WAMZ
Broadcast areaLouisville metropolitan area
Frequency97.5 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding97.5 WAMZ
Programming
FormatCountry
SubchannelsHD2: "Halloween Radio"
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WTFX-FM, WQMF, WNRW, WSDF, WKRD, WHAS, WKJK
History
First air date
September 7, 1966 (1966-09-07) (as WHAS-FM)
Former call signs
  • WHAS-FM (1966–1975)
  • WNNS (1975–1977)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID11921
ClassC1
ERP100,000 watts
HAAT205 meters (673 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
38°3′49″N 85°43′52″W / 38.06361°N 85.73111°W / 38.06361; -85.73111
Links
Public license information
WebcastWAMZ Listen Live
HD2: Halloween Radio Listen Live
Websitewamz.iheart.com

WAMZ (97.5 FM) is a commercial radio station in Louisville, Kentucky. It airs a country music format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios are in the central part of Watterson Park. WAMZ carries two nationally syndicated radio programs: The Bobby Bones Show in morning drive time and After Midnite with Granger Smith overnights.

WAMZ is a Class C station with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts. (Most Louisville FM stations are Class B or A, with only a fraction of that power.) The transmitter site is on Brooks Hill Road in Brooks, Kentucky.[2] WAMZ broadcasts using HD Radio technology.[3] Its HD2 digital subchannel carries a format known as "Halloween Radio."

History

WCJT, WNNS and WHAS-FM

WAMZ has always been a sister station to Louisville's most powerful AM station, WHAS 840 AM. Experimental W9XEK began on July 22, 1944, at 45.5 MHz (on the original FM band). A second FM station was established on the newer FM band on April 20, 1947, when WCJT started at 99.7 FM, co-owned with WHAS. The WCJT call sign represented the initials of The Courier-Journal and Louisville Times, which were owned by the Bingham family. By the following year, W9XEK was taken off the air and WCJT became WHAS-FM. Few people owned FM radio receivers in that era. Seeing little chance to make it profitable, the Binghams returned WHAS-FM's license to the FCC on December 31, 1950. The 99.7 frequency later became the home for WKLO-FM (now WDJX).

A second WHAS-FM began broadcasting on September 7, 1966. It broadcast at 97.5 MHz with a 100,000-watt transmitter, airing an automated classical music format. The Binghams ran the station as a public service with almost no advertising. This format lasted until September 3, 1975, when WHAS-FM was renamed WNNS and adopted the NBC Radio Network's "News and Information Service" (NIS) all-news format. Public station WFPK, which also ran a classical programming schedule, received the WHAS-FM music library as a donation from the Binghams.

WAMZ Country

NBC announced in 1976 that it would be discontinuing the NIS news network in early 1977. At midnight on February 28, 1977, WNNS's format was changed to country music. It used Drake-Chenault's "Great American Country" format under the new call sign WAMZ. Although automated, the station became the first country FM stereo station in Louisville. The first song played on WAMZ was "She's Just An Old Love Turned Memory" by Charley Pride.

In 1979, radio personality Coyote Calhoun was hired as program director and morning host. Calhoun was best known as a disc jockey at Top 40 powerhouse WAKY 790 AM. Under his leadership, WAMZ became one of the most successful country radio stations in the U.S. Calhoun retired on December 3, 2014, after 35 years at WAMZ.

San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications acquired WAMZ and WHAS in 1986.[4] In 2014, Clear Channel changed its name to the current iHeartMedia, Inc.

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WAMZ". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ Radio-Locator.com/WAMZ
  3. ↑ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=55 Archived October 29, 2016, at the Wayback Machine HD Radio Guide for Louisville, Kentucky
  4. ↑ "Changing Hands." Broadcasting. June 16, 1986, pg. 63.
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