History WJOB (AM)

1 history

1.1 beginning
1.2 wjob era
1.3 1960s
1.4 1970s-1990s
1.5 2000s

history
the beginning

the first license issued radio station—later moved calumet area—was on november 12, 1923, dr. george f. courier , lawrence j. butch crowley, reputed joliet mobster, licensees. original call letters of station wwae. license renewed on may 27, 1925, electric park (plainfield, il) l. j. crowley sole licensee. transmitter built @ alamo dance hall in joliet, il.

the transmitter later moved 915 north raynor boulevard, joliet, il broadcasting facilities located @ 321 clinton street, joliet, il.

the broadcast facilities moved shortly after hammond douglas park area, today known pulaski park. small studio built on northwest side of park. there, broadcasting facilities moved main studio @ 402 fayette street, fayette , hohman avenue, today sits former home of bank calumet (calumet national bank building).

the wjob era

it remained @ address until station sold o.e. richardson, fred l. adair, , robert c. adair, , call letters changed present wjob on october 7, 1940. new owners moved main studios 449 state street, above millikan building, across edward c. minas department store, , name of corporation changed south shore broadcasting corporation.

it during time, station grew in popularity offering variety of programming under leadership of sam weller programming director. of programs offered happy hour, had membership of 1200 young members , broadcast every saturday morning 10:30 11:30 under direction of mrs. o.e. richardson, wife of 1 of owners. new programming schedule included interesting programs in 5 foreign languages, including eddie oskierko of polish musical varieties program, cornelius szakatis, of hungarian hour, john babinec of slovac hour, stella lutefisk directing greek hour, , gilbert vasquez director of spanish program.

included in schedule of programming eddie honesty of rockin-in-rhythm program, first black program on wjob heard every wednesday 3:15 4 o’clock , saturday afternoons 2 3 o’clock. paul e. x. brown black newscaster in country heard every sunday @ 10 a.m. included in programming rev. odell reed, conducted services 4635 state street in chicago, first remote broadcast of radio station wjob. included rev. william carr , clarence parsons, royal quartet singing loved negro spirituals.

one of popular shows of era sun-dodgers show featured every night midnight until 4 wayne osborne announcer , dave erickson director. not outdone, women’s programming conducted miss kitty blake produced “it happened in hammond” program daily @ 11:15 , frances benson read stories children each friday @ 1:15 pm. featured @ time lake county high schools took part in “high schools on parade program” heard every thursday.

the station remained @ 449 state street in downtown hammond until may 5, 1956 when erected new tower , broadcasting facility @ 6405 olcott avenue in woodmar section of hammond remains there still today.

the 1960s

on december 30, 1960, ownership of station sold julian colby , became colby broadcasting corporation. judy grambo started program called ladies program , became president , station manager of wjob.

the 1970s-1990s

wjob continued end of century region staple local news , information. personalities irv lewin, thurm ferree, , larry peterson continued provide quality local programming wjob s audience. 1990s drew close, however, wjob foundered tried continue relevant local trends , demands. 2000s, wjob had gone off air.

the 2000s

the station purchased partnership composed of vazquez development llc , ric federighi in 2004. several local , syndicated programming formats tried few programs having staying power, save programs hosted michael d. stew stewart, steven preacher glover, , syndicated fare dave ramsey , lou dobbs. september 2008 northwest indiana flood catapulted wjob local consciousness twenty-four-hour coverage of emergency evacuations , local leaders messages public. wjob continued relay important notices flood , host several local leaders give views of natural disaster. wjob revived tradition of hosting politicians coverage of democratic candidate barack obama s rallies in gary, indiana , highland, indiana @ wicker memorial park. rebirth, wjob recommitted local broadcasting 90% local programming. syndicated shows such dave ramsey , lou dobbs fill remaining ten percent. listener-assisted concepts such citizens traffic authority , community programming initiative gave wjob s local audience unprecedented role in on-air participation. end of 2010, syndicated programming had been forgone , live local programming became station s focus. wjob boasted eighteen hours of live local programming remainder being dedicated region flashbacks, archived soundbites previous shows. of april 2012, wjob reintroduced syndicated programming mike huckabee show, broadcast 11 2 pm cst. wjob continued sports voice of region dedication local , big ten sports events , 1 of first local radio stations broadcast wfa (women s football association) games featuring chicago force , collegiate baseball league baseball featuring nwi oilmen games. wjob has been member of purdue university sports broadcast network since 1960s , continues broadcast purdue football , men s basketball games in season. wjob broadcasts on 150 local high school baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, , softball games per calendar year, many produced in-house , affiliate of regional radio sports network

in february 2012, longtime host steven preacher glover died @ home. station, in addition preacher s listeners, mourned death, , after-effects left station in quandary concerning popular afternoon slot. in march 2012, comedian nick gaza tapped host 4-6 pm show. afternoon show underwent further change in september 2012, when ron harlow, larry k, , big george vincent split hosting duties on renamed afternoon scramble. of february 2013, afternoon slot filled afternoon fix hosted ron harlow, , broadcasts monday through friday 4-6 pm cst.

in fall of 2013, wjob re-joined indiana university sports radio network, airing games non-conflicting purdue university sports radio network broadcasts. in fall of 2013, wjob began broadcasting out-of-market nfl games , out-of-market ncaa football games.