Veteran and businessman co-founded community's first black-owned and operated radio station. CHAMPAIGN — At the time, there wasn't another radio station like it anywhere east of the Mississippi — African-American-owned and operated, giving a voice to the local black community. WBCP 1580-AM, aka "the soul of the twin cities," was launched in 1989 and named after the initials of its three founders — J.W.