Radio WEUP-AM (Huntsville Heritage Station)

WEUP (1700 AM) is an urban contemporary gospel formatted radio station that serves Huntsville, Alabama, and the majority of the Tennessee Valley in North Alabama, United States. WEUP is dubbed "Huntsville's Heritage Station" because it was the first in the region to broadcast an urban format. It has an urban contemporary sister station called WEUP-FM.

WEUP began broadcasting on March 20, 1958, on an 100-watt 1600 kilohertz (kHz) AM station owned by Leroy and Viola Garrett, who became the first African-American owners of a radio station in the state of Alabama. WEUP first broadcast from a pink trailer in the grounds of Syler Tabernacle Church in Huntsville, before moving to its present studios on Jordan Lane. The station's format was a mixture of gospel music, sermons, news, and R&B, everyday from sunrise to 6 p.m.Listeners of 1600 AM were able to hear a viable mix of gospel and soul music as well as news and public affairs catering to the interests of the Tennessee Valley's black population.The Garretts made history when they testified before a congressional committee in 1963, the outcome of which resulted in the change of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) law regulating 24-hour broadcasts in the 1960s. That same year WEUP began 24-hour broadcasts, yet another milestone for urban radio.The station celebrated its 50th anniversary by hosting a Blues Festival on August 16, 2008, at Kalea Park in Meridianville, Alabama. The festival featured national, regional, and local blues artists performing live.