DX-Memories
from 1968:
The early 1190
WBMJ San
Juan, PR.
Svenn
Martinsen, ARC
Christmas
holidays and radio listening!
On
December 28th, 1968 at 20 minutes past 2 GMT Disc Jockey ÓCharlie BrownÓ presented
his 8-12pm evening show on WBMJ 11-90 from the studio in
the penthouse above the San Juan Darlington. He looked out on the terrace
behind the studio and loaded the cartplayer with PAMSÕ ÓSonosationalÓ News
Jingle: ÓWBMJ eleven-ninety:
twenty twenty news is now!" He then opened the mike channel on the mixer
and pressed the button for the morse bleep introducing
the first news story and announced: ÒCharlie Brown 20/20 news, these are the
headlines after 10.Ó
Little would he know that on the
other side of the Atlantic Ocean, a teenager had been glued to his Klaveness
Vega Clipper Super radio all night triggered by the frequent Pams jingles
and Ó20/20Ó news bulletins introduced by that familiar jingle so well known
from ÓBig LÓ Radio London(closed in August 1967) just over 50 kHz
down the MW band.[1]
After many hours of listening, in Bergen,
Norway it was now early morning, and as no headphones were used, the 17 year
old youngster inevitably had kept his family awake for hours with the pop tunes
of the day carried across the Atlantic by the strong signals from the
transmitter site in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 7200 kms away, like ÒCalifornia SoulÓ
by
the 5th Dimension, "Back in the
USSR" by The Beatles, and "Stormy" by The Classics IV. Of other
material Brown also used a "horn" effect, similar to many US top 40
DJs at the time, and an ad for the Darlington hotel[2]:
Extract of reception log: ÓBack
in the USSR w the Beatles. (Honk) ÓThatÕs the Beatles from the Beatles album Back in the USSR, 9.09 WBMJ time, the Charlie Brown show. Ad(w catchy Spanish tune, plus ad for Óeverybody this
holiday season-)The San Juan Darlington Hotel.Ó Into
"California Soul" by the 5th Dimension. (Honk) ÓWBMJ timeÉ, the Charlie Brown show.Ó PSA for ÓÉmemorial
hospital.Ó Music ÓCrimson and CloverÓ by Tommy James &
Shondells and ÓEveryday PeopleÓ by Sly&the Family Stone. 0220 Jingle
from Pams ÒSonosationalÓ series #18: ÓYouÕre hearing things(2x)on
WBMJ 11-90Ó 0020 ÉÓtake you on to headlines w "Stormy" by The
Classics IV on the Imperial labelÉÓ ÓWBMJ time now 20 minutes
after 12pmÓ. Pams Newsjingle ÒWBMJ eleven.ninety:twenty
twenty news is now!" News sounder.ÓCharlie Brown 20/20 news these are the
headlines after 9Ó. Top story about ÓChmn Russell Long of Louisiana.ÓÉ Music:
ÒHello I love youÓ by the Doors, ÒDid you ever have to make up your mindÓ by
LovinÕ Spoonful, ÓIce in the SunÓby
Status Quo, ÓIÕm gonna make you love meÓ by Diana
Ross&Supremes/Temptations: ÉTOTH ID: ÓItÕs one minute after 11 oÕclock on
the new WBMJ San Juan, Puerto Rico, welcome to hour no.4, babies.Ó
Yes,
ÓCharlie BrownÓ and WBMJ made a
great impression over Christmas 1968. The station was not listed anywhere, but
I found out where it came from by listening to the ads!
WBMJ
was owned by Bob HopeÕs Mid-Ocean Broadcasting Company, and set up by its
excellent General Manager, the late Bob Bennett[3]
in 1967-1968.
I
reported the station after the December 28th, 1968 reception, but did not
receive a reply. I did get a QSL card later, however, posted in San Juan on
Oct.8th, 1971.
Recording
1968:
http://www.stellamaris.no/1190_WBMJ_San_Juan,_PR_1190_281268_Charlie_Brown_bits-0008-.mp3
With
its distinctive sound and top modulation the station was frequently picked up
in Scandinavia in the years to come. In the 1970 season I heard it on a
"barefoot" (no external antenna) Radionette 1001 transistor radio!
QSL cards were first signed by Chief Engineer Manolo Perez Romero, and later by
Rudy Reyes. Eugenio
Figueroa and Bert
Johnson also served as CEs.
Bob
Hope entertaining US airmen at Earls Colne AFB in the UK in 1943. Picture:
Stars and Stripes?
