WJLD

WJLD

Fairfield,Alabama
Broadcast area	Birmingham, Alabama
Frequency	1400kHz(HD Radio)
Branding	AM 1400
Programming
Format	Urban OldiesandBlues
Ownership
Owner	Gary Richardson (Richardson Broadcasting Corporation)
Sister stations	WIXI
History
First air date	April 19,1942
Call signmeaning	WJ.L.Doss(original owner of the station)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	56299
Class	C
Power	1,000wattsunlimited
Transmitter coordinates	33°28′26″N86°53′01″W
Translator(s)	94.1W231DE (Birmingham)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	wjldradio.com

WJLD(1400AM) is aradio stationlicensed toFairfield, Alabama,that serves most of theBirminghammetropolitan area. The station offers talk and music programming targeted towardsAfrican-Americanlisteners, including a mixture of locally originated talk programming and urbanoldiesmusic. The station is owned by Richardson Broadcasting Corporation, a company based in Birmingham. Richardson Broadcasting Corporation also owns WAYE 1220 AM in Birmingham, Alabama and has construction permits for low power television stations in Dothan, Montgomery and Selma Alabama. The station's studios and transmitter are located separately in Southwest Birmingham.

Station history

Originally licensed to nearbyBessemer, Alabama,WJLD began On April 19, 1942. as an affiliate of theMutual Broadcasting System.It was the fourth station licensed to serve the Birmingham area, followingWAPI,WBRCandWSGN.Programming on WJLD initially consisted of popular music, news programs and radio adventure shows such asSupermanandTom Mix.In 1943, the station began selling airtime to people who sang or playedurban contemporary gospelmusic. Throughout the 1940s and into the early 1950s, the station broadcast, by today's standards, a wide variety of music programming, includingcountry musicandgospel musicas well asrhythm and bluesmusic.

On May 23, 1948, WJLD launched a companion FM station, WJLN-FM (104.7).The FM station originally simulcast much of the programming of the AM station, but by the late 1960s began playingalbum-oriented rockmusic at night. In the mid-1970s, the FM station assumed its current call letters,WZZK;the WJLD owners sold WZZK some years later.

In 1954, WJLD began exclusively targetingAfrican-Americanlisteners with a mix of music and talk programming. Until the debut ofWENN-FMin 1969, it was the only black-oriented station in Birmingham that broadcast at night, since the other similarly-formatted AM station was required by theFederal Communications Commissionto sign off atsunset.During the mid-1970s, it was one of four AM stations in the Birmingham market competing for African-American listeners.

With the increased popularity ofFMstations during the 1970s and early 1980s, WJLD began adding more talk programming to its format and decreased the amount of current music in its rotation. In 1989, the station dropped current music entirely and became a full-time urban oldies station.

The 2000s have witnessed a continued commitment to serving the Birmingham area's African-American community on WJLD's part. Station owner Gary Richardson, a longtime employee, hosts a two-hour morning talk show, and the station presently programs abluesandSouthern soulmusic format six days a week, with both local personalities and the syndicatedMississippi-basedAmerican Blues Network.Richardson is also the mayor of the Birmingham suburb ofMidfield.In keeping with tradition, Sunday programming consists of gospel music and church broadcasts.

In 2008 Richardson Broadcasting acquired the license for W281AB, an FM translator at 104.1 MHz broadcasting at 250 watts. WJLD 1400 began simulcasting on 104.1 soon afterward. This lasted until July 29, 2011, whenW281ABswitched to a simulcast ofWMJJ-HD2.

Previous logo

(WJLD's logo during simulcast with W281AB 104.1 FM)

See also

• List of radio stations in Alabama

External links

• [1]
• Facility details for Facility ID 56299 (WJLD)in theFCCLicensing and Management System
• WJLDinNielsen Audio's AM station database