WLOU

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WLOU (1350 AM) is a commercial radio station airing an urban adult contemporary format, with urban gospel music on Sunday mornings. Licensed to Louisville, Kentucky, it is owned by New Albany Broadcasting, with studios on West Muhammad Ali Boulevard, west of downtown. WLOU is simulcast on sister station 1600 WLUE in New Albany, Indiana. Both stations target the African American community in the Louisville metropolitan area, which includes parts of Kentucky and Indiana. The Louisville radio market has approximately 200,000 African-American residents, about 16% of the population.

By day, WLOU is powered at 2,200 watts non-directional. But to avoid interference to other stations on 1350 AM, WLOU reduces power at night to 500 watts, using a directional antenna after sunset. The transmitter is on the city's westside near I-264.^[2] Programming is also heard on 99-watt FM translator W284AD at 104.7 MHz.

WLOU signed on the air on November 19, 1948; 75 years ago (1948-11-19). At first, it was a daytimer, 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 jockeys. The early conversion to Rhythm & Blues 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 daytimer station, it was one of the nation's top-rated Soul Music-Black Radio outlets of its day.

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 and 101.3 WMJM, eclipsed WLOU's dominance in the black community. So WLOU decided to end its urban adult format. It flipped to urban gospel music on July 15, 1996, after a brief period of airing a black-oriented Christian talk and teaching format.

The station had been owned by Anchor Radio, LLC since 2011.^[3] In late 2011, Anchor Radio, LLC acquired two synchronous FM translators on 104.7 MHz: W284AD in New Albany, Indiana, and W284AM in Middletown, Kentucky. 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.^[4] 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".^[5]

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.

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

• Facility details for Facility ID 31883 (WLOU) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• WLOU in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• Facility details for Facility ID 38462 (W284AD) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• W284AD at FCCdata.org
• FCC History Cards for WLOU