WRPO-LP
WRPO-LP "Indian Lake's Greatest Hits" is an American non-commercial and educational low-power FM community radio station at 93.5 mHz licensed to the Ohio village of Russells Point which up until early 2008 aired a Big Band and Adult Standards format. The station then aired a smooth jazz format from that point until May 9, 2009 when it switched to an oldies format. Its studios and transmitter are both located in the city of license and serves the communities of Russells Point, Lakeview, the perimeter of Indian Lake State Park, and surrounding portions of west-central Ohio.
WRPO-LP is simulcast on WOHP-LP at 101.3 mHz in Huntsville. Each station is owned and operated by their respective communities and was managed by its founder Francis "Gene" Kirby under the umbrella of Gray Fox Broadcasting. The Gray Fox branding is still used today as per usual in addition to the on-air studio named after Mr. Kirby.
Brief history
WRPO-LP, originally nicknamed "The Point," was founded in 2002 and commenced broadcasting on Memorial Day May 27 of that year. Its transmitter power is 100 watts ERP. Robbie Robinson and station manager Gene Kirby were just a few of the station's air personalities who are all volunteers.Its studios and offices are located in the Russells Point Village Municipal Building at 1013 South Orchard Island Drive.
WRPO's former big band format was a tribute to the live performance venue of the now long gone Sandy Beach Amusement Park which was frequented by many of the popular orchestras and singers of that era...many of which were broadcast live nationwide on network radio.
WRPO is owned by the Village of Russells Point and was programmed and managed by Gene Kirby, who early-on in his career began broadcasting as a teenager using a low-powered AM band "Oscillator" from his home in New Dover. After graduating from Marysville High School in 1950, he served for nearly ten years in the Air Force, was the evening on-air personality at the former WRFD-FM in addition to WDLR located to the north in Delaware. Kirby also served as a Union County Sheriff's Deputy, and started up, owned and operated WMHO, a Part 15 micropower AM broadcaster at 1620 kHz in Marysville that initially aired a classic country format but has since employed a similar oldies format, as well as have programmed WDEQ-FM, 91.7mHz in DeGraff on behalf of its owner, the Riverside Board of Education until 2010. Kirby also served from 2011 to 2013 as operations manager of WQTT in Marysville which moved back to its original city of license in 2010. WQTT is now owned by Delmar Communications.
Kevin Fodor is president of Gray Fox Broadcasting.
Dale Madison is General Manager and program director.
WRPO callsign history
in Brockport, New York from 1999 until 2000 which is now WKDL, a repeater of K-Love.Programming
WRPO-LP now airs an Oldies/Classic Hits format, playing the best music of the 1950s-1980's after a previous one-year run as a smooth jazz station. The switch to oldies, coupled with more professional on-air production values and audio imaging has produced a much more positive feedback from local listeners compared to its previous jazz format and has resulted in increased support by listener contributions and underwriting by local businesses. The station runs local newscasts five times weekdays...current weather and "Civic Announcements" hourly.Weekday programs
World and National News airs several times daily from the USA Radio Network followed by severallocal news segments during the morning hours at five minutes past the hour and at 12:05 in the afternoon in addition to community news segments and the Indian Lake Local Schools daily lunch menus.
Local programs on Saturday
Blues On The Lake -A one-hour program produced and hosted by WRPO volunteer Jim Matthews from 8-9 am airing a mix of traditional delta blues, vintage R&B, rockabilly, soul music and blues-fusion rock.The Classic Country Revue- Two hours of classic country music from 9-11am. This show made its debut on May 30, 2020 which replaces The Look Back Show -co-hosted by Dale Madison and station manager Gene Kirby from 9-11am playing classic hits from a particular year with a look back at the news events that happened from that same year.
The Saturday Morning Show a half-hour talk/information program with local and area guests was anchored by Robbie Robinson and station manager Gene Kirby which aired on Saturday mornings from Memorial Day 2002 until October 5, 2013. Robbie also produced and anchored "Not-so News" a light hearted tongue in-cheek perspective of local events with a humorous homespun flavor. The newscast supposedly aired from the fictitious "25th Floor Newsroom" of the TIC News Network whose motto was: "We're not always accurate...but we ARE first!" but was actually recorded from his home.
Health concerns however prompted Robinson to take leave of his Saturday morning programs in the spring of 2014. Aside from Gene Kirby himself, Robinson was the first on-air personality and assisted Gene Kirby and tower installer Dave Price in 2002 in the construction of WRPO.
Robinson died on Sunday August 17, 2014, at a nursing facility in his hometown of Marysville. His funeral was on August 22, 2014 at Christian Assembly Church in Marysville and is interred at Oakdale Cemetery.
Kirby died on Saturday May 30, 2020 at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus after a year of declining health. His funeral was on Wednesday June 3, 2020 as a graveside service with military honors at Mount Herman Cemetery near the rural community of New Dover outside of Marysville. His surviving family suggests monetary donations to the radio station he founded and the Union County Humane Society in Marysville.
