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WWJB's Unique History:
WKTS Fire Damage
Photo (1958)
Steve Manuel At The Controls Of
1450 WWJB Radio!
Originally
owned by Elmo Kits of Tampa, what we now know as WWJB signed On-The-Air
in 1957 as WKTS, and was located at the corner of US-41 and Mondon Hill
Road (the present location of the original tower site, which
still stands). Due to an apparent lightning strike, the
station burned in May of 1958. At the time of the fire, there were
no city water hydrants located within a mile of the studios. Once
the local fire department's pumper truck was depleted of water, the
station went up in flames, causing total devastation to both transmitter
and studios. WKTS was officially off the air and remained dark
until total rebuild plans were set in place three months later.
In August of
1958, Bill (Woody) Johnson, bought the license from Elmo Kits, and in
October, the station returned to the air as WWJB.
The first “W” in the station’s call letters refers to the
FCC designator for stations located east of the Mississippi River, while
the second set of letters, “WJ” represented “Woody Johnson”.
According to reliable first hand sources, and contrary to what
other radio web sites have posted, the final letter "B" at the
end of the station’s call sign actually stands for “Brooksville”
or “Bill”, and are not the reversed initials for Bill
Johnson.
The tower
remained at the corner on US-41 and Mondon Hill Road, but new studios
were constructed at what was at the time, the Republican Headquarters in
Brooksville, a site which interestingly enough, was located directly
across the street from the Brooksville Fire Station, near the corner of
South Brooksville Avenue and Liberty Street. The studios remained
at this location for over 14 years.
At one point in
the station’s history, WWJB was also owned by Hunter-Knight
Broadcasting and Phil Knight became a partner and General Manager. He
moved the studios to the upstairs of what is now a antique shop, located
at the corner of South Main and Liberty Street.
WWJB was once again sold in November of 1978 to Jack Clancy, Don Stork and Bob Penrod, a group of professional broadcasters from the Finger Lakes area in Upstate New York. At the time, Bob was the General Manager, and by adding local news to the format, along with a very popular Paul Harvey, he and his staff turned WWJB into a successful local business. Bob built listener and sponsor awareness and participation, by helping make virtually all public events in the local community successful. Jack, Don and Bob held the station's license for four years before selling it to the present owners. Note: Even today, Bob Penrod still plays an active and positive roll at WWJB as a current On-Air staff member!
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