WMJM (defunct)

WMJM
City Bowling Green, Kentucky
Broadcast area Bowling Green area
Frequency 96.7 MHz
First air date May 1965
Last air date September 1, 1994
Format Defunct
ERP 1.7 kW = 1,700 watts
Transmitter coordinates 37°00′16″N 86°31′20″W / 37.00444°N 86.52222°W / 37.00444; -86.52222
Former callsigns WLBJ-FM (1965-1986)
WCBZ-FM (1986-1992)
WBZD (1992-1993)
Affiliations Mutual Broadcasting System
Satellite Music Network
Owner Target Communications of Kentucky
(Donald Alt)

WMJM (96.7 FM) was a radio station that was licensed to Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. The station was owned by Target Communications of Kentucky, Inc.

History

The station’s construction permit was first issued in mid-1964, but the station didn’t sign on the air until May 1965. The station’s assigned call letters were WLBJ-FM to match those of then-sister station WLBJ (AM). At some time in 1985, the station’s call letters were changed to WCBZ-FM. Both WLBJ-AM and WCBZ-FM were under ownership of Bahakel Communications, which is currently based in Charlotte, North Carolina.[1]

The station broadcast and Album-Oriented Rock music format for its first estimated 16 years in operation, with programming provided by the Mutual Broadcasting System. Until the mid 1980s, some of the station’s programming was also provided by the RKO Radio Network. Under the program direction of Jay Preston, Greg Pogue, and a little later, Dean Warfield, the station’s on-air branding was billed as “Natural 97.”[2] Later on into the mid 1980s, the station became automated, and was branded as “BJ 97”, broadcasting an Adult contemporary format.[3][4] WCBZ was acquired by Target Communications of Kentucky on October 3, 1991.[5]

Mainstream rock and 96.7 FM replacement with WBVR (1992-1994)

While WLBJ permanently signed off the air permanently in 1992-93,[6] WCBZ-FM remained on the air for at least an additional 1 1/2 years, including the change to a Mainstream Rock format, and two more callsign changes: first to WBZD (in 1992) and finally, WMJM (in March 1993).[7]

See also: WBVR-FM

On September 1, 1994, WMJM signed off the air permanently. Country music station WBVR-FM of Russellville was set to relocate from their previous allocation at 101.1 megahertz, and replace WMJM at 96.7 megahertz. The Tremont Group, then-owners of WBVR, has purchased the license for the 96.7 FM frequency from Target Broadcasting, and WBVR (which is now licensed to Auburn, but still Bowling Green-based) has been broadcasting at that allocation ever since.[8]

Post-existence

After WBVR moved to its current frequency, WJCE-FM (now WUBT) signed on the air under a new license in Russellville on the 101.1 frequency after the frequency and the transmitter were both sold to Clear Channel Communications (now part of IHeartMedia, Inc., and as a Jazz-formatted station. Today, that station, known as 101.1 The Beat, is a Hip-Hop and Urban Contemporary formatted station that is now based in Nashville, Tennessee, but serves good portions of three radio market areas, including Nashville, Bowling Green, and the Clarksville/Hopkinsville area. Its signal can blanket any of the nearby portions of the three market areas, and can reach as far north as an area just short of Owensboro.

The WMJM calls were reassigned to an Urban adult contemporary-formatted station that is licensed to Jeffersontown, in the Louisville area, broadcasting at 101.3 MHz since the late 1990s.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1979 Broadcasting Yearbook, page C-86
  2. ↑ “About D93 | D93 WDNS - Bowling Green’s Classic Rock”. WDNS. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  3. ↑ 1987 Broadcasting Yearbook, page B-114
  4. ↑ Rocheleau, Paul (1991). Radio On Wheels, Eastern U.S. Edition, page 44. The Berkley Publishing Group.
  5. ↑ 1992 Broadcasting Yearbook, page A-137
  6. ↑ National Radio Club (1996). The NRC AM Radio Log, page 213
  7. ↑ Elving, Bruce F. (1993). FM Radio Atlas, 15th Edition, page 122
  8. ↑ Elving, Bruce F. (1995) FM Atlas, 16th Edition, pages 44 and 130
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