Top 40 stations around Virginia in the 1960's & 70's

[bk77]

Ok everyone knows about WGH, WNOR, WROV, Q94 and WLEE but what about the other top 40 stations around Virginia back in the 60's and 70's?

Harrisonburg I know had WHBG-AM 1360 and Winchester had the "big 610" WHPL and Music 105 FM WWOO.
Charlottesville I believe had their own top 40 station back in the 70s but I don't remember who it was though I am pretty sure it wasn't WINA.

Never heard about any top 40 station existing in Fredericksburg back then though I seem to recall a "K108" around there someplace. I thinking this could have been Warrenton/Manassas 107.7 FM.

Northern Virginia had WEEL and I think they stayed top 40 as late as 1981.

Waynesboro's AM 970 I think was top 40 for some time back in the early 70's but I know nothing about them.

Any other top 40 stations in the commonwealth back then?

 

[WGHRADIO]

In the 1960's WLOW which later became WHIH (Norfolk)

 

[Radio-X]

I'm not sure as I wasn't around to listen back then, but wasn't 97.5/Charlottesville Top 40 before flipping to AOR in the late 70's?

I also think WUVA-FM could have very well had a Top 40 format at that time as well.

Richmond had WRNL-FM which became WRXL in 1974. They were Top 40 until 1978.

My guess is that Blacksburg also had its own top 40 station too given the presence of Tech and the terrain that made some Roanoke stations hard to get.

I don't think Fredericksburg had a Top 40 station before WGRQ signed on in the mid-80's as Q-96. WBQB was WFVA-FM until like 1992 and I assume simulcasted whatever format was on the AM.

My father told me that in the 70's before WLRG became K-92 in Roanoke, folks in Lynchburg were forced to listen to WJJS to get any top 40 music (WJJS was on AM at the time apparently and could be considered Urban AC/Top 40/Disco then). He said there was another rock station he listened to but the signal sucked and he couldn't remember the name. I'm not sure if he was talking about WROV-AM, one of the peashooter Lynchburg AM's, or an FM?

To take the conversation a little off topic...wasn't 97.5 (WJLC-FM) a top 40 station in South Boston for years until upgrading to Raleigh and going urban in 1987? Were there any top 40's at all in Southside VA in the 60's-70's?

Radio-X

 

[mleach]

I don't know about Charlottesville's 97.5 but for a time a good chunk of Virginia had top 40 on 97.5 that being Martinsburg, West Virginia's WKMZ-FM. But then again that was in the 80s.

For some reason I seem to remember Hampton Roads having a top 40 station in the 70's on FM. 104.5?

Southside Virginia I think had WQHT (?) out of the tri-cities area. They were top 40 in the early 80s, perhaps that began in the 70s.

Woodstock, Virginia had WAMM back in the 70s. They were top 40. Then it was am 940. But sometime in the 80s they moved to AM 1230.

 

[Terry63]

Back in the early 70's,I listened to WFIC 1530-AM in the Collinsville-Martinsville

area,they played top 40 throught the 70's,I also listened to WLLL 930-AM in

Lynchburg when were were at Smith Mountain Lake.In 1975,I got my first FM radio

and found Q-99 in Roanoke and 96.3 WMVA in Martinsville.

I do remember the change from WLRG to K-92 on JAN 1, 1980.

 

[fortmill]

