WJBE (AM)


WJBE is an American commercial radio station licensed to Powell, Tennessee, an unincorporated community just northeast of Knoxville; the station serves the Knoxville metropolitan area with an urban contemporary format. WJBE is owned by Joseph Armstrong, through broadcast licensee Arm & Rage, LLC. This station is unrelated to the former locally-based WJBE owned by entertainer James Brown from 1968 through 1979.
WJBE operates on the clear-channel frequency of 1040 AM, but is not considered a clear-channel station because it is a Class D daytime-only station. WHO in Des Moines, Iowa is the dominant Class A station, also known as a clear-channel station.

FM Translator

In addition to the main station at 1040 AM, WJBE is relayed by an FM translator; this gives the listener the ability to listen on FM with high fidelity sound. As WJBE AM is a daytime-only station, the FM signal gives the station the ability to broadcast 24 hours a day because FM stations are not restricted to daytime hours only.

History

This station played adult standards for much of its history and was owned by Journal Communications through most of the period after the Telecommunications Act of 1996, though it was a sports talk station before switching to the Dial Global America's Best Music network in its last change before switching to its current format. The station was also formerly simulcast on 104.5 FM.
Because it shares the same frequency as "clear channel" station WHO-AM in Des Moines, Iowa, WJBE 1040 AM side operates as a daytime-only station.
On November 13, 2008, the station's call sign changed from WQBB to WKTI, branded as Classic Country 1040 WKTI; the new calls came from Journal Communications' former adult contemporary station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 94.5 FM in order to warehouse them from a Milwaukee-area competitor re-using them.
On December 3, 2012, the station was sold by Journal to WMCH Radio, Inc., in order to meet regulatory requirements after purchasing WACY-TV in Appleton, Wisconsin. Subsequently, the call sign was changed to WWAM, with the WKTI calls moving back to Wisconsin on a Sturgeon Bay-based translator on Channel 22 of WWAM's former sister television station WGBA-TV in Green Bay. WWAM changed to urban adult contemporary with the sale. In late May 2015, the Milwaukee station returned to using the WKTI calls in a format change to country music.
Effective May 7, 2013, WWAM was sold to Joseph Armstrong's Arm & Rage, LLC at a purchase price of $75,532.50. The station changed its call sign to the current WJBE on June 28, 2013. The station also simulcasts on translator W259AV at 99.7 allowing the station to broadcasts 24 hours on FM once AM 1040 signs off at sunset.
On February 3, 2016 WJBE changed their format to urban contemporary, branded as "Jammin' 99.7".