Original Call Letters: WMFJ

Originally Licensed: Nov 1, 1967

Original City of License: Daytona Beach

Original Frequency: 101.9

Origin of Call Letters: To compliment co-owned WMFJ-AM 1450 

Original Power: 25,000

Original Location: 750 Root Street

Original Format: Beautiful Music

WMFJ-FM History
Thanks to Marc Tyll for this history of WMFJ.
The call letters  WMFJ originally to be WMFB standing for “World‘s Most Famous Beach”.  The “J” in WMFJ didn’t really stand for anything, but was chosen because they needed a forth letter in the call letter combination. WMFJ appeared to be the better choice among the available WMF - call letter combinations at the time. Also, it made sense to use the same combo that sister station WMFJ-AM 1450 had by just adding the suffix “FM”. The station was constructed in 1967, going on the air November 1 of that same year. WMFJ-FM was owned and operated by Walter-Weeks Broadcasting Company, a small Daytona Beach based broadcasting company that later acquired AM-FM combinations in Sarasota, West Palm Beach and Tallahassee. Walter-Weeks was owned and headed by former Ocala resident Robert M. Weeks and Jim Walter, a well known Florida home builder and founder of Jim Walter Homes, Inc. Walter-Weeks Broadcasting Company was formed in 1965 when the company bought its first radio station, WMFJ-AM Daytona Beach, shortly after a very young Weeks had met Jim Walter in the mid sixties. According to various sources, apparently Walter made a deal with Weeks, telling Weeks he would financially back him on a radio station purchase once Weeks found a station he liked. Shortly after the two shook hands and sealed the deal, Weeks headed for Daytona - on foot! After a few hours of hitch-hiking, Weeks was given a ride the rest of the way. Soon after Weeks arrived in Daytona and got settled, he decided WMFJ was the station he wanted. Weeks contacted Walter to inform him of the find he had made. True to his word, Walter bought WMFJ and made Weeks the President and General Manager of the new radio company. Plans soon went  into effect to build an FM station in Daytona to become a part of the newly acquired WMFJ-AM. Daytona already had one FM station, WNDB-FM 94.5, which, at the time, was co-owned with WNDB-AM 1150 and The Daytona News Journal. Upon receiving final approval from the FCC for the AM license transfer, Weeks immediately filed an application with the Commission for the 101.9 FM frequency, the only available FM channel at that time. Soon the application was granted and a construction permit was issued to Walter-Weeks Broadcasting Company for 101.9 MHz with 4,100 watts at an antenna height of 110 feet. The call letters WMFJ were issued and the facility was constructed at the former WMFJ-AM site at 750 Root Street in Daytona. The AM self supporting 110 foot tower was located in the center of the building with the AM studios and offices built around the tower base. The original FM transmitter was a 5,000 watt Collins FM Series which was located in a specially constructed room located near the front of the main building. The automation system was just down the hallway from the transmitter, heading towards the AM studio which was in the back of the building. The original format on the new WMFJ-FM was beautiful music, using Drake-Chenault’s “The World’s Most Beautiful Music”  series. The new “Stereo 102”, as it was known, also provided the Muzak subscription music service to area businesses through its Subsidiary Communications Authorization, more commonly known as an SCA. In 1972, a very young Ron Samuels, who was the general sales manager for both stations, was promoted to general manager of WMFJ-FM. Samuels wanted to increase the billing on the FM, so in an effort to attract higher ratings and more ad revenues, Samuels dropped the beautiful music programming which had been broadcast for over 5 years on Stereo 102, replacing it with automated album rock, also programmed by Drake-Chenault. The concept was something new known as FM Stereo Rock. The WMFJ-FM call letters were replaced with a familiar set of calls which had recently been replaced on an area AM station.

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