WAPA and WBMJ had adjacent transmitting sites in
Guaynabo as well as entries in the Broadcasting Yearbook, here is the 1969
edition.
QSL-card from the early WBMJ non-directional
nights. Signed by CE Rudy Rivas?
Listen to 4 of the PAMS of Dallas ÓSeries 18Ó
ÓSonosationalÓ jingles here[4]:
http://www.stellamaris.no/wbmjsanjuanpr11901268.mp3
General comments on Puerto Rico AM Radio late
60s/early 70s.
Due
to the salt-water paths often good strengths were
noted from PR stations. I remember 1320 WUNO Radio Uno well, with many more receptions
than WBMJ, indeed almost every morning when ÒsunriseÓ dx was discovered in the
early 70s. As WNEL it was one of the frequent DX stations for Swedish DXers in
the 40s.
Also
1140 WQII Once Q" Guaynabo, managed for a time by David Gleason(see below)
heard on Dec. 24th, 1975 which he
sent me a QSL letter for. Many other PR stations did make it over here, 1600
WLUZ Radio Luz, 1590 WXRF R Guayama, 1560 WRSJ Radio San Juan, 1520 WRAI R
Aeropuerto, 1480 WMDD R El Conquistador, 1430 WNEL R Tiempo, 1400 WVOZ R Voz,
(I heard this local station with good strength several times),1390 WISA Isabela,
1370 WIVV(see below), 1280 WCMN R Centro, 1160 WBQN all many times. 1030 WOSO
El Oso in English, and 1070 WMIA R Mia just once. Also 940 WIPR, 870 WHOA, 740
WIAC, 680 WAPA, 630 WQBS, 580 WKAQ and surely others.
Inputs
on WBMJ
The late Olle Alm, of Arctic Radio Club, Sweden might have been
the first person in Scandinavia who noted the station:
ÓWhen
old time DXer Lars RydŽn visited San Juan radio stations in mid 1967, Bob
Bennett had left WKYN 630 to become VP and Manager of WBMJ. At that time WBMJ,
owned by Bob Hope, was under construction with studio space rented at Hotel
Darlington, Santurce. At WKYN Bob Bennett had served as Program Director. He
was the one who signed my QSL for WKYN in January 1964. The station went on the
air sometime in mid 1968, first European logs in September 1968, after that a
regular catch.Ó
Veteran broadcaster David Gleason[5], of https://www.worldradiohistory.com/ takes up the story:
GM/
general manager Bob Bennett was a veteran of US Top 40 radio when he moved to
Puerto Rico. WBMJ signed on in 1968 under and Bennett continued to manage the
station through 1980 when Bob Hope's Mid Ocean Broadcasting sold to record
impresario Jerry Masucci.
From
1968 to roughly 1972, WBMJ was an English language Top 40 station, with all
announcing and music in English. Spots were mostly in Spanish, though. In 1972,
WBMJ switched to Spanish jocks and a mix of 90% English music with some Spanish
pop hits, under the name of Radio Rock. Radio Rock became #1 very quickly,
staying there through much of the rest of the 70's, challenged seriously only
by WKAQ with its Spanish Top 40 and, later, WQII, with its Spanish Hot AC
format.
The
reasoning for the format was simple: all through Latin America, American music
was popular. A really tightly done Top 40 with US hits would be an attractive
proposition. However, all advertising in PR tended to be in Spanish, so the
spots were in Spanish. Even in 1968, there were less than 100,000
"Continentals" living in PR; everyone else was a Spanish speaker
first...Many knew English, though. The station, however, never got into the top
stations in ratings, usually registering around 7th or 8th.
WBMJ
was simply another iteration of the proven Top 40 format from the mainland.
Since the Island of Puerto Rico is a US territory, it was natural to use
mainland announcers and jingles and, of course, follow religiously the
Billboard record charts. Since the culture shock of living in PR was hard on
the jocks, they seldom lasted more than a year. On the other hand, there were
several totally bilingual Puerto Rican jocks who were there for a lengthy
period, speaking English on a station in Puerto Rico!
It
took nearly a year to get the directional pattern of WBMJ to work. Originally
licensed at 10 kw day and night, the station had to reduce power to 5 kw at
night to get the system to proof, since the site is surrounded by rocky small
mountains to the West of the towers, which are in a riverbed. The studios, from
sign on in 1968 to 1980 were in the Penthouse of the Darlington (which often
went bankrupt becoming the Borinquen, and later, Gran Bah’a Hotel) in the
Miramar section of San Juan with an impressive view of the San Juan Bay and Old
San Juan and the Condado hotel area. Beautiful.
