WEEP (Minnesota)
{{for|the Pittsburgh radio station at 1080 AM formerly known as WEEP|WWNL}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name = WEEP
| logo =
| city = Virginia, Minnesota
| country = US
| area =
| branding =
| airdate = {{start date|1936|10|12}}
| last_airdate = {{end date|2002|11}}
| frequency = 1400 kHz
| format =
| power = 1,000 watts (unlimited)
| class = C
| facility_id = 70307
| coordinates = {{coord|47|30|32.7|N|92|32|31.7|W|type:landmark_region:US-MN|display=inline,title}}
| callsign_meaning =
| former_callsigns = WHLB (1936–2001)
| owner = Full Armor Ministries, Inc.
| licensee =
| sister_stations =
| webcast =
| website =
| affiliations =
}}
WEEP (1400 AM) was a radio station licensed to serve Virginia, Minnesota. The station was last owned by Full Armor Ministries, Inc.
The station went on the air in 1936 as WHLB as part of Morgan Murphy's group of radio stations, and was owned by the Befera family from 1958 until 2001. It was then purchased by Full Armor Ministries, who programmed a religious radio format on the renamed WEEP until a transmitter fire took the station silent in 2002. Despite an attempt to sell the station to the city of Virginia, the WEEP license was not renewed before its expiration on April 1, 2005.
History
The station began broadcasting on October 12, 1936,{{cite book|title=Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2007|year=2007|page=D-289}} as WHLB, with a power of 250 watts.{{cite news |work=Mesabi Daily News |title=Voice of Virginia: WHLB, Hushed for years, soon it will be silenced forever |url=https://www.mesabitribune.com/news/voice-of-virginia/article_e015d016-3254-58be-a341-a90fcd1e8aba.html |date=2008-04-12 |first=Angie |last=Riebe}} It was the ninth oldest station in Minnesota. WHLB, owned by Head of the Lakes Broadcasting, was part of the regional Arrowhead Network, along with WEBC in Duluth and WMFG in Hibbing;{{cite news |title=Minnesota Gets 2 New Stations, Regional Net |work=Broadcasting–Broadcast Advertising |date=October 1, 1936 |page=58}} all three stations were principally owned by Morgan Murphy, publisher of the Superior Telegram in Wisconsin.{{cite news |title=Newspaper Groups Expanding Activities in Broadcast Field |work=Broadcasting–Broadcast Advertising |date=October 15, 1936}} Initially an independent station, WHLB joined the CBS Radio Network, along with WMFG, on October 31, 1937; advertising was sold in conjunction with KDAL, Duluth's CBS affiliate.{{cite news |title=CBS in Minnnesota |work=Broadcasting–Broadcast Advertising |date=November 15, 1937}} The station would join the NBC Radio Network, along with WMFG, on January 1, 1942;{{cite news |title=WKBH Joins NBC |work=Broadcasting–Broadcast Advertising |date=December 29, 1941 |page=42}} advertising could be purchased in a package with WEBC.{{cite news |title=Two Minnesota Outlets Formally Join Networks |work=Broadcasting–Broadcast Advertising |date=January 12, 1941 |page=22}} Both stations carried programming from both NBC networks: Red and Blue.
