Branding Holy Family Radio First air date July 26, 2010 | Frequency 88.9 mHz | |
City Glandorf, Ohio (studio and transmitter near Leipsic) Broadcast area Putnam, Hancock and surrounding counties plus northern portion of Lima area. Slogan "Tune in to the truth with 88.9 FM" | ||
WJTA "Holy Family Radio" (for: "Jesus, The Answer") is a non-commercial FM broadcasting station licensed to Glandorf, Ohio with studio and transmitter located near Leipsic in rural Putnam County. WJTA transmits at 88.9 mHz on the FM band. It is the first full-time Catholic radio station to come on the air in northwestern Ohio and within the Toledo Diocese...the others being WNOC "Annunciation Radio" licensed in Bowling Green and based in Toledo (with Sandusky sister station WHRQ) and WRRO licensed in Edon serving the Bryan area and the corner of the Ohio, Indiana and Michigan state lines.
Contents
WHJM "Radio Maria" licensed in Anna, Ohio serving the northern portion of the Cincinnati Archdiocese and the southern portion of the Lima area in west central Ohio is WJTA's neighbor on the radio dial at 88.7 FM.
History
Founder Tom Deitering was inspired by listening to EWTN's shortwave station WEWN. He at first thought about purchasing a station of his own but the price was astronomical. After hearing of new frequency availabilities opening up between the non-commercial frequencies of 88.1 and 91.9 (after analog television transmissions were scheduled to end in February 2009) Deitering applied for a frequency in October 2007 and was granted the 88.9 frequency in September 2009. Afterwards Mr. and Mrs Deitering began a speaking tour of local Catholic parishes within the Toledo diocese asking for donations to help with starting up the new station. In June 2010 a tower was purchased and erected,and on-air testing began.
WJTA (while in its construction permit status) aired test transmissions for several hours daily to adjust its transmitter which began on June 9 through July, and is now airing Catholic programming 24/7 since its official sign-on which took place on July 26, 2010. Upon its official inaugural sign-on, WJTA began local Catholic programming in addition to national programming from EWTN Radio. Its signal also reaches into neighboring Findlay to the east and the northern portion of the Lima area to the south on a standard FM car radio. WJTA is also known to be received in the communities of Delphos, Paulding, Defiance, Carey and Napoleon.
A kick-off dinner for WTJA took place on August 1, 2010 at the Ottawa Knights of Columbus Hall. Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair among other guests introduced local and area listeners to the new station. More information of the kick-off event can found on the station's Facebook page. WJTA's first website (wjta889.org) has been online and commenced streaming since early 2011 until 2017 with a newer upgraded domain which is holyfamilyradio.fm
WJTA's coverage area also compliments the signals of WVSG 820 AM in Columbus as "St. Gabriel Radio" in addition to WNOC 89.7 FM licensed to Bowling Green serving the Toledo area and WHRQ 88.1 in Sandusky serving the north-coast area as "Annunciation Radio" which also carry nearly all of the EWTN Radio schedule in their respective areas and frequencies and can be easily accessed by a car radio in northwestern and north central Ohio.
WJTA staff
Tom Deitering died on Saturday September 15, 2012 at St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima, Ohio after several weeks of deteriorating health. A Mass of Christian Burial took place on Wednesday September 19, 2012 at Holy Family Catholic Church located southwest of the station in the rural community of New Cleveland. He is interred in the church cemetery. His obituary can be found here.
Local programming
Aside from being an affiliate of EWTN Global Catholic Radio, WJTA also started producing and airing programs of local origin beginning in 2013.
...and on affiliates (partial listing) including:
and
In addition to:
In April 2014, WJTA's live studio was upgraded to newer equipment including a new audio console,telephone interface,microphones and a digital audio processor providing consistent clean modulated sound on the air and online along with EWTN programming now provided by a digital receiver replacing the satellite dish which was destroyed in a 2012 summer derecho storm.
In January of 2017 WJTA began simulcasting for the Findlay area on FM translator W256CJ at 99.1 mHz. This translator was previously used as a booster station for WBIE in Delphos which aired programming from American Family Radio.
WJTA also streams from its website and on Android, iPhone, iPad and Kindle Fire mobile devices as well as Tune In dot com.
Call sign history
The WJTA calls were previously used at another religious station at 91.7 FM in Kosciusko, Mississippi, from 1990 to 2008 (as "Assurance 91"...now defunct).