This
is where WBMJ came from: The San Juan Darlington Hotel. Photo: Scott Brady?
The
ads for the Darlington were part of the rent trade the station had. The station
only moved when the hotel finally closed down and was shuttered around 1980.
The hotel was a tourist hotel, but it was not on the beach, and not near
restaurants.
I
once interviewed Charlie Brown to work at WUNO; he was feeling underpaid at
WBMJ and was trying to learn SpanishÉ There have been so many Charlie Browns in
US radio I really doubt that anyone could figure out who he was now. Bennett
died in the early 90's, and the local English language jocks like HŽctor Ortiz
are also now dead.
In 1972, WBMJ switched to
Spanish jocks and a mix of 90% English music with some Spanish pop hits, under the
name of Radio Rock.
WBMJ became a salsa
oldies station about 1981 as Exitos 1190 and then, eventually, became religious
under the ownership of the operators of WIVV from Puerto Rico's Vieques Island.
In
the years I managed stations in San Juan, I considered Bob Bennett both a
friend and a worthy competitor. WBMJ, especially as Radio Rock, was a good
station and brought up the standards of radio on the Island.Ó
A
Puerto Rico AM station made impression in Europe. WBMJ Grafitti from 1969.
And then itÕs over to Patrick Crumhorn, in TX, who sent me
a most informative email in September 2004:
ÓI
just came across your page on WBMJ 1190 and have a couple of pieces to add.
I
lived in San Juan as a teenager from late 1968 until January of 1974. Needless
to say, WBMJ was always on my radio for much of that period along with what was
then the Armed Forces Radio station from San Juan's Fort Buchanan army base at
1030 kHz - long since replaced by a commercial broadcaster - WOSO.
I
knew several of the personnel at WBMJ over the years: Charlie Brown, Davy
O'Donnell, Junior Juncos, Bob Bennett and Bill Thompson. Thompson's
mother owned "El Disco de Oro" in the late '60s and early '70s,
a small record store in Old San Juan that was the main place to go for
"underground" and alternative music - what was later to be named
"album rock" I suppose. I worked there briefly one summer.
Charlie
was indeed one of the best jocks anywhere at the time, I think. His real name
was Tim Schafer[6]. I know he worked
briefly for a Virgin Islands station, too.
I'm pretty sure that switchover
must have happened after January of 1974. I still have clear memories of
WBMJ continuing to be an English-language station until after I left the
island. I know that by the time of my first trip back, in the Summer of
1975, the station had switched to
Spanish and become "Radio Rock," but this happened later than Mr.
Gleason says.
I
also went to high school with Janet Luttrell, who now heads up the missionary
radio company that owns WBMJ and WIVV. WIVV was already a religious
station owned by the Luttrells during the 1968-1974 period I lived
there. It was strange to find out many years ago that WBMJ was now part of
her operations and was doing full-time religious broadcasting. Quite a
change from the good old days of Hendrix, the Guess Who, etc.
The
jocks at WBMJ inspired me to get into radio, and I worked briefly in San Juan
for WIAC-FM, who were experimenting with an English-language
"underground" format - only lasted for 6 months or so before they
went back to simulcasting the AM station. I called myself "Pat
Brown" in homage to my inspiration, WBMJ's Charlie Brown. I went on to
become the music director of KUT-FM in Austin, Texas (an NPR "public"
radio station) before quitting and taking a clerical job with the Texas Legislature.
Anyway,
finding your page brought back many fond memories for me. Thanks for
sharing it!Ó
Eugene Lisansky wrote in
September, 2005 from St.Petersburg, FL where he worked for ClearChannel
CommunicationsÕ cluster of stations based at WHNZ-AM 1250 in Tampa Bay. He was
Program Director of that station:
ÒI had seen your webpage
about WBMJ before, and I was happy to receive your e-mail. I'm afraid I
can't add much to the historical record, but I can tell you the facts:
Around the summer
of 1970, when I was 15, my step-brother and his girlfriend were students at the
University of Puerto Rico. Their English teacher was a very unusual
woman, who encouraged them all to write poems, stories and songs about life and
love. Since this woman's classroom was in a basement, she called her
students the "Cellar Creatures". Somehow this creative output
ended up being turned into a half-hour public affairs program at WBMJ, called
"Cellar Lines". I had written some poetry of my own, and I was
asked to come along to several recording sessions at the station studios, which
I believe were in the Darlington building in San Juan. (That is also ironic,
since when I moved to Puerto Rico in June 1967, my step father was living in
the Darlington Apartments in Mayaguez. We moved to San Juan in August
that summer)
Anyway, I
accompanied my step-brother's girlfriend at the time named
Aurea Vega, to the recording sessions, which were held on
Tuesdays, I think. The program aired Sunday evenings around 6pm. I
made several tape recordings of the shows off the air, which I think I have
in a box somewhere, although I have not played them since the
1970's. The show featured various poems, songs, and dramatic
readings, all of which were written by the students.
