WKHY, "Lafayette's Rock Station" is an FM radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 licensed to the city of Lafayette, Indiana

Lafayette, Indiana

Lafayette is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 67,140. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, which has a large impact on...

. The station operates on the FM radio frequency of 93.5 MHz, FM channel 228. http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_det.pl?Facility_id=63185. The studios are located at 3575 McCarty Lane in Lafayette, Indiana

Lafayette, Indiana

Lafayette is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 67,140. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, which has a large impact on...

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History

WKHY was originally WXUS, a radio station located at 92.7 MHz on the FM dial. The station originally carried religious/inspirational programming until the station was sold to a secular broadcaster. The format then became Adult contemporary as "US 93". In addition to the AC format, the station also carried some religious programming during the late night/early morning hours to fulfill their license requirements. This continued until the station moved frequencies. In the mid-80s, the AC format was dropped in favor of album-oriented rock

Album-oriented rock

Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...

. The station continued to call themselves "US 93". In the late 80s, the station moved to 93.5MHz as a result of a frequency reassignment which affected many stations in the 92-94MHz band throughout North-central Indiana and East-central Illinois. Shortly after the switch, despite high ratings, the station flipped its format to Classic hits

Classic hits

Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...

 due to a lack of advertising. A contest was then launched to pick the call letters for the station. The winner chose WKHY, meaning Klassic Hits for You. The calls remain on 93.5 to this day.

Classic hits remained on the station through the early 1990s when the station segued to Classic rock

Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...

. WKHY would also tweak their on-air branding to "93-5 KHY". In 1996, Artistic Media Partners' fledging country music outlet, WGBD, switched to a modern rock format giving WKHY a direct competitor. Both stations fared well with KHY winning mainly the upper end of their target demo and WGBD winning the younger end, according to Arbitron. In 2001, WGBD flipped to classic rock and now competes with WKHY for the older male demographic. KHY maintained their AOR format and, to this day, continue to be a ratings winner for males 18-49.

Due to the recent format change of WSHP, WKHY now airs Bob and Tom in the Lafayette area.