WXUS first signed on the air on March 3, 1969 as WTRS-FM, with 3,000 watts of power. WTRS-FM was Dunnellon's first radio station and one of the earliest successful FM Top 40 stations. The station was sold in 1975 after one of its owners died in an automobile accident, and the format was changed to "Contemporary Easy Listening," a hybrid of beautiful music and adult contemporary. WTRS-FM was converted to a country format in 1978, and became one of West-Central Florida's most popular stations. The station was sold again in 1981 and switched to Drake-Chenault's beautiful music format, only to switch back to country music after only six months following a deluge of listener complaints. WTRS had been a country station continuously until 2016. In 1983 the station was sold to its then-owner, Asterisk Communications, who upgraded the WTRS signal from 3,000 to 50,000 watts and in 1988 moved the station to new studios in Ocala.