WHPI (96.5 FM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radio ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Farmington, Illinois Farmington is a city in Fulton County & Peoria County, Illinois, United States. It is north of Canton, west of Peoria, southeast of Galesburg, and northeast of Macomb. The population was 2,448 at the 2010 census, down from 2,601 at the 2000 c ...

, and serving the

Peoria metropolitan area The Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of six counties in Central Illinois, Central Illinois, anchored by the city of Peoria, Illinois, Peoria. As of the United States Census ...

. The station broadcasts a Top 40 - CHR

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, ...

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/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, simultane ...

with

WPIA WPIA (98.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Eureka, Illinois, and serving the Peoria metropolitan area. The station broadcasts a Top 40 - CHR radio format, simulcast with WHPI 96.5 FM. Both stations are owned and operated by Adva ...

98.5 FM The following radio stations broadcast on FM frequency 98.5 MHz: Argentina * 985 radio in Punta Alta, Buenos Aires * Cielo in San Bernardo, Buenos Aires * Meridiano in Coronel Charlone, Córdoba * Momentos in Grutly, Santa Fe * Orfeo in C� ...

. Both stations are owned and operated by Advanced Media Partners, LLC, and are known as 96.5 and 98.5

KISS FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

. WHPI and WPIA carry two nationally syndicated shows from

Premiere Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It ...

: ''

Elvis Duran and the Morning Show Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

'' from

WHTZ WHTZ (100.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial contemporary hit radio, top 40/CHR station city of license, licensed to Newark, New Jersey and broadcasting to the New York metropolitan area. Owned by iHeartMedia, WHTZ is the Flagship (broadcasti ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and ''

American Top 40 ''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...

with

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...

'' on weekends.

History

The station was assigned the call sign WJPL in 1997 and received its license on February 13, 1998. It came on the air under the ownership of Ann Johnston and Mike Rea. Johnston and Rea merged their station ownership into a larger group, AAA Entertainment, in June 2000. The radio station originally went on the air in November 1997 with a rock format, then changed to "

Smooth Jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

96.5" through the rest of the decade. In August 2001, WJPL flipped to

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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...

as "The Point", featuring the syndicated '' Bob & Sheri'' morning show. The station added simulcast 94.3 for a short time. In June 2003, AAA Entertainment moved the format to the much stronger 105.7 and rebranded as "Mix 105.7". WWCT, known for years as "Rock 106", moved down the dial to 96.5 to become "Rock 96.5" featuring Mancow in the morning. The station struggled with several airstaff changes and variations, including an all-request format. AAA decided to sell the stations in 2006, finalizing the transfer to Independence Media in 2007. In September 2006, Independence Media began simulcasting its new CHR format on sister

98.5 as WRIA until its format change to

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

on July 1, 2007. 96.5 had changed its callsign to WZPN six days earlier. In November 2010, Independence Media Holdings sold WPIA, along with its other 3 Peoria-area stations (98.5

Eureka, 99.9

WWCT WWCT is an FM broadcasting 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 (Farmington) in 2003 ...

Bartonville, and 101.1 WHPI Glasford) to Michael S. Rea Advanced Media Partners. On June 6, 2018, sister station WHPI became the primary station for "ESPN Peoria" with 96.5 as the simulcast until a new format is planned. The stations swapped call signs on June 26, 2018, with 96.5 taking the call sign WHPI and 101.1 taking the WZPN call sign. On September 5, 2020, at midnight, the station dropped its sports format and resumed simulcasting WPIA's Top 40/CHR format as "98.5 KISS FM".

References

External links

* {{Contemporary Hit Radio Stations in Illinois Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1997 HPI