louisville metropolitan area branding 840 whas slogan louisville s news radio frequency 840 khz am also on hd radio first air date july 18 1922 format news talk power 50 000 watts class a transmitter coordinates 38 15 40 n 85 25 43 w 38.26111 n 85.42861 w 38.26111 ; 85.42861 main antenna 38 15 40 n 85 25 37 w 38.26111 n 85.42694 w 38.26111 ; 85.42694 auxiliary antenna callsign meaning we have a signal a backronym as the call was randomly assigned by the fcc affiliations cbs radio news kentucky wildcats football and men s basketball louisville cardinals football and men s basketball premiere networks westwood one owner iheartmedia inc. cc licenses llc sister stations wtfx fm wqmf fm wamz fm wnrw fm wlgx fm wkrd am wkjk am webcast listen live via iheartradio website www.whas.com whas known by the on air branding as news radio 840 whas is an am radio station broadcasting in louisville kentucky . it is a 50 000 watt clear channel radio station assigned to frequency 840 khz . with clear channel status its nighttime signal can be heard in most of the continental u.s. and much of canada and even in other countries at times . the station s studios are located in the louisville enclave of watterson park and the transmitter site is in long run in far east jefferson county . whas is owned by iheartmedia inc. contents 1 history 1.1 hd programming 2 programming 3 public service 4 notable former on air personalities 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit its first broadcast was on july 18 1922 . it was originally assigned the frequency of 350 khz . on may 16 1925 the first live broadcast of the kentucky derby was originated by whas and was also carried by wgn in chicago . 1 the call of the derby featured an announcer who watched from the windows of one of the famous twin spires of churchill downs . on may 15 1932 whas changed from being an nbc affiliate and joined cbs . at that time whas operated on 820 khz with 10 kw power but the output was soon increased to 25 kw as authorized by the federal radio commission . 2 during the 1937 flood the station aired 115 000 messages . on march 29 1941 the station moved to its current frequency of 840 am and made a clear channel station both as a result of the north american regional broadcasting agreement which relocated the 840 clear channel allocation to louisville from toronto where it was used by cbl . on march 30 1970 whas began 24 hour operation . the station was originally part of the local media empire ruled by the bingham family which also published louisville courier journal and louisville times now owned by the gannett company and merged in 1987 and operated television station whas tv which following several mergers and transactions in subsequent years is now owned by sander media and operated by gannett . whas and its fm sister station wamz the former whas fm were acquired by clear channel communications which as iheartmedia continues to own the stations to this day in 1986 as part of the breakup of the bingham family s media properties . 3 hd programming edit the station has been broadcasting on a full time basis in the iboc digital radio mode using the hd radio system 4 from ibiquity since september 2007 after an initial testing period which started in 2006 . prior to 1995 whas broadcast in c quam am stereo . 5 programming edit whas modernized in the early 1970s from an old line mor music outlet into an early form of hot adult contemporary music format featuring adult appeal top 40 hits and rock oldies ; one longtime slogan was good and gold as in good music or adult contemporary and golden oldies . for a time in the 1980s it was also the louisville affiliate for casey kasem s american top 40 . the station continued to feature a full service hot ac format through the 1980s and was the last 50 kw am station with a full time ac format and by 1995 most of the remaining music programming was oldies based ; this made whas one of the last 50 000 watt clear channel radio stations to feature music programming on a regular basis . today the station features the rush limbaugh show live the mark levin show delayed by 2 hours the last two hours of the national broadcast of ground zero and coast to coast am live on its daily lineup . some other personalities on the weekday lineup have included terry meiners on the terry meiners show 6 and lachlan mclean on sportstalk 840 . the late morning slot 9 am to noon has seen two changes in recent years . francene cucinello hosted the francene show until her death on january 15 2010 ; she was replaced that summer by mandy connell . in turn connell left in august 2013 to become the morning host on fellow iheartmedia then clear channel station khow in denver ; 7 her last show on whas was on august 9 . 8 for several months after her move connell provided daily one minute commentaries known as mandy minutes to whas . 8 connell s slot was filled by leland conway previously a talk radio host in lexington kentucky and most recently richmond virginia whose show began airing on september 16 . 9 significant changes came to the afternoon and evening lineup in the first half of 2015 . in february mclean announced he would leave whas on may 15 and move to charlotte north carolina where his wife took a corporate position with the cedar fair amusement park company . 