The station's construction permit for a new radio station, originally licensed to
Providence, Kentucky, was issued on May 22, 1975. Its first broadcast as WHRZ was in April 1976, with former
WOMI general manager Doug Gabby as manager of the station. Under original ownership by Tradewater Broadcasting Company, the station aired an adult contemporary format in its early years as the only radio station within
Webster County boundaries. The station became a
country music- formatted station in 1983. In 1991, the station's transmission was relocated near
Dixon, Kentucky, with the opening of a second studio/office facility in
Madisonville. The station changed its callsign to WWKY (unrelated to the current
WWKY-FM (104.9 MHz) in Providence) on July 14,
2004.
Rebirth as an ESPN Radio affiliate On the 27th of March 2017, WWKY went silent. On April 13, 2017, WWKY, under current ownership by Henson Media, changed callsigns to WREF, and relocated its broadcast license location to
Sebree, Kentucky, with studios in Henderson. The station resumed broadcasting June 1, 2017 with an
ESPN Radio affiliation, branded as
ESPN 97.7, The Ref. ==Programming==