WJBC (AM)

WJBC

City of license	Bloomington, Illinois
Broadcast area	Bloomington-Normal
Slogan	The Voice of Central Illinois
Frequency	1230 kHz
Repeaters	93.7 WJBC-FM
First air date	May 1925 (1925-05)[1]
Format	News/Talk
Power	1000 watts
Class	C
Facility ID	5876
Transmitter coordinates	40°27′1.1″N 89°0′42.3″W / 40.450306°N 89.011750°W / 40.450306; -89.011750Coordinates: 40°27′1.1″N 89°0′42.3″W / 40.450306°N 89.011750°W / 40.450306; -89.011750 (NAD83)
Callsign meaning	"Where Jazz Becomes Classic" (old mnemonic for sequentially assigned callsign)
Former frequencies	1200 kHz (LaSalle/Normal, 1928–1941) 1320 kHz (LaSalle, 1927–1928) 1280 kHz (LaSalle, 1925–1927)[2]
Affiliations	CBS Radio Network NBC Blue/ABC (former)
Owner	Cumulus Media (Cumulus Licensing LLC)
Sister stations	WBNQ, WBWN, WJBC-FM, WJEZ
Webcast	Web player
Website	www.wjbc.com

WJBC (1230 kHz) is an AM radio station based in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

Part of a five-station cluster, WJBC is the only AM station of the group. It has five full-time news people and an agribusiness director.^[3] The station is now owned by Cumulus Media.

The station calls itself "The Voice of McLean County".

WJBC has been the longtime home to the Illinois State Redbirds, Illinois Wesleyan Titans, as well as local high school sports and the St. Louis Cardinals. WJBC is the home station for the Normal CornBelters, although their games are usually streamed online only due to the Cardinals broadcasts. WJBC also carries the Central Illinois Drive, Bloomington Thunder, and Bloomington Edge on occasion.

WJBC has been known for many years as a station that broadcasts all-local talk programs. This fact has consistently made WJBC one of the top radio stations in the Bloomington area. During the high school football season, the station airs the WJBC High School Football Extravaganza, where reporters call in with game summaries until 11:00 p.m.

WJBC carries The Dave Ramsey Show and The Alan Colmes Show at night, in addition to its local shows.

History

The station began broadcasting from La Salle, Illinois in May 1925 with 1000 watts on 1280 kHz. Its call letters were apparently assigned arbitrarily during the AM radio expansion era of the 1920s. The station was initially music-oriented, and for a while it adopted the mnemonic slogan "Where Jazz Becomes Classic".^[1] The station was originally at the Hummer Furniture Store, then at the Kaskaskia Hotel. During the years in LaSalle, it moved to 1320 kHz, then 1200 kHz. The Great Depression eventually closed both the companies backing the station in LaSalle, and the owner of Hummer Furniture owner moved the station to Bloomington-Normal.^[2]

On 11 September 1934, WJBC began transmitting from its new facilities, making it the first radio station in Bloomington-Normal. The transmitter was in Normal and its main studio was at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington; other studios were at Illinois State Normal School and the Illinois Farm Bureau.^[2] At first it was only on the air a few hours a day, with eight daily newscasts, weather twice a day, and the Western Union time announced at the top of each hour.^[2][3]

On the morning of August 25, 1971, the station broadcast the last radio program of the Reverend R.J. Zehr, who died later that morning. Zehr's first broadcast on the station was on a Sunday in October 1934; shortly thereafter, he was given a daily slot, which he continued - without missing a day - until the mid-1960s. Almost all of Zehr’s broadcasts were live, not prerecorded. In 1949, he began doing the program from his house, via telephone. His program’s time slot varied over the years, but normally aired between 5:00 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., and lasted 15 to 30 minutes.^[4]

On April 30, 2012, Townsquare Media announced that it was selling the station to Cumulus Media.^[5] The assignment of the station's license to Cumulus was consummated on July 31, 2012.

In 2005, the station won the Marconi Award from the National Association of Broadcasters for Best Small Market Radio Station in the United States.^[6]

WJBC has won several Edward R. Murrow Awards for its local news coverage, as well as several Illinois Silver Dome Awards.

Personalities

Current

Former

References

External links

• WJBC.com — official website
  • Highlights in WJBC History — overview of WJBC timeline
• WJBC Radio Collection — McLean County Museum of History archives
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WJBC
• Radio-Locator Information on WJBC
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WJBC