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WHAS (AM)

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WHAS
Broadcast areaLouisville metropolitan area
Frequency840 kHz
BrandingNewsradio 840 WHAS
Programming
FormatNews/Talk
NetworkABC News Radio
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WAMZ, WKJK, WKRD, WSDF, WNRW, WQMF, WTFX-FM
History
First air date
July 18, 1922; 102 years ago (1922-07-18)
Former frequencies
  • 833 & 619 kHz (1922)
  • 750 & 619 kHz (1922-1923)
  • 750 kHz (1923-1927)
  • 650 kHz (1927)
  • 930 kHz (1927-1928)
  • 820 kHz (1928-1941)
Call sign meaning
"We Have A Signal" (a backronym, as the call was randomly assigned by the government)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID11934
ClassA
Power50,000 watts
Transmitter coordinates
Links
Public license information
WebcastListen Live
Websitewhas.iheart.com

WHAS (840 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, airing a news/talk radio format. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., with studios in Fourth Street Live!, an entertainment complex in downtown Louisville. First licensed in July 1922, it is the oldest radio station in Kentucky.

WHAS is a Class A clear-channel station. It is powered at 50,000 watts non-directional, the maximum for commercial AM stations. Its daytime signal can be heard in most of central Kentucky, as well as parts of Indiana and Ohio. It provides city-grade coverage as far east as Lexington, as far south as Bowling Green, and as far north as Cincinnati. With a good radio, its nighttime signal can be heard in most of the Eastern and Central United States and much of Canada.

Programming

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News and talk

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iHeartMedia owns two talk stations in Louisville. WKJK 1080 AM carries syndicated shows while WHAS features mostly local programming and news. Weekdays begin with the Kentuckiana Morning News anchored by Tony Cruise. Tony & Dwight (Tony Vanetti and Dwight Witten) are heard in late mornings and The Terry Meiners Show airs in afternoon drive time. Syndicated programs include The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, The Mark Levin Show, Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis and Coast to Coast AM with George Noory.

Weekends feature specialty shows on money, health, the outdoors, the law and home repair, some of which are paid brokered programming. Syndicated shows include Armstrong & Getty, The Ramsey Show with Dave Ramsey, The Weekend with Michael Brown, Bill Handel on the Law, Somewhere in Time with Art Bell, At Home with Gary Sullivan and Sunday Nights with Bill Cunningham. Nights and weekends, most hours begin with an update from ABC News Radio. WHAS is the flagship radio station for the annual WHAS Crusade for Children Telethon.

Sports

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WHAS is Louisville's primary station for the University of Kentucky athletic broadcasts from the UK Sports Network. Play-by-play includes Wildcats football and men's basketball games.[2]

Starting in 2015, iHeartMedia began broadcasting Louisville City FC soccer games. WHAS had been the flagship for U of L Sports Network coverage of Louisville Cardinals football and basketball, and still carries some the Cardinals games. When there is a conflict with Wildcats games, co-owned WKRD 790 AM broadcasts Cardinals games.[3]

History

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Early years

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The U.S. Department of Commerce, which regulated radio in its early days, adopted regulations, effective December 1, 1921, that formally established a broadcast service category. The wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) was designated for "entertainment" broadcasting, with 485 meters (619 kHz) assigned for "market and weather reports".[4] On July 13, 1922, the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times were issued a license for operation on both the 360- and 485-meter wavelengths. The WHAS call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential list.[5] WHAS was the first broadcasting station in Kentucky, which was the 45th out of the then-48 states to establish a station.[6] Following a short series of test transmissions, WHAS made its formal debut broadcast on July 18, 1922.[7]

In September 1922, the U.S. Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations, including WHAS, that had quality equipment and programming.[8] In May 1923, additional "Class B" frequencies were made available, with 750 kHz now reserved nationwide for Louisville,[9] which was exclusively assigned to WHAS.[10]

WHAS was originally part of the local media empire managed by the Bingham family, which also published Louisville Courier-Journal and Louisville Times (now owned by the Gannett Company and merged in 1987). On May 16, 1925, the first live broadcast of the Kentucky Derby horse race was made by WHAS and also by WGN in Chicago.[11] The call of the Derby featured an announcer who watched from the windows of one of the famous twin spires of Churchill Downs.

