Kentucky Public Radio, doing business as Louisville Public Media, is a non-profit organization that operates the three National Public Radio member stations in Louisville, Kentucky—news and talk WFPL, classical WUOL-FM, and adult album alternative WFPK.
The organization began in 1993, when the Louisville Free Public Library, owner of WFPL and WFPK, and the University of Louisville, owner of WUOL-FM, transferred the stations' licenses to the community-licensed Public Radio Partnership. It was the first public broadcasting organization (not counting state networks) to unite three radio stations under a single umbrella. This move came amid the expansion of NPR programming in the 1990s. WFPL, long the flagship NPR station in Kentuckiana, found it difficult to make room on its schedule for both the new programming and the jazz, bluegrass and blues music that had been a staple on the station for years. At the same time, both WUOL and WFPK aired classical music in a market that was nowhere near large enough to support two classical music stations.
After two years of talks, the stations launched a major format overhaul that took effect on-air on January 8, 1996. WUOL became the sole outlet for classical music in Louisville, in part due to its longstanding ties with U of L's school of music. WFPL turned its focus to news and talk ceded its entire music inventory and most music-based programming to WFPK, which became a Triple-A station. In 2000, the stations moved their operations to the former Electric Building in downtown Louisville. Eight years later, the group changed its trade name to the current Louisville Public Media.