WDJR (96.9 FM, "The Legend") is an American

Classic Country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

formatted

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 ...

based in

Dothan, Alabama Dothan () is a city in Dale, Henry, and Houston counties and the Houston county seat in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is Alabama's eighth-largest city, with a population of 71,072 at the 2020 census. It is near the state's southeastern corner, ...

. The station is owned and operated by Digio Strategies. The station's signal, which originates from a transmitter in Holmes County Florida, reaches large portions of

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Programming

"96.9 the Legend"'s programming is mainly focused on country music from the 1970s until the early 2000s, with some few outliers. Current local programming includes BJ Kelli in the

morning Morning is the period from sunrise to noon. There are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and night) because it can vary according to one's lifestyle and the hours of daylight at each time of year. However, morning s ...

from 6 until 10 a.m., and David Sommers in the afternoons. During the "Mix 96.9" era, WDJR played

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

music with an emphasis on new music while playing older favorites from the 1980s and 1990s. Local hosts included "K.W. & Wendy" on

morning drive Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cla ...

. Syndicated music programming included shows hosted by

Donny Osmond Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host, and former teen idol. He first gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gol ...

(mid-days),

Rick Dees Rigdon Osmond Dees III (born March 14, 1950), best known as Rick Dees, is an American entertainer, radio personality, comedian, actor, and voice artist, best known for his internationally syndicated radio show '' The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Coun ...

(afternoons), and Deliah (evenings). WDJR flipped from

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

to adult contemporary on December 26, 2011 and then to classic country in October 2014.

History

WDJR first went on the air on July 1, 1968 as WIRB-FM, an FM counterpart of 600 AM WIRB, licensed to

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

. With both bands covered, the WIRB cluster marketed itself as "Double Barrel Radio". On August 2, 1979, the station's call sign was changed to WLHQ, branded as "Q97". In the 1980s, WDJR had a classic rock format and was known as "The Monster" because of its large coverage area and rock music format. After a brief change to a lite rock format, WDJR flipped to

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

in 1993 by playing the entire

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

catalog at the time, 3 albums. When interviewed by the ''

Dothan Eagle The ''Dothan Eagle'' is a daily newspaper serving Dothan, Alabama, and surrounding communities. History It was founded in 1908. It was owned by the Thomson Corporation until 2000, when it was sold to Media General. In 2012, Media General sold mo ...

'' about the release of the fourth Garth Brooks album, General Manager Hal Edwards was quoted as saying, "Hot Dog! We can increase our song library by 33%!" WDJR was sold to the Hollidays in 1992. As a country station branded as "The Big Dog" until December 2011, WDJR programming included "Joey Dee & Melody" in the morning, Skip Nelson on mid-days, David Sommers in the afternoon, and "Nik at Nyt" on evenings. Syndicated programming included ''

Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 ''Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 with Fitz'' (sometimes abbreviated as CT40) is an American country music radio countdown show created by former ''American Country Countdown'' host Bob Kingsley, who hosted the show from its January 2006 debut until ...

'' and '' America's Grand Ole Opry Weekend'' from

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

. Some of this staff and programming shifted over to

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

WTVY-FM WTVY-FM ("Your Country" 95.5 WTVY) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Dothan, Alabama, United States. The station is owned by Digio Strategies. The station began broadcasting on September 20, 1968; the station was or ...

. After three weeks of

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

, WDJR changed their format from country to adult contemporary, branded as "Mix 96.9", on December 26, 2011. In October 2014 WDJR changed their format to classic country, branded as "96.9 The Legend".

Staff

Notable former staff include Alan Jeffries, Tom Nebel,

Mitch English Mitch English (born October 2, 1969) is an American morning talk show host, comedian, actor, reporter and weatherman. He is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated morning television show, '' The Daily Buzz'', and was the last r ...

, and Jerry Broadway.

Technical information

For years WDJR had broadcast from the

WTVY-TV WTVY (channel 4) is a television station in Dothan, Alabama, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power dual NBC/ CW+ affiliate WRGX-LD (channel 23). The two stations share studios on North Foster St ...

tower in Holmes County Florida at the mark. In the spring of 2006, WDJR was forced to move off the WTVY-TV tower in preparation for the high-power DTV transition as the new DTV equipment and WDJR's antenna would exceed the wind-load requirements of the tower. WDJR constructed their own tower just a few hundred yards from

. With the move, WDJR went down in class per

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) requirements. WDJR is now a class C0, full-service FM radio station.

References

External links

The Radio People website
* {{Country Radio Stations in Alabama DJR Country radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1979 1979 establishments in Alabama