Outside of the larger cities, true top 40 stations were few and far between in the 60s and early 70s. Richmond, in addition to WLEE, had WGOE/1590, WEET/1320, WMBG/1380, and WENZ/1450 in the 60s. WRXL-FM was never top 40--rather it was album rock in its XL102 days. Just to the south of there, in the tri-cities there was at various times, WPVA/1290 and WHAP/1340, both terrible stations. About 1970, WSSV/1240 emerged, then added a FM simulcast at 99.3. In Hampton Roads, WNOR/1230 was long a serious competitor to WGH--there was also a top 40 on 1350 for a time. The top 40 in Charlottesville was WELK/1010 which later moved to 1400 when WINA moved to 1070. Lynchburg had WLLL/930. WYPR/970 was a decent top 40 in Danville for years until FM stations from the NC Triad made things difficult for them. Legendary WROV/1240 had top 40 to itself in Roanoke except for a few years in the late 60s when WPXI/910 made a serious run against them--eventually they went off the air due to bankruptcy. WFHG/980 in Bristol was a surprisingly good top 40 for a number of years. In northern VA, in additon to WEEL there was of course WEAM/1390 in Arlington, which rocked the entire DC metro, so we might as well add WPGC AM/FM from nearby Morningside MD. Blacksburg/NRV had a station on 710 in the early 70s--it was powerful, covered a lot of territory, and sounded good, but apparently never made money-wise. Otherwise, vast sections of VA had nothing which resembled a top 40 station except at night when stations such as WABC, WKBW, and WLS came booming in.

 

[HadYourPhil]

Let's see...
Roanoke had WHYE 910 from '59-'64.
WRIS 1410 for a few months in late '64
WLLL 930 in Lynchburg from '63 to the '80s
WDMS 1320 in Lynchburg briefly in the mid-60's
WYPR 970 in Danville was a good one in its heyday
WFHG 980 in Bristol
WELK 1010 in Charlottesville
WJJJ 1260 in Christiansburg
WHBG 1260 in Harrisonburg
WAVY/WKLX 1350 in Portsmouth
WQBX 710 in Blacksburg
WBLU 1480 in Salem in the early 70's

Many, if not most were daytimers... and there are several others not on this list. All were different, some with non-Top-40 segments in their day. Miss 'em all!

 

[The Beav]

Having moved to Southwest VA in the 70's from Northern VA it stood out to me that the only top 40 station we could pick up there was 980 WFHG from Bristol Tri-Cities. They were a flamethrower back then. From the late 70's through the 80's you had WQUT 101.5. also from the Tri-Cities. A few local stations tried top 40 back in the late 70's. From Richlands VA 105.5 WGTH what is now 105.5 The Sheep (Southern Gospel if you couldn't guess) and also 97.7 WMJD out of Grundy VA was trying Top 40/Hot AC until the late 80's but really sucked. I have no idea why I remember this, even though this was the mid 80's, when Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55" came out. For whatever reason I was scanning through and was listening to WMJD, when it came to the lyric that says "...gonna throw your ass in the city joint" the jock potted down the song and had dead air for a few seconds until the next lyric then he just turned it back up. That still makes me chuckle.

 

[mobley]

Seems like WEVA in Emporia also played Top 40 way back when. Always went through VA traveling with my family when I was a kid. Remember WLEE very well. As stated earlier, there were 3 or 4 Top 40's in Richmond at one time. I also remember WRVQ going Top 40 very early, maybe '72 or so. I think that was when we first got an FM car radio. When I think of Top 40 in VA way back when, WGH is always the station of note. Not only did they have a monster signal in relation to their dial position, but they stayed number one for about 18 years. Tidewater always had a good selection of Top 40 stations back in the day.

 

[mleach]

Many, if not most were daytimers... and there are several others not on this list. All were different, some with non-Top-40 segments in their day. Miss 'em all!

Oh there were quite a few of those around Virginia back then.

Front Royal's WFTR-AM 1450 was a perfect example of this. Mornings were light easy music ( Dean Martin, Kay Starr, etc..), Middays was country, afternoons & weekends top 40 and at night...hard rock. On WFTR in 1978 it was possible to hear Frank Sinatra, Tanya Tucker, KC & The Sunshine Band, and Cream..all on the same station..in one day !!

I have been told Mount Jackson's WSIG-AM was top 40 for a time back in the early 60's. Same with Harrisonburg's WSVA-AM, though both stations deny that today.

Winchester's WINC-AM 1400 "almost" was top 40 back in the 70s, "almost" as in there were some songs they would not play such as KISS for example. WINC wouldn't even play "Beth". Crosstown, WHPL ( today WTFX ) was indeed top 40 through the 70's even though I remember watching an interview on Harrisonburg's WVPT years ago when then WHPL news director Pam Bell said WHPL was NOT Top 40 but rather AC. If that was the case, WHPL must have been the hardest sounding AC station in America. WHPL even played Van Halen and KISS and they even played non-stop disco tunes from 7pm until they sign off Monday thru Saturday. That sounds like top 40 to me..well back then.

