
WPYA
Encyclopedia
WNOB is an Adult Hits
formatted broadcast
radio station
licensed to Chesapeake, Virginia
, serving Hampton Roads
. WNOB is owned and operated by Sinclair Telecable, Inc.
Its community of license is Chesapeake, Virginia
and studios are in Norfolk, Virginia
. Its transmitter is located on Route 168 in Moyock, North Carolina
, just south of the Virginia
/North Carolina
state line.
, playing an album rock format. The late Henry "The Bull" Del Toro, later a popular morning jock at WNOR-FM, got his on air start at WMYK in the late 70s.
In 1983, WMYK's "K-94" format would switch to new wave/modern rock, quickly losing listeners to Norfolk's WNOR. The station changed its formatting again in January 1984 to urban contemporary, "K-94 The Rhythm of the City", due to the low ratings of the previous format. By the late 80s, WMYK went by the nickname "Power 94", going head-to-head with another local station, WOWI
. What distinguished WMYK from WOWI was their musical direction, which included Pop and Dance crossovers, which WOWI avoided at the time..
On June 21, 1991, the station call-sign changed to WKOC, "The Coast" and its formatting to album alternative. In the early 90s, WKOC began simulcasting on then WKOD (now WXEZ) 94.1. In May 1996, WKOC briefly became K-94 again with a hard rock format before switching back to "The Coast" and adult album alternative music.
"The Coast" would last until December 5, 2003, when WKOC was flipped to country
formatted WKCK-FM in response to the format flip two days earlier of heritage country station WCMS (now WVHT). The change was short-lived and in September 2004, the low rated country format was swapped with sister station 106.1 (then WPYA). The formatting change included a nickname change to "Bob FM" and a focus on an adult hits format. Many market observers blame the failure of the country format on 93.7 on the decision to run the syndicated "John Boy & Billy Show
" in morning drive. Longtime WCMS-FM morning man Joe Hoppel, who was hired by WKCK-FM after WCMS-FM changed format, was put in middays instead. Hoppel has since retired. The "Kick FM" format at sister station 106.1 was removed just five months later in February 2005, but the country format returned to 106.1 on December 14, 2008 as WUSH, "US106, America's Country".
On October 3, 2008, the station announced it had cancelled the long-running "Sunrise on Sunday" show, which featured an eclectic blend of acoustic music, which had started on the station during its AAA format days as "The Coast" and brought back after the station's flip to "Bob-FM". The show, hosted by Hunter Hughes, which ran Sunday mornings from 6A to 10A , will be replaced by a "re-tooled" version of the show, which will be hosted by Holly Williams, and focus more on popular mainstream soft rock artists, and will now run Sunday mornings from 7a to 9a.
On September 17, 2009, the station changed its call sign to WNOB-FM.
Adult hits
Adult hits is a radio format, popular in the early 2000s, that does not adhere to a specific music genre, but instead draws from a wider playlist...
formatted broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
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...
licensed to Chesapeake, Virginia
Chesapeake, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 199,184 people, 69,900 households, and 54,172 families residing in the city. The population density was 584.6 people per square mile . There were 72,672 housing units at an average density of 213.3 per square mile...
, serving Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
. WNOB is owned and operated by Sinclair Telecable, Inc.
Its community of license is Chesapeake, Virginia
Chesapeake, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 199,184 people, 69,900 households, and 54,172 families residing in the city. The population density was 584.6 people per square mile . There were 72,672 housing units at an average density of 213.3 per square mile...
and studios are in Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
. Its transmitter is located on Route 168 in Moyock, North Carolina
Moyock, North Carolina
-Geography:It is located on NC 168 just south of the Virginia state line. The community sits at the end of the Chesapeake Expressway toll road, and is only a short drive from downtown Norfolk, Virginia. Because of this, Moyock has begun to witness an increase in residential development as an...
, just south of the Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
/North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
state line.
History
WNOB began broadcasting in 1974 under the callsign WMYK, a nod to the then community of license Moyock, North CarolinaMoyock, North Carolina
-Geography:It is located on NC 168 just south of the Virginia state line. The community sits at the end of the Chesapeake Expressway toll road, and is only a short drive from downtown Norfolk, Virginia. Because of this, Moyock has begun to witness an increase in residential development as an...
, playing an album rock format. The late Henry "The Bull" Del Toro, later a popular morning jock at WNOR-FM, got his on air start at WMYK in the late 70s.
In 1983, WMYK's "K-94" format would switch to new wave/modern rock, quickly losing listeners to Norfolk's WNOR. The station changed its formatting again in January 1984 to urban contemporary, "K-94 The Rhythm of the City", due to the low ratings of the previous format. By the late 80s, WMYK went by the nickname "Power 94", going head-to-head with another local station, WOWI
WOWI
WOWI is a Mainstream Urban formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, serving Hampton Roads. WOWI is owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications.-External links:*...
. What distinguished WMYK from WOWI was their musical direction, which included Pop and Dance crossovers, which WOWI avoided at the time..
On June 21, 1991, the station call-sign changed to WKOC, "The Coast" and its formatting to album alternative. In the early 90s, WKOC began simulcasting on then WKOD (now WXEZ) 94.1. In May 1996, WKOC briefly became K-94 again with a hard rock format before switching back to "The Coast" and adult album alternative music.
"The Coast" would last until December 5, 2003, when WKOC was flipped to country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
formatted WKCK-FM in response to the format flip two days earlier of heritage country station WCMS (now WVHT). The change was short-lived and in September 2004, the low rated country format was swapped with sister station 106.1 (then WPYA). The formatting change included a nickname change to "Bob FM" and a focus on an adult hits format. Many market observers blame the failure of the country format on 93.7 on the decision to run the syndicated "John Boy & Billy Show
John Boy and Billy
John Isley and Billy James, known as John Boy & Billy, named after "John-Boy Harris and brother Bross Harris", are American radio hosts based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their comedic morning program The John Boy & Billy Big Show broadcasts from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m...
" in morning drive. Longtime WCMS-FM morning man Joe Hoppel, who was hired by WKCK-FM after WCMS-FM changed format, was put in middays instead. Hoppel has since retired. The "Kick FM" format at sister station 106.1 was removed just five months later in February 2005, but the country format returned to 106.1 on December 14, 2008 as WUSH, "US106, America's Country".
On October 3, 2008, the station announced it had cancelled the long-running "Sunrise on Sunday" show, which featured an eclectic blend of acoustic music, which had started on the station during its AAA format days as "The Coast" and brought back after the station's flip to "Bob-FM". The show, hosted by Hunter Hughes, which ran Sunday mornings from 6A to 10A , will be replaced by a "re-tooled" version of the show, which will be hosted by Holly Williams, and focus more on popular mainstream soft rock artists, and will now run Sunday mornings from 7a to 9a.
On September 17, 2009, the station changed its call sign to WNOB-FM.