The frequency signed on in 1965 as WGHQ-FM, sister to the Thayer family-owned WGHQ. For its first decade, it simulcasted the AM's programming by day and aired automated easy listening during hours when the AM was not on the air. In 1975, WGHQ-FM split off from the AM, changed to an automated Top 40 format, and changed its calls to WBPM (for World's Best Popular Music) . Several years after this switch, family patriarch Harry Thayer transferred the station to his stepson Walter Maxwell and wife Jean.