 

[WGHRADIO]

WAVY Radio-1350 "Action Radio" (Portsmouth) had their "Nifty Fifty" Survey List.They played Top 40 music from the late 50's/Middle 1960's,then went to easy listening music and in Suffolk there was WLPM who sounded like a WGH knock off,and sounded pretty good for a small town station.

 

[promotion has-been]

WQBX-AM 710 in Christiansburg was branded for a number of years as "Super 7-Q," a powerhouse Top-40 AM. They had a reverb system in ther studio and one of the best compressed AM signals in all of Southwest Virginia.

If memory serves me correctly, Reggie Neel (who's now doing middays at WXBQ in Bristol), Barry Michaels, and a guy called "The Animal" were the air crew in the late '70s and early '80s.

Ray Childers owned the station and sold it around 1984 to a judge who then changed the call letters to WNRB and format to country. Problem was, WNRV-AM 990 in Narrows/Pearisburg (an adult/contemporary format at that time) was within ear-shot of the 10KW signal off 710 AM. Somehow, WNRV Owner Megan McWilliams and General Manager Bob Whitehead persuaded WNRB's management to modify their calls to avoid confusion. That's when AM-710 became WFNR (today's call letters).

If anybody can add to that, or correct that information, please feel free.

 

[Pepperjack69]

Barry Michaels is now on WYYD doing mornings as "The Bear". Still sounds great!

 

[fingar]

Barry Michaels also worked at WROV-AM in the late 70's.

And in Lynchburg don't forget 590 WLVA

 

[steve732]

In Winchester WINC 1400 AM was Top 40.in the 1960's. Joe Pasquali's morning show played the top 20. Also Roy Nester' Platter party mon-fri played top 20 and Wed night dedication night. Saturday AM was Club 1400 Area High School students did Orchids and Onions and the top 10 Hot songs.

AM 610 WHPL in the 60's was AC with country drop in's during the day. At 7PM WHPL flipped to Country with Cravin Edwards Show and Joltin Jim McCoy from 10PM- Sign off.
WHPL-AM was Hot AC and WEFG-FM 102.5 in the 70's was programmed by Mike Bell and was automated Top 40 with live dj's Mike & Pam Bell & Ozzy Mott played the top 40 chart songs.
The late 70's brought WINC AM to AC format and then WQUS ( formerly WRFL) 92.5 country was dropped and simulcast with WINC-AM AC.
In the Early-Mid 70's AM740 WRNR signed on in Martinsburg as a Top 40 station. WWOO Berryville 105.5 signed on in the late 70's as a top 40 station.

 

[bk77]

In Winchester WINC 1400 AM was Top 40.in the 1960's. Joe Pasquali's morning show played the top 20. Also Roy Nester' Platter party mon-fri played top 20 and Wed night dedication night. Saturday AM was Club 1400 Area High School students did Orchids and Onions and the top 10 Hot songs.

AM 610 WHPL in the 60's was AC with country drop in's during the day. At 7PM WHPL flipped to Country with Cravin Edwards Show and Joltin Jim McCoy from 10PM- Sign off.
WHPL-AM was Hot AC and WEFG-FM 102.5 in the 70's was programmed by Mike Bell and was automated Top 40 with live dj's Mike & Pam Bell & Ozzy Mott played the top 40 chart songs.
The late 70's brought WINC AM to AC format and then WQUS ( formerly WRFL) 92.5 country was dropped and simulcast with WINC-AM AC.
In the Early-Mid 70's AM740 WRNR signed on in Martinsburg as a Top 40 station. WWOO Berryville 105.5 signed on in the late 70's as a top 40 station.

Good information !!!

However WINC didn't go the AM/FM route until January 1, 1982.

