WXJC (AM)

WXJC
City of license Birmingham, Alabama
Broadcast area Birmingham and central Alabama
Branding The Truth
Frequency 850 kHz
(also on HD Radio)
First air date 1946
Format Southern Gospel/Talk
Power 50,000 watts (day)
1,000 watts (night)
Class B
Facility ID 74245
Transmitter coordinates 33°37′25″N 86°44′45″W / 33.62361°N 86.74583°W / 33.62361; -86.74583
Former callsigns WTNB[1] (1946–1950)
WILD (1950–1957)
WYDE (1957–1998, 1999–2002)
WMKI (1998–1999)
WDJC (2002–2004)[2]
Owner Crawford Broadcasting Company
(Kimtron, Inc.)
Sister stations WDJC-FM, WXJC-FM, WYDE, WYDE-FM
Webcast Listen Live
Website 850wxjc.com

WXJC (850 AM, "The Truth") is a radio station licensed to serve Birmingham, Alabama. The station is licensed to Kimtron, Inc., and is owned by Crawford Broadcasting Company. It airs a Southern Gospel music and Talk radio format.[1][3]

The station has been assigned the WXJC call letters by the Federal Communications Commission since July 15, 2004.[2]

History

The station currently known as WXJC signed on in 1946 as WTNB, broadcasting with 5,000 watts daytime power and 1,000 watts at night at 1490 kilocycles. It was originally an affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The initial call letters reflected the initials of the station's original owner, Thomas N. Beech.[4] In the 1940s the station was sold to Madison Broadcasting and changed its frequency to 850 and its call sign to WILD, retaining those call letters until the station was sold in September 1957, when Bartell Broadcasters bought the station and changed the call letters to WYDE.[5] By the late 1950s WYDE was one of three stations in Birmingham playing Top 40 music, along with WSGN and WVOK.

In 1965 WYDE changed formats, dropping Top 40 and becoming a country music station. Unlike some country music stations, WYDE's presentation was more polished and urbane. The station's tagline was WYDE (pronounced like "wide") Countrypolitan. For the remainder of the 1960s and throughout most of the 1970s, the station had no direct competition in the format. This changed in 1976 when WVOK dropped its longstanding Top 40 programming and switched to country as well.

By 1977 WYDE had a second and perhaps more serious competitor as a country music station, when WZZK became the first FM station in Birmingham to switch to country music. WYDE retained its format until 1982, when it dropped country to become Birmingham's first station to exclusively play oldies from the 1950s through the early 1970s. In 1984 the station was sold and became a Christian music and teaching station.[6] Throughout the remainder of the 1980s and 1990s, the station tried several different formats, including beautiful music and news-talk in an attempt to gain listeners, and by 1998, the station changed its call letters to WMKI and became a Radio Disney affiliate. Crawford Broadcasting bought WMKI in 1999. Upon assuming control of the station, they changed the station's format to talk radio, and returned the heritage call sign of WYDE to the station. In 2002, the call signs changed to WDJC, and the station became a Christian teaching and Southern gospel music station. The current call signs were assumed on July 15, 2004.

References

  1. 1 2 "AM Technical Profile: WXJC". Alabama Broadcast Media Page.
  2. 1 2 "Call Sign History". FCC Media Bureau CDBS Public Access Database.
  3. ↑ "Station Information Profile". Arbitron.
  4. ↑ "1948 Broadcasting Yearbook" (PDF).
  5. ↑ Wells, Russell "Some History of Birmingham Radio..., part 2" Birmingham Rewound - accessed June 1, 2013
  6. ↑ "1987 Broadcasting Yearbook" (PDF).

External links

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