WHKP RADIO will celebrate their 80th Anniversary with an OPEN HOUSE for the public this Friday, October 23rd.
The Open House will be conducted at the company's BROADCAST HOUSE at 1450 7th Avenue East, across from Lowe's.
A Ribbon Cutting celebrating this occasion will be conducted at 11 am by the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce. Immediately following, the station's facility will be open for tours until 3 PM.
Staff members along with radio personalities will be present to welcome the public and a variety of refreshments will be offered. Loccal musician Ben Leslie will be entertaining during this time and the WHKP Radio Museum featuring radio sets of the past will be on full display.
WHKP was the first radio signal to be headquartered in Hendersonville, formed by a local group in 1946, headed by attorney Monroe Redden. Over the years other prominent leaders and owners of the station included Beverly "Bevo" Middleton along with Kermit Edney and now by Art Cooley and his family
The station was assigned the frequency of 1450 AM by the Federal Communications Commission to begin their broadcasts on October 24th 1946. In 1957, the station was authorized to broadcast on FM with 7800 watts of power. In the late 1970's. the station applied for and was awarded the highest power an FM station can have at 100,000 watts and was re-named, WKIT. After a number of successful years broadcasting, the station was sold to a Greenville SC company and is now operating as 102.5 "The Lake".
WHKP has also owned radio stations in Canton, Brevard and Tryon.
