WNOW-FM

WNOW-FM (100.9 FM) is a commercial Top 40 (CHR) radio station licensed to Speedway, Indiana, serving the Indianapolis Metro area. WNOW is owned and operated by Urban One alongside sister stations WTLC, WTLC-AM, WHHH and TV station WDNI-CD. All four stations and TV outlet share studios on Meridian Street in downtown Indianapolis with its transmitter located on the city's east side.
Specialty programming includes the Friday Vibe and the Saturday Vibe with various house DJs including DJ Orion, DJ Cool Hand Lex, and DJ Indiana Jones.
WNOW-FM is licensed to broadcast in the HD Radio (hybrid) format.
History.
Smooth Jazz 100.9.
Prior to October 2007, the 100.9 FM frequency was home to WYJZ, a smooth jazz format that began broadcasting on June 15, 1998.
RadioNow 100.9.
On October 8, 2007, at Noon, the "RadioNow" Top 40/CHR format was dropped from the 93.1 FM frequency (then owned by Emmis Communications) when it switched to Christmas music in advance of picking up the talk format from sister WIBC, which in turn was moving from AM 1070 to clear a spot for sports radio WFNI in December 2007.
Two days later, on October 10, at 4:30 PM, after playing "Anthem For a New America" by Jeff Lorber, WYJZ dropped its smooth jazz format and picked up the contemporary hit radio format of WNOU after stunting for a half-hour with a loop of an announcer saying "RadioNOW, now at 100.9". Radio One purchased the intellectual property of WNOU including its "RadioNOW" branding, format and logo, which were all installed on 100.9 FM. Radio One management claimed that they would offer the displaced staffers of the original WNOU the first chance of joining the station's lineup, and would use the same imaging as the former Radio Now. The first song played on "RadioNOW 100.9" was "Bartender" by T-Pain.
On October 31, 2007, WYJZ picked up the WNOU call sign, completing the "move" of "Radio Now" to 100.9.
By 2009, when Cumulus Media's WRWM picked up the contemporary hit radio format, WNOU started to lean more rhythmic as it forced sister station WHHH to move from rhythmic to urban. The rhythmic lean was reduced when WRWM switched to hot adult contemporary. WRWM has since reformatted to a Mainstream Rock station and no longer is in direct competition with WNOW.
On June 30, 2014, WNOU changed its call letters to WNOW-FM, after the previous station carrying those call letters dropped the call sign and rebranded to AMP Radio.
WNOW-FM is the only Urban One station that does not carry an urban-oriented format.
WNOW-FM carried The Joe & Alex Show from 2015 to 2020, and from 2018 to 2020 was syndicated to sister station KROI-FM in Houston. It was then cancelled on February 28, 2020 and WNOW-FM became an affiliate of The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show on March 20.
HD Radio.
On December 14, 2015, at 3 p.m., WNOW-FM launched an HD2 sub-channel carrying a classic hip hop format, branded as "Boom 102.9." The first song on "Boom" was "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A. Around July 2018, the 102.9 signal was shut down (likely due to interference with nearby WXCH in Columbus, Indiana), with Boom going HD-only at that point.
On December 8, 2017, WNOW-FM launched an HD3 sub-channel carrying a regional Mexican format, branded as "La Grande 105.1". Before the launch, the 105.1 translator, W286CM, had been carrying a 1990s-oriented rock format from September until December 2017.