Officials with Ohio Midland Newsgroup announced this morning a pair of frequency flips and format changes when program director/disc jockey John “Johnny O” Wilson explained Biggie Country 100.5 will resurrect as WOMP-FM 100.5 beginning Jan. 3.
Biggie Country will transition to the 105.5 FM frequency, permanently replacing KOOL-FM. The announcement comes on the 30th anniversary of the fire that destroyed the original WOMP-FM building in 1992.
“The new owner of these radio stations, Cody Barack, said that he would like to bring WOMP FM back, so he asked me what I could do to bring it back,” explained Wilson, the longest-tenured radio personality in the Wheeling area. “I told him immediately that we do not own the call letters, but we have the brand, and WOMP is a brand in this market despite the years that have passed since it was taken off the air.
“So, I told him we could bring WOMP back the same way some owners have with brands like Froggy and Biggie,” he said. “It’s about the branding, and Cody told me to work on it and put it together, so that’s exactly what I have been doing for more than two months. I have found old liners, and I have contacted some of the former disc jockeys to give a hand, as well. I believe the folks here in the Valley are really going to enjoy it.”
The AM and FM WOMP frequencies, according to Wilson, became a reality on Rock Hill in 1959, and initially the AM side, known as “The Mighty 1290,” was more popular than 100.5 FM. That changed, however, during the 1970s and continued until a past owner decided to replace WOMP-FM with Jack FM in 2005.
Barack, though, was raised in Bellaire and was a fan of WOMP-FM, so returning the brand and format to the Upper Ohio Valley listeners makes sense.
“I believe WOMP is something that has been missed here in the Valley, and we have been receiving a lot of input from people who still live here and from those who live pretty far away as far as can WOMP FM make a comeback,” Barack said. “From those conversations, I think we have figured out how to accomplish that.”
Those Greatest Hits
Tunes by The Beatles, Blondie, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, David Bowie, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam likely will be heard as parts of the station’s new format, and a plethora of others from 1975-2000 will be included, too, according to Wilson.
“The music that will be featured on this version of WOMP FM will be all of the tunes the Valley heard when WOMP FM was at its height,” Wilson explained. “I programmed WOMP FM from 1994 to 2001, so I have a very good idea of what music we’ll be playing so the listeners will be there.
“I started working here after the fire on New Year’s Eve in 1992 that was caused by a Christmas tree,” he recalled. “That fire really did destroy a lot of things that people came to know from listening to the station and seeing the jocks out in the public. But the owners back then rebuilt, and we now have four radio stations and six frequencies operating out of these buildings.”
Barack, who also owns The River Radio Network in Steubenville that includes The River (106.3 FM) and River Talk (100.9 FM and AM 1430), has been the president of the Ohio Midland Newsgroup for more than four years. These two format changes followed the first format revamp that has taken place since the company expanded to be the largest collective group of radio, stations in the Wheeling market.
Willie-Country was changed to River Talk-Bellaire in Novemb
“I believe to be successful in radio, you need to have as much of the market share as you can, and right no have only one other competitor in this market,” Barack said. “Everything is going very well to this point, and it’s great to work on it with some of the top radio professionals from Steubenville to the Wheeling area. When you build a talented team, you are usually successful, and that’s our No. 1 goal.”
A Long, Lost Friend
Everyone has that one best friend who moved away and seldom returns.
Reunions are rare and, in some cases, do not take place for years upon years. For local music lovers and forever-fans of WOMP-FM it’s been 17 years.
But “Johnny O” officially flip the switch early Monday morning.
“I have been teasing the new format a little bit on my morning show and on social media, and so far the reaction has been very positive,” Wilson said. “Now that it’s official, I’m sure it feels for a lot of people like a lost friend came back into their lives after they moved out of town. That’s how it has been feeling for me, so that’s why I believe it’ll be the same for a lot of folks here in this Valley.
“WOMP-FM was just so popular. At one time, according to the real ratings and not just the marketing hype, half of everyone who was listening to the radio was listening to WOMP. If you think about that, it’s really incredible,” he insisted. “All of the other stations in the area tried to beat WOMP, and they all failed.”
When it comes to future marketing, Wilson believes the reborn 100.5 FM once again will have a distinct edge over competitors.
“WOMP is just a great brand because it became a word in everyone’s vocabulary in this Valley, and that’s not common at all in the radio business,” Wilson said. “But when you have that, it makes the marketing even better. But WOMP was the most popular back then for more reasons than the call letters.
“We were out in the community every single day on the AM and FM sides, so we were very visible for everyone to see,” he recalled. “Our news reporters worked hard and broke a lot of stories on the AM side;, the FM side had interviews with all of the bands that came into the Wheeling area, and we had the best music, too. It was the golden era and I’m very excited to be bringing it back.”
Cindy Taylor Chesson, general manager of The River Network’s six radio stations and nine frequencies in the Steubenville and Wheeling markets, is very much looking forward to the upcoming reunion.
“Not only am I speaking from the viewpoint of the current GM but also as a former program director, promotions director, and on-air personality of WOMP,” Taylor Chesson said. “So many listeners used to have a deep, personal connection to WOMP FM, and it’s that kind of one-on-one relationship that is not thriving in the Valley right now with many of the radio properties.
“This is not a ‘new or current’ format, but instead we’re bringing back the songs many of us grew us with that were hits from 1975 to 2000,” she continued. “The hit songs coming out today are not easily relatable to the majority of the population of the Upper Ohio Valley, so the time for WOMP FM to return is now.”
I have listened to 105.5 for many years I will give WOMP a try I Love COOL Music and if WOMP is the same I will stay if not who knows