[citation needed] Licensed by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland since 1989, WLR had previously been a pirate radio station.

[citation needed] The original WLR, which was a pirate station, launched on 23 June 1978 broadcasting from the garage of Rick Whelan at Killotteran just outside the city.

This unlicensed operation was one of the longest lasting in the country and continued for just over a decade until its closure at the end of 1988 – new radio licences were to be awarded by the then IRTC (now BCI) in 1989.

WLR, with a number of local businessmen on board formed a consortium to apply for the franchise to broadcast to Waterford city and county.

[needs update] According to the JNLR 2018-1 National Radio Listenership Survey, WLR FM had an weekly audience reach of 64,000 in Q1 2018.