WHOS broadcasts a news/talk format that serves northwest Alabama and south-central Tennessee. The station's current programming is a simulcast of Huntsville, Alabama, sister station WBHP, "The Valley's Big Talker." The studios for both stations are located in nearby Madison, Alabama. Notable local weekday programming includes The WBHP Morning Program with Gary Dobbs and Toni Lowery plus the late-morning The Will Anderson Show. Notable syndicated weekday programming includes Coast to CoastAM with George Noory, The Dave Ramsey Show, Paul Finebaum of The Paul Finebaum Radio Network, and The Glenn Beck Program. Weekend programming includes local news and sports, Somewhere In Time hosted by Art Bell, Fox News Sunday, and select programming from Fox Sports Radio. In addition to its regularly scheduled news and talk programming, the station is an affiliate of the Atlanta Braves radio network, the Auburn Tigers football radio network, and the Auburn Tigers men's basketball radio network.
History
This station began licensed operation in October 1948 as a 1,000 watt daytime-only station broadcasting at 800 kHz. Originally owned by North Alabama Broadcasting, the station was assigned the WHOS call letters by the Federal Communications Commission. It ran a country music format for most of its first 40 years. In February 1987, the broadcast license for WHOS was transferred from Dixie Broadcasting, Inc., to Dixie Broadcasting, Inc. as Debtor-In-Possession. The transfer was approved by the FCC on February 26, 1987. Dixie Broadcasting had filed bankruptcy in an effort to stave off an adverse civil lawsuit outcome regarding the contracted sale of WDRM to W.H. Pollard, Jr., the then-owner of WBHP in Huntsville, Alabama. In October 1988, the station, which had been airing a Gospel music format, flipped to an all-Elvis Presley format using the advertising tagline "WHOS alive?". This novel format garnered the station national media attention but failed to gain a local audience and lasted just six months. After the stunt ended WHOS switched to a simulcast of then co-owned WDRM and its country music format. In January 1992, a deal was reached for the broadcast license for WHOS to be transferred from Dixie Broadcasting, Inc. as Debtor-In-Possession back to Dixie Broadcasting, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on March 26, 1992, and the transaction was consummated on September 15, 1992. In December 1991, Dixie Broadcasting, Inc., reached an agreement to merge ownership of this station with the ownership of WBHP to a new company named Mountain Lakes Broadcasting, Inc., pending the resolution of Dixie's legal difficulties. In October 1993, with Dixie Broadcasting back in good financial standing and the legal issues settled by the appeals courts, the merger moved forward. The deal was approved by the FCC on November 3, 1993, and the transaction was consummated on November 11, 1993. In November 1996, J. Mack Bramlett, W.H. Pollard Jr., and Trust B Under The Will Of W.H. Pollard Sr. reached an agreement to transfer control of Mountain Lakes Broadcasting, licensee of this station as well as WDRM and WBHP, to Osborn Communications Corporation. The deal was approved by the FCC on January 29, 1997. In November 1997, WHOS and WBHP dropped their shared country music format for an all-news format featuring CNN Radio24 hours a day. In August 1998, Osborn-owned Mountain Lakes Broadcasting, LLC, reached an agreement to sell this station to AMFM Inc. a subsidiary of Ameron Broadcasting Corporation. The deal was approved by the FCC on October 2, 1998, and the transaction was consummated on November 5, 1998. In February 1999, AMFM Inc.'s Ameron Broadcasting Corporation made a deal to sell this station to Clear Channel Communications through their Capstar Royalty II Corporation subsidiary. The deal was approved by the FCC on March 2, 1999, and the transaction was consummated on March 5, 1999. This deal, a small part of a larger $16.6 billion transaction, included all five of the Huntsville stations currently in Clear Channel's Huntsville station group.
Former on-air staff
Notable former WHOS on-air staff include George Rose who, along with his alter-ego "Cousin Josh" character, hosted "The Cousin Josh Jam-O-Ree" on several North Alabama radio stations in a career that began in 1948 and ended with his death in 2006.
