Frequency 88.5 MHz City of license Five Points | Format Classic Country HAAT 61 meters (200 feet) First air date 2008 | |
Branding "Country Legends 88.5 FM | ||
WJBE-FM (88.5 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Five Points, Alabama. The station has not broadcast since January 2014. The station's broadcast license is held by Big South Community Broadcasting, Inc. Launched in 2008 under the "WJBE" call sign, WJBE-FM serves Alabama's Walker and Winston Counties. This station is unrelated to the Knoxville-based WJBE (1430 AM) owned by entertainer James Brown from 1968 through 1979.
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Early days
This station received its original construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission on December 20, 2007. The new station was assigned the call letters WJBE by the FCC on December 27, 2007. WJBE received its license to cover from the FCC on June 5, 2008. The station changed its call sign to the current WJBE-FM on June 28, 2013.
On the air
WJBE originally broadcast a country music format branded as "Country Legends 88.5". Notable local programs included The Wal-Win Wake-up Show with Brett Elmore & Barry Patilla on weekday mornings and The Woody Wilson Show on weekday mid-days.
In addition to its music programming, the station broadcast local news and weather, regional sports, plus CNN News at the top of every hour. Each weekday morning, WJBE aired a tradio program called "Swap Shop". WJBE also aired select local high school football games and the college basketball games of both Bevill State Community College and Walker College. The station was also the home of the 2009 Alabama Broadcasters Association's Small Market Sportscaster of the Year, Brett Elmore.
The format later shifted to modern rock under the branding "88.5 The Planet" but with largely the same airstaff.
Falling silent
WJBE fell temporarily silent on January 10, 2014, for technical reasons. In their January 15, 2014, filing with the FCC, the station asserted "technical problems with the audio end of the transmitter" requiring that the transmitter be "sent back to the factory for repairs" and requested special temporary authority to remain silent until the transmitter can be repaired and reinstalled. WJBE is still listed with the FCC as "silent" (out of business) on the FCC listing of defunct FM broadcast stations.
Sometime in late 2013 or early 2014 it appears the station switched formats (back) to classic country as "Country Legends 88.5". (Taken from Alabama Broadcast Media Page)
As of 9-22-2014, this station has returned to the air. (Taken from fccdata.org)
James Brown's WJBE
This station is unrelated to an earlier WJBE, a now-defunct AM radio station once based in the Five Points area of Knoxville, Tennessee. That station, known at the time as WGYW was purchased by entertainer James Brown in November 1967 for a reported $75,000. Brown had the callsign changed to WJBE (for James Brown Enterprises) in January 1968. The station broadcast a rhythm & blues and soul music format branded as "WJBE 1430, Raw Soul, Another James Brown Station".
Brown sold the station in 1979 and in November 1979 the call letters were changed to WBMK. In May 1987 the station changed callsigns again, this time to WEMG. Under the ownership of Chicago-based Word of Faith Fellowship, Inc., the station went off the air in the mid-1990s and its license was cancelled by the FCC on August 27, 1996.