Both stations target the African American community in the Louisville metropolitan area, which includes parts of Kentucky and Indiana.
The station featured the popular R&B format for decades, with news and talk programs focused on civil rights.
It flipped to urban gospel music on July 15, 1996, after a brief period of airing a black-oriented Christian talk and teaching format.
[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.
[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.