WWJB-AM 1450
Brooksville

Original Call Letters: WKTS

Originally Licensed: Oct 11, 1958

Original City of License: Brooksville  

Original Frequency: 1450

Origin of Call Letters: Owner; Woody Johnson and city; Brooksville

Original Power: 1,000 watts

Original Location: US-41 and Mondon Hill Road  

Original Format: Variety


Network Affiliation(s):

Keystone
ABC Information/Entertainment
Westwood One
United Press International

Owner
(s):

1957-
Elmo Kitts
1958-Bill "Woody" Johnson
1960-Brooksville Broadcasting Service Inc.
1971-Hunter/Knight Broadcasting Inc.
1971-Brooksville Broadcasting Services, Inc.
1982-Hernando Broadcasting Company 
1984-Hernando County Broadcasting

History of Call Letters and Formats:

WKTS
-1956-Construction Permit
WKTS-1957-Variety
WWJB-1960-

WWJB-1971-Country Western
WWJB-1972-MOR "JB 1450"
WWJB-1976-Top 40 "JB 1450"

WWJB-1979-MOR/Talk
WWJB-1983-Adult Contemporary "JB 1450"
WWJB-1984-Big Bands/Adult Standards "Real Music 1450 JB Radio"
WWJB-1994-News/Talk  "Hernando County Talk of the Town"
  WWJB-1994-News/Talk/Sports  "The Voice of the Nature Coast"


History Of WWJB
Thanks to Marc Tyll for this history of WWJB.
WWJB-AM began operations in 1957 as WKTS as Hernando county’s first radio station, operating on 1450 kHz with 1,000 watts day and 250 watts night. The original format was variety, later changing to adult contemporary, then Top 40 in the early to mid 70s.

The station caught fire in May of 1958 apparently due to a lightning strike.  At the time of the fire, there were no fire hydrants located within a mile of the studios. Once the fire department's pumper truck was out of water, the station went completely up in flames, causing total destruction to both the transmitter and studios. WKTS remained dark until plans to rebuild were completed 3 months later. In August of 1958, Bill Johnson of Tampa bought the license from Elmo Kits and the station returned to the air as WWJB in October of 1958. In the new call letters, "WJ" represented "Woody Johnson" and the "B" stood for Brooksville. After the fire,  new studios were constructed near the corner of South Brooksville Avenue and Liberty Street - directly across the street from the Brooksville Fire Station.  The studios remained at this location for over 14 years. In 1972 the station was sold to Jack Klancey.  Mr. Klancey held the station's license for 10 years. At one point in the station's history, WWJB was also owned by Hunter-Knight Broadcasting, who moved the studios to the upstairs of what is now a antique shop, located at the corner of South Main and Liberty Street.
A well known Central Florida television news anchor, Bob Jordan, once worked as News Director of WWJB during the early to mid 70s before heading to Orlando to assume a news reporting/anchor position with WFTV channel 9. From 1983 until 2002 WWJB was co-owned with WXCV-FM 95.3 Crystal River. In 1984 owner Steve Manual tweaked the format to a mix of adult contemporary and big bands known as "Real Music 1450 JB Radio". The format eventually became full-time Big Bands/Adult Standards, switching to News-Talk in 1994. Today WWJB is still Hernando County’s ABC/Information affiliate and programs a variety of local and national talk programs such as Hernando County Today, the Rush Limbaugh Show, Dr. Dean Edell and a host of other programs.


Names In WWJB History

W.W. "Woody" Johnson-1958-President/General Manager/Station Manager/1963-Program Director/News Director/1972-News Director-Brooksville Broadcasting Service, Inc.
W.L. Waring, Jr.-1958-Brooksville Broadcasting Service, Inc.

Charles "Chuck" Grant-1959-Commercial Manager/Sales Manager-Bill "Woody" Johnson Ownership/1960-Station Manager/Program Director/News Director-Brooksville Broadcasting Service

Joseph S. Gall-1959-Program Director-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
John Helman-1959-Chief Engineer-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Gerald Steen-1961-Chief Engineer-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Robert Payne-1963-Chief Engineer-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Pat Stockham-1964-Women's Director-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
D.M. Morris-1964-Chief Engineer-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
W.W. Johnson, Jr.-1964-Program Director/News Director-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Jim Stubbs-1967-Chief Engineer-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Ed Brown-1971-Chief Engineer-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Philip M. Knight-1971-President/General Manager/Chief Engineer-Hunter/Knight Broadcasting Inc.
Woody Johnson-1972-News Director-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Phil Thompson-1973-Program Director/Music Director/1974-News Director-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Ken DeBusk-1973-News Director-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Jack Rankin-1974-Sales Manager-Brooksville Broadcasting Service
Bill Perry-1975-Program Director/Music Director/Sales Manager-Brooksville Broadcasting Service

Jack Klancey-1978-Hernando Broadcasting Company

Don Stork-1978-Hernando Broadcasting Company



Bob Penrod-1978-Co-owner/General Manager/Air Personality/News Director-Hernando Broadcasting/2005-News Director-Hernando Broadcasting Company 

Mickey Brayton-1978-Program Director/Music Director-Hernando Broadcasting
Jack Klancey-1978-Hernando Broadcasting
Nate Graham-1978
Don Stork- 1978-Hernando Broadcasting
Bob Jordan-1979-News Director, who later went on to become a News Anchor then News Director at WFTV channel 9 in Orlando-Hernando Broadcasting
Steve Manual-1979-General Manager/Operations Manager/General Sales Manager/Promotions Manager/Chief Engineer-Brooksville Broadcasting Services, Inc./1982-President/General Manager/Chief Engineer-Hernando Broadcasting Company
Bob Haa-1979-News Director/Mornings/2005-Operations Manager-Hernando Broadcasting Company 

Bruce Snow-1982-Co-owner-Hernando Broadcasting Company  

Howard Weston-1982-Co-owner-Hernando Broadcasting Company 

Bruce Snow-1982-Hernando Broadcasting Company 
James Kimbrough-1984-Hernando Broadcasting Company
Jack Payne-1986-General Sales Manager-Hernando Broadcasting Company
J. C. Maggio-1986-Program Director-Hernando Broadcasting Company  
Marsha Roderick-1986-Promotions Manager-Hernando Broadcasting Company
Tom Longman-1986-Music Director-Hernando Broadcasting Company
Barbara Manuel-1999-Sales/Community Relations Consultant-Hernando Broadcasting Company
Ryan Gorman-2000-Co-host "High School Show"
Eric Allen-2000-Co-host "High School Show"
Bill Williamson-2005-General Sales Manager-Hernando Broadcasting Company 
Peggy Hope-2005-Promotions Director/Manager/2008-Promotions Director/Promotions Manager/Traffic Manager-Hernando Broadcasting Company 
Ray Stanbrough-2005-Advertising Manager-Hernando Broadcasting Company
J.R. Scicluna-2005-Programming Manager-Hernando Broadcasting Company 
Mark Varney-Program Director
Gerald Steen-Chief Engineer
John W. "Jack" Payne-Sales
Mark Jacobs
Chuck Whittaker-Traffic Reporter
George Lowe
Rick Hall

     


Steve Manual
in the WWJB studio
courtesy of http://jeff560.tripod.com/wwjb.html

WWJB offices, external view, Dec. 2004
courtesy of http://jeff560.tripod.com/wwjb.html

     


         
New tower in  2001 


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