WFJS (1260 AM) 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 radi ...

broadcasting a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

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 was compelle ...

, focusing on the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and carrying

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

Radio Network programs. The station is owned by the Domestic Church Media Foundation, a Catholic-based organization in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

on WFJS-FM (89.3) in Freehold, New Jersey, as well as

WGYM WGYM (1580 kHz) is a non-commercial AM radio station broadcasting a religious format aimed at Catholic listeners. The station is licensed to Hammonton, New Jersey, and serves parts of Atlantic County and Camden County. The station is owned by ...

(1580 AM) in the Atlantic City area and WSMJ (91.9 FM) in

North Wildwood North Wildwood is a city located on the Jersey Shore in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 3,621, a decre ...

. By day, WFJS is powered at 5,900

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s. To protect other stations on

1260 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1260 kHz: There are 55 stations in the United States which broadcast on 1260 AM; the Federal Communications Commission classifies 1260 AM as a regional frequency. Argentina * LT14 Gral ...

from interference, at night it reduces power to 2,500 watts. It uses a directional antenna with a four-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is on Ewingville Road in

Ewing Township, New Jersey Ewing Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township falls within the New York metropolitan area as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. It borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the F ...

History

Early years

The station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

the air on . The original

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 assign ...

was WBUD. It was licensed to Morrisville, Pennsylvania, broadcasting at 1490

kilocycle The cycle per second is a once-common English name for the unit of frequency now known as the hertz (Hz). The plural form was typically used, often written cycles per second, cycles/second, c.p.s., c/s, or, ambiguously, just cycles (Cy./Cyc.). The ...

s. In 1952, WBUD moved to its current frequency of 1260 kHz as a Trenton-licensed station. During a period in the late 1970s, the station held the call letters WTRT. On May 29, 1980, the station adopted the call letters WKXW. It reverted to the original call sign WBUD on September 1, 1981, and kept those call letters until 2008. In the early 1970s, WBUD broadcast a Top 40 format. In 1975, the station became an all-news outlet, carrying the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

News and Information Service. When that service was discontinued in 1977, WBUD returned to music programming. By the late 1990s, WBUD was airing

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...

music as "Great Gold Radio".

Standards and sports

In February 2006, WBUD switched to ABC Radio's "

Unforgettable Favorites {{Infobox Network , logo = , network_name = Unforgettable Favorites, country = United States, network_type = Radio network, available = National, owner = ABC Radio Networks(through The Walt Disney Company), key_people ...

" satellite feed, airing a soft

/ adult standards format. Despite Unforgettable merging with the " Timeless" Radio Network, WBUD maintained its nostalgia playlist for two years. On March 31, 2008, the station switched to a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on ...

format, becoming a

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

of Fox Sports Radio. The station aired Fox Sports all day except in afternoons, when it aired Premiere's

Jim Rome Show ''The Jim Rome Show'' is a sports radio talk show hosted by Jim Rome. It airs live for three hours each weekday from 9 a.m. to noon Pacific Time. The show is produced in Los Angeles, syndicated by CBS Sports Radio, and can be heard on affili ...

and local programming.

Catholic radio

The Millennium Radio Group, then WBUD's owner, announced on July 25, 2008, that the station would be sold. The buyer was th
Domestic Church Media Foundation
founded by New Jersey native
Jim Manfredonia
The station would drop Fox Sports Radio, switching to Catholic religious programming, mainly from

. The sale was completed on September 10, 2008. On September 14, 2008, WBUD had its final day of broadcasting, featuring the station's automated "Great Gold" oldies format, as well as Jack Pinto's ''Sunday Sinatra'' program, live in the studio. The station returned to Fox Sports at 2PM after playing its final song, "Yesterday's Gone", by

Chad and Jeremy Chad & Jeremy were a British musical duo consisting of Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde, who began working in 1962 and had their first hit song in the UK with " Yesterday's Gone" (1963). That song became a hit in the United States in the following y ...

. On September 15, 2008, WBUD officially flipped to a Catholic-based religious format, as "Domestic Church Catholic Radio". On September 22, 2008, the station changed its call letters to WFJS, named after

Fulton J. Sheen Fulton John Sheen (born Peter John Sheen, May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in ...

, an archbishop who had used broadcasting (particularly

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

) to deliver the message about the Catholic faith. The station's studios will also be renamed as "The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center for Media Evangelization".

Power increase

In August 2012, WFJS was granted a construction permit 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 jurisdicti ...

to increase its daytime power to 5,900 watts. It also added a fourth tower to its array to modify its daytime directional pattern. The sign-off of station

WNWK WNWK (1260 AM broadcasting, AM, "Sabrosa 1260") was a radio station broadcasting in Spanish language, Spanish in Newark, Delaware. The station was last owned by Jose Roberto Ekonomo and Aida Esperanza Ekonomo, doing business as Eko Media Group, I ...

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a small city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is home to the Uni ...

, which also broadcast on 1260 AM, freed WFJS from an obligation to minimize interference to that station. The new directional pattern improves WFJS's daytime signal to the south and southwest. No change was made to the station's nighttime power or pattern.

WFJS-FM

In May 2011, the Domestic Church Media Foundation was granted a license for WFJS-FM on 89.3 FM in Freehold, New Jersey.Application Search Details
fcc.gov. Accessed February 7, 2015 The station simulcasts 1260 WFJS.

References

External links

WFJS official website
{{Trenton Radio Radio stations established in 1947 Catholic radio stations 1947 establishments in New Jersey FJS