WUMP

Infobox Radio station
name = WUMP


city = Madison, Alabama
area = Huntsville, Alabama
branding = "SportsRadio 730 The UMP"
slogan = "The Tennessee Valley's Sports Authority"
airdate =
frequency = 730 kHz
format = Sports/Talk
power = 1000 watts (day) 129 watts (night)
class = D
facility_id = 39590
coordinates = coord|34|41|46|N|86|44|19|W|
callsign_meaning = UMPirecite web |work=The Broadcast Archive |title=Call Letter Origins |url=http://nelson.oldradio.com/origins.call-list.html |first=Bob |last=Nelson |date=2008-02-02]
former_callsigns = WABT, WKMW, WBBI, WDKT
owner = Cumulus Media
licensee =
sister_stations = WHRP, WVNN, WVNN-FM, WWFF-FM, WZYP
webcast = [http://player.cumulusstreaming.com/Play.html?WUMP-AM Listen Live]
website = http://www.730ump.com/
affiliations = ESPN Radio

WUMP (730 AM, "SportsRadio 730 The UMP") is a Sports/Talk formatted radio station licensed to Madison, Alabama. WUMP primarily serves the Huntsville, Alabama, market, though its studios are located in Athens. The station is owned by Cumulus Media.

Programming

ports

WUMP broadcasts the entire schedule of games for the Huntsville Stars (AA baseball-Southern League). WUMP broadcasts select Huntsville Havoc (SPHL) and Tennessee Valley Vipers (af2) games. WUMP is the Huntsville affiliate for Westwood One play-by-play (including NCAA, NFL, and NHL games), and University of Alabama athletics.

Network affiliation

The station is currently an affiliate of ESPN Radio. The station was an ESPN Radio affiliate in the late-1990s and early-2000s before losing it to rival WTKI. The affiliation returned to WUMP on February 6, 2007 after WTKI was sold and changed formats.cite news |title=ESPN programming will start today on radio's 'The UMP' |work=The Huntsville Times |location=Huntsville, Alabama |date=2007-02-06 |accessdate=2008-01-02 |quote=ESPN radio is back on Huntsville's airwaves today, with its personalities and broadcasts joining a mixture of local programming on "The UMP", WUMP 730 AM.] Between its tenures with ESPN, the station was a Fox Sports Radio affiliate.

History

The station began originally in the mid-1980s as WABT (1310 AM) in Madison as a country music station. In 1985, after WJMW moved from 730 AM to 770 AM, the station changed frequencies (and owners) moving to 730 AM as WDKT ("D-73") with an urban contemporary format. It later switched to news/talk, and, eventually, to its current sports format. It switched call signs to WKMW on August 19, 1991 then to WBBI on June 1, 1993. The station was assigned the current WUMP call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on October 6, 1995.cite web |url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=39590 |title=Call Sign History |work=FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database]

Ownership

The Dunnavant family of Athens owned the station from the early 1990s until agreeing to sell it to Cumulus in 2003. This ended a 55-year presence in the market by Athens Broadcasting, founded in 1948 by Homer Felix "Pap" Dunnavant. [cite news |title=Obituaries - Elsewhere |work=The Miami Herald |location=Miami, Florida |page=4B |date=1996-09-14 |accessdate=2008-01-02 |quote=Dunnavant, Homer Felix "Pap," 98, whose media career began with a part-time job in radio and ended with a chain of stations; in Athens, Ala. He had been a farmer and barber in north Alabama when he decided to buy some time on radio in the 1930s and do his own show. In 1948, the Federal Communications Commission gave him permission to open his first radio station in Athens. From that grew Athens Broadcasting, with radio stations WZYP, WVNN, WPZM and WUMP in Athens]

On April 1, 2003, WUMP was sold by Athens Broadcasting Co. (William E. Dunnavant, president) to Cumulus Broadcasting Inc. as part of a four station deal with a total sale price of $22 million in cash and Cumulus common stock. [cite news |title=Cumulus Media Inc. Enters Huntsville, AL with Purchase of Four Stations |work=Business Wire |location=Atlanta, Georgia |date=2003-04-01 |accessdate=2008-01-02 |quote=Cumulus Media Inc. (Nasdaq:CMLS) today announced it has signed an Acquisition Agreement to purchase stations from Athens Broadcasting Company, Inc. which owns WZYP-FM, WUSX-FM, WVNN-AM and WUMP-AM. The purchase price is $22 million and includes approximately $2.5 million of net working capital. The consideration for this transaction will consist entirely of Cumulus Media Class A common stock.] [ cite web |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA293338.html |title=Changing Hands |author=BIA Financial Networks |work=Broadcasting & Cable |date=2003-04-21] The acquisition of the stations was completed in July 2003. [cite news |title=Breaking News - July 24, 2003 |url=http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=19677 |work=FMQB |date=2003-07-24 |accessdate=2008-01-02 |quote=Cumulus has completed its acquisition of Nashville stations WSM and WWTN, and Huntsville, AL stations WZYP, WUSX, WVNN and WUMP from Athens Broadcasting.] WUMP remains co-owned with former Dunnavant stations WVNN and WZYP, in addition to WHRP and WWFF-FM.

References

External links

* [http://www.730ump.com/ WUMP official website]
* [http://www.cumulus.com/ Cumulus Media corporate website]
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