WKTZ (1220 AM) 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 ...

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

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, United States. Established in 1958, the station is currently owned and operated by the

American Family Association The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States.

, and is that organization's only station on the AM band. The station was assigned the

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 ...

"WJAX" 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 ...

(FCC) on May 26,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and then assigned the callsign WKTZ on November 5, 2014.

Programming

Until November 2014, WJAX featured the syndicated

America's Best Music America's Best Music is the on-air branding of a soft oldies and adult standards 24-hour radio network, formerly known as AM Only. The service is syndicated by Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. It was one of the original Transtar Ra ...

format of adult standards and

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 ...

oldies music distributed by

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 ...

, and streams online. Previously, the station aired

Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and Ca ...

, which

Jones Radio Networks Jones Radio Networks & Jones Media Group were branches of Jones International before being sold to Triton Media Group. JRN and JMN provide local radio stations with satellite-delivered formats. They also offer other services to local radio such ...

distributed until January 19, 2008, and then aired Jones'

Jones Standards Jones Standards was a short-lived 24-hour music format that was produced by Jones Radio Networks. Its playlist is composed of mostly adult standards from artists such as Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Rod Stewart and a dozen more art ...

format until it was discontinued in September 2008 and absorbed into America's Best Music following Triton Media Group's (owners of Westwood One's predecessor Dial Global) purchase of Jones.

History

The station began broadcasting from a

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

located at the water plant across from Confederate Park near First and Main streets. The station was owned by the city government. WJAX was also an

FM station FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

on 95.1 and played album rock throughout the 1970s. The company that purchased WJAX-FM from the city in the early 1980s also owned WAPE at 690 AM, which is now

WOKV WOKV may refer to: *WOKV (AM) 690 in Jacksonville, Florida *WOKV-FM 104.5 in Jacksonville, Florida *WGRR WGRR (103.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Hamilton, Ohio, and serving the Cincinnati metropolitan area. It broadcasts ...

. When the deal was done, the WAPE

took over the spot at 95.1 and for a short while simulcast their

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

format on both AM and FM frequencies. The

languished unused for years, but made a comeback on the AM dial as a station owned and operated by Jones College. The original WJAX at 930 AM is now WFXJ. The WJAX call sign has been used by Jacksonville's CBS station

WJAX-TV WJAX-TV (channel 47) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Hoffman Communications, which maintains a joint sales agreement (JSA) with Cox Media Group, owner of Fox/Telemundo affiliat ...

since 2014.

Translators

References

External links

* * * * {{American Family Radio KTZ Radio stations established in 1958 Duval County, Florida KTZ American Family Radio stations 1958 establishments in Florida