The station, along with WMFG in Hibbing, was purchased for $169,000 in 1958 by Harold J. Praise, the stations' general manager, and Frank P. Befera,{{cite news |title=Two Minnesota Ams Sold |work=Broadcasting |date=July 28, 1958 |page=9}} a pioneer in Minnesota broadcasting.{{cite news |work=Frank P. Befera |title=Obituary: Frank P. Befera |date=2004-11-21 |page=Frank P. Befera |quote=As a pioneer in Minnesota Broadcasting, [...] until 1949 when he entered commercial broadcasting as an engineer at WMFG Radio in Hibbing. He bought the radio station two years later along with WHLB in Virginia and built three more FM stations, including KUSZ Radio in Duluth.}}{{cite news |work=Minneapolis Star Tribune |title=Frank Befera, 82; was Duluth TV station pioneer |date=2004-11-23 |quote=A childhood interest in crystal and ham radios helped lead Befera to first work for, and then purchase, WMFG radio in Hibbing. He also bought WHLB radio in Virginia.}} Ownership of WHLB and WHLB-FM 107.1 (which signed on in 1971) would pass to Befera's son Frank in 1985. The station remained in the Befera family (doing business as Virginia Broadcasting Company) until it was sold to Full Armor Ministries of Eveleth, Minnesota in 2001, for a reported sale price of $52,000; Virginia Broadcasting retained WUSZ, the former WHLB-FM.{{cite news |work=Broadcasting & Cable |title=Changing Hands: AMs |date=2001-01-15 |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA58494.html}} Ahead of the sale, WHLB went off the air on October 1, 2000. The sale gained Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval on February 13, 2001;{{cite web |work=REC Historical CDBS Search Tool |url=https://cdbs.recnet.com/app_det/?Application_id=545196 |title=Application Search Details #545196 |access-date=2015-02-14}} on March 7, the station was assigned the WEEP call letters.{{cite web |title=Call Sign History |url=https://cdbs.recnet.com/call_hist/?Facility_id=70307&Callsign=DWEEP |work=REC Historical CDBS Search Tool}} The new owners programmed WEEP with Christian music.
WEEP went silent following a transmitter fire in November 2002;{{cite news |title=Broadcasting News-December 2002 |url=https://www.northpine.com/broadcast/archive/news1202.html |access-date=February 14, 2025 |work=Upper Midwest Broadcasting}} Full Armor, which did not have the money to put the station back on the air,{{cite news |date=2008-01-04 |url=http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0102/t.10499.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201231430/http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0102/t.10499.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 1, 2013 |work=Radio World |title=You Must Not WEEP, Virginia}} then put it up for sale. The tower, lacking basic maintenance, was described as "rusting away" during an August 2005 visit by radio journalist Scott Fybush.{{cite web |work=Fybush.com - Tower Site of the Week |title=Towers from the North Country: The Big Trip, 2005 Part III: Up to International Falls via Eveleth, then down to St. Paul via Hibbing |first=Scott |last=Fybush |url=http://www.fybush.com/sites/2006/site-060224.html |date=2006-02-24}}
Efforts to sell the station to the city of Virginia were complicated and ultimately thwarted by licensee Full Armor Ministries' failure to file a timely license renewal. A renewal application was not filed by December 1, 2004; the license expired on April 1, 2005, and was canceled on June 27, 2006.{{cite web |work=FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database |url=https://cdbs.recnet.com/sta_det/?Facility_id=70307 |title=Station Search Details |access-date=2025-02-14}} In January 2008, the FCC denied a petition for reconsideration from the (now former) licensee and the city.{{cite web |work=FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database |title=Application Search Details #1142887 |date=2008-01-03 |url=https://cdbs.recnet.com/app_det/?Application_id=1142887 |access-date=2025-02-14}}
In 2008, the city of Virginia gave permission to a local firm to dismantle the former studio building and radio tower. The building was moved and the tower taken down. Today, only a small grove of trees marks the area where the radio station was located. The city hoped that the site would eventually be used for future economic endeavors.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/publicFacilityDetails.html?facilityId=70307 Facility details for Facility ID 70307 (WEEP)] in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- [https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=60411 FCC History Cards for WEEP] (covering 1935-1980 as WHLB)
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{{Iron Range radio}}
Category:Defunct religious radio stations in the United States
Category:Radio stations in Minnesota
Category:Defunct radio stations in the United States
Category:Radio stations disestablished in 2006
Category:2006 disestablishments in Minnesota
Category:Radio stations established in 1936
Category:1936 establishments in Minnesota
Category:Defunct mass media in Minnesota
{{Minnesota-radio-station-stub}}