WJBO

Early Years

In 1922, the station signed on as WAAB in New Orleans. The Times-Picayune served as the sponsoring newspaper with the license held by Valdemar Jensen. It was the first station to receive a 4-letter call sign in 1922.^[2] Jensen operated and experimented with the station from the basement of his house on South St. Patrick Street in New Orleans.^[3]

In 1925, he obtained a federal license for the station, and on February 28, 1926, the call letters changed to WJBO. The call letters WAAB later were used by WVEI in Boston.^[4] WJBO was one of the first stations to regularly broadcast news, working in tandem with The Times-Picayune.^[5] Jensen broadcast also from the Roosevelt Hotel and Orpheum Theater. In 1932, he sold the station to the Manship family, who relaunched the station in December 1934 in Baton Rouge at 1420 kilocycles, powered at 100 watts, as a daytimer, required to sign off at night.^[6]

Move to AM 1150

By the early 1940s, the station's frequency had moved to 1150 kHz and its power increased to 500 watts. In 1941, WJBO's power got a big boost to 5,000 watts. Originally, the station broadcast from Highland Road in South Baton Rouge, but in 1941, a new studio was built on Florida Street to accommodate the growing station.

WJBO was Baton Rouge's first commercial radio station and was affiliated with the NBC Blue Network from 1937 until 1948.^[7] (NBC Blue later became ABC.) In 1948, with the launch of radio station WLCS (precursor to now defunct station WUBR), WJBO affiliated itself with the NBC Red Network. It stayed an NBC affiliate until 1979. From 1976 until it folded, WJBO was also affiliated with the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS), and in the late 1970s, was also affiliated with APR.

In 1941, WJBO signed on an FM counterpart on 98.1 megacycles, originally WBRL. In 1959, the call letters changed to WJBO-FM. WJBO-FM later moved to 102.5 MHz, and its call letters changed to WFMF-FM in 1976. The 98.1 spot on the FM dial is now occupied by WDGL.

As network programming moved from radio to television in the 1950s, WJBO switched to a full service middle of the road music format, including news, sports and talk. In the 1970s and 80s, as listeners tuned increasingly to FM for music, WJBO added more talk programming.

Switch to Talk Radio

In the 1980s, music programming was eliminated and WJBO became a full time talk station. In 1989, the Manship family sold WJBO and WFMF to station manager George Jenne.^[8] When Jenne purchased the station, WJBO affiliated itself with an array of talk radio and news networks including: ABC Talkradio, CBS Radio News, NBC Radio News, Associated Press Radio, NBC Talknet, Transtar, United Stations Radio Network, and Westwood One. Under ownership of Jenne, the WJBO and WFMF studios moved from their location on Florida Street in downtown Baton Rouge (where they broadcast since 1941) to new studios in Mid-City. In 1995, Jenne sold the stations to Gulfstar Communications.^[9] The station came under ownership of Clear Channel Communications when Gulfstar folded.

The station was an affiliate of the New Orleans Saints radio network until the 2009 season. For decades, it also served as the flagship station for the LSU Tigers college football and basketball games.^[10]

On January 2, 2017, WJBO started simulcasting on translator station K249DV at 97.7 MHz, giving listeners in Baton Rouge and its adjacent communities the option to hear WJBO on AM or FM. The translator had previously aired a classic hits format originating from WYNK 101.5-HD2. WYNK 101.5-HD2 still runs the classic hits format. WJBO is also heard on WFMF's subchannel at 102.5-HD2.