On November 11, 1928, the Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40 made a major reallocation of the broadcasting frequencies. This introduced a category known as "clear channel stations" that included WHAS, which was assigned exclusive nationwide use of 820 kHz.[12]

CBS Radio Network

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On May 15, 1932, WHAS changed from being an NBC Red Network affiliate, which it joined in late 1926.[13] It switched to the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), which previously aired on WLAP, now relocated in Lexington.[13]: 29  WHAS carried the network's dramas, comedies, sports and news during the "Golden Age of Radio." The studios were at 300 Liberty Street in Downtown Louisville, co-located with the Courier-Journal.[14]

In the early 1930s, WHAS operated with 10,000 watts of power. But in 1932, the output was increased to 25,000 watts as authorized by the FRC.[15]

During the Ohio River flood of 1937, the station gained nationwide notice for its coverage of the disaster. WHAS would broadcast Louisville flood bulletins over the facilities of WSM in Nashville after Louisville authorities were forced to cut electrical power to the city due to rising flood waters. This took WHAS's own signal off the air. During the flood, the station aired 115,000 messages.[16]

Move to 840 AM

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On March 29, 1941, the enactment of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) required many radio stations to change their dial positions. WHAS's clear channel frequency was shifted to its current assignment of 840 kHz.

In 1950, WHAS helped WSM-TV establish television service in Middle Tennessee with a microwave signal link from WHAS-TV.[17][18]

WHAS was the home of The Moral Side of the News, one of the oldest public affairs programs in American broadcasting, dating back to the 1940s. The show was also seen on WHAS-TV since the 1950s. The program's panel of clergy members were involved in distributing the proceeds of the Crusade for Children among local charities since the telethon's beginning.[19]

FM and TV stations

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Experimental W9XEK began in 1944, at 45.5 MHz, on the original FM band. A second FM station was established on the newer FM band in 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. 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 Bingham Family returned WHAS-FM's license to the FCC on December 31, 1950. Their attention was already on setting up a new television station.

WHAS-TV first signed on the air on March 27, 1950.[20]  Originally broadcasting on channel 9, it was the second television station in Kentucky, after NBC affiliate WAVE-TV, which started in November 1948. WHAS-TV operated from brand-new studios in the Courier-Journal/Times Building at 6th & Broadway. Because WHAS 840 was a longtime CBS affiliate, WHAS-TV also aired CBS programming.

A second WHAS-FM began on September 7, 1966.[21] 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 radio format. Today, that station is co-owned country music outlet WAMZ.

MOR and Adult Contemporary

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As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WHAS began a full service format of news, sports and middle of the road (MOR) music. Disc jockeys hosted music shows with frequent breaks for news, weather, sports scores and other information.

WHAS modernized its format in the early 1970s. The playlist switched to Adult Contemporary music, featuring adult-appeal hits and recent oldies. One longtime slogan was "Good and Gold" (as in "good music", or adult contemporary, and "golden" oldies). For a time in the 1980s, it was also the Louisville affiliate for Casey Kasem's American Top 40.

WHAS was the original radio home to locally produced coverage of American Basketball Association games involving the Kentucky Colonels during that league's 1967-1976 existence.[22][23][24]

On the afternoon of April 3, 1974, Louisville was hit by an F4 tornado that developed during the 1974 Super Outbreak. WHAS broke away from regular programming to track the storm as it passed through the Louisville metropolitan area. In the hours immediately following the storm, the station delivered important information about what areas had been directly impacted by the storms, and traffic reporter Dick Gilbert followed the tornado in his helicopter, reporting on the damage as he flew at a safe distance behind the storm. The station stayed with continuous coverage of the disaster in Louisville and across the state of Kentucky and the southern portion of Indiana until well into the early morning hours of April 4.[25][26] For their efforts, the station's personnel earned thanks from then-Kentucky Governor Wendell Ford and President Richard Nixon.

