WRJD

Infobox Radio Station
name = WRJD
area = Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill, North Carolina
branding = Rejoice 1410 WRJD
frequency = 1410 (kHz)
format = Gospel
power = 5,000 watts daytime, 290 watts nighttime| class = B
owner = Davidson Media Group
website = none
callsign_meaning = W ReJoice Durham

WRJD (formerly known as WSRC-AM) is a heritage radio station based in Durham, North Carolina that broadcasts on 1410 AM.

History

The station signed on the air as WSRC on October 15,1954, a day most locals remember as the day Hurricane Hazel roared through Central and Eastern North Carolina, causing a great deal of damage and destruction. Despite that initial setback, WSRC managed to continue broadcasting as the first radio station in the Raleigh-Durham market to serve the black community. Throughout much of its lifetime, WSRC has played a mix of gospel, soul, and R&B music. Along the way, the station has attracted a wealth of talented personalities, including Norfley Whitted, Jimmy "Dr. Jive" Byrd, Durham native Shirley Caesar, and former WTVD news reporter Ervin Hester. [cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/rduhistory/wsrc.html|title="WRJD-AM 1410 History"; Raleigh-Durham Radio Waves website]

In 1965, WSRC-FM signed on at 107.1, but was sold to Duke University and later signed on as WDBS-FM (now WFXC) in 1971. On March 16, 2006, Davidson Media Group (who also owns another Durham station, WTIK-AM) took over the operations for WSRC and later changed its call letters to WRJD. [cite web|url=http://www.heraldsun.com/tools/printfriendly.cfm?StoryID=709936|title="New Station to Play Same Music"; article in Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun, March 7, 2006] Prior to the station changing hands from previous owner Willis Broadcasting (who had been going through serious financial difficulties over the past few years), local gospel group The Cooper Four performed its final live Sunday afternoon broadcast on March 12. The group had been with WSRC since its early beginnings. [cite web|url=http://www.heraldsun.com/tools/printfriendly.cfm?StoryID=709935|title="Cooper Four to Give Curtain Call to WSRC"; article in Herald-Sun, March 7, 2006] The WSRC call letters have since been given to an AM station located in Fair Bluff, North Carolina.

Recent Developments

On July 11, 2007, WRJD announced a parntership with North Carolina Central University in Durham to broadcast all eleven games of the 2007 football season, its first in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). [cite web|url=http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/633602.html|title="WRJD to broadcast NCCU football"; article in Raleigh (N.C.)News & Observer, July 11, 2007]

On January 23, 2008, WRJD became the new flagship station for Durham Bulls radio broadcasts, replacing WDNC who had been carrying Bulls games continuously since 1981. [cite web|url=http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3583865|title="Bulls Reach Agreement With 2008 Broadcast Partners"; Our Sports Central, January 23, 2008]

WRJD in popular culture

Durham native Ernie Barnes incorporated the former WSRC calls into his best-known painting "Sugar Shack", which was featured in the credits of the TV sitcom Good Times as well as the cover of Marvin Gaye's 1976 album "I Want You." Oddly enough, WSRC was erroneously listed as "620 on your dail (sic)', which is the frequency for fellow Durham radio station WDNC.

References

External links

* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=17761 Query the FCC's AM station database for WSRC]