 | |
| Broadcast area | Louisville metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 97.5MHz |
| Branding | 97.5 WAMZ |
| Programming | |
| Format | Country music |
| Subchannels | HD2:WHAS simulcast |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | |
| WTFX-FM,WQMF,WNRW,WSDF,WKRD,WHAS,WKJK | |
| History | |
First air date | September 7, 1966; 59 years ago (1966-09-07) (as WHAS-FM) |
Former call signs |
|
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 11921 |
| Class | C1 |
| ERP | 100,000watts |
| HAAT | 205 meters (673 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°3′49″N85°43′52″W / 38.06361°N 85.73111°W /38.06361; -85.73111 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | WAMZ Listen Live |
| Website | wamz.iheart.com |
WAMZ (97.5FM) is acommercialradio station inLouisville, Kentucky. It airs acountry musicformat and is owned byiHeartMedia Thestudios are in the central part ofWatterson Park. WAMZ carries twonationally syndicated radio programs:The Bobby Bones Show in morningdrive time andAfter Midnite with Granger Smith overnights.
WAMZ is aClass C station with aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000watts. (Most Louisville FM stations are Class B or A, with only a fraction of that power.) Thetransmitter site is on Brooks Hill Road inBrooks, Kentucky.[2]WAMZ has always been asister station toLouisville's most powerfulAM station,WHAS840 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 WCJTcall sign represented the initials ofThe Courier-Journal andLouisville Times, which were owned by theBingham 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 theFCC on December 31, 1950. The99.7frequency later became the home for WKLO-FM (nowWDJX).
A second WHAS-FM began broadcasting on September 7, 1966. It broadcast at 97.5 MHz with a 100,000-watttransmitter, airing anautomatedclassical 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 theNBC Radio Network's "News and Information Service" (NIS)all-news radio format. Public stationWFPK, which also ran a classical programming schedule, received the WHAS-FM music library as a donation from the Binghams.
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 usedDrake-Chenault's "Great American Country" format under the new call sign WAMZ. Although automated, the station became the first countryFM stereo station in Louisville. The first song played on WAMZ was "She's Just An Old Love Turned Memory" byCharley Pride.
In 1979, radio personalityCoyote Calhoun was hired as program director and morning host. Calhoun was best known as adisc jockey atTop 40 powerhouseWAKY790 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-basedClear Channel Communications acquired WAMZ andWHAS (AM) in 1986.[3] In 2014, Clear Channel changed its name to the currentiHeartMedia.