WPHB (AM)
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| City | Philipsburg, Pennsylvania |
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| Broadcast area |
Philipsburg State College |
| Branding | "AM 1260 WPHB" |
| Slogan | music news sports |
| Frequency | 1260 KHz |
| First air date | June 1, 1956 |
| Format | Country, Talk, Sports |
| Power | 5,000 watts (Daytime) 34 watts (Nighttime) |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 43879 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°53′39″N 78°11′51″W / 40.89417°N 78.19750°W |
| Callsign meaning | PHilipsBurg |
| Owner | Magnum Broadcasting |
| Sister stations | WQCK |
| Website | wphbradio |
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 Magnum Broadcasting and has a format of talk and classic country.
WPHB first went on the air 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(AM) continued to serve the Philipsburg area playing classic country music, with D.J.s Sheldon Sharpless & Jerry Pollock.
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 has been known for over the years. With the departure of Sheldon Sharpless in the early Summer of 2010, Jerry and Mase Daniels now share the airwaves daily playing Classic Country and Americana for Centre County and the surrounding areas.
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Wikipedia