KAJO (1270 AM, "KAJO AM 1270 & 99.7 FM") is a commercial AC/ classic hits and

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

/ talk

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

Grants Pass, Oregon Grants Pass is a city in and the county seat of Josephine County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on Interstate 5 in Oregon, Interstate 5, northwest of Medford, Oregon, Medford, along the Rogue River (Oregon), Rogue River. The populatio ...

, broadcasting to the Southern Oregon area. It was owned by

Carl Wilson Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian Wilson, Brian and Dennis Wilson, ...

's Grants Pass Broadcasting Corporation. In 2024, Grants Pass Broadcasting was sold to Brian and Shanna Diatte.

History

The Grants Pass Broadcasting Corporation, a partnership of James O. "Jim" Wilson Jr. and Jim T. Jackson, applied for a

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

to build a new 1,000-watt, daytime-only radio station in Grants Pass on October 1, 1956; the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) granted the application on May 1, 1957. Wilson had been encouraged to become a station owner while selling ad time on a station in Klamath Falls; a national appliance salesman told him to move to Grants Pass, which at the time only had one station. A third partner, Phil Jackson, was added to the ownership group in 1958, and the station increased its daytime power to 5,000 watts in 1960. The Jacksons would remain part-owners until 1973, when Wilson bought them out and made Elzie Parker, a longtime friend, the only other partner in the business. In the 1980s, Jim Wilson's son

and his brother Matt became involved in the management of the station. Grants Pass Broadcasting also expanded in 1993 by starting KLDR (98.3 FM). Carl Wilson became a state legislator from 1999 to 2003; he left the legislature citing its dysfunction, noting that there were five special sessions in 2002, and returned to focus on KAJO, where he hosts a talk show. When Wilson returned to the legislature, he stopped hosting his show during election season to avoid a conflict of interest, though he continued to purchase campaign advertising to air on his own stations. Grants Pass Broadcasting acquired KRRM (94.7 FM), then off the air, in 2020, giving it a third station in the area.

Translator

KAJO also broadcasts on the following FM translator: this improves the coverage and provides

high fidelity High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

sound.

References

External links

* * * {{Medford-Ashland Radio Grants Pass, Oregon AJO Radio stations established in 1957 1957 establishments in Oregon