WHAJ

WHAJ

City	Bluefield, West Virginia
Broadcast area	Southern West Virginia Southwestern Virginia
Branding	"J-104.5"
Slogan	"Today's Best Variety"
Frequency	104.5 MHz
First air date	1963
Format	Hot Adult Contemporary
Power	100,000 Watts (Horizontal) 80,000 Watts (Vertical)
HAAT	472.2 Meters
Class	C
Facility ID	504
Transmitter coordinates	37°15′5.0″N 81°11′20.0″W / 37.251389°N 81.188889°W / 37.251389; -81.188889
Callsign meaning	Named for the 1922 WHAJ, a Bluefield station with its call issued from an alphabetical sequence
Former callsigns	WHIS-FM
Affiliations	Kidd Kraddick Mountaineer Sports Network West Virginia MetroNews
Owner	Alpha Media (Alpha Media Licensee LLC)
Sister stations	WBDY, WHIS, WHKX, WHQX, WKEZ, WKOY, WKQY, WTZE
Webcast	WHAJ Webstream
Website	WHAJ Online

WHAJ is a Hot Adult Contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Bluefield, West Virginia, serving Southern West Virginia and Southwestern Virginia. WHAJ is owned and operated by Alpha Media.

History

WHAJ began as WHIS-FM in 1948, as the strongest FM station in the world at the time, with an effective radiated power of 186,000 watts. It was the sister station of WHIS-AM. The radio station was not successful, and broadcasting had permanently ceased by 1950. The management of WHIS-AM decided to relaunch the station in 1963, this time with an Effective Radiated Power of 5.8 kW. In 1977 power was increased to 100 kW and the call sign was changed from WHIS-FM to WHAJ-FM to emphasize separate programming from WHIS-AM.

When the radio station was relaunched in 1963, the studios were co-located with WHIS-AM-TV in what was then the Bluefield WV City Hall. In December 1967, WHIS-AM-FM-TV moved to a new, state-of-the-art facility on East Cumberland Road. The facility was known as Broadcast Center. WHIS-TV was sold to Quincy Newspapers in 1980, and remained in Broadcast Center. WHIS-AM and WHAJ-FM moved to 900 Bluefield Avenue, where they remain today.

Technical

Automation

From the 1970s until 1987, WHAJ used a Shaffer 903 automation system. From 1987 to 1990, WHAJ did not employ radio automation. On March 6, 1990, WHAJ became the world's first radio station to use Computer Concepts' Digital Commercial System (DCS) automation, considered the first commercially successful digital radio automation systems. In 1996, the DCS system was replaced by a first-generation system from Scott Studios. The older Scott Studios system was upgraded to Scott Studios SS32 in 2003.

Transmitter sites

WHAJ's transmitter is located on East River Mountain, overlooking the city of Bluefield. When the station returned to the air in 1963, the transmitter was co-located with WVVA-TV (then WHIS-TV). The antenna was side-mounted on the TV tower. The transmitter was an RCA BTF-5D.

WVVA's transmitter site is unique because the TV transmitter building is in the state of Virginia, but the TV tower and antenna are in West Virginia. This was a problem in 1977 when the management of the station wished to begin operations at 100 kW. In accordance with FCC rules FM radio stations in West Virginia may not have an Effective Radiated Power greater than 50 kW. This problem was solved by constructing a new tower 80 feet to the east-southeast of the TV tower. This tower was in Virginia, enabling 100 kW operation. A Harris FM-20K transmitter and ERI 12 Bay antenna was installed and 100 kW operation began in 1977.

In the late 1990s it became desirable to relocate the station's transmitter to a new location for two reasons. Firstly, the TV station had been sold, and the FM station was paying rent to the TV station for use of the transmitter site. Secondly, the site was undesirable from a technical perspective. The 1977 tower was too short and the rocky terrain would make a new, tall tower impractical. A new tower was therefore constructed approximately 1 mile to the west-southwest of the TV tower. WHAJ-FM moved to this site in 2000, using a Broadcast Electronics 25K transmitter. Co-owned WKOY and WHKX also moved to this site. (The old WHAJ-FM tower at the WVVA site is now used from WVVA-DT.)

Programming

In the 1960s and 1970s, WHAJ had a Beautiful Music format and the station's on-air moniker was "Stereo 104". In August 1981, WHIS-AM's Contemporary Hit Radio format was moved to WHAJ, and J104 was born. J104 was an instant success both in terms of ratings and advertiser acceptance. For most of the 1980s, J104 was the most listened-to radio station in West Virginia. Today, J104.5 (as it is now known) continues to be one of West Virginia's most successful radio stations, winning the West Virginia Broadcasters Association "Station of the Year" Award in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. WHAJ was also named "Legendary Station of the Year" by the WVBA in 2010.

External links

J-104.5 Online

Query the FCC's FM station database for WHAJ

Radio-Locator information on WHAJ

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WHAJ

Radio stations in the Bluefield, Virginia/West Virginia market

By AM frequency	1050 1130 1240 1250 1310 1400 1440 1490

By FM frequency	88.5 89.1 90.1 91.1 93.1 93.3 95.3 95.9 97.3 97.7 98.7 99.5 100.1 100.9 102.9 103.1 104.5 106.3 106.7 107.7

By callsign	W247BO W254CV WAEY WAMN WGAG-LP WHAJ WHFI WHIS WHKX WHQX WJLS-FM WKCJ WKEZ WKOY-FM WKQB WKQY WPIB WPWV WRLB WRON WRON-FM WRRL WSLW WSTG WVBL WVCU-LP WVTF WYKM

