WCFJ (1470 AM) was a

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 ...

licensed to

Chicago Heights, Illinois Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,480 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A south suburb of Chicago, it is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. Its nicknames include "The Cro ...

, United States. Its transmitter was located south of

Crete, Illinois Crete is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. It is a far south suburb of Chicago, 30 miles from the Loop and only 6 miles from the Indiana border. The population was 8,465 at the 2020 census. Originally named Wood's Corner, it ...

and served Chicago's south suburbs and South Side, as well as

Northwest Indiana Northwest Indiana, nicknamed "The Region" after the Calumet Region, is an unofficial region of Northern Indiana, northern Indiana, United States that is located at the northwestern corner of the state. Though there is no official definition of th ...

. The station's original call sign was WMPP.

History

WMPP

WMPP began broadcasting on August 15, 1963, and originally aired a R&B format. Pruter, Robert (1992).
Chicago Soul
'.

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois System. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, thirty-three scholarly journals, and several electroni ...

. p. 17. Retrieved September 16, 2019. The call letters stood for "Working More for People's Progress". The station originally ran 1,000 watts during daytime hours only. Originally owned by Seaway Broadcasting Company, it was the first African-American owned and operated radio station in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

.History Cards for WCFJ
fcc.gov. Retrieved January 5, 2019.Biro, Nick.
R&B Roundup
, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. May 11, 1963. p. 22. Retrieved January 5, 2019."Services Set for W. Martin, Head of WMPP",

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

. October 5, 1963. Section 1C, p. 6. The station was founded by William S. Martin and Charles Pinckard. Martin died in October 1963, and Charles Pinckard acquired controlling interest in the company in 1964. In 1979, the estate of Charles Pinckard sold Seaway Broadcasting to James M. Benages for $150,000.

Religious era

The station continued to air an R&B format until 1980, when the station adopted a

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

format.Stations, everywhere: a listeners' guide to the AM and FM bands
, ''

Chicago Tribune Magazine The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN tele ...

''. March 4, 1979. p. 37. Retrieved January 5, 2019.Williams, Jean.
Counter-point
, ''

''. November 22, 1980. p. 41. Retrieved December 5, 2019. Gospel singer

Albertina Walker Albertina Walker ( – ) was an American gospel singer, songwriter and humanitarian. Early years Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ruben and Camilla Coleman Walker. Her mother was born in Houston County, Georgia, and her father ...

hosted a program on the station in the 1980s. The license was assigned to JANA Broadcasting in 1981. In 1983, the station added nighttime operations, running 1,000 watts. JANA Broadcasting went bankrupt in the mid-1980s. A partnership planned to purchase the station and change its format to

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

, but they were unable to obtain financing before the deadline and the station was taken off the air on January 14, 1988. In 1989, the station was sold to Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church for $400,000. In 1989, the station's callsign was changed to WCFJ, which stood for "Winning Chicagoland For Jesus".Call Sign History
fcc.gov. Retrieved January 5, 2019. The station aired a

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

format. In 1997, the station was taken silent, with the station remaining off the air until the following year.

Newsweb ownership

In 1998, the station was sold to

Newsweb Corporation Newsweb Corporation is a printer of ethnic and alternative newspapers in the United States, based in Chicago, Illinois. The company also owns AM 750 WNDZ. Newsweb was founded in 1971 by Chicago entrepreneur, political activist, and philanthropis ...

for $425,000, and the station began airing brokered ethnic programming.Format Changes & Updates
, ''The M Street Journal''. Vol. 15, No. 33. August 19, 1998. p. 2. Retrieved January 5, 2019. Some of the station's programs were simulcast on 1240

WSBC WSBC (1240 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. It broadcasts brokered programming, mostly ethnic and religious. It is owned by Heartland Signal LLC. WSBC transmits with 1,000 wa ...

. After Newsweb's purchase, WCFJ began airing LesBiGay Radio weekday evenings. The program was heard on WCFJ until April 2001, and was simulcast on WSBC. From July 2001 to June 3, 2005,

Neil Tesser Neil Tesser (born 1951) is a Grammy Award–winning American journalist, radio host, music critic, and author. In 2015, he received the Jazz Journalists Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz Journalism. Biography Born in New York, Te ...

hosted a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

program titled ''Miles Ahead'', which aired weekday afternoons/evenings on WCFJ. The last two hours of ''Miles Ahead'' were simulcast on 1240 WSBC. On November 7, 2015, Newsweb took WCFJ off the air, citing that the station was no longer profitable. The license was surrendered to 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 ...

(FCC) on November 9, 2015; the FCC cancelled the license and deleted the WCFJ call sign the same day.

References

External links

Facility details for Facility ID 37246 (WCFJ)
in the FCC Licensing and Management System
FCC History Cards for WCFJ
(covering 1958-1981 as WMPP) {{Chicago Radio CFJ Defunct radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1963 1963 establishments in Illinois Radio stations disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in Illinois Chicago Heights, Illinois Defunct religious radio stations in the United States CFJ