WKLU (101.9 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

licensed to

Brownsburg, Indiana Brownsburg is a town in Hendricks County, Indiana, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was recorded as 28,973 residents. History Brownsburg was first settled in 1824 by James B. Brown. Delaware Indians lived in what is now call ...

, and serving the

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

metropolitan area. The station is owned by the

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest contempor ...

and carries its

K-LOVE K-Love (stylized as K-LOVE) is an American Christian radio network. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), a non-profit Christian ministry, it primarily broadcasts contemporary Christian music. As of June 2019, the network's progr ...

network, playing

Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

. While the K-LOVE format is national, the station broadcasts public affairs programming for Brownsburg and Hendricks County on select Sunday nights. In addition, the WKLU studios are used for the K-LOVE morning show which is heard nationwide.

History

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, the station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air as WQFE. It used a 300 foot

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

, located in Hendricks County. The station played

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

music. In September

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, WQFE changed to an

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

format that was not successful. In

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, Bruce "The Radio Pirate" Quinn took over his family owned station. The call letters were changed to WKLU and branded as ''"The New Kool 101.9"''. The format evolved to a loose variant of

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

specializing in titles that most Indianapolis radio stations didn't play, including songs from

jam bands A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational " jamming". Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to improvise over chord patterns or rhythmic groo ...

. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

the Quinns sold the station to

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

radio entrepreneur Russ Oasis, who moved the tower to its current location and reformatted the station to a more commercially viable

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

format. At midnight on December 4, 2007, WKLU began playing the hits of the 1960s and 1970s as ''"The New Oldies 101.9"''. On July 15, 2009, WKLU was sold by Russ Oasis to the

. The station switched to the

network of

on September 15, 2009, at 6 p.m. Before the switch, a goodbye show was held by the staff and DJs of Oldies 101.9. The last song on Oldies was "

Thank You for Being a Friend "Thank You for Being a Friend" is a song written and recorded by American singer Andrew Gold. It appears on Gold's third album ''All This and Heaven Too''. The song reached number 25 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1978. Whitburn, Joel ...

" by

Andrew Gold Andrew Maurice Gold (August 2, 1951 – June 3, 2011) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop rock, pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold performed on s ...

.WKLU Switches From Oldies to K-Love
/ref>

References

External links

* KLU Radio stations established in 1992 K-Love radio stations 1992 establishments in Indiana Educational Media Foundation radio stations KLU Contemporary Christian radio stations in the United States {{Indiana-radio-station-stub