WJBR (1010 AM) is a radio station licensed to Seffner, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay market with an all-podcast format known as "Podcast Radio US". Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, the station's studios are located on Executive Center Drive in St. Petersburg.
By day, WJBR transmits with 50,000 watts, the maximum for commercial AM stations. As 1010 AM is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A stations CFRB Toronto and CBR Calgary, WJBR must reduce power to 5,000 watts at night. Its transmitter is off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (Florida State Road 574) in Seffner, using a directional antenna with three-tower array to protect other stations from interference. It is directional towards the east and west to protect WJXL Jacksonville by day, which also operates on 1010 AM. WJBR's call sign was granted by the Federal Communications Commission on September 19, 2023. It is also heard on two FM translators, at 92.1 MHz in Tampa and 103.1 MHz in New Port Richey.
History
MOR and talk
The station signed on the air on November 7, 1960, as WINQ. It was founded by Rex Rand, the owner of WINZ in Miami.
In its early days, WINQ was a network affiliate of the Mutual Broadcasting System and carried a middle-of-the-road (MOR) music format. In 1967, WINQ became the first station in Tampa Bay to offer an all-talk format, with network news and other programming from CBS Radio (which would later own this station). WINQ switched to a country music format in 1971, after the station was losing money on the talk programming.
Christian programming
By 1974, WINQ had changed to a Christian radio station, featuring pre-recorded religious programing, with southern gospel music filling the breaks. In 1975, after an influx of call-in requests to Kevin MacKenzie's "LoveTree" Jesus Music Show, he and station manager Phil Scott agreed to continue in the direction of Christian Rock. With the assistance of program director Bill Brown, WINQ became a full-time Christian contemporary station with live announcers, and launched what became the first commercially licensed Christian rock radio station in the country.
In late 1978, following Rand's death in a helicopter crash, the station was sold to different owners, who switched the format back to traditional religious programming, as WCBF ("We're Christians By Faith"), dropping the CCM format and again featuring Christian talk and teaching programs produced by area churches.
CBS ownership and Howard Stern
In 1987, Infinity Broadcasting, which owned WQYK-FM 99.5, acquired WCBF. It was relaunched a year later as WQYK, returning it to a country format. Most hours, it simulcast its FM sister station WQYK-FM. The simulcast did not last long.
The station has undergone many format changes since then, alternating between country, talk and sports radio. In July 2004, the station switched to a hot talk format, as WBZZ, 1010 The Buzz, after acquiring the rights to the syndicated Howard Stern Show. However, soon after Howard left for satellite radio in January 2006, the station switched from a hot talk format to a classic country sound. Then it changed back to all-sports as WQYK on August 10, 2007. Nanci "The Fabulous Sports Babe" Donnellan is one of WQYK's most notable alumni. The station served as Donnellan's flagship during her show's run on the now-defunct Sports Fan Radio Network, from 1997 to 2001.
WQYK's sports format moved to WHFS-FM (98.7 FM, formerly WSJT) on August 2, 2012, under the branding SportsRadio 98.7 The Fan. The WHFS call sign had previously been used on co-owned stations in Washington, D. C. and Baltimore and was "parked" or "warehoused" on a co-owned station in West Palm Beach. Concurrent with the move, WQYK changed its call sign to WHFS to match the FM station. The two stations simulcast until January 2, 2013, when the AM station became a full-time affiliate of CBS Sports Radio. Among the new hosts was Donnellan, who was heard overnight.
Moneytalk Radio
On October 2, 2014, CBS Radio announced that it would trade all of the company's radio stations in Charlotte and Tampa (including WHFS), as well as WIP in Philadelphia, to the Beasley Broadcast Group in exchange for five stations in Miami and Philadelphia. The swap was completed on December 1, 2014.
On December 31, 2014, under Beasley ownership, the station made a change. At 10 a.m., WHFS dropped CBS Sports Radio and switched to a simulcast of WSBR's Moneytalk Radio programming.