WHOP-FM

{{for|the AM radio station in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, United States|WHOP (AM)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}

{{Infobox radio station

| name = WHOP-FM

| logo = WHOP Lite98.7 logo.png

| logo_size = 200px

| city = Hopkinsville, Kentucky

| area = Clarksville, Tennessee

| branding = Lite Rock 98.7

| frequency = 98.7 MHz {{HD Radio}}

| translator = {{Radio Relay|95.3|W237BV|Hopkinsville|HD2}}

| airdate = {{start date and age|1948|05}}

| last_airdate =

| format = Adult contemporary

| subchannels = {{ubl|HD2: Country "95.3 The Farm"|HD3: News–talk (WHOP simulcast)}}

| language =

| erp = 100,000 watts

| haat = {{convert|189.1|m}}

| class = C1

| licensing_authority = FCC

| facility_id = 27633

| coordinates = {{coord|36|55|41|N|87|32|50|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|display=inline, title}}

| callsign_meaning = Hopkinsville, Kentucky"[http://www.oldradio.com/archives/nelson/origins.call-list.html Call Letter Origins]". Radio History on the Web.

| former_callsigns = {{ubl|WHOP-FM (1948–1959)|WRLX (1959–1964)}}

| former_frequencies =

| affiliations = {{ubl|CBS News Radio|Premiere Networks|UK Sports Network}}

| owner = Forcht Broadcasting

| licensee = Hop Broadcasting, Inc."[http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=WHOP-FM WHOP-FM Facility Record]". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.

| sister_stations = WHOP

| webcast = [https://lite987whop.com/player/?playerID=1317 Listen Live]

| website = [http://www.lite987whop.com/ lite987whop.com]

}}

WHOP-FM (98.7 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary format. Licensed to and serving Hopkinsville, Kentucky, United States, the station serves the Clarksville, Tennessee-Hopkinsville, Kentucky area. The station is owned by Forcht Broadcasting, and is a sister station to WHOP. The two stations share studios located at 220 Buttermilk Road on the west side of Hopkinsville.

==History==

The station signed on the air as WHOP-FM in May 1948.[https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1965/B-All-Radio-1965-YB-All.pdf 1965 Broadcasting Yearbook, page B-63] It was the first FM station to sign on in the Clarksville/Hopkinsville radio market area, and the whole westernmost segment of Kentucky. Paducah's WPAD-FM (now WDDJ) and WKYX-FM signed on in the months after. WHOP-FM began broadcasting as a simulcast of its AM sister station WHOP. However, on December 4, 1959, the station became a separate operation by changing its callsign to WRLX,{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=27633 |title= History Cards for WHOP-FM|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) and beginning broadcasting an easy listening format. It was the first attempt in Kentucky at full separate FM programming since the early 1950s demise of early FM stations in the Louisville area.{{cite book|last=Nash|first=Francis M.|date=1995|title=Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and Television in the Bluegrass State|location=Lexington, Kentucky|publisher=HOST Communications|page=89|isbn=9781879688933}}

The station reverted its callsign back to WHOP-FM to match its AM sister station on December 28, 1964.{{r|hc}} Upon the callsign change, the station began broadcasting a country music format. In the mid-2000s, in response to the station's overwhelming competition against Clarksville-based but Hopkinsville-licensed WVVR and Cadiz-based WKDZ-FM, both of which were and still are broadcasting the same format, WHOP-FM changed to its current soft adult contemporary format, and rebranded as Lite 98.7. It rebranded as LiteRock 98.7 sometime in the late 2010s.