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| class = A
| facility_id = 4586
| licensing_authority = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
| callsign_meaning = "Where Christ Offers Peace"<ref name="fln-meaning">{{cite web |title=Stations |url=https://www.familylife.org/radio/stations/ |website=[[Family Life Network|Family Life]] |access-date=October 7, 2023}}</ref>
| former_callsigns = {{ubl|WRXZ (1981–1985)
| owner = [[Family Life Network]]
| licensee = Family Life Ministries, Inc.
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==History==
===McKean County's
WRXZ was founded by Huber-Dixon Broadcasting, with T.R. Dixon serving as president, and Clarence V. Huber, Jr. as general manager.
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WRXZ would be competing for advertising revenue with a well-established AM competitor, [[WQLE|WKZA]], that had been on the air since 1954, and had been controlled for many years by a New York-based company (the Bilbat Broadcast Bunch dba locally as Raise Kane Radio, Inc.) that had other stations in its portfolio in addition to its own.
The call letters were changed to
[[WHKS]] in Port Allegany and [[WXMT|WQRM]] in Smethport would not come on the air until
===The fall of WKZA and rise of WLMI===
Industrialist Dennis Heindl of Ridgway, Pennsylvania, purchased the station for $105,000 in January 1988 from Mountain Forest Communications. The station was renovated, re-equipped, and reassigned the call letters
Heindl returned the station to the air in April 1988. In 1989, Heindl sold WLMI and a construction permit for an unbuilt station in Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania (assigned the calls [[WDDH]] then, now known today as [[WDSN]]), to William Hearst, president of Clarion County Broadcasting. As WLMI began to entrench itself as a formidable competitor in town, many of WKZA's staff defected to WLMI, leaving Raise Kane Radio to put WKZA up for sale, finding that its profits were rapidly shrinking. Though a competitor buyout was speculated, WLMI did not show an interest in acquiring an AM station, and WKZA was sold for $75,000 to Bill Shannon Broadcasting in 1990.
The following year meant transactions for both WKZA and WLMI. Bill Shannon Broadcasting sold WKZA to Walter R. Pierre for $63,500 in December 1991, with the FCC approving the transaction a month later. On December 3, 1992, Hearst sold WLMI for $245,000 to Beech Tree Broadcasting Co, whose president was veteran news broadcaster Chuck Crouse, who had anchored news reports for many years on WEEI in Boston. (Clarion County Broadcasting
With Crouse's background in news, it wasn't uncommon to hear a local newscast each hour of every day on WLMI during this time, following an hourly report from ABC News. Crouse anchored news reports from 6 am until 2 pm with Scott McGuire handling reports from 3 pm until the following morning, Monday through Friday. High school students from Kane and the surrounding area were hired to provide information to listeners on weekends, helping to keep WLMI's doors open seven days a week. Crouse's first hire in 1993 was Michael Hinman, then a student at nearby [[Johnsonburg Area High School]] who would later become the founder of [[Airlock Alpha]] and the creator of the [[SyFy]] brand name. He is now editor of [[The Riverdale Press]] in Bronx, New York.
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WKZA became WQLE in an effort by Pierre to reverse its sagging fortunes. The station, which by this time was reduced to an all-barter affiliate of [[Chuck Harder]]'s "For the People" [[populism|populist]] national talk network (which shared its revenues with affiliate stations), finally failed for good, going [[Dark (broadcasting)|dark]] on December 21, 1992. Its departure left WLMI as the only local radio station offering service to Kane. No FCC paperwork was filed to legally silence the station, and was given up as simply abandoned.
Today, the [[WKZA]] calls belong to a [[Contemporary hit radio|CHR]] station at 106.9 mHz, serving [[Warren
In July 2006, Crouse sold WLMI to Colonial Radio Group and CEO Jeff Andrulonis, for $366,000.
Since its formative years as WIFI, WLMI had maintained its longtime call letters and a format that
In July 2007, the station received approval from the FCC for a move of its tower for an increase of coverage area in McKean & Elk Counties. The tower move was completed on October 29, 2007.
