WRBS-FM (95.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

, "Bright-FM") is a radio station in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, serving the

Baltimore metropolitan area The Baltimore–Columbia–Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Central Maryland, is a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in Maryland as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It is part of the larger ...

. The station broadcasts a

Christian adult contemporary Christian adult contemporary, also known as Christian AC, CAC, or Christian Adult Contemporary Airplay, is a form of radio-played contemporary Christian music, ranging from 1960s Jesus music and 1970s Christian soft rock music to predominately ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

and is owned by Peter & John Radio Fellowship, Inc. WRBS-FM has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 50,000 watts, the maximum permitted for non- grandfathered FM stations in this region. Its studios and

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

are co-located off Commerce Drive near

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

Halethorpe, Maryland Halethorpe is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The community is considered to be a sub-section of Arbutus by the United States Census Bureau. It is bordered by the main portion of Arbutus to the north, Ba ...

, using a Baltimore address. WRBS-FM broadcasts using

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

technology. The HD2

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

broadcasts the

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

programs formerly heard on WRBS (1230 AM), and is still branded "WRBS-AM".

History

Peter & John Fellowship

In 1948, three young ministers Peter and John Bisset, and Paul Plack, created "The Peter, Paul and John Broadcast" to reach non-church goers during the week on WFBR (1300 AM), then one of Baltimore's most popular radio stations. The Bisset's were the youngest of five brothers whose family had emigrated from Scotland. Paul Plack was a singer who had met the brothers during his evangelistic tours. Paul left the broadcast in 1952, and the program was renamed "The Peter and John Broadcast". The brothers continued to host the show until Peter's sudden death of a heart attack in 1995.

WRBS early years

On June 30, 1960, the station first

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air. It was owned by John B. Reynolds, who served as the general manager and commercial manager. The

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

WRBS was chosen to represent Reynolds Broadcasting Service. At the time, it carried a

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

format, when few people owned FM receivers. It did not have an FM

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

because Reynolds did not own an AM

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

. The FM station stood alone.

Christian radio

In 1964, Peter & John Radio Fellowship acquired WRBS. The brothers upgraded WRBS's facilities in 1972. The station increased power to 50,000 watts, from 20,000 watts. It began broadcasting 24 hours daily coupled with a move from East Cold Spring Lane in Baltimore to its present site at 3500 Commerce Drive. In 2006, Peter and John Radio Fellowship, Inc., acquired a Baltimore AM radio station, the former WITH (1230 AM) and changed its

to WRBS. The FM station is now licensed under the call letters WRBS-FM, using the FM suffix to distinguish it from the AM station. WRBS (AM) was sold in 2024 and is now

WFOA WFOA (1230 kHz) is a AM radio station broadcasting a Spanish contemporary hit radio format. Licensed to Baltimore, Maryland, the station serves the Baltimore metropolitan area. The station is owned by Julio Arquinio's BMax Media LLC. The stat ...

; its previous programming remains on the second

channel of WRBS-FM. 951SHINEFM small

In August 2009, WRBS-FM was re-branded to feature contemporary Christian music, and began calling itself ''95.1 Shine FM''. On May 2, 2022, WRBS-FM rebranded as ''Bright-FM,'' after

Olivet Nazarene University Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) is a private Nazarene university in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Named for its founding location, Olivet, Illinois, ONU was originally established as a grammar school in east-central Illinois in 1907. In the late 1930 ...

withdrew its license to use the ''Shine FM'' name. On February 11, 2023, WRBS-FM began rebroadcasting on the 103.1 FM frequency previously occupied by

Adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

station WRNR-FM, which it brought from them back in November. After the switch, its calls was changed to WRHS, with the station's city of license of Grasonville being retained.

References

External links

* {{Religious Radio Stations in Maryland RBS-FM Christian adult contemporary radio stations in the United States RBS-FM Moody Radio affiliate stations Radio stations established in 1960 1960 establishments in Maryland