WNOP is a radio station located in Newport, Kentucky

Newport, Kentucky

Newport is a city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States, at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers. The population was 15,273 at the 2010 census. Historically, it was one of four county seats of Campbell County. Newport is part of the Greater Cincinnati, Ohio Metro Area which...

 that can be heard in/around the Cincinnati area. It now broadcasts for Cincinnati's Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 community and archdiocesan base and is an affiliate of EWTN radio for most (if not all) of its programming.

WNOP was a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 station for 38 years, except for a brief run as a CNN Headline News

CNN Headline News

HLN, formerly known as CNN Headline News and CNN2, is a cable television news channel based in the United States and a spinoff of the cable news television channel, CNN. Initially airing tightly-formatted 30-minute newscasts around the clock, since 2005, the channel has increasingly aired long-form...

 affiliate from 1992-1994.. WNOP's current religious talk format started on December 31, 2000

2000 in radio

The year 2000 in radio involved some significant events.-Events:*The Real Radio & Century Radio networks become active on - air, through the United Kingdom....

,

Startup

The station was first on the air with a combined Country Music and pre-recorded radio shows, receiving its Federal Communications Commission

Federal 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...

 (FCC) license on May 29, 1947. The first broadcasts were on Aug. 21, 1948. Jimmie Skinner

Jimmie Skinner

Jimmie Skinner was an American country and bluegrass music singer and guitarist. He also was known for a mail-order record business and retail store in Cincinnati, Ohio.-Biography:...

 hosted a radio program, which featured singer Connie Hall

Connie Hall

Connie Hall is an American country music singer, who had brief success as a country music artist in the late 1950s and 1960s. She is also a songwriter.-Early life and rise to fame:...

.

Jazz era (1962-2000)

Despite its relatively weak signal (not to mention almost bumping right into AM powerhouse WLW

WLW

WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...

), WNOP had a core audience of loyal listeners during the years when its musical programming was mostly jazz. The station's studios were a tiny floating facility on the Ohio River, called "the jazz ark."

It wasn't all jazz, however--sometimes, breaks between songs were filled with recordings of stand-up comedians. Likewise, it had an on-air irreverence that could jolt you without warning. For instance, it sometimes identified itself as being "just a little to the right of WLW," while at other times, it claimed to be "Radio Free Newport." On winter days when Cincinnati was hit with large amounts of snow and most stations announced school and workplace closings, morning on-air personality Leo Underhill instead would inform listeners which bars were closed due to bad weather.

On-air staff (1962-2000)

• The Darksoldier (Phil Tucker)
• "Downtown" Scott Brown
• Angelo Catanzaro
• Jack Clements
• Val Coleman
• Dee Felice
• Gary Keegan
• Wilbert Longmire
• Dennis "The Ironman" Michaels
• Bob Nave
• Geoff Nimmo
• Dick Pike
• Ray Scott
• Mark Stevens (Mark Schlacter)
• Bunky Tadwell (Walt Harrell)
• Oscar Treadwell
• Leo (Old Undies) Underhill
• Chris Wagner
• Ty Williams
• Dave Worford
• Max Warner
• Stu Williams
• Jim Planky

Sacred Heart Radio (2000-present)

Sacred Heart Radio assumed ownership of the station on January 1, 2000. The program format was changed from Jazz to religious talk radio....much of it coming from EWTN Global Catholic Radio.

The Son Rise Morning Show with Brian Patrick which airs weekday mornings on EWTN Radio originates from WNOP's studios.

On August 24,2010 WHSS

WHSS

WHSS is an FM radio station in Hamilton, Ohio, United States, broadcasting with an effective radiated power of 190 watts. During the decades WHSS was owned and operated by the Hamilton City School District, it played an Alternative format...

,89.5 mHz in Hamilton was sold by the Hamilton City Schools to Sacred Heart Radio.