City Powell, Tennessee Frequency 1040 kHz Format Urban Contemporary | Branding Jammin' 99.7 First air date January 1, 1978 | |
 | ||
Broadcast area Knoxville Metropolitan Area Translator(s) 99.7 W259AV (Knoxville) Power 10,000 watts day
3,000 watts critical hours Owner Joseph Armstrong; (Arm & Rage, LLC) | ||
WJBE (1040 AM) is an American commercial daytime-only radio station located in Powell, Tennessee, serving the Knoxville Metropolitan Area with an urban contemporary format. WJBE is owned by Joseph Armstrong, through broadcast licensee Arm & Rage, LLC. This station is unrelated to the Knoxville-based WJBE owned by entertainer James Brown from 1968 through 1979.
History
This station played adult standards for much of its history and was owned by Journal Communications through most of the period after the Telecommunications Act of 1996, though it was a sports talk station ("1040 The Ticket") before switching to the Dial Global America's Best Music network in its last change before switching to its current format. The station was also formerly simulcast on 104.5 FM.
Because it shares the same frequency as "clear channel" station WHO-AM in Des Moines, Iowa, WJBE operates as a daytime-only station.
On November 13, 2008, the station's call sign changed from WQBB to WKTI, branded as Classic Country 1040 WKTI; the new calls came from Journal Communications' former adult contemporary station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 94.5 FM (which changed their calls to WLWK-FM) in order to warehouse them from a Milwaukee-area competitor re-using them.
On December 3, 2012, the station was sold by Journal to WMCH Radio, Inc., in order to meet regulatory requirements after purchasing WACY-TV in Appleton, Wisconsin. Subsequently, the call sign was changed to WWAM, with the WKTI calls moving back to Wisconsin on a Sturgeon Bay-based translator on Channel 22 of WWAM's former sister television station WGBA-TV (Channel 26) in Green Bay. WWAM changed to urban adult contemporary with the sale. In late May 2015, the Milwaukee station returned to using the WKTI calls in a format change to country music.
Effective May 7, 2013, WWAM was sold to Joseph Armstrong's Arm & Rage, LLC at a purchase price of $75,532.50. The station changed its call sign to the current WJBE on June 28, 2013. The station also simulcasts on translator W259AV at 99.7 allowing the station to broadcasts 24 hours on FM once AM 1040 signs off at sunset.
On February 3, 2016 WJBE changed their format to urban contemporary, branded as "Jammin' 99.7".