Technical Profile: WPMO

AM Technical Profile: WPMO

Frequency:: 1580
Format:: Talk, Sports
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] [street view - studio] Approximately 1/2 mile north on Telephone Road (MS-613) from US 90, to the west, just past Criswell Avenue.
Power (ERP):: Day: 5 kW
Day: 1.5 kW (CP); Night: 51 watts
Night: 115 watts (CP)
Antenna:: Day: 2 towers [pattern - PDF]; Night: 2 towers [pattern - PDF]
Nondirectional (CP)
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files
[FCC]
[FCCdata.org]
[FCCInfo]; [Radio-Locator]
[Facebook]; [Wikipedia]; Owned by Tri City Radio, LLC
History:: 1580 originated as WPMP (Pascagoula-Moss Point) in the 50's. A daytimer, it's format was mostly locally oriented towards Jackson County: country at times, easy listening at others. In the 60's, it gave birth to WPMP FM 99.1, and later changed to WPMO (Pascagoula-Moss point-Ocean Springs) At one point acquired a permit to add night power with a 4 or 5 tower array but never went through with it. They later got the small amount of night service listed here. The more successful FM spun off the AM to Judah Broadcasting (Kevin Grady) in 1992. With the sale came a flip to religious programming. The calls changed to WZZJ.; In June of 2005 the station was sold and the calls changed back to WPMP. The format flipped to talk and two shows from the statewide Supertalk Mississippi network were added to the lineup, with the rest coming from USA Radio, who employed the owner of the station during this era.; In April 2011 the calls returned to WPMO for the second time. The station is also simulcasting with WVGG in Lucedale. That station is just a daytimer, and while it still has studios at the WRBE FM station in Lucedale, they're rarely used. In the summer of 2011 the station picked up some weekend programming for just five weekends from Yahoo! Sports Radio on a trial basis and ever since it's been listed as an affiliate on their website. In the summer of 2013 the station's license was transferred from JDL Corporation to Tri City Radio, LLC. JDL still owns WRBE and WVGG in Lucedale, but there's a 12 year LMA deal with Tri City Radio for WVGG. Together, the stations were marketed as "TalkRadio 1580 & 1440". Some time after Tri City Radio acquired AM 1000 WDXZ in Robertsdale, Alabama, they appear to have begun simulcasting all sports talk on WPMO and WDXZ and a sister station in Fort Walton Beach, all going by "The Game". It's been reported in January 2016 that WVGG is no longer part of the simulcast. In late May 2016 the station acquired a translator from the AM revitalization plan, and will be moving in W279CG from Santa Rosa Beach, Florida to Pascagoula, where it will camp out on 96.9 MHz if approved by the FCC.

The station was reported off the air in November 2021.

In March 2023, the station was granted a permit to lower power to 1.5 kW daytime, while increasing nighttime power to 115 watts. The station will drop its directional antenna system and presumably take down one of the two existing towers in the process.