WRBJ-FM

WRBJ-FM

Infobox Radio station
name = WRBJ


city = Brandon, Mississippi
area = Jackson, Mississippi
branding = "97-7"
slogan = "The Beat of the Capitol"
airdate =
frequency = 97.7 (MHz)
format = Urban Contemporary?
power =
erp = 6,000 Watts
class =
callsign_meaning =Roberts Broadcasting Jackson
former_callsigns =
owner = Roberts Broadcasting
sister_stations = "television station WRBJ"
webcast =
website = [http://www.cw34jackson.com/977fm 97-7]
affiliations =

WRBJ-FM (97.7 FM) is an Urban Contemporary radio station in Jackson, Mississippi. The station is owned and operated by Roberts Broadcasting, owners of The CW television affiliate WRBJ (TV). Roberts mainly owns TV stations, so WRBJ-FM is the only radio station under its ownership.

tation History

The station was originally paired with WRKN 970 AM in Brandon, Mississippi, with the call letters WRJH (initially standing for Roy and June Harris, who were the original owners). Both stations were promoted as "Gospel 97" for many decades. The callsign also came to mean other things as well (We're Raising Jesus Higher). After Mr. Harris died, Mrs. Harris sold the station to On Top Communications. On Top Communications bought the station in 2000 for the price of $1,600,000.00.

After that time, the WRJH callsign took on a different meaning ("We aRe Jackson's Hot 97.7). At approximately the same time, On Top Communications, was in the process of acquiring several other stations, including Urban/Hip Hop stations in New Orleans, Albany, Georgia and Norfolk. When On Top went bankrupt in 2005, most of its stations either switched formats or went silent (as the case with New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina).

A short time later, WRJH was sold at a bankruptcy auction. That was when Roberts Broadcasting bought WRJH for $1,950,000.00, eventually moved its studios into TV station WRBJ's and changed the callsign to WRBJ. [ [http://www.cw34jackson.com/news/6000651.html] ]

WRBJ's playlist mainly consists of Hip Hop and R&B. Unlike most stations, this one plays smoother music during the workday timeframe while it plays newer music later afternoons into the early evening, thusly positioning WRBJ well with its competitors WJMI, WRTM and WKXI-FM.

WRBJ Bans Offensive Music

In response to the Don Imus controversy, WRBJ's owner, Roberts Broadcasting, took a stand on excessively violent and derogatory hip hop lyrical content. Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton have long taken a stand against, and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons began to stand up against it as well, calling on people to accept "social responsibility." Inspired by the move, Roberts Broadcasting, after much reviewing of playlists for content, decided to create a policy to ban the station from playing music that glorifies violence and degrades women as of April 2007. The purpose was to take a stand against racism, self-racism (in the case of Blacks using the N-word against each other), and promote pride in the African American community by fighting against the oppressive media. [ [http://www.cw34jackson.com/news/7098601.html] ] [ [http://www.dvrepublic.org/story.php?n=883&x=4 Black broadcaster bans derogatory messages in wake of Imus affair ] ] While the revamping of the playlist may not be noticeable to listeners, the owner said that any songs on WRBJ-FM containing content considered offensive (other than censored language) will be removed. And it may go on to drop syndication rights to the "Russ Parr Morning Show" as well, claiming that the morning jock is a borderline shock jock. [ [http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=6390387 WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Local Radio Station Banning Offensive Music ] ] This is the first time a radio station owner has done this since Clear Channel banned certain songs from airplay in response to 9/11.

WRBJ-FM is no longer "Hot"

On Monday, March 17, 2008, WRBJ-FM reimaged itself as just 97-7 (WRBJ). The station has fewer hip-hop songs and more R&B music. Russ Parr's morning show has been replaced by that of Rickey Smiley. Upcoming changes for WRBJ-FM include several hours' worth of urban gospel every Sunday, a public affairs program and neo-soul. Since September 2008, WRBJ became Jackson's affiliate of Michael Baisden in the afternoons.

References

External links

*FMQ|WRBJ
*FML|WRBJ


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • WRBJ — can refer to:* WRBJ (TV), a television station (channel 34) licensed to Magee, Mississippi, United States * WRBJ FM, a radio station (97.7 FM) licensed to Brandon, Mississippi, United States …   Wikipedia

  • WRBJ (TV) — Infobox Broadcast call letters = WRBJ city = station station slogan = station branding = CW 34 analog = 34 (UHF) digital = other chs = affiliations = The CW network = founded = airdate = February 8, 2006 location = Magee/Jackson, Mississippi… …   Wikipedia

  • WWSJ — City of license St. Johns, Michigan Branding Joy 1580 100.3 Frequency 1580 kHz First air date September 23, 1959 …   Wikipedia

  • WQTX — Infobox Radio station name = WQTX city = St. Johns, Michigan area = [http://www.radio locator.com/cgi bin/pat?call=WQTX service=FM status=L hours=U] branding = Oldies 92.1 slogan = The Oldies Station; Good Times Great Oldies airdate = 1972… …   Wikipedia

  • Mississippi Public Broadcasting — statewide Mississippi Branding MPB Slogan Educating, Entertaining, Enlightening …   Wikipedia

  • Jackson, Mississippi — This article is about Jackson, the city and related subjects within the city. For subjects outside the city but relating to the Jackson metro area, see Jackson metropolitan area. For the county in the Mississippi Gulf Coast, see Jackson County,… …   Wikipedia

  • Roberts Broadcasting — Company is a media company based in St. Louis, Missouri. It is co owned by brothers Steve and Mike Roberts. The company owns four network affiliates, including St. Louis MyNetworkTV affiliate WRBU, as well as CW affiliates WZRB in Columbia, South …   Wikipedia

  • Magee, Mississippi —   City   Location of Mag …   Wikipedia

  • List of urban-format radio stations in the United States — The classification of urban formatted radio stations range from the radio formats of rhythmic contemporary hit radio to Urban Gospel. Though urban contemporary was the originator of the format, but there has come to be many variations of the… …   Wikipedia

  • WDBD — Infobox Broadcast call letters = WDBD city = station station slogan = station branding = Fox 40 analog = 40 (UHF) digital = 6 (UHF) other chs = affiliations = Fox network = founded = airdate = December 27, 1984 location = Jackson, Mississippi… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”