WJIB

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WJIB
Broadcast area	Cambridge/Boston, Massachusetts
Branding	Memories 740
First air date	1948 (as WTAO)
Frequency	740 (kHz)
Format	Beautiful music, pop standards
ERP	250 watts day, 5 watts night
Callsign meaning	"Jib" is a sail of a sailboat; the studios of the original WJIB-FM 96.9 FM were located in an office building on Boston's waterfront; chosen by Bob Bittner in tribute to the original WJIB.
Owner	Bob Bittner
Website	N/A

WJIB 740 AM is a radio station based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that specializes in beautiful music and pop standards. It is owned by Bob Bittner Broadcasting, with a sister station at WJTO in Bath, Maine. It runs no commercial advertisements during the week, but supports itself by selling leased programming on the weekends. WJIB broadcasts in AM stereo.

WJIB is an indirect successor to a previous Boston FM station with the same call sign (now WTKK 96.9, owned by Greater Media) which in turn descended from WXHR, one of the first FM stations in the Boston area. Coincidentally, what is now WJIB was once owned by Harvey Radio Laboratories, the same company that owned WXHR/WJIB-FM. The AM station was first known as WTAO, then WXHR-AM, and later as WCAS. In 1967, a year after they were sold to a joint venture of Kaiser Broadcasting and the Boston Globe, WXHR-AM became WCAS while WXHR-FM changed to WJIB and became well known for a nautical-themed station identification featuring a buoy bell and a seagull (now used in modified form by WQRC on Cape Cod). WJIB-FM became WCDJ, a smooth jazz station, in 1990, and the call sign WJIB lapsed.

After Kaiser/Globe took over, the AM side at first broadcast a format with music and local news of interest to listeners in Cambridge and nearby communities, but was not very successful. By the early 1970's, WCAS programmed a folk/rock format which while not enormously sucecssful, gained a devoted following in the Boston area. The format continued after Kaiser sold the station, but ended with a sale of the station in 1981 after the then-owners, Dan Murphy and Mel Stone, were forced to file bankruptcy for WCAS. The rest of the 1980's would see a revolving door of owners, call letters, and formats. In 1991, Bob Bittner purchased the station, then known as WLVG and programming a Black Gospel format. Bittner changed the format to "Earth Radio" (a blend of contemporary music with environmentally-aware public service spots) under the call letters WWEA.

The WJIB call letters were applied for by Bittner in 1992 and were granted to him by the FCC for the 740 station in Cambridge. Once having gained the WJIB call letters, Bittner switched the station to the beautiful music format, expanding it slightly as the station gained success. The station's studio still occupies a section of the original building owned by Harvey Radio Labs, the original proprietors of WXHR and WTAO.

Originally a daytime-only station, WJIB gained nighttime power in the early 1990's.

During the spring/summer seasons of 2006, a small construction developer circulated a petition in the local Fresh Pond, Cambridge, MA neighborhood to gauge community support or opposition for tearing down the original Concord Avenue studio buildings which housed WTAO. The firm proposed the removal of the current studio buildings, now home to Cambridge Self Storage, a rental storage company, and the replacement of the buildings with 220+ 3-4 story condominiums and townhouses. The proposal has run into considerable community opposition [1].

On January 25, 2007, an article appeared in the [[2]] Boston Herald stating that higher music licensing fees could pose a problem to WJIB. BMI and ASCAP licensing fees were increased sixfold due to a new system in which fees were tied to ratings, and WJIB was getting considerably higher ratings (especially after WXKS AM 1430 changed from standards to progressive talk in Oct. of 2004; the audience soon found WJIB).

On March 13, 2007, following the station's traditional 12:00 noon broadcast of the national anthem, Bob Bittner announced that the station will begin accepting non-tax-deductible listener donations, seeking to raise approximately $88,000 annually to defray the station's operating expenses. Bittner specified that donations should be personal checks; no credit cards will be accepted, since doing so would direct fees to lenders who encourage America's mass indebtedness. Checks may be mailed to WJIB, 443 Concord Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138.

[edit] External links

• WJIB history at Bostonradio.org
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WJIB
• FCC - Original WTAO Radio Tower/Studio location coordinates
• A review and profile in Boston's Weekly Dig

Easy listening formatted radio stations in the United States  view • talk • edit
By call sign	KAHM  · KHOY  · KILJ  · KIRK  · KKWK  · KLUX  · KMFY  · KNXR  · KRTR  · KVSV  · KWXY  · WAVV  · WBAQ  · WBNL  · WCVU  · WEZS  · WEZV  · WGCY  · WHLC  · WHRR  · WJEJ  · WJIB  · WKLI  · WKTZ  · WLRR  · WMUU  · WMVK  · WOAB  · WOEZ  · WOON  · WPLM  · WSFB  · WSPZ  · WTPB  · WWOK  · WYEZ  ·
By city	Albany, NY  · Beloit, KS  · Birmingham, AL  · Boonville, IN  · Boston, MA  · Boston, MA  · Gibson City, IL  · Grand Rapids, MN  · Greenville, MS  · Greenville, SC  · Greenville, SC  · Hagerstown, MD  · Highlands, NC  · Honolulu, HI  · Jacksonville, FL  · Kansas City, MO  · Laconia, NH  · Laredo, TX  · Macon, MO  · Marco, FL  · Maynardville, TN  · Milledgeville, GA  · Mount Pleasant, IA  · Murrells Inlet, SC  · North Myrtle Beach, SC  · Ozark, AL  · Palm Springs, CA  · Perryville, MD  · Portsmouth, OH  · Prescott, AZ  · Quitman, GA  · Robstown, TX  · Rochester, MN  · Rockford, IL  · Solana, FL  · Woonsocket, RI  · See also Smooth Jazz