The station signed on the air in 1957 under the call sign WDAT. It was a country-western station. Its call letters changed to WELE in 1959, and its format changed to an R&B music format in 1963 before going back to country by 1967.[4] In 1981, the station took on new call letters WZIP and became an oldies station before returning to country in 1986.[4]
In 1988, a group of investors who were graduates of the historically black Morehouse College bought WZIP. The call letters changed to WPUL and format changed to urban contemporary.[5]