On August 29, 2012, at 7 p.m., without warning, "Project" signed off following a farewell message from program director Chris "The OC" Williams, as he ended the station's 38-year rock history with "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, with the rock format moving to its HD2 digital subchannel. After stunting with an hour of jockless pop songs and the opening chorus to "Ready or Not" by The Fugees, the station flipped to Top 40/CHR, branded as "Power 96.1"; the first song was "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO. The flip marked the second station in the market to use the "Power" branding, the first being WARM-FM/WAPW from 1986 to 1992. On September 11, 2012, WKLS changed call letters to WWPW to match the "Power" branding.