WZPW

WZPW
City Peoria, Illinois
Broadcast area Peoria, Illinois
Branding Peoria's 92.3
Slogan Today's Hottest Music
Frequency 92.3 MHz
First air date October 17, 1990 (as WBGE)
Format Rhythmic contemporary
ERP 19,200 watts
HAAT 114 meters
Class B1
Facility ID 3464
Callsign meaning W Z PoWer (former branding)
Former callsigns WBGE (1990-2000)
Owner Cumulus Media
(Radio License Holding CBC, LLC)
Sister stations WFYR, WGLO, WIXO, WVEL
Webcast Listen Live
Website Peoria's 92.3

WZPW (92.3 FM, "Peoria's 92.3") is a radio station in Central Illinois with a rhythmic contemporary music format, licensed to Peoria, Illinois and broadcasting at 92.3 MHz with an Effective radiated power (ERP) of 19,200 watts. The station is owned by Cumulus Media, which purchased the station from Townsquare Media.[1]

History

WZPW originally signed on the air in October 1990 as Urban Contemporary WBGE (B-92), but by the end of the decade they would start incorporating Rhythmic pop, shifting the station's format direction. WBGE was sold in early 2000 to become what was the first of two radio stations for AAA Entertainment in the Peoria market. It spent less than a year as an Urban AC station known as "Cool 92" before flipping to CHR/Rhythmic in the fall of 2000 as POWER 92. The call letters were changed to WZPW.

In 2001 WZPW began expanding its format into the Bloomington area, where they were heard on WRPW. In early 2002, WZPW upgraded its signal to 19,200 watts and moved to a new tower near Kickapoo, Illinois. By 2006, WZPW and WRPW stopped simulcasting after AAA sold WZPW to Regent Broadcasting (the predecessor to Townsquare Media). AAA kept WRPW, however, later selling it and its sister properties in Bloomington, Illinois to Great Plains Media. In September 2007, the Rhythmic format on WRPW ceased to exist as Great Plains Media relaunched the radio station with an FM Talk format as "Cities 92-9," leaving WZPW as the only surviving part of the previously-successful simulcast.

The station currently broadcasts Radio Data System information, identifying on-screen as "Today's Hottest Music, POWER 92-3" and also identifying the title and artist of the currently playing song. The station in recent years has faced competition from mainstream CHR stations WDQX and, ironically, WZPW's former sister station WPIA.

On January 1st, 2015, WZPW rebranded as "Peoria's 92.3" in its attempt to reassert itself as the home for Peoria's hottest hits, ending a 15-year run as "Power 92.3".

References

  1. ↑ "Cumulus, Townsquare Swap Involves 65 Stations, 13 Markets, $116 Million Cash" from All Access (April 30, 2012)

Coordinates: 40°47′10″N 89°47′01″W / 40.7861°N 89.7837°W / 40.7861; -89.7837

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