Clear Channel acquisition

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In 1986, the Bingham Family decided to divest its media company holdings.[27] WHAS and WAMZ (the former WHAS-FM) were acquired in 1986 by Clear Channel Communications based in San Antonio. In 2014, Clear Channel changed its name to iHeartMedia, WHAS's current owner.

WHAS 840 continued to air a full-service AC and oldies format through the 1980s. WHAS one of the last 50,000-watt clear-channel radio stations to feature music programming on a regular basis. Personalities on the weekday lineup included Terry Meiners[28] and Lachlan McLean on "SportsTalk 840". By the 1990s, the music shows were ending and the station switched to a news-talk format.

On January 17, 1994, a record overnight snowstorm paralyzed the city and much of the state of Kentucky.[29] WHAS had round the clock updates and school closing information for nearly a week.[30] On May 28, 1996, another tornado outbreak occurred in Kentuckiana and the station suspended its election coverage that night to cover the storm.[31]

Prior to 1995, WHAS broadcast in C-QUAM AM stereo.[32] Following an initial testing period which started in 2006, beginning in September 2007 WHAS broadcast full-time using the HD Radio IBOC digital radio system.[33] HD Radio has since been turned off.

Changes in air personalities

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The late morning slot (9 a.m. to noon) has seen several changes. Francene Cucinello hosted "The Francene Show" until her death on January 15, 2010. She was replaced that summer by Mandy Connell. In turn, Connell left in August 2013 to become the morning host on co-owned KHOW 630 AM in Denver.[34] Her last show on WHAS was on August 9.[35] For several months after her move, Connell provided daily one-minute commentaries, known as "Mandy Minutes", to WHAS.[35] Connell's slot was filled by Leland Conway, previously a talk radio host in Lexington and most recently Richmond, Virginia, whose show began airing on September 16.[36]

Significant changes came to the afternoon and evening lineup in the first half of 2015. In February, McLean announced he would leave WHAS on May 15 and move to Charlotte, North Carolina.[37] In April, it was confirmed that Sports Talk 840 would end when McLean left WHAS. Effective May 18, Meiners' show was cut back by an hour. The 6-8 time slot was filled by Connell, who returned to the Louisville market with a locally focused talk show. Then longtime fill-in host Mary Walter took over as the permanent host and continued the local focused format. The Mark Levin Show moved to the 8-11 p.m. slot, being delayed by two hours instead of three.[38] An extra hour of Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis was picked up.

At the same time as the spring 2015 lineup changes, WHAS replaced The Bill Cunningham Show in its Sunday night lineup with The John and Leah Show, a syndicated weekly news review program hosted by former WHAS personality John Ziegler and Leah Brandon. Cunningham's show, based at co-owned WLW Cincinnati, has since returned to Sunday evenings.

