WBBA-FM is a

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

serving the Pittsfield,

Jacksonville, Illinois Jacksonville is a city and the county seat of Morgan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,616 at the 2020 census, down from 19,446 in 2010. It is home to Illinois College, Illinois School for the Deaf, and the Illinois Sc ...

and West Central

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

areas, as well as parts of Northeastern

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

including the

Pike County, Missouri Pike County is a County (United States), county on the eastern border of the U.S. state of Missouri, bounded by the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 17,587. Its county seat is Bowling Green ...

and Northern Lincoln County, MO areas. WBBA-FM is owned and operated by Doug Smith, through licensee GBI Communications, LLC. The station is currently under a management agreement with a purchase option from Jimmy Fish Productions headed by Jim Fishback. The station is known on the air as B97.5, and airs a full service Hot Adult Contemporary music format. WBBA-FM airs games and programming of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

professional baseball team.

History

WBBA Signed on the Air in December of 1954 under the ownership of the Meyer family with 170W of Power daytime at 1580 AM from a tower just to the south of Pittsfield. In 1966, WBBA-FM was added at 97.7 MHz with 3,000 Watts of Power. The Meyer Family sold the station in the late 1980s, and after a couple of short lived owners, the station was sold to Gary Brown, a St. Louis, MO radio personality. WBBA AM ceased to exist in 1996 and the station went to FM only after a dispute with the landowner of the WBBA AM tower, which also supported the FM station at that time. The FM station at that time was moved to a tower on the east side of Pittsfield; and the license to the AM station was never rebuilt and its license was cancelled by the Federal Communications Commission in 2000. WBBA had been dark from May of 2024 after a purchase of the station by principals of KJFM in Louisiana, MO failed to close with the

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

, and a Simulcast of KJFM that began early in 2024 abruptly ended and the station was filed as silent with the Federal Communications Commission. Fishback would return the station to the air in late February of 2025 with its current format of Hot Adult Contemporary Music. DJ Two Rivers Radio purchased WBBA-FM in 2003, along with sister station WJBM, from Brown Radio Group Inc. for $320,000 in 2003.Changing Hands
''

Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and ...

''. November 6, 2003. Accessed July 23, 2015 WBBA-FM aired a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format at the time of its sale, and was branded "Double Barreled Country". Effective March 14, 2022, DJ Two Rivers Radio transferred the licenses for WBBA-FM and sister station WJBM, and the construction permit for translator W284DN, to Doug Smith's GBI Communications, LLC as settlement of a lawsuit between the two parties. On February 22, 2025, after being silent since May 2024, WBBA-FM returned to the air and began stunting towards a new format to launch on March 17, 2025.WBBA-FM RESUMES OPERATIONS WITH NEW FORMAT ON THE WAY
Radioinsight - February 28, 2025 On March 18, 2025, WBBA-FM signed back on the air with a new full service

Hot Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format featuring The TJ Show in the morning,

Baseball, Ag Reports from Monte James and Your Ag Network, Local News, Sports, Weather Reports, and other local programming.

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References

External links

* Full service radio stations in the United States BBA-FM {{Illinois-radio-station-stub