WBHK
Encyclopedia
WBHK is an urban adult contemporary
music formatted radio station
owned by Cox Broadcasting
that serves Birmingham, Alabama
. It is currently ranked by the Arbitron
rating system as the nation's highest rated urban adult contemporary
station. 98.7 Kiss FM is licensed
to Warrior
and broadcasts on the 98.7 megahertz (MHz) frequency at effecitve radiated power
of 39 kilowatts (kW) from atop of Red Mountain. It is owned by Cox Radio Holdings along with six other stations.
The station has an unusually strong signal that broadcasts on a class C1 that can be heard across the majority of North
and Central Alabama
and even in parts of eastern Mississippi
and western Georgia
. WBHK is sometimes mistaken for or confused with the New York
urban AC with the same moniker, WRKS-FM, 98.7 Kiss FM. The similar musical format and dial position of both stations have allowed them to share on-air liners and even TV commercials--but neither station shares the same corporate ownership. In 2005, WBHK began broadcasting in IBOC digital radio
, using the HD Radio
system from iBiquity
.
on December 13, 1991
. Its tower was on a hill off Arkadelphia Road west of Warrior, and they broadcast from a small trailer also located in Warrior. The station was built by Terry Bentley Lowery and Danny Bentley, both with broadcasting interests in Oneonta, Alabama.
In 1994, the station became known as "98 Lite", and changed to a soft adult contemporary format. In 1995, the station began adding smooth jazz programming and eventually morphed into a smooth jazz format; the station continued to broadcast as "98 Lite".
In 1996, after many years as a low-rated AC, the station became an urban AC with the moniker and slogan, "98.7 Kiss FM, Smooth R&B and Classic Soul", changing to its current WBHK callsign on July 1, 1996. With the format change the ratings for the frequency increased. In 2002, the transmitter was upgraded and moved to Red Mountain after many years of broadcasting from a choppy signal.
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
music formatted radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
owned by Cox Broadcasting
Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises is the successor to the publishing company founded in Dayton, Ohio, United States, by James Middleton Cox, who began with the Dayton Daily News. He was the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States in the election of 1920...
that serves Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. It is currently ranked by the Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
rating system as the nation's highest rated urban adult contemporary
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
station. 98.7 Kiss FM is licensed
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
to Warrior
Warrior, Alabama
Warrior is a city in Jefferson and Blount County in the U.S. state of Alabama. At the 2000 census the population was 3,169.-History:The city takes its name from the Warrior coal fields, which J. T. Pierce opened in 1872 in the vicinity. The coal fields were named, in turn, after the Black Warrior...
and broadcasts on the 98.7 megahertz (MHz) frequency at effecitve radiated power
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
of 39 kilowatts (kW) from atop of Red Mountain. It is owned by Cox Radio Holdings along with six other stations.
The station has an unusually strong signal that broadcasts on a class C1 that can be heard across the majority of North
North Alabama
North Alabama is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama, generally considered to include 12 counties: Cherokee, Colbert, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, and Winston, with a combined population of 958,247, or 20.84% of the state's population as...
and Central Alabama
Central Alabama
Central Alabama is the region in the state of Alabama that stretches approximately 170 miles from the western border with Mississippi to eastern border with Georgia and 136 miles from the northern border of Cullman County to the Alabama River in southern Autauga County. With a...
and even in parts of eastern Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and western Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. WBHK is sometimes mistaken for or confused with the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
urban AC with the same moniker, WRKS-FM, 98.7 Kiss FM. The similar musical format and dial position of both stations have allowed them to share on-air liners and even TV commercials--but neither station shares the same corporate ownership. In 2005, WBHK began broadcasting in IBOC digital radio
Digital radio
Digital radio has several meanings:1. Today the most common meaning is digital radio broadcasting technologies, such as the digital audio broadcasting system, also known as Eureka 147. In these systems, the analog audio signal is digitized into zeros and ones, compressed using formats such as...
, using the HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
system from iBiquity
IBiquity
iBiquity Digital Corporation is a company formed by the merger of USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio, with the goal of creating an in-band on-channel digital radio system for the United States and around the world...
.
History
98.7 began as WLBI, "Great 98", a 6 kW rimshot hot adult contemporary station licensed to Warrior. The station was assigned the WLBI call letters by the Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
on December 13, 1991
1991 in radio
The year 1991 in radio involved some significant events.-Events:* January 18 - Brian Beirne became one of the few celebrities from radio to get a "star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame....
. Its tower was on a hill off Arkadelphia Road west of Warrior, and they broadcast from a small trailer also located in Warrior. The station was built by Terry Bentley Lowery and Danny Bentley, both with broadcasting interests in Oneonta, Alabama.
In 1994, the station became known as "98 Lite", and changed to a soft adult contemporary format. In 1995, the station began adding smooth jazz programming and eventually morphed into a smooth jazz format; the station continued to broadcast as "98 Lite".
In 1996, after many years as a low-rated AC, the station became an urban AC with the moniker and slogan, "98.7 Kiss FM, Smooth R&B and Classic Soul", changing to its current WBHK callsign on July 1, 1996. With the format change the ratings for the frequency increased. In 2002, the transmitter was upgraded and moved to Red Mountain after many years of broadcasting from a choppy signal.
Station management
- General Manager: David Dubose
- Operations Manager: Kori White
- Program Director: Daryl Johnson
- Music Director: Chris Coleman
- News Director: Reginald Greene
- Public Affairs Director: Hollis Wormsby