WFJS (1260 AM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

broadcasting a

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

, focusing on the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and carrying

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

Radio Network programs. The station is owned by the Domestic Church Media Foundation, a Catholic-based organization in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...

on 89.3 WFJS-FM in

Freehold, New Jersey Freehold, New Jersey may refer to: * Freehold Borough, New Jersey, the county seat of Monmouth County * Freehold Township, New Jersey Freehold Township is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is both a ...

, as well as 1580 WGYM in the

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

area and WSMJ-FM in

North Wildwood North Wildwood is a city located on the Jersey Shore in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 3,621, a dec ...

By day, WFJS is powered at 5,900

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s. But to protect other stations on 1260 AM from interference, at night it reduces power to 2,500 watts. It uses a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performanc ...

with a four-

tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is on Ewingville Road in

Ewing Township, New Jersey Ewing Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township falls within the New York metropolitan area as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. It borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the ...

History

Early Years

The station

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A digi ...

the air on . The original

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally ass ...

was WBUD. It was licensed to Morrisville, Pennsylvania, broadcasting at 1490

kilocycle The cycle per second is a once-common English name for the unit of frequency now known as the hertz (Hz). The plural form was typically used, often written cycles per second, cycles/second, c.p.s., c/s, or, ambiguously, just cycles (Cy./Cyc.). T ...

s. In 1952, WBUD moved to its current frequency of 1260 kHz as a Trenton-licensed station. During a period in the late 1970s, the station held the call letters WTRT. On May 29, 1980, the station adopted the call letters WKXW. It reverted to the original call sign WBUD on September 1, 1981, and kept those call letters until 2008. In the early 1970s, WBUD broadcast a Top 40 format. In 1975, the station became an all-news outlet, carrying the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

News and Information Service. When that service was discontinued in 1977, WBUD returned to music programming. By the late 1990s, WBUD was airing

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as w ...

music as "Great Gold Radio".

Standards and Sports

In February 2006, WBUD switched to ABC Radio's " Unforgettable Favorites" satellite feed, airing a soft

/ adult standards format. Despite Unforgettable merging with the "

Timeless Timeless (or atemporal) or timelessness (or atemporality) may refer to: * Agelessness, the condition of being unaffected by the passage of time * Akal (Sikh term), timelessness in Sikhism * Eternity, timeless existence or infinite duration * Im ...

" Radio Network, WBUD maintained its nostalgia

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sev ...

for two years. On March 31, 2008, the station switched to a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on ...

format, becoming a

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or ...

Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an American sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports division and iHeartMedia, parent compan ...

. The station aired Fox Sports all day except in afternoons, when it aired

Premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its fi ...

Jim Rome Show ''The Jim Rome Show'' is a sports radio talk show hosted by Jim Rome. It airs live for three hours each weekday from 9 a.m. to noon Pacific Time. The show is produced in Los Angeles, syndicated by CBS Sports Radio, and can be heard on affilia ...

and local programming.

Catholic Radio

The Millennium Radio Group, then WBUD's owner, announced on July 25, 2008, that the station would be sold. The buyer was th
Domestic Church Media Foundation
founded by New Jersey native
Jim Manfredonia
The station would drop Fox Sports Radio, switching to Catholic religious programming, mainly from

. The sale was completed on September 10, 2008. On September 14, 2008, WBUD had its final day of broadcasting, featuring the station's automated "Great Gold" oldies format, as well as Jack Pinto's ''Sunday Sinatra'' program, live in the studio. The station returned to Fox Sports at 2PM after playing its final song, "Yesterday's Gone", by

Chad and Jeremy Chad & Jeremy were a British musical duo consisting of Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde, who began working in 1962 and had their first hit song in the UK with " Yesterday's Gone" (1963). That song became a hit in the United States in the following y ...

. On September 15, 2008, WBUD officially flipped to a Catholic-based religious format, as "Domestic Church Catholic Radio." On September 22, 2008, the station changed its call letters to WFJS, named after Fulton J. Sheen, an

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

who had used broadcasting (particularly

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

) to deliver the message about the Catholic faith. The station's studios will also be renamed as "The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center for Media Evangelization".

Power Increase

In August 2012, WFJS was granted a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

to increase its daytime power to 5,900 watts. It also added a fourth tower to its array to modify its daytime directional pattern. The

sign-off A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth countries exce ...

of station

WNWK WNWK (1260 AM broadcasting, AM, "Sabrosa 1260") was a radio station broadcasting in Spanish language, Spanish in Newark, Delaware. The station was last owned by Jose Roberto Ekonomo and Aida Esperanza Ekonomo, doing business as Eko Media Group, I ...

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a small city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is home to the Un ...

, which also broadcast on 1260 AM, freed WFJS from an obligation to minimize interference to that station. The new directional pattern improves WFJS's daytime signal to the south and southwest. No change was made to the station's nighttime power or pattern.

WFJS-FM

In May 2011, the Domestic Church Media Foundation was granted a license for WFJS-FM on 89.3 FM in

.Application Search Details
fcc.gov. Accessed February 7, 2015 The station simulcasts 1260 WFJS.

References

External links

WFJS official website
{{Trenton Radio FJS Radio stations established in 1947 Catholic radio stations 1947 establishments in New Jersey FJS