WDJC-FM (93.7 FM) is 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

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. The station was one of the first commercial FM radio stations in the United States to exclusively feature Christian programming. Today the station programs

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

music. Owned by Crawford Broadcasting Company, WDJC-FM's transmitter tower is in Southwest Birmingham, and its studios are located in Homewood.

History

WSGN-FM

The initial occupant of the 93.7 frequency in Birmingham was WSGN-FM. The station signed on in 1947; it was originally owned by the parent company of ''

The Birmingham News ''The Birmingham News'' is the principal newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The paper is owned by Advance Publications and was a daily newspaper from its founding through September 30, 2012. After that day, the ''News'' and its two ...

,'' and it was the sister station of one of the more popular AM radio stations in Birmingham. In 1953, the parent company of ''The News'' purchased WAFM-TV, WAPI and WAFM-FM and was forced to sell WSGN-AM and FM to Jemison Broadcasting Company and then to Winston-Salem Broadcasting Company. Because FM radio was in its infancy, and as such neither popular nor profitable, the station was shut down in 1955.

WSFM

On a new license, James Melonas built a new station at 93.7 FM in 1958. This station bore the call letters WSFM and featured a classical music format. In 1967, Melonas, who struggled through most of his ownership to get advertisers to sponsor classical music programming, sold the frequency to Crawford Broadcasting Company. With its new call letters, WDJC, the station changed formats and began broadcasting Christian programming. Initially, the programming consisted of Bible studies, church services and other Christian teaching; by the mid-1970s, some contemporary Christian music was added to the programming mix (it is believed that only Huntsville's now-defunct WNDA—now WRTT-FM—was the only other station in the state to do so at the time). At about the same time, a nightly program featuring

Southern gospel Southern gospel music is a genre of Christian music. Its name comes from its origins in the southeastern United States. Its lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as ...

music, the ''Dixie Gospel Caravan'', was added. This programming strategy continued well into the 1990s. After an AM sister station was named WDJC, this station was assigned the WDJC-FM call letters by 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 ...

on December 4,

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. On December 1,

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, the station resumed its former WDJC call letters. The station was reassigned the current WDJC-FM call letters by the

on June 3,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. In 1998, WDJC-FM dropped the non-music elements of its programming. WFMH-FM in Cullman was purchased by a group of Birmingham investors with the purpose of launching a station that would play contemporary Christian music 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Initially, the new station, rebranded as WRRS-FM proved to be a challenger to WDJC-FM; in reaction to the challenge, WDJC-FM began to play contemporary Christian music exclusively. Within three years, WRRS changed formats; ironically, Crawford Broadcasting bought the competing station in 2003 and changed its format to

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

. WDJC-FMHD3 carried "99.1 The Game" (

NBC Sports Radio NBC Sports Radio was a sports radio network that debuted on September 4, 2012. The network content was produced by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and distributed by Westwood One, which is the corporate successor to the remains of ...

) until November 10, 2017, also via W256CD, which is now carrying WQEN-HD3/WDXB-HD2 Alt 99.1 since November 12, 2017.

References

External links

WDJC official website
* {{coord, 33.443, N, 86.881, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title DJC-FM Contemporary Christian radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1958 DJC-FM 1958 establishments in Alabama