Notable former on-air personalities

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WHAS". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "UK Sports Network Radio Affiliates" Archived February 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. UKathletics.com. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  3. ^ "Louisville Athletics - U of L Radio Network Affiliates". Uoflsports.com. May 10, 2006. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  4. ^ "Amendments to Regulations" Archived October 11, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Radio Service Bulletin, January 3, 1922, page 10.
  5. ^ "New Stations" Archived March 26, 2023, at the Wayback Machine Radio Service Bulletin, August 1, 1922, page 3.
  6. ^ "All But Two States Now Broadcast" Archived January 31, 2024, at the Wayback Machine Radio News, September 1922, page 480.
  7. ^ Radio 'Fans' Within 350-Mile Radius Hear First Programme Sent From WHAS Station" Archived July 22, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, Louisville Courier-Journal, July 19, 1922, page 1.
  8. ^ "Amendments to Regulations: Regulation 57", Radio Service Bulletin, September 1, 1922, pages 10-11.
  9. ^ "Radio Conference Recommendations: New Wave Lengths", Radio Age, May 1923, page 11. Beginning with these assignments, radio stations ended the practice of broadcasting their market reports and weather forecasts on the separate 485 meter wavelength.
  10. ^ "Alterations and corrections", Radio Service Bulletin, June 1, 1923, page 10.
  11. ^ "Derby To Go On The Air", The New York Times, May 16, 1925, p. 11
  12. ^ "Broadcasting Stations, By Frequencies" Archived October 9, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Commercial and Government Radio Stations of the United States (June 30, 1929, edition), page 123.
  13. ^ a b Nash, Francis M. (1995). Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State (PDF). HOST Communications. p. 23. ISBN 9781879688933 – via World Radio History.
  14. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1942 page 134. Retrieved Dec. 6, 2024.
  15. ^ "CBS Adds WHAS and Windsor Unit". Broadcasting. April 15, 1932. p. 16. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  16. ^ E.P.J. Shurick. "The first quarter-century of American broadcasting". p. 209. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  17. ^ "The Whole World Is Listening: WHAS Radio Coverage of the 1937 Ohio River Flood". History Net: Where History Comes Alive - World & US History Online. June 5, 2007. Archived from the original on April 17, 2015.
  18. ^ "MP3 sound file" (MP3). Lkyradio.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  19. ^ "About Us". WHAS Crusade for Children. Archived from the original on March 30, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  20. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page B-107. Retrieved Dec. 6, 2024.
  21. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-85. Retrieved Dec. 6, 2024
  22. ^ "Colonels Fan Memories (Page 1)". Remember the ABA. April 28, 1976. Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  23. ^ "Colonels Fan Memories (Page 2)". Remember the ABA. Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  24. ^ "Colonels Fan Memories (Page 3)". Remember the ABA. Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  25. ^ WHAS April 1974 Tornado Coverage Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. LKYradio.com. (MP3) Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  26. ^ Willis, Scott. "Welcome to LKY Radio - Classic Louisville, Kentucky radio - WHAS Airchecks Archived April 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine". LKYradio.com. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
  27. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 16, 1986. p. 63. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  28. ^ News Release (April 9, 2015). "Terry Meiners Renews With NewsRadio 840 WHAS". WHAS. Archived from the original on April 17, 2015.
  29. ^ Kolarik, Kim (January 17, 2014). "Louisville's 1994 winter storm was something for the record books". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  30. ^ "MP3 sound file" (MP3). Lkyradio.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  31. ^ "MP3 sound file" (MP3). Lkyradio.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  32. ^ "Offenders of The Faith". Eastlink.ca. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  33. ^ "HD Radio station guide for Louisville, KY". Hdradio.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  34. ^ Ostrow, Joanne (July 24, 2013). "KHOW's successor to Peter Boyles is Mandy Connell". Ostrow Off the Record. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  35. ^ a b Bullard, Gabe (July 24, 2013). "Mandy Connell Leaving WHAS for Denver". Louisville, KY: WFPL. Archived from the original on August 8, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  36. ^ Ritchie, Christa (September 4, 2013). "Leland Conway replaces Mandy Connell at 84 WHAS radio". The Buzz. Retrieved September 19, 2013. (soft paywall)
  37. ^ Crawford, Eric (February 21, 2015). "Lach going off the clock - host to leave WHAS SportsTalk in May". Louisville, KY: WDRB. Archived from the original on April 16, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  38. ^ Crawford, Eric (April 15, 2015). "Mandy Connell back in, Sports Talk out for WHAS Radio". Louisville, KY: WDRB. Archived from the original on April 16, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  39. ^ Thomas, W.J. (November 20, 1932). "Ford Bond Would Like to Become Football Announcer". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York, Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 66. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  40. ^ "MP3 sound file" (MP3). Lkyradio.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  41. ^ "MP3 sound file" (MP3). Lkyradio.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  42. ^ Courier-Journal, The. "Mary Walter to host WHAS-84 talk show". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  43. ^ "Local Radio Personalities React To Ziegler Ruling". wave3.com. May 25, 2005. Archived from the original on April 17, 2015.

Bibliography

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  • Credo Fitch Harris (1937). Microphone Memoirs of the Horse and Buggy Days of Radio. Bobbs-Merrill Company. (about WHAS and early radio in general)
  • Terry L. Birdwhistell (1981). "WHAS Radio and the Development of Broadcasting in Kentucky, 1922-1942". Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 79 (4): 333–353. JSTOR 23379633.
  • Nash, Francis M. (1995). Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State (PDF). HOST Communications. ISBN 9781879688933 – via World Radio History.
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