KJMJ (580 AM), also known as Radio Maria USA, is a

Catholic American With 23 percent of the United States' population , the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided ...

radio station broadcasting from

Alexandria, Louisiana Alexandria is the ninth-largest city in the state of Louisiana and is the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River of the South, Red River in almost the ex ...

. It is the originating station of The World Family of Radio Maria's US operations, airing Catholic programming including a mix of traditional Catholic worship and

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and ...

, along with a weekday Mass, frequent recitals of the Holy Rosary and various talk and teaching programs on the Catholic faith. It is simulcast on nine full powered stations and one low powered translator, and its audio stream can be accessed from its website and via apps for iPhone,

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

and Android mobile phone devices. Radio Maria USA also streams from the Tune In app for smartphones and Amazon's Fire tablets in addition to the portable

Alexa Alexa may refer to: Technology *Amazon Alexa, a virtual assistant developed by Amazon * Alexa Internet, a defunct website ranking and traffic analysis service * Arri Alexa, a digital motion picture camera People *Alexa (name), a given name and ...

device by speaking the verbal command "Alexa..Open Radio Maria."

History

The station began broadcasting September 21, 1935 holding the call sign KALB. It was owned by the Alexandria Broadcasting Company, and originally broadcast at 1420 kHz, running 100 watts during daytime hours only.History Cards for KJMJ
fcc.gov. Retrieved June 28, 2020. In 1937, the station's frequency was changed to 1210 kHz, and it began nighttime operations, running 250 watts during the day and 100 watts at night. In 1939, it began running 250 watts 24 hours a day. KALB's frequency was changed to 1240 kHz in March 1941, as a result of the

North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, es, Convenio Regional Norteamericano de Radiodifusión) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band ( mediumwave) radio stations. These agre ...

. In 1945, its frequency was changed to 580 kHz, and it ran 1,000 watts 24 hours a day. Its daytime power was increased to 5,000 watts in 1947. In 1948, its FM sister KALB-FM 96.9 MHz (now

KZMZ KZMZ (96.9 FM, "96.9 Rocks") is a radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. Licensed to Alexandria, Louisiana, United States, the station serves the Alexandria area. The station is currently owned by Cenla Broadcasting Licensing Company, ...

) began broadcasting, and simulcast the programming of KALB 580.
1958 Broadcasting Yearbook
',

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

, 1958. p. A-291. Retrieved June 28, 2020. It was later the radio sister of

KALB-TV KALB-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Alexandria, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC, CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Washington Street in downtown Alexandria, and its transmitte ...

channel 5. It was an affiliate of ABC Radio in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s.Musical Chairs With Affiliates
, ''

Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') is a weekly telecommunications industry trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', and ''Broadca ...

''. January 7, 1963. p. 42. Retrieved June 30, 2020. In 1962, it ended its affiliation with ABC and became a CBS affiliate. Over the years, KALB aired a variety of

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

and

contemporary hits Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

programs. In the 1970s, the station aired a MOR format and in the 1980s it aired a country format.
Broadcasting Yearbook 1979
',

, 1979. p. C-92. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1981
',

, 1981. p. C-98. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1989
',

, 1989. p. B-125. Retrieved June 29, 2020. KALB aired an

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 wel ...

format in the 1990s.
Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1995
',

, 1995. p. B-172. Retrieved June 29, 2020.Transactions
, ''

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

''. November 11, 1994. pp. 6, 8. Retrieved June 29, 2020. In 1994, KALB was sold to Stellar Communications, along with 96.9 KZMZ, for $815,000. In January 1995, the station was sold to Faith Broadcasting for $125,000. On January 17, 1995, its call sign was changed to KLBG, and it adopted a soul gospel format.Call Sign History
fcc.gov. Retrieved June 29, 2020. The station was branded "Faith 580". In late 1999, the station was sold Radio Maria Inc., along with AM 1250 KALO in

Port Arthur, Texas Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County; it is east of Houston. The largest oil refinery in the United St ...

, for $900,000. In January 2000, its call sign was changed to KJMJ and it was taken off the air while its facilities were being upgraded. Its initial broadcast as KJMJ commenced on May 25, 2000.Petrus, Jeannie.
Radio Maria
, ''Cenla Focus''. June 11, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2020. It was the first English-language Radio Maria station in the United States. Afterward, a network of repeaters were established. Father Duane Stenzel O.F.M. served as its first national program director, Mass celebrant, teacher and on-air personality from its 2000 inception until his death on January 18, 2011.Father Duane Stenzel dead at 83
, ''Radio & Television Business Report''. January 19, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2020. Radio Maria began broadcasting from its first English-speaking station in the US since May 25, 2000, in

. It has expanded to include 11 frequencies in six other states, including

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

Repeaters

Radio Maria USA's programming can also be heard on these stations:

AM

FM

Former repeater

References

External links

Radio Maria USA in English-language
(with streaming audio)
Radio Maria USA in Spanish-language
(with streaming audio)
Radio Maria USA in Italian-language
(with streaming audio) {{Religious Radio Stations in Louisiana Christian radio stations in Louisiana Catholic radio stations Radio stations in Louisiana Radio stations established in 1935 1935 establishments in Louisiana Mass media in Alexandria, Louisiana