Right after one of the
recording sessions, one of the station staffers in the control room asked me to
read something off a small card that was taped to the window. It said
"WBMJ is hot fun in the summertime". Then he asked me to read
it with more feeling, so I laid it down with gusto. They used that liner
all that summer; I kept hearing it on the air, and swelled with pride knowing
that was MY voice. Probably helped propel me into radio, although I
didn't doing anything on air until 1975, in college in NJ, and didn't really jump
in until 1979 in graduate school in Ann Arbor, MI. I didn't began my
full-time professional radio career until 1985 in Grand Rapids, MI, 15
years after the WBMJ incident.
And then
from "Sweet" Scott Brady, WBMJ 1972-1974, who contacted
the editor in March, 2008:
Letter of referral from Bill Thompson that Scott Brady(Karl Phillips)
used to get other radio jobs.(Submitted by Karl Phillips)[7].
ÓI came to WBMJ via the
US Navy around March of 1972 and was stationed at Sabana Seca, south of San
Juan.
Being a disc jockey
towards the end of my high school days in Atlanta at WQXI 790, I fell
victim to the military draft and quickly joined the service of my choice in the
US NAVY. After boot camp and school in Pensacola, Florida, the Navy sent me to
Keflavik, Iceland. When I got there, I was able to work during my
"free time" at American Forces Radio on 1484 kHz. After my year in
Iceland, the US NAVY sent me to Sabana Seca which was south of San Juan,
probably to "thaw me out". Yes - it is cold in Iceland.
As soon as I heard of
WBMJ 1190 - I immediately went straight to the station and talked with Bill
Thompson who was very receptive to using me for weekends and part time fill in
work.
When I went on the air, I
used my real name, Karl Phillips. Well, that came to a pretty quick halt as the
station hired a full time guy named Gary Phillips. I was called in and told
they would have to change my name because they could not have 2 guys named
Phillips. The new program director, Mike Michaels, and I settled on the
name Scott Brady.I became a whole different person when I went on the air for
first time with that name. It was weird. I got very open and funny and
entertaining. You can't have that in today's radio, now can you ???
Of course when I arrived,
Charlie Brown was already there and doing the mid-day shift. Bob Bennett
was mornings. Afternoons were handled by either Mike Michaels, Marty Malo or
Philip "Sanchez" Baker. I think Gary Phillips did nights.
I did the overnight shows
and some 7PM to midnight..whenever I could get away from the US Navy and I also
filled in for the guys when they were off. My shifts were so unpredictable due
to the fact that I was in the Navy and had to work in between my shifting
shifts at Sabana Seca.
Shortly after coming on
at WBMJ, I soon figured out that I was making a lot of money between the
US Navy and WBMJ and I decided to move off the Navy base in Sabana Seca and get
an apartment or something near the radio station. I had a car so I could
get back to the base when I had to.
Charlie Brown (Tim
Schafer) and I were the best of friends and we lived together at a condominium
called Miramar Towers on Fernandez Juncos across from the station that was at
the top of the Borinquen(previously Darlington) Hotel. We paid about $300
a month rent for a two bedroom apartment on the 6th floor. Total paradise !! I
got a few funny stories to tell about him and I and some of our
"adventures" as two gringos in Puerto Rico.
I never got the chance to
meet Bob Bennett. All of my dealings were with the other jocks (that I remember
and can name at the drop of a hat) and Bill Thompson and the other PD that came
through there, Mike Michaels. I have airchecks of me, also doing Bob Bennett's
show in his absence and some of Charlie announcing that I was "up
next". I also have an aircheck of me and Charlie coming in as I was
turning it over to him.
I even received a death
threat while out there one night and had to get the police out there to stand
guard for a night or soÉThere was no protection at all.
I remained at WBMJ from
that time all the way to "the END" when the language change came into
effect and the station became RADIO ROCK.
