Weekends feature specialty shows on money, health, the outdoors, the law and home repair, some of which are paid brokered programming.
WHAS is Louisville's primary station for the University of Kentucky athletic broadcasts from the UK Sports Network.
[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] However, concerned that an abrupt frequency change would make it difficult for listeners to pick up the signal, station manager Credo Fitch Harris made arrangements to temporarily remain on 360 meters.
[9] In May 1923, additional "Class B" frequencies were made available, with 750 kHz now reserved nationwide for Louisville,[10] which was exclusively assigned to WHAS.
[12] 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.
[17] On March 29, 1941, the enactment of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) required many radio stations to change their dial positions.
In 1950, WHAS helped WSM-TV establish television service in Middle Tennessee with a microwave signal link from WHAS-TV.
[19][20] 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 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.
[22] Originally broadcasting on channel 9, it was the second television station in Kentucky, after NBC affiliate WAVE-TV, which started in November 1948.
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 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.
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.
[27][28] For their efforts, the station's personnel earned thanks from then-Kentucky Governor Wendell Ford and President Richard Nixon.
[32] On May 28, 1996, another tornado outbreak occurred in Kentuckiana and the station suspended its election coverage that night to cover the storm.
[37] 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.
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.