WYJK-FM is a radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 broadcasting a Jack FM

Jack FM

JACK FM is the alternative name and on-air brand of 60 radio stations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Jack stations play a mix of 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles. Jack's slogan "playing what we want" can also be...

 or Adult Hits

Adult hits

Adult hits is a radio format, popular in the early 2000s, that does not adhere to a specific music genre, but instead draws from a wider playlist...

 format. Licensed to Bellaire, Ohio

Bellaire, Ohio

Bellaire is a village in Belmont County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,278 at the 2010 census. The village is located along the Ohio River...

, USA, it serves the Wheeling area. The station is currently owned by Keymarket Licenses, LLC and brands itself as "Jack FM".

History: Beginnings as WTRF-FM

This station began as WTRF AM & FM at a time when many applicants for new AM radio stations were also issued FM licenses (ergo, WTRF's original call-sign meaning, "Two Radio Frequencies"). Thus, both stations went on the air at around the same time, but in FM's halcyon years, no profit would be realized until years later. The FM simulcast its AM sister station for many years, primarily using the FM station as a vehicle for providing local radio service after the AM was mandated to shut down after sunset.

These stations operated for many years as co-owned affiliates of local television station WTRF-TV

WTRF-TV

WTRF-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and the Allegheny Plateau of Eastern Ohio that is licensed to Wheeling, West Virginia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter in Bridgeport, Ohio. Owned by West...

, the CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 affiliate for the Wheeling and Steubenville television market. Though the radio stations went on the air first, they prospered under this relationship with the television station. The radio stations were sold off to new owners in the late 1970s.

At around this time, programming was separated between the two stations, with WOMP-FM (the station's branding was a phonetic sound of the call letters) taking on a more Top 40 role, becoming a neck-and-neck competitor with like-formatted then-competitor WKWK

WKWK

WKWK-FM is an Adult Contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Wheeling, West Virginia, serving the Wheeling/Steubenville. WKWK is owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications.-External links:*...

 in Wheeling and WRKY "Rocky 103" in Steubenville soon after WKWK changed its format.

In the news: Station Silenced

WOMP-AM/FM had fallen into financial difficulty at around 1990, forcing the station into receivership in 1992. The station's studios and offices were consumed in a fire later that year, forcing the station to broadcast from a trailer near its transmitter site after a brief period off the air. The station was then acquired by its current owner as part of a duopoly transaction with WRKY and its AM sister station WSTV

WSTV (AM)

WSTV is a radio station broadcasting a sports radio format in Steubenville, Ohio. WSTV, although providing a rimshot signal to the Pittsburgh area and within that radio market, provides ESPN Radio programming and local news and weather updates to Steubenville, Wheeling, West Virginia and...

. WOMP-FM simulcast WRKY outside of morning drive, but resumed full independent programming after studio issues were resolved.

WYJK Today

In the fall of 2005, both WOMP-AM/FM underwent format changes. WOMP (AM)

WOMP

WOMP is a radio station broadcasting a All Sports format. Licensed to Bellaire, Ohio, USA, it serves the Wheeling area. The station is currently owned by Keymarket Licenses, LLC...

 and its simulcast sister, WSTV began an affiliation with the ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...

 network after years as a talk station. WOMP-FM's longtime legendary call letters were switched to WYJK, and the station adopted its present format.

The WYJK call letters were also being used for a co-owned sister AM station in Connellsville, Pennsylvania

Connellsville, Pennsylvania

Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA, 57 miles southeast of Pittsburgh on the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. In 1890, 5,629 people lived in Connellsville, which was a borough at that time...

 (now WBGI). Though the call letters are similar, the same-named AM station never adopted its own variety hits format nor did it simulcast this station. Ironically, the call letters on that station were switched from WPNT (but was known for years as WCVI, going bankrupt in 2001 and subsequently sold) shortly before its owners closed the station with a dark license in the fall of 2006, citing technical repairs.