In "the end" I
was informed that I would have to do my shows from the transmitter site in
Guaynabo...no kidding. All alone, in a sugar cane field with frogs -
cattle and all kinds of bugs, snakes and crap. They built me a little
studio in that little brick building (there are pictures further down in the
essay, editor) and I would have to go out there to do my shows.
I could not figure out
why they did not want me in the hotel at the main studio doing my shows until
just a few years ago it dawned on me.
They were using the
studios to lay down all of the NEW Radio Rock jingles, songs and teasers on
carts and they did not want me around to find out what was going on....because
I wasn't allowed to know that the station was about to go Spanish language
exclusively and we were all about to get fired.
When THE END did come
they told us we were released....except for Moonshadow and Heavy Dude.
Bill Thompson and Radio Man bought into Radio Aeropuerto Internacional and
"THE NEW WRAI" (1520 kHz)
was born and I followed them across town doing mostly midnight until 6AM
until about March of 1974 when I decided to get out of the Navy and return to
Atlanta to WGST Radio 640. All of the other staff members left the
island and went north. Charlie
Brown went to WLOB 1310 in Portland. Junior Juncos went over to WNOR 1230 in
Norfolk and now is in Tucson, ArizonaÉI think Mike Michaels bought a radio station
on St. Croix, but I am not sure of that.
I am now out of radio and
I miss it. My last job in radio was 2001. I am, however, a voting member
of the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. I
hope everyone enjoys my recollections.Ó
Picture: Scott Brady on
the air on 1190 WBMJ.(Scott.)
The late Jack Curtiss writing for the San Juan Star in the Summer of
1972 on San Juan radio ratings.(Clipping submitted by Karl Phillips.
From the late Jack Curtiss:
My
long-term contact in connection with the twin radio stations aboard the ÓOlga
PatriciaÓ( Radio England/Dolfijn-Britain
Radio) off the UK in 1966-1967, the
late Jack Curtiss, formerly of Radio
Visionbroadcast International (trading in the UK/Holland in 1966/67) has
given a very valuable input on that operation[8]
. Jack was also in Puerto Rico from late
1968 to early 1974 and remember the Bob Hope station WBMJ very well:
Ò(Your)recent WBMJ)notes set
off a nostalgia binge... a flood of Puerto Rico memories and people whose names
I've not seen in ages. Funny thing about Bob Bennett and
start-up of WBMJ. He was the first person I contacted after reading
about the station in a San Francisco newspaper and he told me not to come..that there were no jobs (one English station was already
closing down and going Spanish) and that I'd hate the place and want to leave
almost as soon as I got there. Naturally, I ignored his counsel, went anyway in
Dec. 1968, and within a few months, became program director of WHOA-AM, the
oldest English-language station in town. I must have arrived with a few days of
you hearing that first WBMJ broadcast from the Darlington. I am puzzled how
very little information is available on-line about WHOA (where talkhost Sally
Jessy Raphael of NBCÕs Talknet got her start) and its longtime owner Carmina
Mendez.
I recall very clearly operating the board for a few of
Sally JessyÕs broadcasts.
I loved Puerto Rico, the pace and the tropical
lifestyle. I did radio, TV, newsapers, magazines even became president of the
civic theatre and starred in a play. It was all so seductive I could see how
easy it was for other Anglos I knew to let their years there stretch into
decades but I was determined to move on. So in February 1974 I hopped on the
plane to Paris and closed out five happy balmy years in the Caribbean.Ó
Former
ÒpirateÓof Texan Radio in the UK, Jack Curtiss, PD of 870 WHOA-AM, San Juan,
Puerto Rico, later of the San Juan Star.
Also in March, 2008, former listener Alan B. Bernier contacted us:
ÒI read your very interesting
information about the old WBMJ 1190 radio in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I was a
listener since 1969 to that station. The old station was located on one of the
penthouses and had one of the most panoramic sights in Puerto Rico since the
building was the tallest structure on the island at that time.
The current station(in
its Christian format) transmits today from the Santurce area of San Juan.
Around 1980 or so WBMJ advertised
they would hire some young people that had knowledge of Rock music. I was a
student at the University of Puerto Rico at that time and figured that having
been a listener since I was a kid, I would be perfect for the job, Well so did a few hundred others that crowded the station
lobby. The station people started passing around a test/application form that
included questions about DISCO and LATIN music to general outrage of those
present. Most of us were true rockers and did not care for any other music. After
a while the manager came out and told us they has already chosen the people
they were looking for and sent the rest of us away with a gift of a car license
plate with the station logo on it. I think I still have it somewhere.Ó
Don
Mariano Artau
Alba Raquel
Barros
Philip
"Sanchez" Baker
Bob Bennett(GM),
(occasional
air shifts)1968-, deceased
Scott Brady(Karl Phillips)1972-1974
Charlie
Brown, original dj, 1968-1974
Moonshadow
(Raymond Broussard) later did mornings at WSKQ-FM in the New York City market.
