WPJS (1330 AM) is an

Urban Gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genr ...

formatted

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 serve

Conway, South Carolina Conway is a city in and the county seat of Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 24,849 at the 2020 census, up from 17,103 in the 2010 census, making it the 18th-most populous city in the state. The city is part of ...

, which targets a primarily

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

audience and also airs community-oriented programming.

History

WLAT was the first radio station in

Horry County, South Carolina Horry County ( ) is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 351,029. It is the fourth-most populous county in South Carolina. The county seat is Conway. Horry County is the centra ...

, first licensed on September 24, 1945. At first, WLAT transmitted on 1490 kHz with a 250-watt signal. In 1956, WLAT moved from 1490 to 1330 kHz, along with a daytime power increase to 1,000 watts, but giving up night authorization. The station applied for another power increase in 1958 to 5,000 watts, and would seek 500 watts at night in 1961. A sister FM station was added circa 1964. Formats for the AM station over the years included beautiful music and, as of 1985,

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 ...

.Toby Eddings, "WYAK changes its lineup and image," ''The Sun News'', Apr. 25, 1999. In 1988, the new owners of WLAT, which by this time was separate from the FM, changed the 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 ...

and called it "Hot 1330". The owners had changed the callsign of a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, from WLIT, and just in case they wanted to use the letters again, they gave the letters to WLAT. Later, the same thing was done when the station's owners changed the callsign WBIG on a

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

. The station took the callsign WPJS on May 31, 1991. The current format was chosen in the early 1990s. The old studios on U. S. 501 stood empty until being demolished, and the WLAT call letters still stood next to the road.

References

External links

* * Myrtle Beach, South Carolina PJS Gospel radio stations in the United States {{SouthCarolina-radio-station-stub