WJYI

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WJYI (1340 AM) is a radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It runs a Christian format that is leased out to various broadcasters such as Irvin Baxter Jr.. They also run some sports broadcasts. It is known on-air as "Joy 1340".

[edit] History

The station signed on the air as WEMP in the 1930s. In 1955, when WEMP moved to 1250 AM, the call letters on 1340 kHz were changed to WRIT, and they aired a Top 40 format. The call letters stood for We'Re IT. Future television talk show host Tom Snyder got his start at the station as a news reporter in the 1950s.[1]

WRIT switched to all-news in 1972 and later went through several more changes before the call letters were dropped. On New Year's Day, 2000, the WRIT call letters were picked up for oldies-formatted 95.7 FM as a tribute to the former Top 40 format of 1340 AM.

From 1983 to 1984, they were known as WMKE, then later simulcast with its sister station, WBCS (102.9) and picked up its call sign in 1984. When WLZR debuted on 102.9 in 1987, 1340's call sign also became WLZR, simulcasting their sister station for several years. In the early 1990s, they aired their own automated alternative rock format known as "The Warp".

Eventually, the station began to sell much of their air time to religious and sports broadcasters, and the station became WJYI (Joy 1340) on May 30, 1997.

[edit] External links

• 1340 WJYI
• Stimmung Stunde, German Radio Program
• Milwaukee radio: a retrospective
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WJYI
• Radio Locator Information on WJYI