WHBE (680

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

) is an AM

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

broadcasting a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

format. Licensed to Newburg, Kentucky,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, an unincorporated Census Designated Place (CDP) community in Jefferson County, that in 2003 merged alongside the rest of the county with

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, the station serves the Louisville area. The station is currently owned by UB Louisville, LLC and features programming from

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

History

The station went on the air August 24, 1992 as WXKN, with a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

format, largely consisting of

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...

programming. The call letters were changed to WNAI in 1997. Word Broadcasting Network, owner of television station

WBNA WBNA (channel 21) is an independent television station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, owned by local charismatic megachurch Evangel World Prayer Center. The station's offices are located on Fern Valley Road (just north of State Rout ...

, acquired the station in 1999 and renamed it WJIE (sharing call letters with

WJIE-FM WJIE-FM (88.5 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Contemporary Christian format. Licensed to Okolona, Kentucky, United States, the station serves the Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and ...

, which is owned by a sister entity to Word Broadcasting Network). Three years later, the station was sold to

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, who implemented its

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

programming on March 16, 2002; on April 23, the call letters were changed to WDRD. Disney put WDRD up for sale in late September 2010, and originally planned to temporarily shut the station down on September 30, 2010. However, the station instead switched to ESPN Radio on September 29, (itself owned by Disney), which had previously been heard on WQKC before it was shut down by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

the preceding August, after a deal to sell the station to Chad Boeger was reached. Boeger acquired the station through UB Louisville, LLC; this entity shares several investors with Union Broadcasting, owner of

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

sports station

WHB WHB (810 AM) is a commercial radio station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The station is owned by Union Broadcasting and it airs an all-sports radio format. For most of the 1950s through the 1970s, while it was broadcasting at 710 AM, ...

. The call letters were changed to the current WHBE on February 18, 2011. Its sister station, WHBE-FM, 105.7 MHz, Eminence-Frankfort, KY which is audible in Louisville Metro city, was acquired from Davidson Media, LLC in April, 2014 (majority simulcast with WHBE-AM, some ESPN Deportes Spanish programming to appeal to Hispanic audience; station was formerly all-Spanish WTUV-FM)

References

External links

* HBE ESPN Radio stations Radio stations established in 1992 1992 establishments in Kentucky Former subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company {{Kentucky-radio-station-stub