WPHB

WPHB is a commercially licensed AM radio station serving Philipsburg, Pennsylvania in Centre County. WPHB is licensed to 1260 kHz and operates at a daytime power of 5,000 watts and a nighttime power of 34 watts. The station is owned by Matt Lightner, through licensee Lightner Communications, LLC., and is broadcasting a classic country format, simulcasting WQWK 1450 AM State College.

History

WPHB first went on the air on June 1, 1956. The station was founded by Reverend William Emert, and for much of its early history, broadcast a religion-based format under the name Moshannon Valley Broadcasting, which it operated under for many years, though the owner principals would change over time. As AM stations were also issued FM licenses, WPHB began with an FM sister station, but this license would be forfeited and returned to the FCC by the end of the 1950s.

WPHB was acquired on July 16, 1982 by brothers C. Dean and Sheldon Sharpless, both of whom had worked for the station in varying capacities since its inception, but the corporate name was retained. Dean acted as the station's general manager, news director and engineer, while Sheldon served as promotions director, general sales manager and program director. Sheldon Sharpless had already been a part of WPHB's staff full-time for twenty years prior to the purchase. During this period, WPHB offered religion-based programming in addition to country music.

WPHB experienced its biggest growth while under ownership of the Sharpless brothers: seven years after their acquisition of WPHB, an FM station was returned to the air, taking the WPHB-FM call letters and assigned to the 105.9 MHz frequency at a power of 3,000 watts. (The FM station is now WQCK.)

Originally, the AM and FM stations simulcasted for about half of the broadcast day. For the remainder of the day, the AM carried religious and gospel-themed programming while the FM was music-intensive. In later years, after being sold to Magnum Broadcasting, the FM concentrated on State College as "105.9 The Buzz", WUBZ, an alternative Rock station.

WPHB continued to serve the Philipsburg area playing classic country music, with DJs Sheldon Sharpless, CJ Daniels, Ken Owens from 2001-2005 & Jerry Pollock replacing Ken Owens in late 2005.

Magnum Broadcasting, Inc. acquired the radio station in November 2004. They continued with the same programming.

As of September 2009, WPHB played a mix of Country and Americana music. In the morning, Jerry Pollock played the classic country sound that WPHB had been known for over the years. With the departure of Sheldon Sharpless in the early summer of 2010, Jerry and Mase Daniels shared the airwaves daily playing Classic Country and Americana for Centre County and the surrounding areas.

Dean Sharpless died July 11, 2019 at the age of 90.

On April 24, 2020, Twilight Broadcasting closed on the purchase of WPHB and the construction permit for translator W281CB from Magnum Broadcasting, at a price of $95,000. In early May 2020, WPHB changed their format from country to classic hits, branded as "1260 PHB".

On May 27, 2021, All Access reported that Twilight Broadcasting was in the process of selling WPHB and translator W281CB to Lightner Communications, LLC for $77,500, $17,500 less than what Twilight originally paid. The sale was consummated on October 29, 2021.

On February 28, 2022, the station began stunting with a loop of a heartbeat monitor sound effect, and redirecting listeners to WTRN.Jack-FM Enrolls In State College
Radioinsight - March 7, 2022 On March 2, Philipsburg translator W281CB (104.1 FM) moved to State College, changed frequencies to 104.3 FM (and subsequently became W282CV), as it prepared to launch a new format on March 7; the station began stunting with multiple formats “that will be unlike any other in the history of Happy Valley”, such as "The Toad" (country music, to compete with WFGE), "Unhappy 104" (classic hits, to compete with WAPY), "Slow Rock 104" (rock music, to compete with WQCK), "Giger 24/7" (sports talk), "Chill 104" (oldies), "Red Hot 104" (hip hop), and "Polkamania 104". On March 7, WPHB began simulcasting WYUP's adult hits format, branded as "107.1 & 104.3 Jack FM".

On December 30, 2022, it was announced that the station would flip to classic country as "Bigfoot Legends" within days.

On January 3, 2023 WPHB switched from a simulcast of adult hits-formatted WYUP 1400 AM Loretto to a simulcast of classic country-formatted WQWK 1450 AM State College.Seven Mountains Media State Collge Format Shuffle Update
Radioinsight - January 5, 2023

Previous logos

References

External links

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{{Country Radio Stations in Pennsylvania

PHB
Classic country radio stations in the United States
Jack FM stations