For a time in the early 1980's ( late 1981 until September 1983 ) other than Nearby Martinsburg's WRNR-AM and for a brief time a part time pirate radio station on FM 97 or FM 98 ( forgot the dial number ) that came from a local TV repair shop ( Cornwells TV ? ) Winchester did not have any top 40 stations at all to call its own since WWOO had gone country in 1981.

In August 1982 WHPL became WVAI while WEFG became country WUSQ Q102. Of course Q102 remains to this day but WVAI went from a big band/standards format to top 40 by the fall of 1983 and stayed that way until the fall of 1986 when they started simulcasting Q102. FM killed WVAI as by 1986 the Winchester area had TWO FM regional top 40 outlets ( Front Royal's WFQX and Martinsburg's WKMZ ) Oddly both WFQX and WKMZ went to the classic rock around the same time in the early 90s and WRNR got out of music all together around the same time as well when they went talk.
And for the next ten years the Winchester region had no top 40 outlets at all though WINC-FM was very close. Come to think of it I take that back, WFQX from 1994 until September 1995 was top 40 when they were that infamous Froggy 99 ( using jingles that WAVA used ). But their program director at the time Charlie Fish ( a woman not a man ) hated top 40 and switched WFQX to a modern rock format known as the 99.3 The Frog. That lasted a few years until classic rock came back to WFQX.

Then in 2004 Clear Channel bought Charles Town's WXVA-FM 98.3 moved the tower and studios to Winchester and changed the city of license from Charles Town to Stephens City. The calls were changed to WKSI and top 40 came back to Winchester as 98.3 Kiss-FM and its been that way ever since.

 

[jsu5381m]

Didn't WJJS Roanoake recently change from TOP 40 to rythmic? If so, did they drop AT 40 on Sundays?

 

[mleach]

In Winchester WINC 1400 AM was Top 40.in the 1960's. Joe Pasquali's morning show played the top 20. Also Roy Nester' Platter party mon-fri played top 20 and Wed night dedication night. Saturday AM was Club 1400 Area High School students did Orchids and Onions and the top 10 Hot songs.

AM 610 WHPL in the 60's was AC with country drop in's during the day. At 7PM WHPL flipped to Country with Cravin Edwards Show and Joltin Jim McCoy from 10PM- Sign off.
WHPL-AM was Hot AC and WEFG-FM 102.5 in the 70's was programmed by Mike Bell and was automated Top 40 with live dj's Mike & Pam Bell & Ozzy Mott played the top 40 chart songs.
The late 70's brought WINC AM to AC format and then WQUS ( formerly WRFL) 92.5 country was dropped and simulcast with WINC-AM AC.
In the Early-Mid 70's AM740 WRNR signed on in Martinsburg as a Top 40 station. WWOO Berryville 105.5 signed on in the late 70's as a top 40 station.

Actually Winchester's WEFG 102.5 was GOSPEL in the 70's until that station became Q102 in April 1982 when it switched formats to country.
WINC-AM may have been top 40 in the 60s but by 1977 WINC AM 1400...I don't know what I would have called them. Maybe AC, maybe Full Service. WHPL on the other hand was indeed top forty then ( 1977 ).

The other week thanks to another website I checked out two airchecks from September 1977. One featuring Mike Bell & John Scott Sloanaker ( WHPL ) and the other with Joe Pasquali and John Bloom ( WINC ). Sadly due to the other content on that site I can't post the link to it here but I did take notes on what songs aired on those two stations. when the aircheck was made..

WHPL-AM 610 9/77
*Love is Thicker Than Water-Andy Gibb
*Stayin Alive-Bee Gees
*Draw The Line-Aerosmith
*I Go Crazy-Paul Davis
*Strawberry Letter 23-Brothers Johnson
*Hot Line-Silvers
*Moonlight Feels Right-Starbuck
*Keep it Comin Love-KC and The Sunshine Band
*Dancing Queen-Abba
*Show You The Way To Go-Jacksons
*Saturday Night-Bay City Rollers
*Best of My Love-The Emotions
*Rock and Roll All Night-KISS
*Don't Leave Me this Way-Thelma Houston
*Fox On the Run-Sweet
*I'm In You-Peter Frampton
*Jet Airliner-Steve Miller
*I Wanna Get Next To You-Rose Royce

