 | |
| Broadcast area | Pittsburgh metropolitan area |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 1320kHz |
| Branding | Talk Radio 1320 and 99.1 WJAS |
| Programming | |
| Format | Talk radio |
| Network | Fox News Radio |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | St. Barnabas Broadcasting, Inc. |
| WBUT,WBVP,WMBA,WISR,WLER-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | August 4, 1922; 103 years ago (1922-08-04) |
Former call signs |
|
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 55705 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
| Translator | 99.1 W256DE (Pittsburgh) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live Listen Live via iHeart |
| Website | 1320wjas |
WJAS (1320AM) is acommercial radio station inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with atalk radioformat. It is owned by St. Barnabas Broadcasting, a division of the Saint Barnabas Health System, with studios and offices on Fleet Street inGreen Tree.
The station'stransmitter site is off Highland Drive in theLincoln–Lemington–Belmar neighborhood of Pittsburgh.[2] WJAS broadcasts with 7,000wattsnon-directional by day. At night, to avoid interfering with other stations on1320 AM, it reduces power to 3,300 watts and uses adirectional antenna. Programming is also heard on 99-wattFM translator W236DE at 99.1MHz.[3]
Weekdays begin withThe GD Morning Show, a Pittsburgh-based news and interview program hosted by Greg Maxwell (G) and Darryl Grandy (D). The rest of the weekday schedule isnationally syndicated shows:The Glenn Beck Radio Program,Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla,The Sean Hannity Show,The Mark Levin Show,Coast to Coast AM withGeorge Noory andAmerica in the Morning.[4]
Weekends feature specialty shows on money, health, cars and the law. Syndicated weekend programs includeThe Ben Ferguson Show,Bill Handel on the Law,Sunday Nights with Bill Cunningham, The Vince Show with Vince Coglianese,The Cats Roundtable with John Catsimatidis andSomewhere in Time with Art Bell. Most hours begin with an update fromFox News Radio.
Effective December 1, 1921, theU.S. Department of Commerce, which regulated radio in its early days, adopted regulations formally defining "broadcasting stations". The wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) was designated for entertainment broadcasts, while 485 meters (619 kHz) was reserved for broadcasting official weather and other government reports.[5] Because there was only one available "entertainment" wavelength, stations in a given region had to develop timesharing agreements, to assign exclusive timeslots for broadcasting on 360 meters.
WJAS was first licensed on August 4, 1922, to the Pittsburgh Radio Supply House, operating on 360 meters.[6] It was Pittsburgh's sixthAM broadcasting station authorization.[a] The call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call signs.
WJAS was anNBC Red Networkaffiliate, carrying its dramas, comedies, news and sports during the last years of theGolden Age of Radio. During the 1930s and 1940s, WJAS was home to theWilkens Amateur Hour. Sponsored by Wilkens Jewelry Company, a 1942 review in the trade publicationBillboard said the show "remains Pittsburgh's most popular local program".[7]
On November 1, 1957, theNational Broadcasting Company (NBC) gained control of WJAS andWJAS-FM, adding them to the network's roster of itsowned-and-operated stations.[8] Later that month, the call letters were changed to WAMP and WFMP, which was derived from "AM and FM Pittsburgh".[9] Three years later, both stations changed back to their original call letters.[10]
In 1973, the station became popular with Pittsburgh's young people asTop 40 WKPQ, later WKTQ. It used the branding "13Q", under new ownersHeftel Communications. A promotion was run where listeners would win prizes if they were randomly telephoned and answered with "I listen to the new sound of 13Q" (instead of "hello"). The Top 40 years were the highest-rated ever for the station, ranking second in theArbitron ratings behind only 1020KDKA.
As young listeners moved to the FM dial for music, the WKTQ's ratings began to fade. In 1977, Heftel sold the station toNationwide Communications, which tried anadult contemporary music format, which was also unsuccessful.
Nationwide sold the station to Beni Broadcasting. It switched the station to anadult standards format and brought back the WJAS call letters in 1981. Beni eventually sold WJAS toRenda Broadcasting. WJAS was one of the top standards stations in the United States. The format ofFrank Sinatra,Nat King Cole andBarbra Streisand continued for three decades.
Two WJASpersonalities with long and storied histories in Pittsburgh media were Jack Bogut and Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille.
In August 2014, Renda Broadcasting sold WJAS to Pittsburgh Radio Partners LLC, a company controlled by Frank Iorio, Jr. The sale, at a price of $1 million, was consummated on August 1, 2014. It was Iorio's first radio station purchase in Pittsburgh, as his other stations were all based inWarren. Iorio put the Warren stations up for sale in 2017, finding a buyer inLilly Broadcasting in 2019.
At noon on August 7, 2014, the new owner decided to change the station's format. It flipped toconservative talk in response to rumors that 104.7WPGB would flip formats from talk tocountry music.[11] The final song played under the standards format was "One More for the Road" byFrank Sinatra.
WJAS then began carrying most of the programs previously heard on 104.7 WPGB. (That station directed its listeners to tune to WJAS to hear their favorite talk shows.) The first program to air on the talk-formatted WJAS wasThe Rush Limbaugh Show. WJAS did not choose to carry WPGB's signature morningdrive time program "Quinn and Rose", which returned to the Pittsburgh radio market on 970WBGG in 2018. In March 2021, after Limbaugh's death, rather than carrying its successorThe Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, the station hired Rose Somma-Tennent. Former Pittsburgh TV news anchor Wendy Bell hosted from 9 a.m. to noon from January to May 2021, before an unresolved and unspecified "personnel matter" prompted the ownership to cancel Bell's show.[12] Somma-Tennent was unexpectedly fired from the station in late June, replaced by the syndicatedDan Bongino show.[13]
In November 2020, Iorio exited radio and sold WJAS and translator W256DE at 99.1 FM to St. Barnabas Health System. The price tag was $2.05 million.[14] The sale was consummated on January 13, 2021. St. Barnabas has continued the talk radio format.
40°28′46″N79°54′12″W / 40.47944°N 79.90333°W /40.47944; -79.90333
