WZYP (104.3 FM, "104.3 'ZYP") is a Top 40 (CHR) music-formatted

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 ...

to serve

Athens, Alabama Athens is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, Alabama, Limestone County, in the U.S. state of Alabama; it is included in the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 c ...

, and broadcasting in the

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

, area. The station is owned by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

and formerly broadcast in HD. The broadcast signal can be heard throughout all of northern Alabama and much of southern central

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Its studios are in Athens and its transmitter is in

Madison, Alabama Madison is a city located primarily in Madison County, near the northern border of the U.S. state of Alabama. Madison extends west into neighboring Limestone County. The city is included in the Huntsville Metropolitan Area, the second-largest ...

History

It was founded by the Dunnavant family of

(which remains its city of license), as WJOF. Prior to its 1978 format change to Top 40/CHR, WJOF featured a mixture of

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...

and, at night,

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

. On June 10, 1980, the call letters were switched to the current WZYP. Through most of the 1980s, WZYP was northern Alabama's top-rated station, dethroned only by

WDRM WDRM (102.1 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Decatur, Alabama, and owned by San Antonio-based iHeartMedia. It serves the Huntsville, Alabama, area with a country music format. Its studios are located in Madis ...

when WDRM's country experienced a resurgence in popularity among young people in the late 1980s and 1990s. Nonetheless, it has remained among the Huntsville market's most-listened-to stations through the mid-2000s.

Ownership

On April 1, 2003, WZYP was sold by Athens Broadcasting Co. (William E. Dunnavant, president) to Cumulus Broadcasting Inc. as part of a four-station deal with a sale price of $22 million in cash and Cumulus common stock. The acquisition of the stations was completed in July 2003. WZYP remains co-owned with former Dunnavant stations WVNN and

WUMP WUMP (730 AM, "SportsRadio 730 The UMP") is a sports talk-formatted radio station licensed to Madison, Alabama, where its transmitter tower is located. WUMP primarily serves the Huntsville, Alabama, market, though its studios are located in Athe ...

, in addition to

WHRP WHRP (94.1 FM) is a radio station licensed to serve Gurley, Alabama, United States. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and the license is held by Cumulus Licensing LLC. WHRP broadcasts an urban adult contemporary music format to the Huntsvil ...

and

WWFF-FM WWFF-FM (93.3 MHz) is an American radio station licensed to New Market, Alabama, and serving the Huntsville, Alabama, market. Owned by Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts a oldies-leaning country music format branded as ''93.3 Nash Icon''. St ...

. This ended a 55-year presence in the market by Athens Broadcasting, founded in 1948 by Homer Felix "Pap" Dunnavant.

References

External links

WZYP official website
* ZYP Limestone County, Alabama Contemporary hit radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1958 Cumulus Media radio stations 1958 establishments in Alabama {{Alabama-radio-station-stub