WDJO

WDJO (1160 AM) is a radio station licensed to Florence, Kentucky in the Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan area that carries an oldies music format.

History

Early years

At 1180 AM

WDJO originally signed on in 1984 as WFKB 1180 AM, a 1000 watt daytime-only station licensed to Florence, Kentucky. WFKB was required to sign off at sunset to protect WHAM in Rochester, New York which was - and is - the clear channel station on that frequency. WFKB was a full service station which served northern Kentucky, and offered news every hour along with Adult Contemporary, or MOR music.

WFKB changed to a country format by 1986, and was paired with WIOK-FM in Falmouth, Kentucky as an AM-FM combo. In 1987, WFKB was acquired by Amber Broadcasting. The format was changed to Adult Standards or Nostalgia, and the call letters were changed to WMLX to reflect an earlier station in the market that had done the same format.

In 1989, WMLX was acquired by Hoker Broadcasting, which also owned then-WOFX-FM at 94.9 MHz. The two stations were affiliated until 1992, when WOFX-FM was sold to Heritage Media. WMLX was then a stand-alone station, and was purchased in 1993 by KLM Communications, which was headed by Dr. Kenneth L. McDowell.

Move to 1160

In February 1993, WMLX was granted Special Temporary Authority by the FCC to move to 1160 AM and broadcast 24 hours per day at 1000 watts daytime power and 500 watts at night. Call letters were changed in March 1993 to WBND, to reflect the station's new identity as "The Blend." This format was an attempt to merge the very popular Nostalgia/Standards format with an Urban Adult Contemporary format, which had been KLM's original plan for the station.

An early attempt at a Saturday sports talk show was hosted by Cincinnati basketball legend Oscar Robertson. A Sunday jazz show was hosted by local musician Wilbert Longmire. By 1995, WBND had been sold to the owners of WNKR-FM in Dry Ridge, Kentucky and the call letters changed to WKYN to reflect an emphasis towards northern Kentucky news and sports.

The station's signal was eventually upgraded to 5000 watts daytime and 990 watts nighttime, with different directional patterns for day and night. From the station's new transmitter site near Union, Kentucky, WKYN was now directing more than 10,000 watts towards downtown Cincinnati during the day. At night, the power directed at Cincinnati was only 1629 watts.

The lower power, coupled with typical nighttime AM skywave interference, caused the post-sunset signal to be listenable in limited areas of the market, mainly northern Kentucky and the western side of Cincinnati. (WDJO still uses this transmitter site with the same signal parameters.)

New owner, new format

Despite the nighttime limitations, the station's new, more powerful signal caught the attention of Chancellor Media, which owned WUBE-AM & FM and WYGY-FM in Cincinnati. In 1995, WUBE-AM - at 1000 watts on 1230 AM - had begun running a sports-talk format known as "1230 The Score."

Programming consisted of "Imus in the Morning," The Fabulous Sports Babe, a local afternoon show, and network programming from One-On-One Sports in the evening and on weekends. Chancellor purchased WKYN in 1996 and moved "The Score" to the more powerful WKYN signal.

While the new "Score" was much more powerful during the day, WKYN's nighttime signal was lacking (as noted above) in areas north of the Ohio River and east of downtown Cincinnati where WUBE-AM had provided a strong signal.

WBOB

The home of the Bengals

At the conclusion of the 1996 NFL season, WKYN stunned the local radio and sports communities by winning the rights to be the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals for three seasons. The games would also be simulcast on powerhouse sister station WUBE-FM, the city's dominant Country station.

On Cincinnati Reds opening day in 1997, the station changed call letters to WBOB and became known as "1160 BOB." The station eventually dropped syndicated programming during the day, and ran a live and local sports talk format from 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM each weekday. There were also various live weekend shows.

In 1999, WBOB's parent company - by then known as AMFM, Inc. - merged with Clear Channel Communications. Because Clear Channel already owned the maximum number of stations allowed in the Cincinnati market, WBOB was spun off to Salem Communications, along with sister station WYGY-FM (now WFTK and owned by Cumulus Media). WUBE-AM (now WDBZ) was sold to Blue Chip Broadcasting, while WUBE-FM was sold to Infinity Broadcasting.

Bengals play-by-play then shifted to competing all-sports station "1360 Homer" WCKY and "92.5 The Fox" WOFX-FM, both of which were owned by Clear Channel. In addition, WLW would also carry the games once the Reds season ended, giving the network three flagship stations. Most of the WBOB hosts also made the transition to WCKY at this time, which is still the arrangement, even though WCKY now broadcasts at 1530 AM. As of September 2008, the FM simulcast for Bengals games was moved to WEBN-FM 102.7. Due to the privatization of Clear Channel, the company is required by the FCC to divest WOFX-FM.

The Salem years

In August 2000, WBOB was officially acquired by Salem Communications. Salem kept WBOB's sports talk format, but changed the emphasis from local sports to an ESPN Radio format. There was a local show in the afternoon featuring WBOB Program Director Doug Kidd and reporter Gregg Waddell. This show would eventually be cancelled in favor of ESPN programming.

A local midday program was introduced featuring WLWT-TV sportscaster Ken Broo and Waddell, but that show would also be short-lived. Another local program featured Cincinnati Business Courier columnist Andy Hemmer talking about the business of sports.

In late 2003, Salem dropped ESPN from WBOB and flipped it to a news/talk format. It was programmed like most other Salem-owned talk stations, using the Salem Radio Network of talent such as Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, Bill Bennett and Mike Gallagher. In addition, other syndicated hosts aired on WBOB including Laura Ingraham and Bill O'Reilly.

In February 2006, Salem sold WBOB to Christian Broadcasting System and exited the market altogether in exchange for a station in Detroit, Michigan. At that time, Alchemy Broadcasting became the lease holder of WBOB and changed the format to Oldies and the call letters to WDJO.

WDJO

History of the WDJO call sign

The WDJO call sign was previously used by another oldies station on 1230 AM from 1985 to 1990 in the Cincinnati area which is now urban talker WDBZ.

The WDJO call sign was also used by 106.5 FM in Greenville, Ohio (Dayton market) when it aired a Jammin' Oldies format. That station is now Smooth Jazz WDSJ.

1160 and 1230 connections

The WMLX call letters and nostalgia format were originally on 1230 AM between 1981 and 1985. Those call letters and format would later appear in 1987 on 1180 AM, the predecessor to 1160 AM. The "Score" sports talk format was launched on 1230 AM in 1995, then moved to 1160 in 1996.

The WDJO call letters and Oldies format originally appeared on 1230 AM between 1985 and 1990. Those call letters and format are currently on 1160 AM. Alchemy Broadcasting operates the station which is leased to them by its current owner Michigan-based Christian Broadcasting Systems Ltd.

External links

* [http://www.oldies1160.com WDJO official website] (with streaming audio)
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* [http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060214/ENT/602140312/-1/all Reference Cincinnati Enquirer Article]