Defunct	WBDY

Virginia radio markets Bristol Fredericksburg Harrisonburg Norfolk–Newport News–Virginia Beach Richmond Roanoke–Lynchburg Winchester Other Virginia radio regions Blacksburg–Christiansburg–Radford–Pulaski Bluefield Charlottesville Eastern Shore Farmville Northern Neck Roanoke Rapids–South Hill Southside Southwest Virginia Virginia Highlands West Virginia radio markets Beckley Bluefield Charleston Huntington Morgantown–Clarksburg–Fairmont Parkersburg Wheeling Other West Virginia radio regions Cumberland, MD East-Central Eastern Panhandle Elkins–Buckhannon–Weston Kingwood Southern West-Central Winchester, VA See also List of radio stations in Virginia List of radio stations in West Virginia

Radio stations in the Beckley, West Virginia market

By AM frequency	560 620 860 1070 1380

By FM frequency	88.1 88.7 89.7 90.1 91.1 91.7 94.1 96.7 97.9 98.5 99.5 101.5 102.3 103.7 104.5 105.9 106.5 106.9

By callsign	W244BF W268AZ WAGE-LP WAXS WBKW WCIR-FM WHAJ WJJJ WJLS WJLS-FM WMTD WMTD-FM WNUX WOAY WPIB WQAZ-LP WQTZ-LP WPWV WTNJ WVBY WVPP-LP WWNR

West Virginia radio markets Beckley Bluefield Charleston Huntington Morgantown–Clarksburg–Fairmont Parkersburg Wheeling Other West Virginia radio regions Cumberland, MD East-Central Eastern Panhandle Elkins–Buckhannon–Weston Kingwood Southern West-Central Winchester, VA See also List of radio stations in West Virginia

Alpha Media

AM radio stations	KAAN KABI KATE KAUS KBNN KBRK KCOB KDKD KFOR KFQD KGLO KGNC KGRN KHAR KIIK KJAM KJFF KJJQ KJPW KKRT KMCD KMRN KNWH KNWQ KNWZ KNZR KOKA KREI KSAH KSAL KTSA KTUB KUFO KVGH KWIQ KWIX KWOK KXRO KXTG KZDC WANG WCHA WHAG WHBC WHHW WHIS WIBW WING WIRL WJNT WJOL WJQS WKEZ WKRS WLIP WMBD WNTX WOAD WOIC WRNN WRNS WSGW WTNI WXBD

FM radio stations	KAAN-FM KAUS-FM KAYO KBAY KBFF KBLS KBMG KBRJ KBRK-FM KBTE KBTT KCLB-FM KCLZ KCOB-FM KCPI KDBX KDES-FM KDGL KDKD-FM KDKS-FM KDLO-FM KDUT KDUX-FM KEAG KEEZ-FM KEZR KFBD-FM KFRX KGNC-FM KGNZ KHHL KIAI KIAQ KIBZ KINK KIRK KIXX KJAM-FM KJEL KJXK KKBB KKDV KKFD-FM KKIQ KKRV KKUS KKUU KKWK KLAK KLEY-FM KLKL KLLL-FM KLLY KMAD-FM KMKT KMMX KMXS KNZR-FM KONE KOOI KOYE KOZQ-FM KPSI-FM KRES KRTI KSAH-FM KSAJ-FM KSAL-FM KTAL-FM KTCM KTFM KTJJ KTPK KUIC KUPL KWHL KWIQ-FM KWIX-FM KWLN KXEA KXGL KXL-FM KXXK KYEZ KYKX W228CI W242BY W262BY W274BM WARQ WARV-FM WBBT-FM WCCQ WCEN-FM WCLI-FM WCPR-FM WDHT WDJX WDLD WEAT WERO WERV-FM WFLS-FM WFXH-FM WGBL WGCO WGER WGHL WGTZ WGZB-FM WHAJ WHBC-FM WHKX WHQX WHXT WIBW-FM WIIL WIKZ WIRK WJMI WKOY-FM WKXI-FM WKZQ-FM WLFV WMBX WMFX WMJM WMYB WNGY WPBG WQBB WQCM WQSL WQZL WRKS WRMF WRNN-FM WRNS-FM WROU-FM WRWN WRXQ WSCZ WSGW-FM WSSR WSWT WTLZ WUBB WVBX WWDM WWLB WWUZ WXCL WXLC WXMA WXQR-FM WXYK WXYY WYAV

Website: alphamediausa.com

Radio stations in Blacksburg/Christiansburg/Radford/Pulaski

By AM frequency	610 710 810 890 1260 1340 1430 1460

By FM frequency	89.9 90.7 91.5 96.3 96.7 100.7 101.7 102.5 102.5 104.5 105.3 107.1

By callsign	W244AV WBLB WBRW WBZS WFNR WHAJ WKEX WKNV WNMX WPIN WPIN-FM WPSK-FM WRAD WROV-FM WUVT-FM WVBE WVRU WWBU WWVT

Virginia radio markets Bristol Fredericksburg Harrisonburg Norfolk–Newport News–Virginia Beach Richmond Roanoke–Lynchburg Winchester Other Virginia radio regions Blacksburg–Christiansburg–Radford–Pulaski Bluefield Charlottesville Eastern Shore Farmville Northern Neck Roanoke Rapids–South Hill Southside Southwest Virginia Virginia Highlands See also List of radio stations in Virginia

Adult Contemporary radio stations in the state of West Virginia

Stations	WBTQ – Buckhannon WDYK – Ridgeley WETT – Bridgeport WHAJ – Bluefield WKWK – Wheeling WLTF – Martinsburg WQAB – Philippi WRRR – Saint Marys WVAF – Charleston WVSR – Charleston WVVV – Williamstown WZST – Westover

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in West Virginia

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