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Simulcast with WAKY-FM Radcliff | |
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Broadcast area | Louisville metropolitan area |
Frequency | 620 kHz |
Branding | 103.5 WAKY |
Programming | |
Format | Classic Hits |
Affiliations | University of Kentucky Wildcats |
Ownership | |
Owner |
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Sister stations | WAKY-FM |
History | |
First air date | August 10, 1958; 66 years ago (1958-08-10) (as WTMT) |
Former call signs |
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Technical information | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 30798 |
Class | B |
Power | 500 watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 38°18′59″N 85°42′08″W / 38.31639°N 85.70222°W / 38.31639; -85.70222 |
Translator(s) |
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Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | wakyradio.com |
WAKY (620 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, that simulcasts a classic hits format with sister station WAKY-FM (103.5 MHz). It is owned by William Walters, through licensee W & B Broadcasting Co., Inc. WAKY-AM-FM carry University of Kentucky Wildcasts football and basketball. The studios are on Ring Road in Elizabethtown.
WAKY is a Class B station powered at 500 watts. To protect other stations on 620 AM from interference, it has a directional antenna, using a three-tower array by day and a five-tower array at night. The transmitter towers are along Lutz Lane in the Oak Park neighborhood of Jeffersonville, Indiana. In addition to 103.5 FM and 620 AM, programming is also heard on three FM translators: 100.1 W261CO in Louisville, 104.3 W285ER in Prospect and 106.3 W292FS, also in Louisville.
History
AM 620 signed on the air on August 10, 1958; 66 years ago (1958-08-10). Its original call sign was WTMT and it was owned by Jefferson Broadcasting. In its early years, it was an affiliate of ABC Radio and the Mutual Broadcasting System. For much of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, WTMT aired a country music format. In the 1990s, as radio listeners moved to the FM dial to hear music, WTMT flipped to a sports radio format.
In 2005, 620 AM switched its call letters to WTUV. It shared a significant portion of Spanish-language programming with sister station WTUV-FM (105.7). In May 2015, WTUV-FM was sold to UB Louisville and became English-language sports radio station WHBE-FM.
AM 620 was assigned the WAKY call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on April 1, 2015. On May 3, 2015, it became a simulcast of WAKY-FM, rebroadcasting its classic hits format. The WAKY call letters are evocative of the famous WAKY (790 kHz), a nationally influential Top 40 music station in Louisville under several owners, including Gordon McLendon, Multimedia and LIN Broadcasting. The Top 40 hits played on the old WAKY from 1958 to late 1985.
Currently, the WAKY-AM-FM studios are south of the Fort Knox Army Reservation in Radcliff, Kentucky, about 27 miles south of Louisville. The WAKY AM transmitter and antenna are located in the Oak Park area of Jeffersonville, Indiana.
Translators
WAKY-AM-FM programming is also heard on three FM translators:
- 100.1 W261CO serves Louisville inside the Interstate 264 (Watterson/Shawnee Expressway) corridor (along with New Albany, Clarksville, and Jeffersonville in Southern Indiana.
- 104.3 W285ER serves Prospect, Kentucky and Charlestown, Indiana.
- 106.3 W292FS serves Jeffersontown and Lake Forest.
References
- "Facility Technical Data for WAKY". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- Radio-Locator.com/WAKY-AM
- Broadcasting Yearbook 1960 page A-159. Retrieved Jan. 16, 2025.
- Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-85. Retrieved Jan. 16, 2025.
External links
- Facility details for Facility ID 30798 (WAKY) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- WAKY in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
- Facility details for Facility ID 156300 (W261CO) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- W261CO at FCCdata.org
- Facility details for Facility ID 86302 (W285ER) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- W285ER at FCCdata.org
- Facility details for Facility ID 202013 (W292FS) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
- W292FS at FCCdata.org
- FCC History Cards for WAKY
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Classic Hits radio stations in Kentucky | |
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