The WRPO on-air studio and production studio has been re-christened The Gray Fox Studios in honor of Kirby's memory.
Cruising With Heather-hosted by Heather Johnston Vanvoorhis, a live program featuring a mix of oldies and classic hits from the 1960s through the 1980s, plus interviews with live guests which airs from 11am until 12 noon on Saturdays. This program premiered in 2016 which replaced:
The Famous Old Time Music Show - a live one-hour program of traditional bluegrass, Americana and classic country music hosted by Larry Roose from 2009 until 2016 which aired from 11am-12 noon on behalf of fellow bluegrass musician Vernon McIntyre, the owner of The originally located in St. Johns east of Wapakoneta.
Roose hosted the show until the summer of 2016 when he retired.
"F.O.T.M.C" is now an online business.
Sunday programs
Sunday Morning At The Top of The Charts Two hours of the best in New Country- hosted and locally produced by Jason Roberts...6-8am.Sunday Morning With The Beatles Locally produced and hosted by Jason Roberts from 10am until 12 noon.
Syndicated programs
- Saturdays 12-noon-2pm- A one hour tribute program dedicated to the history of the Fab Four, produced and hosted by former WSAI on-air personality Casey Piotrowski- Saturday afternoons 2-3pm.
-an Elvis Presley tribute show Saturday evenings 6-8pm
-Sunday evenings 7-9pm
-Saturday evenings 8-11pm and Sunday evenings 9pm-12 midnight.
-a two hour program spotlighting Americana music hosted and produced by "Long John" at KPHT-LP in Laytonville, California. Saturday afternoons 4-6pm.
'''-a 36-hour marathon of holiday music produced and hosted by former WSAI radio personality Dusty Rhodes and is broadcast yearly on Christmas Eve and all day Christmas Day on WRPO/WOHP in addition to oldies-formatted stations nationwide.
Community support and facilities
WRPO's oldies format has been on since the spring of 2009, garnering great support from the individuals and businesses in the Indian Lake Resort Region. With their support, the station has upgraded to an on-air digital audio processor, and as of October 2011 had upgraded the quality of the music on-air to the highest quality mp-3 sound possible.The station's music comes from the 1950s to the 1980s. Or, to quote one of the station ID's, "From The Start Of Rock And Roll...To The Start Of M-TV!" The music is carefully selected by the station's Production Manager, Kevin Fodor
Previous formats: (2002-2008)
According to its current website as of February 22, 2008, the station announced a switchover from Big Band and Adult Standards to a smooth jazz format. "The Best of Old Time Radio" featuring vintage episodes of Fibber McGee and Molly, The Green Hornet, Lum and Abner, The Great Gildersleeve, Gunsmoke among others were also aired to coincide with its earlier formats.The format switch to smooth jazz took place on Saturday March 8, 2008. Overnight programming also included oldies from 12 midnight until early morning. The format switch was also reflected in its website which was upgraded on April 8, 2008.
From February until May 2009, the overnight oldies were replaced by "Music 'Till Dawn" a mix of beautiful music and big band prior to its switch to a full-time oldies format.
Oldies
A survey of local listeners took place in March and April 2009 by the local low-power station which helped determine the switch to Oldies on Saturday May 9, 2009 at 11am local time.In February 2012, a second studio used for audio production and live programs was constructed.
WRPO celebrated its tenth anniversary on the air during Memorial Day weekend of 2012. Leading up to this event, Ken Deutsch, a broadcaster and journalist from Toledo wrote an article about low-power FM radio detailing WRPO's community involvement and hometown flavor for , a trade publication published on April 24 of 2012
Other programs
Other local programs include:The Outdoor Rundown Show with Jim Dugan. Weekday mornings at 5;07 am, 7:07 am and Saturday mornings at 7:07 am.
Indian Lake Community Civic Announcements- a programming segment with Jason Roberts, aired daily during regular programming prior to underwriter announcements and/or local weather forecast.
The Wayback Machine- an "on this day in rock and roll history" segment with Jim Matthews. Weekday mornings at 6:30 and 8:30 am.
Wayback Weekends- all 1960s and 1970s classic hits all weekend long.
Gene Kirby-also produced and hosted a Saturday morning Big Band program for several years on WSWO-LP, an oldies station in Huber Heights on Saturday mornings when WRPO had the big band format.
Partner station WOHP-LP
On January 14, 2014, a construction permit was granted by the FCC for WOHP-LP 101.3 mHz in Huntsville. The Village of Huntsville is the station's licensee and Gray Fox Broadcasting also manages this station as a repeater of WRPO-LP. The new low-power FM made its on-air debut at 9:00 am local time on August 23 of 2014 to serve the communities of Huntsville and Bellefontaine.WOHP's transmitting tower was installed with transmitting antennas on June 14, 2014. On July 1, 2014, on-air testing began. A netlink was installed on August 9, 2014 to relay audio from the WRPO studios to the WOHP tower, hence WOHP is a simulcast of WRPO's programming.