WINC-AM 1400 9/77
*Undercover Angel-Alan O'Day
*The Night Chicago Died-Paper Lace
*If You Leave Me Now-Chicago
*Morning Side of the Mountain-Donnie and Marie Osmond
*Let Em In-Wings
*You Light Up My Life-Debbie Boone
*Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes-Edison Lighthouse
*I Am Woman-Helen Reddy
*Rock N Me-Steve Miller
*Viva Las Vegas-Elvis Presley ( he had recently died )
*Best Of My Love-Emotions
*One of These Nights-Eagles
*Country Sunshine-Dottie West
*Easy Come Easy Go-Bobby Sherman
*I Like Dreaming-Kenny Nolan

WINC at the time was still doing a lot of network features like Art Linkletter's Links Little Ones, Howard Cosell's sports , ABC News and some Virginia commentary show plus WINC's John Bloom was reading the baby births too. Very weird hearing that considering that those babies whoses names was read on the air are in their 30's now !!! Joe Pasquali to me sounded a bit too much like Arthur Godfrey.

WHPL's Mike Bell was fun to listen too with his jokes and such. Mike also made some claim he had to travel to Hagerstown to see Saturday Night Fever since the film either never played Winchester or hadn't yet at the time of this aircheck. Slonaker was very good too. Too bad the aircheck didn't feature Mike's sister Pam. I heard she was a great newscaster.

I do think WHPL did go the Hot AC route once Mike Bell left WHPL in 1978 for Richmond (?) and it stayed that way until WHPL became WVAI in 1982. Interesting tidbit about WHPL. In the 90's I worked beside Gary Kirtley. He the GM at the time when WHPL became WVAI and WEFG became WUSQ Q102.
While ( of course ) Kirtley believed that switching the FM from gospel to country was a good idea. He told me that he regretted changing those calls and the format on AM 610 from WHPL to those big band sounds of WVAI. After WHPL, 610 has never really been the same with all those different formats they had over the years.

 

[jackandcoke]

In Winchester WINC 1400 AM was Top 40.in the 1960's. Joe Pasquali's morning show played the top 20. Also Roy Nester' Platter party mon-fri played top 20 and Wed night dedication night. Saturday AM was Club 1400 Area High School students did Orchids and Onions and the top 10 Hot songs.

AM 610 WHPL in the 60's was AC with country drop in's during the day. At 7PM WHPL flipped to Country with Cravin Edwards Show and Joltin Jim McCoy from 10PM- Sign off.
WHPL-AM was Hot AC and WEFG-FM 102.5 in the 70's was programmed by Mike Bell and was automated Top 40 with live dj's Mike & Pam Bell & Ozzy Mott played the top 40 chart songs.
The late 70's brought WINC AM to AC format and then WQUS ( formerly WRFL) 92.5 country was dropped and simulcast with WINC-AM AC.
In the Early-Mid 70's AM740 WRNR signed on in Martinsburg as a Top 40 station. WWOO Berryville 105.5 signed on in the late 70's as a top 40 station.

Actually Winchester's WEFG 102.5 was GOSPEL in the 70's until that station became Q102 in April 1982 when it switched formats to country.
WINC-AM may have been top 40 in the 60s but by 1977 WINC AM 1400...I don't know what I would have called them. Maybe AC, maybe Full Service. WHPL on the other hand was indeed top forty then ( 1977 ).

The other week thanks to another website I checked out two airchecks from September 1977. One featuring Mike Bell & John Scott Sloanaker ( WHPL ) and the other with Joe Pasquali and John Bloom ( WINC ). Sadly due to the other content on that site I can't post the link to it here but I did take notes on what songs aired on those two stations. when the aircheck was made..

