderson County) in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Most of the city lies in Pickens County, with a small portion of the city in Anderson County. In 2001, Easley hosted the Big ...
and serving the Greenville radio market. Owned by Radio Training Network, it broadcasts a
contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a distinct genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has evolved over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are of ...
radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...
.


History

The station signed on in 1964 as WELP-FM, which mostly
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
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 ...
, WELP (1360 AM). By the early 1980s, WELP-FM's tower was moved to a new location and the station's power was increased from 2.3 kW to 3 kW in order to get a better signal into nearby Greenville. The station at the time was known as WTLT "Lite 104", airing 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. Both WTLT and WELP-FM were sold to new ownership by 1987. In December of that year, WTLT changed to
urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...
as WLWZ, adopting the "Z-104" nickname. After two months of cold segues and promos, a new airstaff debuted in February 1988, consisting of Greg Darden (from KRNB in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
) for mornings, Maxx Myrick (from WCIN in
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
) for middays as well as programming duties, Dave Hendricks (a holdover from the station's previous format) for afternoons, Tori Turner (also from WCIN) for nights as well as the station's music director, and "Brother" Bill Prater (from WJKC in Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands) for overnights. Ratings increased almost overnight from a 1.1 to a 9.4, despite having a limited signal that covered half of the Greenville-Spartanburg radio market. In 1989, the Voyager broadcasting group purchased the radio station, and utilized Don Kelly & JC Floyd as consultants. Wayne Walker (from WFXC in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina and WHYZ in
Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...
, was brought in as program director and operations manager, and the station was renamed "Music Power Z-104". The successful lineup for a number of years included "Smooth Talker" Wayne Walker & Vince Davis on the Z-104 Wake-Up Patrol, also Rocky Valentine, Al Sullystone, Janice Henderson and Action Jackson. In January 1993, WLWZ added a simulcast partner as 103.3 FM from nearby Greer signed on, becoming WLYZ, which helped the station to be heard in the Spartanburg part of the market. By that time, both stations were billed as "Double Z", but continued with the urban format. This made the station receivable along Interstate 85 almost from the
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
to
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
line on both 103s. Emerald City Broadcasting purchased WWMM (107.3 FM) in 1994 and added an urban format which became a direct competitor. WWMM was relaunched as WJMZ "107.3 Jamz". Emerald City purchased Double Z in 1994, and began programming Double Z with an urban AC/oldies format in order to better co-exist with 107.3. Eventually the Double Z 103 simulcast became
alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
"103-X" with 103.3 picking up the WXWZ call sign and 103.9 picking up the WXWX call sign in early 1995. All the Double Z urban staff was fired with the exception of Action Jackson and Wayne Walker who did a short stint as midday personality on WJMZ until March 1995. Action Jackson continued to do weekends and fill-ins on WJMZ until March 1996. WXWX and WXWZ were the first alternative rock stations in the market, but the same signal problems that the stations had remained, even with the addition of 103.3. On January 1, 1996, 103-X added
Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...
's radio show for mornings, but was faced with a backlash from both radio listeners and advertisers that lasted for weeks. During that time, Emerald City decided to sell to
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...
, and 103-X changed formats to
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 ...
in February 1996 after the flip of WFBC-FM to
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. "Top ...
. The call letters WOLI (103.9) and WOLT (103.3) were added a few months later. The stations aired a format delivered via satellite for the next few years and in late 1999, a local airstaff was finally added. In November 2000, the station jumped on the 1980s oldies bandwagon that was going on at the time, becoming "Star 103", but retained the call letters for both stations. The syndicated '' Bob and Sheri'' radio show was added as well as a new airstaff. Over time, the station slowly evolved toward classic hits, but kept the Star 103 handle. In late 2003, the station changed its format to a
contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...
/
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
hybrid as "The Walk". In 2005, Entercom sold WOLT, WOLI, and WSPA (910 AM) to Davidson Media Group, while retaining "The Walk" and placing it on its newly acquired 106.3 WGVC signal. After Davidson took ownership, WOLI-FM flipped to a
Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...
format simulcast with WOLI (910 AM) starting in October 2005. The 910 simulcast was intended to better cover Spartanburg with the programming heard on 103.9, which primarily covers the Greenville area. However, when WNOW-FM, then located in
Gaffney, South Carolina Gaffney is a city in and the county seat, seat of Cherokee County, South Carolina, United States, in the upstate South Carolina, Upstate region of South Carolina. Gaffney is known as the "Peach Capital of South Carolina". The population was 12,53 ...
began airing much of the same programming in 2007, WOLI-FM began playing Spanish religious programming. Davidson Media sold WOLI-FM and eleven other stations to Mahan Janbakhsh's TBLC Holdings, LLC for $3.5 million; following the closure of the sale in November 2015, it flipped to
Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...
as ''Activa 103.9''. Its calls were later changed to WTOB, and then WTOB-FM. In September 2019, the station was sold to Radio Training Network, which would make it a sister station to WLFJ-FM; the sale was consummated on March 11, 2020. On March 19, 2020, following the closure of the sale, the station flipped to
contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a distinct genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has evolved over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are of ...
as ''His Radio Praise'', and changed its call letters to WSHP-FM. Also in 2020, the station upgraded the signal to become a 25,000 watt Class C3 and began broadcasting in HD Radio. Even with the power boost, it only provides secondary coverage of parts of the eastern Upstate, including Spartanburg.


References


External links

* {{Religious Radio Stations in South Carolina Radio stations established in 1965 1965 establishments in South Carolina SHP-FM