| Broadcast area | Knoxville metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 620kHz |
| Branding | Joy 620 WRJZ |
| Programming | |
| Format | Christian talk and teaching |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WETR | |
| History | |
First air date | February 12, 1927; 98 years ago (1927-02-12) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 65209 |
| Class | B |
| Power | 5,000watts |
Transmitter coordinates | 35°59′24″N83°50′15″W / 35.99000°N 83.83750°W /35.99000; -83.83750 |
| Translator(s) | 99.5 W258DB (Sevierville) 102.5 W273DX (Knoxville) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wrjz.com |
WRJZ (620kHz) is acommercialAMradio station inKnoxville, Tennessee. It airs aChristian talk and teachingradio format and is owned by Tennessee Media Associates, headed by Thomas Moffit, Jr. Thestudios are on East Magnolia Avenue in Knoxville.
By day, WRJZ transmits a 5,000-wattnon-directional. At night, to avoid interference to other stations on620 AM, WRJZ uses adirectional antenna with a five-tower array.[2] Programming is also heard on twoFM translators: 99.5MHz inSevierville and 102.5 MHz in Knoxville.
In morningdrive time, Bob Bell hosts a show focusing on news, weather and information. The rest of the day, WRJZ airs national programs includingFamily Talk with Dr.James Dobson,Insight for Living withChuck Swindoll,In Touch withCharles Stanley,Turning Point withDavid Jeremiah,Truth for Life withAlistair Begg,Hope in the Night withJune Hunt andFocus on the Family withJim Daly.
WRJZ also airsCarson-Newman College and Grace Christian Academyfootball games.
WRJZ is one of Knoxville's oldest radio stations. Itsigned on the air on February 12, 1927; 98 years ago (1927-02-12). The originalcall sign was WNBJ. It was owned by Lonsdale Baptist Church and it broadcast on 1450kilocycles. It moved to 1310 AM in 1930 under new owner Stewart Broadcasting Corporation. A year later, Stuart changed the call letters to WROL. It moved to its current frequency in 1941.
The station's ownership group was part of a consortium that signed on East Tennessee's first television station, WROL-TV, in 1953 on channel 6. Two years later, the call letters were changed to WATE AM-TV.
The two stations went their separate ways in 1971, with the television station retaining theWATE-TV calls while the radio station changed its calls to WETE. The station aired anadult contemporary format during for most of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1976, WETE-AM changed the call letters to WRJZ-AM, and began airing atop 40 format.
CP and Walker, Jeff Jarnigan, Adele (see below), Mark Thompson, Rick Kirk, John Boy, and J.J. Scott were some of the station's best-known personalities throughout the 1970s.[3]
Adele Arakawa, the first female DJ in Knoxville, worked at WRJZ broadcasting Top 40 music for 5 years in the late 1970s.[4]
Other DJs from WRJZ's late 1970s Top 40 era who became well-known were "John Boy" Isley, later of the "John-Boy and Billy Big Show" in Charlotte, NC.[citation needed] and Mark Thompson, later of "Mark and Brian", the FM drive team who have been on 95.5 KLOS for 20-plus years.
After several years as a popular Top 40 station but losing market share to FM stationWOKI, WRJZ briefly switched to anadult contemporary format in 1981, then shortly thereafter to acountry music format, then an oldies format, then shortly thereafter went dark entirely only to return to the air during the 1980s with a Christian talk format under the new slogan "Joy 62".