WALJ (105.1 FM) is an American

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

which has applied to be

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to serve

Northport, Alabama Northport is a city in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in the west central part of the U.S. state, State of Alabama. Located on the Black Warrior River across from downtown Tuscaloosa, it is currently the 21st largest city in Alabam ...

, United States. The station is owned by Townsquare Broadcasting and serves the

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

, area.

History

In June 2011, Apex Broadcasting applied to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC) for a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

for a new broadcast radio station. The FCC granted this permit on July 19, 2011, with a scheduled expiration date of July 19, 2014. The new station was assigned

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

"WALJ" on July 27, 2011. On September 26, 2011, WALJ signed on the air with a mainstream urban

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

, branded as "105.1 Jamz". The FCC has accepted the station's formal license application and WALJ is operating under

program test authority {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) In broadcasting, program test authority (PTA) is an authorization to conduct on-air testing of broadcast station facilities authorized to be built under a construction permit. Once this testi ...

. On July 20, 2012, Cox Radio, Inc. announced that the programming rights of WALJ would be turned over to SummitMedia for $66.25 million as part of a 22-station sale. The transfer/sale was consummated on May 3, 2013. On June 5, 2019, Townsquare Media announced that it would acquire WALJ. To comply with FCC ownership rules, Townsquare would sell WTID to

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...

. Upon closing of the sale on August 1, 2019, the station would rebrand as "105.1 The Block". WALJ began carrying the Rickey Smiley Morning Show in mornings and, with the rebrand, brought in former

WGPR WGPR (107.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan, broadcasting an urban contemporary radio format. Owned by the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons, its studios and offices are on East Jefferson Avenue on Detro ...

and WQNC midday host Ally 'Ally The Pub’ Washington for afternoons under the on-air name of ‘Ally Lynn’.

References

External links

* ALJ Mainstream urban radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 2011 2011 establishments in Alabama Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Townsquare Media radio stations {{Alabama-radio-station-stub