‘Johnny O’ Resurrects WOMP FM’s Greatest Hits

He was in his late 20s when he started as a disc jockey on the 100.5 FM frequency, but only after working outside the Wheeling area for a few years because John Wilson was told he wasn’t WOMP material.

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“When I felt I was ready, I tried to get a job here, but I was told I wasn’t good enough by the program director at the time,” Wilson recalled while being a guest on River Talk-Wheeling 100.1 FM. “So, I went off and got jobs in other markets, and after a few years I came back to WOMP, and I was hired on the spot. My Dad was so proud of me when I was in charge of WOMP FM, and I bet he is again.”

That’s because during the past week it was Wilson who resurrected the station’s “Greatest Hits” format after it was silenced for the past 18 years.

The reaction from local listeners?

“The first week was fantastic, and we have quadrupled our audience on the Facebook page,” Wilson said. “The on-air audience response has been fantastic, and the memories that people have shared really have been overwhelming. I have heard from so many people that the comeback of WOMP FM has allowed a lot of people to relive their youth.

“I have to say that it makes you feel good when you see that you are impacting someone in such a positive way. You may just be a piece of their day, but it’s pretty cool to know you helped make a small part of it special,” he said. “I was in my 20s when I was on WOMP FM, and it’s had the same impact on me, too.”

Music Memories

Wilson believes certain songs produce frozen moments of time for music lovers whether it involves a first date, a family gathering, or a front-page headline. 

And it is likely those memory makers are taking place all over again now that the hits from the final 25 years of the 20^th Century are airborne once again. 

“When I hear a lot of these songs playing on the air, it makes me remember exactly where I was when I was with that station back then. Some tunes make me remember what was going on in the world when that particular song was at its most popular,” Wilson insisted. “There are certain songs that make me remember when the Nailers first came to town, and they were known as the Thunderbirds back in 1992, and that’s because the thing with music is that when you hear it, the songs put you back where you were when you last heard it.

“A lot of people have been sending us pictures of their radios in their vehicles because when WOMP FM was most popular, we did have car radios that displayed what station was playing,” he explained. “I’ve received calls from people from all over this region that simply found us on the car’s radio scan and figured out that the legend was back. It’s been a very good week.”

Some listeners, though, seem to forget some of the songs WOMP FM played during those years, and that includes one tune from the soundtrack of the movie, “Cocktail,” a 1988 film starring Tom Cruise and Elisabeth Shue.

“When the decision was made to bring back WOMP FM, the owner (Cody Barack) asked me what we should do about the format. Do we make it a Top 40 station? Do we make a new station with a completely different format? My answer to him was that we needed to stop WOMP in time,” Wilson explained. “It’s like it was frozen for 18 years, and we thawed it out so it’s no longer dormant. WOMP FM has been resurrected.

“We brought back the music from three decades, and we’re including everything that WOMP FM played during the 1970s and until 2000,” he continued. “And that includes the song ‘Kokomo’ by The Beach Boys. I know that was debated on Facebook during the week, and yeah, WOMP did play ‘Kokomo’.”

Some In, Some Out

It was in 1959 when WOMP-FM was officially born, but at that time AM frequencies were far more popular because those were the stations people knew out of daily habit.

Since the decision was made a couple of months to resuscitate the legendary radio station, BIGGIE FM moved to 105.5 FM, the former home of KOOL FM, and River Talk-Wheeling replaced Willie-Country on AM 1290 and 100.1 FM. 

At the same time, Wilson spent a lot of time locating many of the former WOMP disc jockeys who used to interact with listeners during remote shows at car dealerships and community dances to see if they wished to be involved with the revival.

“I wanted as many of them involved as possible, and many of the old jocks have done some recordings, and others, for whatever reasons, didn’t want to be a part of it,” he reported. “All I know is that when I was a teenager, my dream was to work at WOMP FM, and I knew a lot about the business already because my father, ‘Happy Jack’ as he was known, was in this business until the day he died in 2003. 

“If there are people in the Valley who are disappointed that KOOL FM went away, they should look at it the way I do because I loved KOOL, too,” Wilson added. “I just feel KOOL is now living through WOMP FM because there are a lot of the same songs included in both formats.”