[BC] Re: Call-letter curiosities

[SHAFFER, RANDY L]

Tom Dimeo wrote -

>Back in the eighties WHP FM changed call letters to, I think, 
>WXBB.  After a short time they changed back to WHP.  Then in 
>1990 or 1991 when the station was purchased by Dame Media the 
>call letters were changed to WRVV and became "The River" 
>which they still are.


I don't have the actual date handy, but that is the correct time frame. They went to WXBB (B97.3) soft rock from beautiful music 97.3 WHP-FM. As I understand it, there was apparently some disagreement on the format change. I think it was given a book or two and when it didn't make its' mark, the people who were against the change, quickly made their point to return to the BM automation system. One of the old timers seems to think that they didn't pick up the WHP-FM call letters when they returned to BM, then known as "Lite 97.3". They kept the legal ID as WXBB until the change to WRVV. IF that is the case, then they didn't return to the WHP-FM calls.

The station made the transistion to "The River" playing television theme songs over a weekend and relating that theme song to what was planned for the following Monday. This was done after Dame bought the radio stations and moved them. One of the original radio studios w/news booth is still used as a audio production room for WHP-TV. I produced a sports talk show out of there for 2 years, 2 years ago. The other studios are used for sales and traffic managers offices, still with the air lights outside the doors. 

All of the BM stations in this market had a hard time making a format change. WGAL-FM. WSBA-FM and WHP-FM. They all ended up doing some version of soft rock, but had a hard time making a commitment to it. "The new 101, The Rose", still calls itself new after making the format change in the mid 80's!

Randy Shaffer
WHP-TV/WLYH-TV
Harrisburg, PA