WHPL-AM 610 9/77
*Love is Thicker Than Water-Andy Gibb
*Stayin Alive-Bee Gees
*Draw The Line-Aerosmith
*I Go Crazy-Paul Davis
*Strawberry Letter 23-Brothers Johnson
*Hot Line-Silvers
*Moonlight Feels Right-Starbuck
*Keep it Comin Love-KC and The Sunshine Band
*Dancing Queen-Abba
*Show You The Way To Go-Jacksons
*Saturday Night-Bay City Rollers
*Best of My Love-The Emotions
*Rock and Roll All Night-KISS
*Don't Leave Me this Way-Thelma Houston
*Fox On the Run-Sweet
*I'm In You-Peter Frampton
*Jet Airliner-Steve Miller
*I Wanna Get Next To You-Rose Royce

WINC-AM 1400 9/77
*Undercover Angel-Alan O'Day
*The Night Chicago Died-Paper Lace
*If You Leave Me Now-Chicago
*Morning Side of the Mountain-Donnie and Marie Osmond
*Let Em In-Wings
*You Light Up My Life-Debbie Boone
*Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes-Edison Lighthouse
*I Am Woman-Helen Reddy
*Rock N Me-Steve Miller
*Viva Las Vegas-Elvis Presley ( he had recently died )
*Best Of My Love-Emotions
*One of These Nights-Eagles
*Country Sunshine-Dottie West
*Easy Come Easy Go-Bobby Sherman
*I Like Dreaming-Kenny Nolan

WINC at the time was still doing a lot of network features like Art Linkletter's Links Little Ones, Howard Cosell's sports , ABC News and some Virginia commentary show plus WINC's John Bloom was reading the baby births too. Very weird hearing that considering that those babies whoses names was read on the air are in their 30's now !!! Joe Pasquali to me sounded a bit too much like Arthur Godfrey.

WHPL's Mike Bell was fun to listen too with his jokes and such. Mike also made some claim he had to travel to Hagerstown to see Saturday Night Fever since the film either never played Winchester or hadn't yet at the time of this aircheck. Slonaker was very good too. Too bad the aircheck didn't feature Mike's sister Pam. I heard she was a great newscaster.

I do think WHPL did go the Hot AC route once Mike Bell left WHPL in 1978 for Richmond (?) and it stayed that way until WHPL became WVAI in 1982. Interesting tidbit about WHPL. In the 90's I worked beside Gary Kirtley. He the GM at the time when WHPL became WVAI and WEFG became WUSQ Q102.
While ( of course ) Kirtley believed that switching the FM from gospel to country was a good idea. He told me that he regretted changing those calls and the format on AM 610 from WHPL to those big band sounds of WVAI. After WHPL, 610 has never really been the same with all those different formats they had over the years.

No harm intended, but let me gently disagree with your portrayal of either WHPL(AM) or WINC(AM) as "Top 40" in the sense that anyone else would recognize. During the sixties 1400/WINC ran a block-programming format typical of small-town stations of the day and within that "magazine" structure there were indeed segments for pop music. Their "Platter Party" (interestingly the same name used by Hagerstown's WARK with Traverse Ruppert & Dave Shepherd) was standard fare. "Something for the kids!" By the seventies WINC had, indeed, morphed into a decent-sounding AC with touches of what today we would call Hot AC in late afternoon (after school) and evenings (when they weren't running a ballgame). But for those of us working at that time for the Top 40 stations surrounding Winchester--WRNR, WEEO, WZYQ, WELK, WHBG--I'll attest that no one ever mistook WINC for a "Top 40."

And though the Bells would no doubt argue the point, I never recall WHPL sounding like anything more than just a jumble of stuff. I'll take your word that Mike Bell may have been able to drag it toward some sort of AC for awhile before bolting, but WHPL was always that station that other broadcasters wanted to buy because it had a potentially great signal (FULLTIME on 610!!!) but an awful audio chain... and was completely undeveloped. Completely. So clueless were the Bells that--just as FM was taking off--they sold the FM that has dominated the Winchester market for the past 20+ years. A decision that probably cost them $30 million? $40 million? $50 million?

WHPL as a Top 40? Not really.

