WCFJ (1470 AM) was a

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 ...

licensed to

Chicago Heights, Illinois Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,480 at the 2020 census. In earlier years, Chicago Heights was nicknamed "The Crossroads of the Nation". Currently, it is nicknamed "The Heights". Geograp ...

, United States. Its transmitter was located south of

Crete, Illinois Crete is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States, a south suburb of Chicago. The population was 8,259 at the 2010 census. Originally named Wood's Corner, it was founded in 1836 by Vermonters Dyantha and Willard Wood. Geography Crete i ...

and served Chicago's south suburbs and South Side, as well as

Northwest Indiana Northwest Indiana, nicknamed The Region after the Calumet Region, comprises Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. According to the 2020 Ce ...

. The station's original call sign was WMPP.

History

WMPP

WMPP began broadcasting on August 15, 1963, and originally aired a R&B format. Pruter, Robert (1992).
Chicago Soul
'.

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic project ...

. p. 17. Retrieved September 16, 2019. The call letters stood for "Working More for People's Progress". The station originally ran 1,000 watts during daytime hours only. Originally owned by Seaway Broadcasting Company, it was the first African-American owned and operated radio station in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

.History Cards for WCFJ
fcc.gov. Retrieved January 5, 2019.Biro, Nick.
R&B Roundup
, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''. May 11, 1963. p. 22. Retrieved January 5, 2019."Services Set for W. Martin, Head of WMPP",

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

. October 5, 1963. Section 1C, p. 6. The station was founded by William S. Martin and Charles Pinckard. Martin died in October 1963, and Charles Pinckard acquired controlling interest in the company in 1964. In 1979, the estate of Charles Pinckard sold Seaway Broadcasting to James M. Benages for $150,000.

Religious era

The station continued to air an R&B format until 1980, when the station adopted a

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

format.Stations, everywhere: a listeners' guide to the AM and FM bands
, ''

Chicago Tribune Magazine The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are ...

''. March 4, 1979. p. 37. Retrieved January 5, 2019.Williams, Jean.
Counter-point
, ''

''. November 22, 1980. p. 41. Retrieved December 5, 2019. Gospel singer

Albertina Walker Albertina Walker ( – ) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, actress, and humanitarian. Early years Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ruben and Camilla Coleman Walker. Her mother was born in Houston County, Georgia, and ...

hosted a program on the station in the 1980s. The license was assigned to JANA Broadcasting in 1981. In 1983, the station added nighttime operations, running 1,000 watts. JANA Broadcasting went bankrupt in the mid-1980s. A partnership planned to purchase the station and change its format to

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

, but they were unable to obtain financing before the deadline and the station was taken off the air on January 14, 1988. In 1989, the station was sold to Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church for $400,000. In 1989, the station's callsign was changed to WCFJ, which stood for "Winning Chicagoland For Jesus".Call Sign History
fcc.gov. Retrieved January 5, 2019. The station aired a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

format. In 1997, the station was taken silent, with the station remaining off the air until the following year.

Newsweb ownership

In 1998, the station was sold to

Newsweb Corporation Newsweb Corporation is a printer of ethnic and alternative newspapers in the United States, based in Chicago, Illinois. The company also owns several radio stations in the Chicago area. Newsweb was founded in 1971 by Chicago entrepreneur, political ...

for $425,000, and the station began airing brokered ethnic programming.Format Changes & Updates
, ''The M Street Journal''. Vol. 15, No. 33. August 19, 1998. p. 2. Retrieved January 5, 2019. Some of the station's programs were simulcast on 1240

WSBC WSBC (1240 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States, which broadcasts brokered programming. It is owned by Newsweb Corporation. History WSBC began broadcasting in 1925 and originally broadcast at 143 ...

. After Newsweb's purchase, WCFJ began airing

LesBiGay Radio LesBiGay Radio was a radio show catering to the LGBT population of Chicago, Illinois. A contraction of lesbian, bisexual, and gay, the radio program was founded in June 1994 by Alan Amberg, and broadcast until April 2001, just shy of its 7th anni ...

weekday evenings. The program was heard on WCFJ until April 2001, and was simulcast on WSBC. From July 2001 to June 3, 2005,

Neil Tesser Neil Tesser (born 1951) is a Grammy Award–winning American journalist, radio host, music critic, and author. In 2015, he received the Jazz Journalists Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz Journalism. Biography Born in New York, Tess ...

hosted a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

program titled ''Miles Ahead'', which aired weekday afternoons/evenings on WCFJ. The last two hours of ''Miles Ahead'' were simulcast on 1240 WSBC. On November 7, 2015, Newsweb took WCFJ off the air, citing that the station was no longer profitable. The license was surrendered 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) on November 9, 2015; the FCC cancelled the license and deleted the WCFJ call sign the same day.

References

{{Chicago Radio CFJ Defunct radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1963 1963 establishments in Illinois Radio stations disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in Illinois Chicago Heights, Illinois Defunct religious radio stations in the United States CFJ