WJOB (AM)
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| City | Hammond, Indiana |
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| Broadcast area | Chicago market |
| Branding | AM-1230 WJOB |
| Slogan | "Voice of the Region" |
| Frequency | 1230 kHz |
| Translator(s) | 104.7 FM (W284CY) |
| First air date | 1924 |
| Format | News/Talk/Sports |
| Power | 1,000 Watts (AM) |
| ERP | 250 watts (FM) |
| HAAT | 119 meters (390 ft) (FM) |
| Class | C (AM) D (FM) |
| Facility ID | 12219 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°35′49″N 87°28′45″W / 41.59694°N 87.47917°WCoordinates: 41°35′49″N 87°28′45″W / 41.59694°N 87.47917°W |
| Former callsigns | WWAE |
| Affiliations | Regional Radio Sports Network |
| Owner | Vazquez Development, LLC |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www |
WJOB (1230 AM) is a news/talk formatted radio station in Hammond, Indiana. The present tower of the station is 406 feet (124 Meters) tall and the station is a 24-hour operation broadcasting with 1,000 Watts of power.
The first license issued to this radio station—later moved to the Calumet Area—was on November 12, 1923, with Dr. George F. Courier and Lawrence J. "Butch" Crowley, a reputed Joliet mobster, as the licensees. The original call letters of this station were WWAE. The license was renewed on May 27, 1925, as Electric Park (Plainfield, IL) with L. J. Crowley as the sole licensee. A transmitter was then built at the Alamo Dance Hall in Joliet, IL.
The transmitter was later moved to 915 North Raynor Boulevard, Joliet, IL with broadcasting facilities located at 321 Clinton Street, Joliet, IL.
The broadcast facilities were moved shortly after that to the Hammond Douglas Park Area, where today it is known as Pulaski Park. A small studio was built on the northwest side of the park. From there, the broadcasting facilities were moved to a main studio at 402 Fayette Street, Fayette and Hohman Avenue, which today sits the former home of Bank Calumet (Calumet National Bank Building).
It remained at that address until the station was sold to O.E. Richardson, Fred L. Adair, and Robert C. Adair, and the call letters were changed to the present WJOB on October 7, 1940. The new owners then moved the main studios to 449 State Street, above the Millikan Building, across from the Edward C. Minas Department Store, and the name of the Corporation was changed to The South Shore Broadcasting Corporation.
It was during this time, that the station grew in popularity offering a variety of programming under the leadership of Sam Weller as the Programming Director. Some of the programs offered were the Happy Hour, which had a membership of 1200 young members and was broadcast every Saturday morning from 10:30 to 11:30 am under the direction of Mrs. O.E. Richardson, the wife of one of the owners. The new programming schedule was also included interesting programs in five foreign languages, including Eddie Oskierko of the Polish Musical Varieties Program, Cornelius Szakatis, of the Hungarian Hour, John Babinec of the Slovac Hour, Stella Lutefisk directing the Greek Hour, and Gilbert Vasquez as the director of the Spanish Program.
Included in this schedule of programming were Eddie Honesty of the "Rockin-In-Rhythm" program, the first black program on WJOB heard every Wednesday from 3:15 to 4 o’clock and also Saturday afternoons from 2 to 3 o’clock. Paul E. X. Brown the only black newscaster in the country was heard every Sunday at 10 a.m. Included in the programming were the Rev. Odell Reed, who conducted his services from 4635 State Street in Chicago, the first remote broadcast of radio station WJOB. Also included were Rev. William Carr and Clarence Parsons, with the Royal Quartet singing the well loved Negro spirituals.
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Wikipedia