WQJM (1230 AM) is 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

Pineville, Kentucky Pineville () is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Bell County, Kentucky, Bell County, Kentucky, United States. It is the county seat, seat of its county. The population was 1,732 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 cens ...

, and serving the greater Bell County community. WQJM broadcasts with a full-time signal of 1,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s and on translator 98.1 W251CV.

History

WQJM signed on on March 15, 1957, as WMLF, with the mission of serving the Pineville community with local news and information. The station changed its call sign to WANO in 1966. On October 16, 2023, WANO changed its call sign to WQJM to launch a brand new format and branding, “JAMZ 98”. The format is a mixture of today's hot hits, R&B, and throwbacks from the '70s, '80s and '90s.

Ownership

South Bevins was the original licensee of WANO and owned the station until approximately 1995, when the station was purchased by Warren Pursifull's Cumberland Media Group. Warren had begun working at the then-WANO as a teenager, leaving after his acquisition of Countrywide Broadcasters, Inc's WFXY/ Middlesboro in November 1993. In late 2005, both WANO and WFXY were acquired by Joshua Wilkey, a

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

businessman who moved to Bell County to run the stations. WQJM's studios are co-located with WFXY at 2131 Cumberland Avenue in Middlesboro. WQJM's transmission facilities are located on Four Mile Road just outside the corporate limits of Pineville.

2007: fire

Just after celebrating 50 years on the air, arsonists set fire to WANO's broadcasting facilities on the night of March 18, 2007. The result was a complete loss of the station's broadcasting equipment, leaving WANO off the air. Immediately, rebuilding efforts began, as the community rallied around the station. In record time, the station was back on the air, signing back on little more than a month later on April 20. The resulting rebuild made WANO state-of-the-art in every way, for the first time since 1957.

2009: new owner

In March 2009 Cumberland Omnimedia LLC. sold WANO to Penelope, Inc. Heading up the media division of the company will be Frank Smith, VP/GM of Penelope, Inc. The FCC granted new ownership rights or assignment to Penelope, Inc. on October 22, 2009.

2023: call sign

WANO changed to WQJM, switching from a country format to hot AC, R&B, plus throwbacks.

Programming

The station broadcasts a

rhythmic adult contemporary Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic contemporary, rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the cla ...

format, featuring hit music and R&B oldies, as well as local newscasts and obituaries three times per day. The station streams audio content 24/7 at jamz981.com

External links

* * Pineville, Kentucky QJM Radio stations established in 1957 1957 establishments in Kentucky Rhythmic adult contemporary radio stations Rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the United States {{Kentucky-radio-station-stub