WRPO-LP

WRPO-LP
City Russells Point, Ohio
Broadcast area Indian Lake area and northwestern portion of Logan County.
Branding 93.5 WRPO
Slogan "Indian Lake's Greatest Hits"
Where all the GOOD songs have gone!
Frequency 93.5 MHz
Repeater(s) WOHP-LP
First air date May 27, 2002
Format Oldies
Community radio
ERP 100 watts
HAAT 25.1 meters
Class L1 Low power FM (LP)
Callsign meaning Russells Point, Ohio
Affiliations USA Radio Network
Gray Fox Audio Sensations
Owner Village of Russells Point
(managed by Gene Kirby)
Website wix.com/wrpofm/wrpo-fm
WOHP-LP
City Huntsville, Ohio
Broadcast area Huntsville, Belle Center, Lewistown, Northwood and Bellefontaine
Frequency 101.3 mHz
First air date August 23, 2014
(as Gray Fox partner station of WRPO-LP)
ERP 100 watts
HAAT 20.5779 meters (68 feet)
Class L1 (low-power FM)
license granted on August 25, 2014
Callsign meaning Ohio's Highest Point (historical reference to Bellefontaine)
Affiliations Repeater of WRPO-LP
Owner Village of Huntsville
(managed by Gene Kirby)
Website wrpofm.wix.com/wohp

WRPO-LP "Indian Lake's Greatest Hits" (for Russells Point, Ohio, its city of license) is a non-commercial and educational low power FM community radio station at 93.5 mHz licensed to the village of Russells Point which up until early 2008 aired a Big Band and Adult Standards format. The station then aired a smooth jazz format from that point until May 9, 2009 when it switched to an oldies format. Its studios and transmitter are both located in the city of license and serves the communities of Russells Point, Lakeview, the perimeter of Indian Lake State Park, and surrounding portions of west-central Ohio.

Brief history

WRPO-LP, originally nicknamed "The Point," was founded in 2002 and commenced broadcasting on Memorial Day May 27 of that year. Its transmitter power is 100 watts ERP. Robbie Robinson and station manager Gene Kirby are just a few of the station's air personalities who are all volunteers. Its studios and offices are located at 433 State Route 708 in the village municipal building.

WRPO's former big band format was a tribute to the live performance venue of the now long gone Sandy Beach Amusement Park which was frequented by many of the popular orchestras and singers of that era...many of which were broadcast live nationwide on network radio.

WRPO is owned by the Village of Russells Point and is programmed by Gene Kirby, who also owned and operated WMHO, a micropower AM broadcaster (now defunct) at 1620 kHz in Marysville that initially aired a classic country format (following the three year departure of WUCO's studios and offices to Columbus when it was part of Saint Gabriel Cathiolic Radio) but has since employed a similar oldies format, as well as have programmed WDEQ-FM, 91.7mHz in DeGraff on behalf of its owner, the Riverside Board of Education until 2010. Kirby also served from 2011 to 2013 as operations manager of WQTT (the former WUCO) in Marysville which moved back to its original city of license in 2010. WQTT is now owned by ICS Communications.

WRPO callsign history

WRPO was previously the callsign for 104.9 FM in Brockport, New York from 1999 until 2000 which is now WKDL-FM , a repeater of K-Love.

Programming

WRPO-LP now airs an oldies format after a previous one-year run as a smooth jazz station. The switch to oldies, coupled with more professional on-air production values and audio imaging (possibly inspired by kindred spirit WSWO-LP) has produced a much more positive feedback from local listeners compared to its previous jazz format and has resulted in increased support by listener contributions and underwriting by local businesses.

Weekday programs

World and National News airs several times daily from the USA Radio Network followed by several local news segments during the morning hours at five minutes past the hour and at 12:05 in the afternoon in addition to community news segments and the Indian Lake Local Schools daily lunch menus.

Local programs on Saturday

Blues On The Lake -A one-hour program hosted by WRPO volunteer Jim Matthews from 8-9 am airing a mix of traditional delta blues,vintage R&B,rockabilly,soul music and blues-fusioned rock.

The Look Back Show -hosted by Dale Madison and Larry Armstrong (and on occasions by station manager Gene Kirby) from 9-11am playing classic hits from a particular year with a look back at the news events that happened from that same year.

The new program replaced The Saturday Morning Show a talk/information program with local and area guests that was anchored by Robbie Robinson and station manager Gene Kirby which last aired on October 5, 2013. Robbie also produced and anchored "Not-so News" a light hearted tongue in-cheek perspective of local events with a humorous homespun flavor. The newscast supposedly aired from the fictitious "25th Floor Newsroom" of the TIC (Tongue In Cheek) News Network whose motto was: "We're not always accurate...but we ARE first!" but was actually recorded from his home. Health concerns however prompted Robinson to take leave of his Saturday morning programs in the spring of 2014. Aside from Gene Kirby himself, Robinson was the first on-air personality and assisted Gene Kirby and tower installer Dave Price in 2002 in the construction of WRPO.

