WBOW

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WBOW was the first radio station in Terre Haute, Indiana. It began in 1927 as WRPI, a service of then Rose Polytechnic Institute. In 1932, it split from the school, went commercial, and took the call letters WBOW, which stand for Banks of the Wabash. It had at least one other frequency before receiving its assignment of 1230 kHz. For years, WBOW was a full-service news and top-40 voice, and often the leading station, in the Terre Haute area. It was long affiliated with NBC radio. In its waning years, its music had changed to adult standards and became affiliated with the ABC Information network. In 1992, WBOW moved to 640 kHz to gain a better signal and wider coverage, but shortly thereafter the station's programming became delivered entirely via satellite.

WBOW changed hands several times through the years, and ultimately went dark when Mike Rice, president of owner Contemporary Media, Inc., lost licenses to all his stations for lack of candor to the FCC during an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage boys.

The WBOW call letters were resurrected at 1300 kHz and at 102.7 MHz. On AM, WBOW relays ESPN sports programming. On FM, WBOW goes by B102.7 and plays adult contemporary music.