WJBR-FM

WJBR-FM
City Wilmington, Delaware
Broadcast area Wilmington, Delaware
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Branding 99.5 WJBR
Slogan The 80's to Now
Delaware's Christmas Station (Nov.-Dec.)
Frequency 99.5 MHz (also on HD Radio)
First air date January 1957
Format Analog/HD1: Adult Contemporary
Christmas music (Nov.-Dec.)
HD2: CHR (Radio Disney)
HD3: Tropical ("99 Variedad extra")
ERP 50,000 watts
HAAT 152 meters
Class B
Facility ID 14374
Callsign meaning W John B Reynolds (founder)
Owner Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc.
(Beasley Media Group, LLC)
Webcast Listen Live
Website wjbr.com

WJBR-FM (99.5 FM) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Wilmington, Delaware. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts an Adult contemporary music format. Its broadcast tower is located north of Wilmington at (39°50′2.7″N 75°31′25.3″W / 39.834083°N 75.523694°W / 39.834083; -75.523694).[1] The station's service contour covers the entire city of Philadelphia.[2]

WJBR-FM airs the nationally syndicated Delilah radio show.[3] The official mascot for the station is J. Bear.

History

WJBR-FM first signed on in 1956 founded by a father and son team of John B Reynolds, Sr. and John B Reynolds, Jr.[4] John Sr. began the radio station because his son was "a strong believer in the future of FM".[4] The station originally broadcast a classical & light music format[5] and used the slogan "Just Beautiful Radio". The format eventually evolved into 24 hours of beautiful music and the station branded as "JBR 100".[5]

John B Reynolds, Jr. sold WJBR-FM in 1985 to CRB Broadcasting. CRB changed its name to Commodore Media and was eventually purchased by Capstar Broadcasting. The station was then sold to NextMedia Group in March, 2000.[4]

In February 2007, Beasley Broadcast Group completed its acquisition of the station from NextMedia for a reported $42 million.[6]

Delaware's Christmas Music Station

For many years WJBR-FM has been known as "Delaware's Christmas Station". The station switches to an all-Christmas format generally around Thanksgiving.

On November 19, 2012 at 10:00AM WJBR-FM switched over to its all Christmas format. The radio station started the Christmas season with "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid. Usually WJBR-FM and 101.1 More FM (Philadelphia's WBEB) switch on the same day. There has always been a clear competition between the two rival stations.

WJBR-FM announced on November 21, 2013 that their all Christmas format will begin on November 22, 2013 at noon. The radio station started the 2013 Christmas season with "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" by Bing Crosby. WBEB started their Christmas music November 21, 2013 at 3pm and WJBR-FM made this announced on their Facebook right after.

On November 20, 2014 at 9am WJBR-FM switched to all Christmas. WJBR-FM switched back to their regular format at Midnight on December 29.

On November 19, 2015 at 2pm WJBR-FM switched to all Christmas once again. The switch was at the same time as rival station WBEB's switch to all Christmas. WJBR-FM switched back to their regular format on Monday, December 28 at midnight.

On November 18, 2016 WJBR-FM switched to all Christmas once again. Their rival station WBEB switched the day before, November 17, 2016 at 2pm.

References

  1. "FM Query Results for WJBR". fcc.gov. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  2. "54 dBu Service Contour for WJBR, 99.5 MHz, Wilmington, DE". bing.com. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  3. "Delilah - 99.5 WJBR". wjbr.com. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  4. 1 2 3 "History of WJBR". wjbr.com. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  5. 1 2 "BROADCASTING Scrapbook Blog". racampbell.tripod.com. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  6. "Beasley Broadcast Group (BBGI) to Acquire NextMedia Group". streetinsider.com. 2006-10-03. Retrieved 2016-05-12.

Coordinates: 39°50′02″N 75°31′26″W / 39.8340°N 75.5238°W / 39.8340; -75.5238

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