WJRD

WJRD

City of license	Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Broadcast area	Tuscaloosa and vicinity
Branding	1150 AM and 102.1 FM WJRD
Slogan	"True Oldies Channel"
Frequency	1150 kHz
Translator(s)	102.1 W271AM (Tuscaloosa)
First air date	1936 (at 1230)[1]
Format	Oldies
Power	20,000 watts (day) 1,000 watts (night)
Class	B
Facility ID	24384
Transmitter coordinates	33°14′58″N 87°36′31″W / 33.24944°N 87.60861°W / 33.24944; -87.60861
Callsign meaning	James R. Doss, Jr.[2][3]
Former callsigns	WJRD (1936-1987) WZBQ (1987-1992) WSPZ (1992-2004)[4]
Former frequencies	1230 kHz (1936-1952)
Affiliations	The True Oldies Channel
Owner	JRD, Inc.

WJRD (1150 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. The station is owned by JRD, Inc.^[5] WJRD simulcasts on FM translator W271AM (102.1 FM) in Tuscaloosa.

It broadcasts an oldies music format to the Tuscaloosa metropolitan area as an affiliate of Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel, a satellite-fed radio format from ABC Radio.^[6][7]

History

The beginning

WJRD first signed on in 1936 as a "local" station at 1230 kHz with 250 watts of power.^[1] The station was originally owned by James R. Doss, Jr., and he used his own initials when choosing call letters.^[1][2][3][4] (His brother, James Lyndon Doss, would do the same in 1942 when they jointly put WJLD on the air in Birmingham, Alabama.)^[8][9]

By 1952, the station would relocate to its current 1150 kHz frequency and increase its signal power to 5,000 watts during the day and a 1,000 watt signal at night.^[10] Also by 1952, the station would be headquartered at the First National Bank Building and Mrs. Wilhelmina Doss would be listed as the station's owner and general manager.^[10] Through the 1950s and early 1960s, the station aired a full-service mix of news and easy listening music.^[11]

In 1959, WJRD general manager John C. Cooper Jr. was elected president of the Alabama Broadcasters Association.^[12]

In December 1969, James W. Harris reached an agreement to transfer control of WJRD's license holder, Cooper Radio Inc., to Druid City Broadcasters Inc. in exchange for stock in Druid City Broadcasters and an employment agreement with Cooper Radio.^[13]

In December 1983, Dr. Charles B. Crow and Maureen Crow made a deal to transfer control of GMC Broadcasting, Inc., the licensee of this station, to William A. Grant, Jr. The transfer was approved by the FCC on January 9, 1984, and the transaction was consummated on March 9, 1984.^[14]

End of an era

On February 27, 1987, the station abandoned its heritage callsign of more than 50 years to become WZBQ.^[4] The switch was made to help brand the station's new country music format.^[11]

In June 1992, the station switched callsigns again, this time to WSPZ to match its new sports talk format.^[4][11] WSPZ aired a mix of sports talk programs, call-in shows, and sporting events including Atlanta Falcons football games.^[15]

In July 1997, GMC Broadcasting, Inc., agreed to sell this station to Birmingham Christian Radio, Inc. The deal was approved by the FCC on October 16, 1997, and the transaction was consummated on December 31, 1997.^[16] The new owners flipped the format to black gospel.^[11]

In January 2002, Birmingham Christian Radio, Inc., reached an agreement to sell this station to Radio South, Inc., (Houston L. Pearce, sole shareholder) for a reported sale price of $150,000.^[17] After several amendments to the application and the station falling silent for almost a year, the deal was finally approved by the FCC on April 11, 2003, and the transaction was consummated on April 24, 2003.^[17]

WJRD reborn

In mid-June 2003, the station came back on the air with an adult standards music format branded as "Timeless Classics".^[18][19] By the time Pearce filed for the renewal of WJRD's broadcast license in March 2004, the name of the company had been changed to Apex Broadcasting, Inc. On October 15, 2004, the station dropped the WSPZ callsign for its heritage WJRD call letters.^[4]

In February 2005, Apex Broadcasting Inc. (Houston L. Pearce, chairman) reached an agreement to be acquired by Citadel Broadcasting (Farid Suleman, chairman/CEO).^[20] In the deal Citadel acquired WJRD and five other radio stations in Alabama for a reported sale price of $29 million.^[21] Citadel, already operating WJRD under a local marketing agreement, continued the adult standards music format under the "Timeless Favorites 1150" branding.^[11][22] In June 2005, the station became a simulcast of country music sister station WFFN ("95.3 The Bear").^[11][22]

On February 6, 2006, music programming was dropped as WJRD became "1150, The People's Station" with a mix of talk radio programming aimed at an African American audience.^[11][23] Part of Citadel's then-new "Black Talk Network", WJRD aired shows hosted by "Fly Jock" Tom Joyner, activist Reverend Al Sharpton, Michael Eric Dyson, plus sports talk from the "Two Live Stews".^[23]

The change to talk would prove short lived as it was dropped in September 2007 when Citadel Broadcasting (Farid Suleman, chairman/CEO) reached an agreement to transfer the license for WJRD to JRD, Inc. (James Shaw, president) for a reported sale price of $200,000.^[24] The station moved back to adult standards music and the "Timeless Classics" branding at the end of September 2007.^[11] The FCC finally approved the deal on November 2, 2007, and the transaction was consummated on November 19, 2007.^[25]

Just like original owner James R. Doss, the station's current owners (JRD, Inc., shareholders James E. Shaw, Ronald B. Price, and David M. Baughn) share initials with this station's callsign.^[5]

Programming

In December 2008, the station dropped its "Timeless Classics" branding and adult standards music format in favor of "The True Oldies Channel" branding and a satellite-fed oldies music format.^[7] Until the shift, this programming was aired on WDGM (99.1 FM) which now airs a sports talk format branded as "Tide 99.1".

Translators

References

External links

• WJRD on Facebook
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WJRD
• Radio-Locator Information on WJRD
• Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WJRD