Beginning November 2007, WLMI operated [http://www.kaneradio.net/ KaneRadio.net], an Internet-only [[all-news radio]] station. The station ran an assortment of national news from
WLMI began broadcasting in [[HD Radio]] in 2008. At launch, WLMI's HD channels were broadcasting WLMI's main feed and two
WLMI's ownership bought WQRM (106.3/99.3, now [[WXMT]]) in Smethport/Bradford from the Allegheny Mountain Radio Network and a 94.3 translator from the [[Family Life Network]] in 2008. WLMI
Ironically, one of WLMI's biggest competitors was [[St. Marys, Pennsylvania|St. Marys]]-based [[WDDH]], which is owned by WLMI's former owner, Laurel Media. WDDH also runs a country format. Other competitors include Olean-based [[WPIG]] and Warren-based [[WNAE (FM)|WKNB]].
===The end of country, the debut of "The Summit"===
In 2010, WLMI separated from WBYB (with whom it had been sharing programming), returned to its satellite country format from Citadel (though the morning show remained) and changed its call sign to
===Talk radio era===
On February 15, 2011, WUMT changed
The station also announced plans to be carried on an FM translator on 99.1 MHz. Currently, this translator is licensed to Rock City with very low power on 99.3 MHz.
On October 19, 2011,
Casey Hill, WBYB's lone local host, remained on staff for both stations until leaving for [[WCGS (FM)|WGWE]] in the summer of 2012.
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===Return to country music and move to Eldred===
WBYB closed its local studio in Kane in 2012. In January 2013, a
On June 4, 2013, WBYB's antenna and transmission equipment were moved to their new location on Prospect Hill, outside of Smethport; WBYB now shares this location with its sister station, WXMT.<ref>{{Cite web|url=
WBYB acquired the broadcast rights to [[NASCAR]] broadcasts from the [[Motor Racing Network]] and [[Performance Racing Network]] beginning in the 2014 season. Those rights had previously sat with WPIG for over two decades. WBYB planned to cross-promote the NASCAR coverage at Bradford Speedway, which like WBYB was owned by Colonial until the company shut the speedway down in June 2014.
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In November 2015, the station flipped to [[Christmas music]]. When the station returned to regular programming in January 2016, it had merged with its [[classic country]] brand ("Eagle 99.1"), retaining the Bob FM brand, and had shifted to a mainstream/traditional country mix with both new and classic songs in its mix.
On July 4, 2017, the station dropped the [[Bob FM]] brand and revived the name "The Eagle," correspondingly changing its call sign to
===Failed sale to Rick Freeman and sale to Family Life Network===
On April 24, 2018, Colonial announced it had sold the station, along with WXMT and WVTT-FM, to Rick Freeman in a deal involving cash and [[cryptocurrency]]. Freeman was to take over the stations on May 1.<ref>[http://www.bradfordera.com/business/colonial-media-group-selling-local-stations/article_201876c0-4769-11e8-aef5-63f40632a734.html Colonial Media Group selling local stations]. ''The Bradford Era'' (April 24, 2018). Retrieved April 25, 2018.</ref><ref>Taylor, Tom (April 25, 2018). [https://mailchi.mp/tomtaylornow/tom-taylor-now-123853?e=53f8173575 More crypto-currency station sales ahead?]. Retrieved April 25, 2018.</ref>
By December 2018, Freeman had backed out of the sale agreement. Colonial then announced it would sell the 103.9 license (but not the WAGL call signs or intellectual property, which will move down the dial to 96.7) and a translator on 104.9, to [[Family Life Network]] to convert the station to its [[contemporary Christian music]] format.<ref>
FLN closed on the sale April 3, 2019 and filed a [[construction permit]] with the FCC to make the station's signal [[directional antenna|directional]], pointed to the southeast in part to protect adjacent-channel [[WHTT-FM]] in [[Buffalo, New York]]. (This would point the signal away from Olean, but FLN already has a translator there operating on 101.1.) On April 15, 2019, in consistency with other Family Life stations (which use call signs starting with WCI, WCO and WCG), the station changed its call sign to WCGH; the station had begun simulcasting Family Life by this point. On June 16, 2021, the call sign was changed to WCOP, in a swap with Family Life's [[Farmington Township, Clarion County, Pennsylvania|Farmington Township]] station.<ref name="fcc-wcghtowcop">{{cite web |title=Media Bureau Call Sign Actions |url=https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-374548A1.pdf |publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]] |date=July 30, 2021|access-date=July 31, 2021}}</ref>
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==External links==
*{{FM station data|4586|WCOP}}
*{{
*{{FXL|W256BS}}
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[[Category:Radio stations established in 1985]]
[[Category:1985 establishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Christian radio stations in Pennsylvania|
[[Category:Radio stations in Pennsylvania|COP]]
[[Category:McKean County, Pennsylvania]]
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