Technical Profile: WJSB

AM Technical Profile: WJSB

Frequency:: 1050
Format:: Country
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] Between Lakeview Drive and Lindberg St, just north of US 90 in Crestview. Co-located with WAAZ.
Power (ERP):: Day: 3.1 kW
Antenna:: Day: 1 tower
Other Information:: 0.5 mV/m Daytime Groundwave Service Contour from the FCC's Public Files
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[FCCdata]; [Radio-Locator]; [Wikipedia]
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// W266DF Crestview, FL
Owned By:: Crestview Broadcasting Company
History:: WJSB first signed on in September of 1954, as a 250 watt daytimer on 1490 kHz, put on the air by C. S. Henderson and James T. Whitaker (as Crestview Broadcasting Company). The transmitter was a Gates BC-250GY. From the beginning, the station has broadcast from its current studio and tower site at the corner of Lakeview Drive and West 1st Avenue in Crestview. Back in '54, that part of 1st Avenue was a new extension at the edge of the city limits. Today, the studio is surrounded by homes and apartments.

The station moved to 1050 kHz in the fall of 1956. They were able to upgrade to 1 kW, but only as a daytimer, with a Gates BC-1F transmitter. A year later Everett M. McCrary took over running Crestview Broadcasting Company.

In 1965, the station spawned an FM companion, WAAZ. The AM and FM simulcast for only part of the day early on, but by the 2000's it appears they are in a 100% simulcast.

The station was granted a PSA (Pre-Sunrise Authority) to operate with 24 watts. The station sought and won an upgrade to 5 kW days only in 1978; that facility went on the air in March 1980 with a Harris MW-5 transmitter.

With the diminishing reach and appeal of AM looming, the station sought to lower power to 3.1 kW in 1998; they got that lower power running in 2002.

Through the years the station has likely always played country music. From the mid-70's through about the mid-80's, the Broadcasting Yearbook also noted that the station played some MOR (Middle of the Road) music, but that has never been independently verified.

The station received a construction permit for a new FM translator on 101.1 MHz in January, 2018.