Robinson died on Sunday August 17, 2014, at a nursing facility in his hometown of Marysville. His funeral was on August 22, 2014 at Christian Assembly Church in Marysville and is interred at Oakdale Cemetery.

The Famous Old Time Music Show - A one-hour program of traditional bluegrass, Americana and classic country music hosted by Larry Roose is aired from 11am-12 noon on behalf of fellow bluegrass musician Vernon McIntyre,the owner of The Famous Old Time Music Company originally located in St. Johns east of Wapakoneta. "F.O.T.M.C" is now an online buisiness.

Sunday programs

Sunday Morning At The Memories Two hours of classic adult standards from the 1950s and 60s featuring music by the likes of Frank Sinatra,The Platters,Dean Martin,Tony Bennett,Rosemary Clooney among others...6-8am.

Sunday Morning With The Beatles Locally produced and hosted by Jason Roberts from 10am until 12 noon.

Syndicated programs

The Mike Ficher Show- Saturdays 12-noon-2pm

Rewind with Jimmy Jay -Saturday evenings 6-8 pm and Sunday evenings 7-9pm

Cool Bobby B's Doo Wop Stop -Saturday evenings 8-11pm and Sunday evenings 9pm-12 midnight.

The Dusty Rhodes Christmas Spectacular-a 36-hour marathon of holiday music produced and hosted by former WSAI radio personality Dusty Rhodes and is broadcast yearly on Christmas Eve and all day Christmas Day on WRPO/WOHP in addition to oldies-formatted stations nationwide.

Community support and facilities

WRPO's oldies format has been on since the spring of 2009, garnering great support from the individuals and businesses in the Indian Lake Resort Region. With their support, the station has upgraded to an on-air digital audio processor, and as of October 2011 had upgraded the quality of the music on-air to the highest quality mp-3 sound possible. (Many commercial radio stations air music in far lower quality than the music on WRPO.)

The station's music comes from the 1950s to the 1980s. Or, to quote one of the station ID's, "From The Start Of Rock And Roll...To The Start Of M-TV!" The music is carefully selected by the station's Production Manager, Kevin Fodor (AKA - Jason Roberts, formerly with then-oldies formatted WCOL-FM in Columbus, Ohio in the early 1990s. Jason currently works full-time for Cox Media Group/Dayton and volunteers his time with WRPO.)

Previous formats: (2002-2008)

According to its current website as of February 22, 2008, the station announced a switchover from Big Band and Adult Standards to a smooth jazz format. "The Best of Old Time Radio" featuring vintage episodes of Fibber McGee and Molly, The Green Hornet, Lum and Abner, The Great Gildersleeve, Gunsmoke among others were also aired to coincide with its earlier formats.

The format switch to smooth jazz took place on Saturday March 8, 2008. Ovenight programming also included oldies from 12 midnight until early morning. The format switch was also reflected in its website which was upgraded on April 8, 2008. From February until May 2009, the overnight oldies were replaced by "Music 'Till Dawn" a mix of beautiful music and big band prior to its switch to a full-time oldies format.

Oldies

A survey of local listeners took place in March and April 2009 by the local low power station which helped determine the switch to Oldies on Saturday May 9, 2009 at 11am local time.

In February 2012, a second studio used for audio production and live programs was constructed.

WRPO celebrated its tenth anniversary on the air during Memorial Day weekend of 2012. Leading up to this event,Ken Deutsch, a broadcaster and journalist from Toledo wrote an article about low-power FM radio detailing WRPO's community involvement and hometown flavor for Radio World, a trade publication published on April 24 of 2012

Other programs

Other local programs include:

Dial A Deal with Dale Madison and Larry Armstrong Saturdays during the spring and summer months.

Gene Kirby also produces and hosts a Saturday morning Big Band program for WSWO-LP, an oldies station in Huber Heights on Saturday mornings from 7-9 am.

Partner station WOHP-LP

On January 14, 2014, a construction permit was granted by the FCC for WOHP-LP 101.3 mHz in Huntsville. The Village of Huntsville is the station's licensee and Gray Fox Broadcasting will also manage this station as a repeater of WRPO-LP. The new low power FM made its on-air debut at 9:00 am local time on August 23 of 2014 to serve the communities of Huntsville and Bellefontaine.

WOHP's transmitting tower was installed with transmitting antennas on June 14, 2014. On July 1, 2014,on-air testing began. A netlink was installed on August 9, 2014 to relay audio from the WRPO studios to the WOHP tower, hence WOHP is a simulcast of WRPO's programming.

WOHP callsign history

The WOHP call letters were first used at 1390 AM in Bellefontaine from 1951 to 1969 when it became WTOO. The callsign was used again from 1983 to 1988 as a gospel format on 1390 before becoming WPKO-AM and currently WBLL, then moved to Portsmouth, Ohio at 88.3 FM as a repeater of the CDR Radio Network (based at the former WCDR in Cedarville,then owned by Cedarville University) where it stayed from 1991 until 2011 when it became another K-Love repeater as WUKV.

See also

External links

(WRPO)

(WOHP)

Coordinates: 40°28′05″N 83°53′31″W / 40.468°N 83.892°W / 40.468; -83.892

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