WKPT (AM) has long been the home of Dobyns-Bennett (Kingsport) High School sports, heard on the flagship frequency of 1400 kHz and its translator at 94.3 FM.

In the late 1980s, coverage of Science Hill (Johnson City) High School was added on 1590 kHz (the former WJSO, which broadcasts from nearby Jonesborough TN) and its translator at 97.7 FM.

These broadcasts, featuring Tim Cable on play-by-play and Scott Gray on color analysis, have won state awards from the Associated Press.

This included the 1999 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in which the Vols defeated the Florida State Seminoles 23-16 for the first BCS national championship.

[4] Notable on-air personalities (a * indicates the personality is deceased) were: George DeVault (who started as a student announcer at age 14, and has served as President and CEO of Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation for nearly four decades); George Sells (who later worked TV news in Detroit and other markets under his real name, and for ABC Radio News as "George Caldwell"); and Later personalities included: Bob Morris (went on to jobs at several notable Top-40 stations); Bob Lawrence (still employed in the market as a systems specialist or "IT guy"); Carl Swann (served in many capacities for WKPT, later became half of WTFM's first "male/female" morning show, "Carl & Jody," and is now half of a talk morning show across the market); Ted Tate (who went on to work for the Voice Of America in Washington DC); Elva Marie (who still works for sister station WTFM in the midday slot).

In the latter 1970s the station leaned more in a Top-40 direction and switched network affiliations to ABC, which meant Paul Harvey began to be heard on WKPT.

The early-morning show on WKPT was a unique experience for the station's first three decades, as it was hosted by Charles Preston "Charlie" Deming.

Since other local AM stations signed off at sunset for many years, WKPT would appeal to younger listeners beginning in the early evening.

After Karant left the station in the early 1970s (he would return a decade later), "Housewife Serenade" was hosted to its conclusion by Doug Newton.

In 1985, an attempt was made to re-create the "live-midmorning-show-from-a-grocery-store" concept as WKPT began "AM Kingsport" from Food City on Eastman Road, coincidentally only hundreds of feet from where Oakwood (host site of "Housewife Serenade") had been.

The show was renamed "AM Tri-Cities" in the late 1980s to reflect the fact that WKPT had begun simulcasting its signal to Johnson City TN (Bristol TN/VA was added in the early 1990s).

"The Shadow Show," as it came to be affectionately known by the station and by listeners as well, was begun and hosted by Martin Karant, who would frequently sit his young son Kenneth on his lap, and they would read the newspaper comics on-air together.

The show was hosted by Martin Karant (who had returned to company employment in 1982) and featured live music and singing by Johnson City musician Glen Shell.