WAMZ (97.5 FM) is a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

-formatted

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

located in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. The station broadcasts with an ERP of 100 kW. The station's studios are located in the central part of Watterson Park and the transmitter site is in

Brooks Brooks may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Cape Brooks ;Canada *Brooks, Alberta ;United States * Brooks, Alabama * Brooks, Arkansas *Brooks, California *Brooks, Georgia * Brooks, Iowa * Brooks, Kentucky * Brooks, Maine * Brooks Township, Michigan ...

Station history

Experimental W9XEK began on July 22, 1944 at 45.5 MHz (on the original FM band). A second sister FM station was established on April 20, 1947 on the newer FM band when WCJT started at 99.7 FM as the sister station to WHAS 840. The call sign represented the initials of '' The Courier Journal'' and '' Louisville Times'', all of which were owned by the Bingham family. By the following year, W9XEK was taken off the air and WCJT became WHAS-FM. FM was still an infant technology, however, and as most early FM licensees did in the early 1950s, 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 WDJX (99.7 MHz) is a Top 40/CHR-formatted radio station located in Louisville, Kentucky. The station has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 24 kW. The station's studios are located in downtown Louisville and the transmitter site is in N ...

). On September 7, 1966, the second WHAS-FM began broadcasting at 97.5 FM with a 100 kW physical plant and an automated

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

format. Since the station carried little or no advertising, it was mainly a civic service by the Bingham family. This format lasted until September 3, 1975, when WHAS-FM was renamed WNNS and adopted the

NBC Radio Network The NBC, National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network it was ...

's "News and Information Service" (NIS) format. Public station

WFPK WFPK is a 24-hour listener-supported, noncommercial radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, broadcasting at 91.9 MHz FM with an adult album alternative format. The station plays national and local alternative music. It is owne ...

, which by that point had also run a classical programming schedule for years, received the WHAS-FM music inventory as a donation from the Binghams. At midnight on February 28, 1977, on the heels of the announcement that NBC's NIS format would be discontinued, the format was changed to automated country, using

Drake-Chenault Drake-Chenault Enterprises (originally American Independent Radio Inc.) was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake (1937� ...

's "Great American Country" format under the WAMZ callsign. Although automated, the station became the first country FM in Louisville. The first song played on WAMZ was "She's Just An Old Love Turned Memory" by

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Rec ...

. In 1979, radio personality Coyote Calhoun (best known at the time for his previous air work at Top 40 powerhouse WAKY) was hired as the program director/morning host. Under his leadership, WAMZ became one of the most-successful country radio stations in the U.S. Coyote Calhoun retired on December 3, 2014 after 35 years at WAMZ. WAMZ presently broadcasts in

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

. WAMZ is owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

, which (as Clear Channel Communications) acquired it and sister WHAS in 1986."Changing Hands." ''

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

''. June 16, 1986, pg. 63

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References

External links

official website

{{IHeartMedia Country radio stations in the United States AMZ Radio stations established in 1966 IHeartMedia radio stations 1966 establishments in Kentucky