WJIB

WJIB is an indirect successor to a previous Boston FM station at 96.9 MHz with the same call sign (now WBQT, owned by Beasley Broadcast Group) which in turn descended from WXHR, one of the first FM stations in the Boston area. Coincidentally, what is now WJIB was once owned by Harvey Radio Laboratories, the same company that owned WXHR/WJIB-FM. The AM station was first known as WTAO, then WXHR, and later as WCAS. In 1967, a year after they were sold to a joint venture of Kaiser Broadcasting and The Boston Globe, WXHR became WCAS while WXHR-FM changed to WJIB, featured the beautiful music format, and became well known for a nautical-themed station identification featuring a buoy bell and a seagull (now used in modified form by WOCN-FM on Cape Cod). WJIB-FM became WCDJ, a smooth jazz station, in 1990, and the call sign WJIB lapsed.

After Kaiser/Globe took over, the AM side at first broadcast a format with music and local news of interest to listeners in Cambridge and nearby communities, but was not very successful. By 1969, WCAS had flipped to Oldies. This was followed in 1972 by a soft rock format that, by 1973, had evolved into a folk/rock format which, while not enormously successful, gained a devoted following in the Boston area. In 1974 and then again in 1975, WCAS was almost sold to religious broadcasters, but both times, citizens groups intervened and thwarted the sales. The format continued even after Kaiser finally sold the station, in 1976, but ended with a sale of the station in 1981 after the then-owners, Dan Murphy and Mel Stone, were forced to file bankruptcy for WCAS. The rest of the 1980s saw a revolving door of owners, call letters, and formats. In the summer of 1991, Bob Bittner purchased the station, then known as WLVG ("We love God") and programming a Black Gospel format. Bittner changed the format to "Earth Radio" (a blend of contemporary music with environmentally-aware public service spots) under the call letters WWEA.

The WJIB call letters were applied for by Bittner in 1992 and were granted to him by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the 740 station in Cambridge. Once having gained the WJIB call letters, Bittner switched the station to beautiful music on August 4, 1992, expanding it slightly as the station gained success, and then gradually morphed it into an adult standards station with a slight remainder of beautiful music in the mix, totally programmed by Bittner (WJTO is an almost exact copy music-wise). The station's studio still occupies a section of the original building owned by Harvey Radio Labs, the original proprietors of WXHR and WTAO.

Originally a daytime-only station, WJIB gained nighttime power in the early 1990s with an output of five watts. Despite this meager power, WJIB's nighttime signal can be heard inside of Massachusetts Route 128; just outside the 128 belt, listeners usually get Toronto's CFZM at night, with a format similar to that of WJIB.

During the spring and summer of 2006, a small construction developer circulated a petition in the local Fresh Pond, Cambridge, neighborhood to gauge community support or opposition for tearing down the Concord Avenue buildings that originally housed WTAO and currently house WJIB. The firm proposed the removal of the buildings owned by Cambridge Self Storage, a rental storage company, and their replacement with 220+ three-to-four story condominiums and townhouses. The proposal ran into considerable community opposition, citing traffic congestion on Concord Avenue and surrounding roads.

WJIB broadcast in AM stereo until the summer of 2012. On August 4, 2017, the station began simulcasting on an FM translator at 101.3 MHz, W267CE.

In May 2023, longtime owner-operator Bob Bittner died at the age of 73.[5] The station remained on the air through its ongoing use of automated broadcasting.[6]

When a change in the BMI and ASCAP licensing was tied to ratings in 2007, the fees WJIB was to pay increased by a factor of six. On March 13, 2007, following the station's traditional Noon broadcast of the national anthem, Bob Bittner announced that the station would begin accepting non-tax-deductible listener donations, seeking to raise approximately $88,000 annually to pay the station's operating expenses, which did not include any salary to Bittner. Bittner specified that donations should be personal checks; no credit cards would be accepted, since doing so would direct fees to lenders who encourage America's mass indebtedness. An announcement was made at 5 p.m. on April 25, 2007, that six weeks after the initial announcement, WJIB had reached its fundraising goal.[11]

In ensuing years, Bittner conducted similar annual fundraising drives up to and including 2016, and thanks to loyal listeners, he was able to raise the money to keep the station on the air. In addition to listener donations, some Sunday-morning programming time was sold to local churches and religious organizations, which added to the station's revenue.

From 1997 through 2016, Bittner purchased several other stations in Maine to broadcast a similar music format on WJTO in Bath, WLAM in Lewiston, WLVP in Gorham, and WJYE in Gardiner (WJYE was sold in 2019 and became WHTP).

• WJIB history at Bostonradio.org
• FCC - Original WTAO Radio Tower/Studio location coordinates
• Audio of the 4/25/07 fundraising announcement heard over WJIB.
• 740 WCAS website
• The Boston Radio Dial: WJIB(AM) - includes history of WCAS
• Harvard Crimson article from 1977 on local music, mentioning WCAS
• MIT's The Tech with 1979 article mentioning WCAS
• Boston Globe mention of defunct WCAS
• DX Listening Digest with mention of brief stint at WCAS as news station
• WJIB in the FCC AM station database
• WJIB on Radio-Locator
• WJIB in Nielsen Audio's AM station database
• W267CE in the FCC FM station database
• W267CE on Radio-Locator