On October 17, 1967, WRNO first signed on. It was a stand-alone FM station, put on the air by Gulf South Broadcasters, with Joseph Costello III as the owner and general manager. The station had its studios at 3230 Patterson Drive. It was a network affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System and aired a progressive rock format. Although its previous slogan was "We're the Rock of New Orleans," the station's call letters actually stand for "Westbank Radio New Orleans." The station operated a popular business selling rock t-shirts, records and other music related items called the WRNO "Rock Shop" on the ground level of the studio. Since its inception in 1967, WRNO moved from progressive to album rock in the 1980s, and switched to Classic Rock in 1997. WRNO was also home to a popular shortwave radio service in the 1980s and 1990s called WRNO Worldwide, now owned by a Christian broadcaster. In 1998, WRNO was acquired by Centennial Broadcasting. Then in 2002, the station changed hands again, acquired by San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications, the forerunner to today's owner, iHeartMedia, Inc. On November 13, 2006, at 4 AM, after signing off with The Doors' "The End," WRNO flipped from rock music to a talk radio format as "The New 99.5FM.com." As explained in the official mission statement posted at its website, "The station is committed to providing listeners with everything they need to knowon the radio at 99.5 FM and on demand at thenew995fm.com." On the same day sister stationKHEV became "The Rock of New Orleans," using it as the new slogan for that station's switch from Urban Gospel to Active Rock. On April 1, 2008, WRNO changed its slogan to "Rush Radio," with all day repeats of The Rush Limbaugh Show. It also played a tape loop of Rush's theme song, the instrumental from My City Was Gone by The Pretenders, during times when the show was not playing. The stunt was to celebrate WRNO's acquisition of the show from longtime affiliate WWL. WRNO resumed its regular schedule on April 7, with Limbaugh heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays plus a repeat on Saturdays. The Limbaugh program had previously aired on WRNO Worldwide, which Limbaugh called "The EIB World Service" on the air. The stations are no longer co-owned. In September 2014 WRNO re-branded as "News Talk 99.5 WRNO."
Past Personalities
Notable station alumni include Bill Burkett, E.Alvin Davis, Joe Clark, Bobby Reno, Captain Humble, Doug Christian, and Russ Boney. WRNO alumni also include former PD Michael Costello, Jim White, DJ-turned-actor John Larroquette, Soxless Scott Seagraves, Jeff "JD The DJ" Douglas, Tom Owens, Jimbo Roberts, Johnny Tyler, "Weerd" Wayne Watkins, Mary London, Lyn Taylor and writer-producer Vance DeGeneres. Steve Suter did the morning show with sidekick Kevin Carlile, as the "Morning Dudes."
