WZPN (101.1 MHz, "Peoria Sports Radio") 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 ...

for

Glasford, Illinois Glasford is a village in Peoria County, Illinois, United States. The population was 866 at the 2020 census. Glasford is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Glasford or Glasco as it was called in 1868, was named f ...

in the

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

. From September 26, 2010 to June 6, 2018, the station aired the adult hits format

Jack FM Jack FM is a radio network brand that is licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits radio format, format, in most cases not using disc jockey, DJs. F ...

, before becoming a sports radio station as an affiliate of ESPN Radio, then shifting to

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...

on June 1, 2023.

History

Neil A. Rhones and Luann C. Dahl applied for a new station on 101.1 MHz at

Canton, Illinois Canton is the largest city in Fulton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 13,242 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 14,704 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The Canton Micropolitan Statistical Ar ...

, and were granted a construction permit in 1996. The call sign WBDM was assigned to this station. In 1997, Rhones and Dahl asked 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 ...

to move Canton's 101.1 MHz allocation, with their construction permit, to

, claiming that moving the

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

would result in adding 81,024 people to the coverage area while only losing 8,754. The FCC granted the request on August 26, 1996. In June 1999, Rhones and Dahl assigned their construction permit to Two Petaz, Inc., which was based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

and whose president was Bargard H. Walters. The station's call sign was changed to WRVP on July 13, 1999 and the station received its license on January 4, 2000. The station used the nickname "101.1 The River". The River was born as an

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 ...

station and was attempting to compete with heritage 50 kW signal WSWT. This did not last long; just a few months later, the plug was pulled in favor of a simulcast of sister station 98.5 as "98.5 & 101.1 The Party". 98.5 WPPY and 101.1 swapped call signs on July 27, 2000. In March 2004, 101.1 began simulcasting WVEL (AM), which has long suffered from a weak signal outside of Pekin. As part of the simulcast, 101.1 dropped the WPPY call sign in favor of WVEL-FM. In September 2006, as part of a larger station swap between multiple Peoria groups, Regent Broadcasting sold 101.1 to newly formed Independence Media Holdings. 105.7 was being sold from AAA Entertainment to Regent, and Regent indicated it did not want the

Hot AC 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 currently on 105.7. On September 26, 2006, "Mix 105.7" (WXMP) and its format moved to the weaker 101.1 frequency and changed its name to "Mix 101.1", while the

WIXO WIXO (105.7 FM broadcasting, FM, "105.7 The X") is a radio station in Peoria, Illinois. It is owned by Cumulus Media, which also owns several other radio stations in the market. Cumulus purchased WIXO and its sister stations from Townsquare M ...

callsign and the "99X Rocks" format moved from 99.9 to 105.7. At midnight on September 19, 2007, the station changed its format 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 ...

, branded as "Hippie Radio 101.1". The call sign was changed to WHPI to match the "Hippie" moniker. At 9:45 p.m. on September 26, 2010, WHPI changed its format to adult hits, branded as "

". WHPI remained jockless for the majority of its history after the "Jack FM" format signed on, only adding a local morning show in 2017. Independence Media Holdings sold WHPI along with its other three Peoria-area stations ( WZPN, WPIA, and

WWCT WWCT (99.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station licensed to Bartonville, Illinois. Through most of its history, the WWCT callsign was associated with Peoria's 105.7 frequency allocation; the call sign and related format was moved to 96.5 ( ...

) to Michael S. Rea's Advanced Media Partners on November 15, 2010. On June 6, 2018, at 3 p.m., Jack announced he had "gone to find himself in Tahiti", and at that point, 101.1 became the new primary station for

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

in the Peoria market, with 96.5 serving as the simulcast until a new format for the latter is planned. The two stations rebranded together as "ESPN Peoria". On June 26, the two frequencies swapped call signs, with WHPI moving to 96.5 FM and WZPN moving to 101.1 FM. During that time, the station's website was changed to a redirect to 96.5's web address. The sports format moved to 101.1 permanently on September 5, 2020, at midnight. On June 1, 2023, the station shifted to a

affiliation as "Peoria Sports Radio". With the rebranding, the station expanded the afternoon drive “Jim Mattson Show with Mike Rizzo” from two to four hours, running from 2-6pm; previously, the duo hosted from 3-5pm with Rizzo hosting a solo hour at 5:00.

Previous logos

References

External links

Peoria Sports Radio
— official website * {{Fox Sports Radio stations Radio stations established in 1999 Sports radio stations in the United States ZPN 1999 establishments in Illinois Fox Sports Radio stations