View source for WRJZ

{{Infobox radio station
| name             = WRJZ
| logo             =
| city             = [[Knoxville, Tennessee]]
| area             = [[Knoxville metropolitan area]]
| branding         = ''Joy 620 WRJZ''
| airdate          = {{Start date and age|1927|2|12}}
| frequency        = 620 [[Hertz|kHz]]
| translators      = {{Radio Relay|99.5|W258DB|[[Sevierville, Tennessee|Sevierville]]}}<br />{{Radio Relay|102.5|W273DX|Knoxville}}
| format           = [[Christian talk and teaching]]
| power            = 5,000 [[watt]]s
| erp              =
| haat             =
| class            = B
| facility_id      = 65209
| coordinates      = {{Coord|35|59|24|N|83|50|15|W|type:landmark_region:US-TN|display=inline,title}}
| callsign_meaning =
| former_callsigns =
| owner            = Thomas Moffit, Jr.
| licensee         = Tennessee Media Associates
| sister_stations  = [[WETR]]
| webcast          = [https://radio.securenetsystems.net/cwa/index.cfm?stationCallSign=WRJZAM Listen Live]
| website          = [http://www.wrjz.com/ wrjz.com]
| affiliations     =
| licensing_authority= [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
}}
'''WRJZ''' (620 [[Hertz|kHz]]) is a [[commercial radio|commercial]] [[AM radio|AM]] [[radio station]] in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]].  It airs a [[Christian talk and teaching]] [[radio format]] and is owned by Tennessee Media Associates, headed by Thomas Moffit, Jr.  The [[radio studio|studio]]s are on East Magnolia Avenue in Knoxville.
By day, WRJZ transmits a 5,000-[[watt]] [[omnidirectional antenna|non-directional]].  At night, to avoid interference to other stations on [[620 AM]], WRJZ uses a [[directional antenna]] with a five-[[tower array]].<ref>[https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=Wrjz&nav=home Radio-Locator.com/WRJZ]</ref>  Programming is also heard on two [[FM translator]]s: 99.5 [[Hertz|MHz]] in [[Sevierville, Tennessee|Sevierville]] and 102.5 MHz in Knoxville.
==Programming==
In morning [[drive time]], Bob Bell hosts a show focusing on news, weather and information.  The rest of the day, WRJZ airs national programs including ''Family Talk with Dr. [[James Dobson]]'', ''Insight for Living with [[Chuck Swindoll]]'', ''In Touch with [[Charles Stanley]]'', ''Turning Point with [[David Jeremiah]]'', ''Truth for Life with [[Alistair Begg]]'', ''Hope in the Night with [[June Hunt]]'' and ''[[Focus on the Family]] with [[Jim Daly (evangelist)|Jim Daly]]''.
WRJZ also airs [[Carson-Newman College]] and Grace Christian Academy [[college football|football]] games.
==History==
WRJZ is one of Knoxville's oldest radio stations. It [[sign-on|signed on]] the air on {{Start date and age|1927|2|12}}.  The original [[call sign]] was WNBJ.  It was owned by Lonsdale Baptist Church and it broadcast on 1450 [[kilocycle]]s.  It moved to 1310 AM in 1930 under new owner Stewart Broadcasting Corporation. A year later, Stuart changed the call letters to WROL. It moved to its current frequency in 1941.
The station's ownership group was part of a consortium that signed on East Tennessee's first television station, WROL-TV, in 1953 on channel 6. Two years later, the call letters were changed to WATE AM-TV.
The two stations went their separate ways in 1971, with the television station retaining the [[WATE-TV]] calls while the radio station changed its calls to WETE. The station aired an [[adult contemporary]] format during for most of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1976, WETE-AM changed the call letters to WRJZ-AM, and began airing a [[top 40]] format.
CP and Walker, Jeff Jarnigan, Adele (see below), Mark Thompson, Rick Kirk, John Boy, and J.J. Scott were some of the station's best-known personalities throughout the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ktownradio.blogspot.com/2009/02/back-in-76-wrjz-debuted.html |title=Knoxville Radio History 101 |website=ktownradio.blogspot.com |access-date=2009-03-05}}</ref>
[[Adele Arakawa]], the first female DJ in Knoxville, worked at WRJZ broadcasting Top 40  music for 5 years in the late 1970s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.9news.com/company/bios/article.aspx?storyid=69840 |title=This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine. |access-date=2023-03-24}}{{dl|date=March 2023}}</ref>
Other DJs from WRJZ's late 1970s Top 40 era who became well-known were "[[John Boy]]" Isley, later of the "John-Boy and Billy Big Show" in Charlotte, NC.{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} and Mark Thompson, later of "Mark and Brian", the FM drive team who have been on 95.5 KLOS for 20-plus years.
After several years as a popular Top 40 station but losing market share to FM station [[WOKI]], WRJZ briefly switched to an [[adult contemporary]] format in 1981, then shortly thereafter to a [[country music]] format, then an oldies format, then shortly thereafter went dark entirely only to return to the air during the 1980s with a Christian talk format under the new slogan "Joy 62".
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.wrjz.com/ Station web site]
{{AM station data|65209|WRJZ}}
{{Knoxville AM}}
[[Category:Radio stations in Knoxville, Tennessee|RJZ]]
[[Category:Christian radio stations in Tennessee|RJZ]]
{{Tennessee-radio-station-stub}}