10 in april it was confirmed that sports talk 840 would end when mclean left whas . effective may 18 meiners show was cut back by an hour ending at 6 00 instead of 7 00 . the 6 8 time slot was filled by connell who returned to the louisville market with a locally focused talk show although it broadcasts from khow s studios until february 2016 . then long time fill in host mary walter took over as the permanent host and continued the local focused format . the mark levin show moved to the 8 11 slot being delayed by two hours instead of three 11 and an extra hour of ground zero was picked up . weekend programming includes the dave ramsey show the weekend with joe pags joe pagliarulo the ric edelman show the larry kudlow show the mutual fund show co hosted by adam bold and handel on the law . 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 show hosted by former whas personality john ziegler and leah brandon . whas is louisville s home for university of kentucky athletic broadcasts carrying wildcats football and men s basketball games . previously it had been the flagship for louisville cardinals football and basketball and still serves as the cardinals effective flagship station when there is no conflict with wildcats games . public service edit whas is the flagship radio station of the annual whas crusade for children telethon . the station also broadcasts the moral side of the news one of the oldest public affairs programs in american broadcasting dating back to the 1940s . the show has also been shown on whas tv since the 1950s . the show s panel of clergy members have been involved in distributing the proceeds of the crusade for children among local charities since the telethon s beginning . 12 whas radio has solidifed its reputation over the years as a leader in coverage of crisis situations particularly severe weather . during the flood of 1937 the station gained nationwide notice for its coverage of the disaster which included broadcasting louisville flood bulletins over the facilities of wsm in nashville after louisville authorities were forced to cut electrical power to the city because of the rising flood waters thus forcing whas own signal off the air . 13 14 on the afternoon of april 3 1974 louisville was hit by an f4 tornado that developed during the 1974 super outbreak . whas broke away from regular programming to track the storm as it passed through the louisville metropolitan area . in the hours immediately following the storm the station delivered important information about what areas had been directly impacted by the storms and traffic reporter dick gilbert followed the tornado in his helicopter reporting on the damage as he flew at a safe distance behind the storm . 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 . 15 16 for their efforts the station s personnel earned thanks from then kentucky governor wendell ford and president richard nixon . whas continued to provide valuable severe weather coverage in the 1990s . on january 17 1994 a record overnight snowstorm paralyzed the city and much of the state of kentucky . 17 whas had round the clock updates and closings information for nearly a week . 18 on may 28 1996 another tornado outbreak occurred in kentuckiana and the station suspended their election coverage that night to cover the storm . 19 notable former on air personalities edit randy atcher children s host cowboy singer ford bond network announcer in the era of old time radio 20 foster brooks show host gary burbank afternoon dj 21 david dick newscaster later with whas tv and from 1966 to 1985 cbs news joe donovan overnight dj show host 1977 1998 22 23 24 dick gilbert helicopter traffic reporter 1970 1984 received national recognition for broadcasting live coverage of the april 3 1974 louisville tornado 25 26 27 cawood ledford sports lachlan mclean sports ; final host of sports talk 840 don mcneill national morning radio host milton metz talk show host notable for live broadcast after april 3 1974 tornado that shared information about the aftermath . 28 hugh smith fred wiche farm & garden director the weekend gardner 1979 1998 29 john ziegler talk show host 30 see also edit whas tv references edit derby to go on the air the new york times may 16 1925 p. 11 cbs adds whas and windsor unit pdf . broadcasting . april 15 1932 . retrieved 2 october 2014 . changing hands . broadcasting . june 16 1986 pg . 63 . 1 hd radio station guide for louisville ky . offenders of the faith . eastlink.ca . news release april 9 2015 . terry meiners renews with newsradio 840 whas . whas . ostrow joanne july 24 2013 . khow s successor to peter boyles is mandy connell . ostrow off the record . the denver post . retrieved july 28 2013 . a b bullard gabe july 24 2013 . mandy connell leaving whas for denver . louisville ky wfpl . retrieved july 28 2013 . ritchie christa september 4 2013 . leland conway replaces mandy connell at 84 whas radio . the buzz . the courier journal . retrieved september 19 2013 . soft paywall crawford eric february 21 2015 . lach going off the clock host to leave whas sportstalk in may . louisville ky wdrb . retrieved april 16 2015 . crawford eric april 15 2015 . mandy connell back in sports talk out for whas radio . louisville ky wdrb . retrieved april 16 2015 . crusade for children who we are . archive.org . the whole world is listening whas radio coverage of the 1937 ohio river flood .