WJCW
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Branding | WJCW AM 910 |
Programming | |
Format | News/talk |
Affiliations | ABC News Radio Genesis Communications Network Radio America Westwood One |
Ownership | |
Owner |
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WGOC, WKOS, WQUT, WXSM | |
History | |
First air date | December 13, 1938 (as WJHL) |
Former call signs | WJHL (1938–1960) |
Call sign meaning | W James C. Wilson, former owner |
Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 67672 |
Class | B |
Power | 5,000 watts day 1,000 watts night |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Webcast | Listen Live |
Website | wjcw.com |
WJCW (910
WJCW's
History
On December 13, 1938, the station first
The station's original frequency was 1200kHz. In December 1940, WJHL moved to 880kHz with 1,000 watts, utilizing a directional three-tower pattern at night. With NARBA coming into force in March 29, 1941, the station was required to move to 910kHz due to the adoption of the new international radio treaty.
In 1942, WJHL got a power boost to its current 5,000 watts by day, 1,000 watts at night, and became an
In 1960, the radio stations were sold to Tri-Cities Broadcasting,[4] owned by James C. Wilson (son of the founder of the area's first radio station, WOPI in Bristol)[5] Channel 11 kept the WJHL-TV callsign, while AM 910 was renamed WJCW after Wilson's initials and continued to program an MOR, full service format. In the early 1970s, the station switched to a country music format.
Notable announcers included:
- Eddie Cowell
- Dr. Herb Howard: Announcer, who went on to be Dean/Professor at the University of Tennessee College of Communication & Information after a stint as staff announcer at WJHL-TV.
- Professor Kingfish (Bill Marrs) and Little Richard (Dick Ellis), weekdays 6:30-7AM. During the 60s and 70s the show had a large listenership due to the light-hearted banter between the two. Due to health challenges, Bill Marrs would do the show from home, while Dick Ellis was at the studios.
- Dick Ellis (Little Richard): Morning Drive, News Director, Sports Director, and sports play-by-play. Dick originally served as news and sports anchor for both WJHL radio and television. In 1960 when the station was purchased and changed to WJCW, he chose to stay with radio. In 1973, Dick (Richard F. Ellis) became the General Manager of WETS-FM, the public/NPR station owned by East Tennessee State University. Dick retired from WETS in 1991. In 1993, a few weeks before his death, the new WETS studios were dedicated in his honor.
- Charlie B (Philip Beale): Program Director, Middays, and Afternoon Drive
- Bill Cramer: Nighttime announcer. In the 60s and 70s, WJCW's music would shift from MOR to Rock at 7PM. After WJCW changed to a country format, Cramer was also a well-known talent on sister-station WQUT
- Larry Hinkle
- Dave Hogan: Morning Drive
- Bill Williams
- Yankee Dave: Middays
- Tom Phillips: Afternoon Drive
- Art Countiss: News Director
- Red Pitcher: News/Sports Director
Jim Wilson/Tri-Cities Broadcasting sold WJCW and WQUT to Bloomington Broadcasting in 1981.
The original studios were located in downtown Johnson City. The transmitter site was on Princeton Road in North Johnson City. In 1977, new studios and transmitter site were built in Gray TN. The new location allowed the station's signal to cover a larger area, especially north of Johnson City, plus delivering a better signal to Kingsport.
In the 1980s, listeners began shifting to FM radio for music, so in 1990, WJCW became the Tri-Cities' first news/talk station.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/WJCW_logo.png/220px-WJCW_logo.png)
In 2000, the station was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, a forerunner of Cumulus.[6]
Programming
Weekdays begin with a local news and information show called Thinking Out Loud with hosts Elic Thomas and Carl Swann. Elic Thomas was hired late in 2021 after Co-host Tim Cable died due to complications from Covid-19. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up of
Weekend programming includes shows on money, health, cars and other topics, some of which are paid brokered programming. NASCAR races are also broadcast. Most hours begin with world and national news from ABC News Radio.
References
External links
- WJCW in the FCC AM station database
- WJCW in Nielsen Audio's AM station database