 

[mleach]

No harm intended, but let me gently disagree with your portrayal of either WHPL(AM) or WINC(AM) as "Top 40" in the sense that anyone else would recognize. During the sixties 1400/WINC ran a block-programming format typical of small-town stations of the day and within that "magazine" structure there were indeed segments for pop music. Their "Platter Party" (interestingly the same name used by Hagerstown's WARK with Traverse Ruppert & Dave Shepherd) was standard fare. "Something for the kids!" By the seventies WINC had, indeed, morphed into a decent-sounding AC with touches of what today we would call Hot AC in late afternoon (after school) and evenings (when they weren't running a ballgame). But for those of us working at that time for the Top 40 stations surrounding Winchester--WRNR, WEEO, WZYQ, WELK, WHBG--I'll attest that no one ever mistook WINC for a "Top 40."

And though the Bells would no doubt argue the point, I never recall WHPL sounding like anything more than just a jumble of stuff. I'll take your word that Mike Bell may have been able to drag it toward some sort of AC for awhile before bolting, but WHPL was always that station that other broadcasters wanted to buy because it had a potentially great signal (FULLTIME on 610!!!) but an awful audio chain... and was completely undeveloped. Completely. So clueless were the Bells that--just as FM was taking off--they sold the FM that has dominated the Winchester market for the past 20+ years. A decision that probably cost them $30 million? $40 million? $50 million?

WHPL as a Top 40? Not really.

WHPL/WEFG was owned by a company called Shenval. I am pretty sure Shenval besides WHPL/WEFG also owned the long defunct Shenval Record Store in downtown Winchester and a small piece of Winchester's Cornwells TV Sales & Service. However I think it was someone else who ran that overall company and not the Bells even though that family did pretty much control those two radio stations. But then again I have heard that Shenval WAS Johnny Bell. I tend to believe the latter.

Your are right about WHPL being undeveloped. The aircheck I heard..good music but NO JINGLES or even sweepers. Very generic !! But then again I have heard over the years that the Bells were very much on the cheap side BUT nice people..well Pam Bell..I get to that in a bit. Meanwhile the Lewis Family ( WINC-WRFL/WQUS ) they were the reverse of the Bells, they paid quite well BUT were tough to work for though I believe that has changed within the last 10 years. For every John Bloom and Roy Nestor who have been with WINC for years and had nothing but good things to say about the Lewises, even today in Winchester its not hard to find many others like Norma Jean Shaw, Jay Young, Frank Innings, Larry Holmes, Amy Hammond and even Joe Pasquali who would beg to differ. Other than being well cheap, over the years I have never really heard anything bad about the Bells...well Pam..

Pam Bell..I met her about 15 years ago. Lets just say she is a very interesting woman !!! When I met her and was telling me how WHPL wouldn't play KISS and disco ( well the aircheck I heard proved her wrong right off the bat. ) then there was Martinsburg, WV's WKMZ-FM.

Back in the late 90's when WKMZ was still on 97.5 FM every Sunday morning they aired oldies with Max Oates. One day Max Oates and WKMZ decided to do a "tribute" on Max's show of those great music stations out of the past like 1130 WEEO, WZYQ, and WPGC ( WKMZ owner Bill Prettyman was a big shot there during PGC's top 40 years ). Airing that stations old jingles, interview the jocks and play old airchecks. Martinsburg's 74 WRNR being direct competiton to WKMZ's sister WEPM was not featured.

Not to leave Virginia out WKMZ wanted to do a show featuring a Virginia station. WINC was out mainly because the Lewises at the time wanted to buy WKMZ/WEPM only to have Bill Prettyman up the price to the point where even the Lewises said no. Lewises wanted to buy for 5 mil..Prettyman asked for 10 I believe. Anyway The Lewises went on to buy WAPP/WBPP instead.

Then it was suggested WKMZ should do a show about...WHPL !!!! After a few weeks of tracking down jocks and finding airchecks and such. It was almost a go that is until WKMZ contacted Pam Bell. Was she excited that someone will be paying tribute to her father and WHPL? Hardly !! I was told Pam BEGGED WKMZ not to do such a show. She was quite emotional about so in the end WKMZ decided not to do a "tribute" on any Virginia station.

Maybe you have something. Maybe Pam Bell is bitter at things that "could have been". The Lewises today even BEFORE Centennial, were among the richest families in Winchester. The Bells on the other hand.......