Two years ago, when radio stations WLOU & WLLV were purchased by Pete Boyce & David Smith of Aircom Media, it was with the expressed purpose of honoring the vision set some 70 years ago by Dr. William E. Summers III. Serving Louisville’s African – American Community with music and information they couldn’t get anywhere else.
Fast forward to 2022, during a management meeting, as fate would have it, Smith would lay out a vision for a television station that would be an extension of “The Original Soul of Louisville.” What he didn’t know at the time was that the seed for such an entity had been planted 70 years earlier.
Back on November 199, 1952, then owner, Robert W. Rounsaville submitted “the first request for a Negro television station ever filed with the FCC.” Aircom’s Vice President of Programming Mark Gunn found the original Courier Journal newspaper article and presented it to Smith. “This is supposed to happen” Gunn said.
The dream deferred will not be denied.
On March 14, WLOU-TV will begin broadcasting 24/7 on channel 24.7. You’ll need an antenna in order to watch.
“There are quite a few residents in Louisville [and Southern Indiana] that don’t subscribe to cable or satellite for many reasons. Cost being among them and with WLOU-TV, we’ll be able to fill a void in Louisville television,” Smith said. “This is a golden opportunity to extend the community work our radio stations are doing to a visual medium. The possibilities are endless for The Original Soul of Louisville.”
For more information, contact David Smith or Mark Gunn at (502) 776-1240 or at David.Smith@aircommedia.com and Mark.Gunn@aircommedia.com.
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