WLOU (1350 AM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

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 ...

airing an

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

, with

urban gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genr ...

music on Sunday mornings.

Licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, it is owned by New Albany Broadcasting, with studios on West Muhammad Ali Boulevard, west of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

. WLOU is

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

1600 WLUE in

Eminence, Kentucky Eminence is a home rule class city in Henry County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 2,498 at the 2010 census, up from 2,231 at the 2000 census. It is home to the Eminence Historic Commercial District. Eminence is the larg ...

. Both stations target the

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

community in the

Louisville metropolitan area The Louisville metropolitan area is the 43rd largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States. It had a population of 1,395,855 in 2020 according to the latest official census, and its principal city is Louisville, Kentucky. T ...

, which includes parts of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

and

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. The Louisville

radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

has approximately 200,000 African-American residents, about 16% of the population. By day, WLOU transmits with 2,200

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s non-directional. To avoid interference to other stations on

1350 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1350 kHz: 1350 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Because 1350 kHz is a multiple of both 9 and 10, the frequency is available for use by broadcast stations in all three ITU regions. ...

, WLOU reduces power at night to 500 watts, using a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

after sunset. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is on the city's westside near

I-264 Interstate 264 is the designation for two Interstate Highways in the United States, both of which are related to Interstate 64: *Interstate 264 (Kentucky), a bypass of Louisville, Kentucky *Interstate 264 (Virginia) Interstate 264 (I-264) ...

. Programming is also heard on 99-watt

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

W284AD on 104.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

History

Heritage

WLOU

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 on . At first, it was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

, required to go off the air at night. It had a general format in its first three years. But its owners made a bold move at that point. WLOU is the heritage black station in Louisville, programming to that community continuously since October 21, 1951. It became a "Negro radio station," using a staff of black

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

s. The early conversion to

Rhythm & Blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

music makes WLOU one of the first five full-time R&B stations in the USA. The station featured the popular R&B format for decades, with news and talk programs focused on civil rights. Despite being a stand-alone AM

station, it was one of the nation's top-rated

Soul Music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

-Black Radio outlets of its day.

Power increase

On November 21, 1957, WLOU went from 1,000 watts to 5,000 watts daytime with a pre-sunrise power of 500 watts. Nighttime service of 500 watts directional began on March 8, 1984. In the 1990s, most listeners to urban and urban adult formats switched to FM radio for their music. Two Louisville FM stations, 96.5

WGZB-FM WGZB-FM (96.5 Hertz, MHz, "B96.5") is a mainstream urban radio station in Louisville, Kentucky. Its city of license is Lanesville, Indiana, and its radio tower is located near Elizabeth, Indiana near the Ohio River, while its studios are located ...

and 101.3

WMJM WMJM (101.3 FM broadcasting, FM "Magic 101.3") is an urban adult contemporary radio station, station licensed to Jeffersontown, Kentucky serving the Louisville metropolitan area owned and operated by Alpha Media. It currently carries the ''Stev ...

, eclipsed WLOU's dominance in the black community, so WLOU decided to end its urban adult format. It flipped to

music on July 15, 1996, after a brief period of airing a black-oriented

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

format.

Changes in ownership

The station had been owned by Anchor Radio, LLC since 2011. In late 2011, Anchor Radio, LLC acquired two synchronous FM translators on 104.7 MHz: W284AD in

New Albany, Indiana New Albany is a city in New Albany Township, Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It ...

, and W284AM in

Middletown, Kentucky Middletown is an independent, List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States, and a suburb of Louisville. The population was 7,218 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 ...

. It began airing WLOU on 104.7 MHz as well as 1350 kHz, using the slogan "WLOU on FM." Occasionally, WLOU simulcast with sister station WLLV. Effective March 15, 2020, Anchor Radio sold WLOU, WLLV, and W284AD to New Albany Broadcasting for $325,000. On August 7, 2020, WLOU changed its format from urban gospel to

urban oldies Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

. On May 21, 2023, WLOU changed again, going from urban oldies to urban adult contemporary. It uses its translator's dial position in its moniker, "104.7 Jamz".WLOU Rebrands as 104.7 Janz; Adds Dede in the Morning
Radioinsight - May 21, 2023

Past personalities

Some of the classic R&B announcers at WLOU in the earlier years include William "Tobe" Howard, "Jockey Jack" Gibson, Cliff Butler, William Summers, III (who later became President & Managing Partner of WLOU and then-sister WSTM-FM in the 1970s), Larry Dean, Otis "Daddy Dee" Humphrey, Winston "Skip" Thompson, "Little David" Anderson, Betty "Louise Jefferson" Rowan, Jerry Tucker and James "Jim Dandy" Rucker. Popular later announcers include Jim Williams, Neal O'Rea, Brenda "20th Century Fox" Banks, Tony Fields, Bill Price (currently WLOU/WLLV General Manager) and Ange Canessa, through the end of the Urban Contemporary/Hip-Hop Format on October 31, 1995.

Awards

In January 2012, the station was recognized as the Medium Market Station of the Year at the 2012 Stellar Awards ceremony in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Previous logo

References

External links

* *
FCC History Cards for WLOU
{{Urban Radio Stations in Kentucky

LOU Lou may refer to: __NOTOC__ Personal name * Lou (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Lou (German singer) *Lou (French singer) * Lou (surname 娄), the 229th most common surname in China * Lou (surname 楼), the 269th most common ...

Radio stations established in 1948 Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States 1948 establishments in Kentucky