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WHPE-FM

Coordinates: 35°55′11″N 80°01′46″W / 35.9196°N 80.0295°W / 35.9196; -80.0295
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(Redirected from W253BE)

WHPE-FM
Broadcast areaPiedmont Triad
Frequency95.5 MHz
Programming
FormatChristian talk and teaching
Ownership
OwnerBible Broadcasting Network
History
First air date
November 1947 (77 years ago) (1947-11)
Call sign meaning
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID5164
ClassC1
ERP100,000 watts
HAAT159 meters (522 ft)
Translator(s)96.7 MHz W244BB (Princeton, WV)
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen live
Websitewww.bbnradio.org

WHPE-FM (95.5 MHz) is an FM radio station licensed to High Point, North Carolina, and serving the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, including Greensboro and Winston-Salem. The station broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format and is owned by the Charlotte-based Bible Broadcasting Network, which has Christian stations around the U.S. National religious leaders heard on WHPE-FM include Adrian Rogers, Chuck Swindoll, Joni Eareckson Tada and J. Vernon McGee.

WHPE-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts, the maximum for non-grandfathered FM stations. In addition, it feeds a network of FM translator stations in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

History

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WHPE-FM signed on in November 1947, months after its AM counterpart, WHPE (1070). That makes WHPE-FM one of the oldest FM stations in North Carolina. Both stations were originally owned by the High Point Enterprise daily newspaper,[2] from which the stations derived their call sign.

The newspaper sold the stations in 1953. The stations aired Christian programming in the 1960s. For a brief time in the early 1970s, they switched to Top 40 hits. The Bible Broadcasting Network acquired WHPE-AM-FM in October 1974, as the network's second station; the price was $650,000.[3]

On October 28, 1986, just before a fund-raiser, the WHPE studios were damaged by an arson fire. The AM station was later sold and now broadcasts Christian programming in Spanish as WGOS.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WHPE-FM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Raleigh-Durham FM Dial". Archived from the original on February 1, 2003. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  3. ^ "Religious Group Buys WHPE". High Point Enterprise. July 1, 1974. p. 1B. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
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35°55′11″N 80°01′46″W / 35.9196°N 80.0295°W / 35.9196; -80.0295