Rick Damico[10]
Davy O'Donnell
George
McDougall - News
Bill Johnson,
1968- Commercial and Promotions Manager
Bill
Thompson, 1968- the first Program Director
Junior Juncos(Kris
Kelly, Clayton Cox), 1970
Gene Lindsey,
1970 (Eugene Lisansky)
Emmanuel
ÒSunshineÓ Logrono
Willie Lopez
1975(dj)[11]
Marty
Malo
Jose Manuel
1975(Station Manager)
Mike
Michaels - PD
Hector Ortiz, deceased
Manolo Perez, 1968 (CE,
Chief Engineer)
Gary
Phillips
Ric
Roberts(original dj)
Rudy
Rivas - Chief Engineer
Tom(Harry?) Sherwood - News (Later went over to the new WRAI)
John Simon,
1968 News Director
Bill
Thompson(occasional air shifts)
Luis
Vigoreaux(1980s)
Bobby
West(original dj)
Heavy
Dude - this guy was wild on the radio, funny, and could not speak English very
well...but entertaining nonetheless.... This per Karl
Phillips.
The
Receptionist. Karl Phillips cannot remember her name but she also did some
commercials and he says she was real nice.
Sonshine in
the Sunshine. WBMJ Today:
WBMJ is licensed
to the capital city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and covers the San Juan
Metroplex, adjacent cities, and the Central and North-Eastern portions of the
main island of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States
where English is spoken as a second language.
Network: ÓThe RockÓ
Radio Network(bilingual). Most programs are
simulcast on all stations,
presenting Christian and family programming in English during the morning and
afternoons, and in Spanish in the evenings.
Sister
stations: WIVV 1370, WCGB 1060.
Format: Christian
Ministries and Music.(On WBMJ from September 29th, 1986, on WGCB from 2004.)
Affiliations: Salem Radio
Network.
Ownership: Calvary
Evangelistic Mission, Inc.
Studio
facilites: Santurce, PR. 1409
Ponce de Leon Ave., 4th Floor, San Juan, PR 00907-4023.
First air
date: August(?)1968.
Former call
signs: WBMJ 1968-1984, WXTO (1984-1985), WBMJ 1986-
Call sign
meaning: We Broadcast the Message of Jesus.
Schedule: The network broadcasts 18-20 hours daily touching lives in Puerto Rico
and the Lesser Antilles Islands.
Technical
information:
Frequency: 1190 kHz.
Power: 10,000 watts
day, 5,000 watts night. Directional antenna.
Transmitter: Nautel.
Transmitter
coordinates: 18¡21′0″N 66¡6′50″W. South of Guaynabo,
PR, near to WAPA-680 and WIAC-FM, and relatively near WQII-1140.
FM: Translator
W258DT 99.5 San Juan.
Website: www.therockradio.org
WIVV Vieques
Island, PR 1370 kHz: Bert
Johnson, K0BKB, former Operations Manager of
WBMJ-WIVV Radio gave this input in July, 2004: WIVV (West Indies Voice of
Victory) was the first missionary radio station and the first full-time
Christian station in the West Indies.(December 8, 1956, 1 kW) It is
located on the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques, and has a power output of 5,000(since
1970) omni-directional watts on AM 1370 kHz. WIVV covers the far-Eastern
and South-Eastern areas of Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands, and
most of the Leeward Island of the Lesser Antilles. 5/1 kW. FM: W280GC 103.9 MHz.
WCGB Juana D’az/Ponce, PR, 1060 kHz 5/0,5 kW. FM: W293DP 106.5 MHz.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WBMJ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIVV
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCGB
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rock_Radio_Network
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/wbmj-and-wrai-history-after-1974.549251/
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/english-radio-station.628729/
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Historia-de-la-Radio-en-Puerto-Rico.pdf
WBMJ transmitter site
near Guaynabo, PR[12]©.
1190 WBMJ San Juan, PR 1986-.
Photo Series[13]
WBMJ antenna towers are
painted.
The late Ruth Luttrell[14], 1926-2014(middle),
former president of Calvary Evangelistic Mission(CEM). She co-founded CEM with
her late husband, Donald, with a vision to reach the Caribbean with the Gospel
of Jesus Christ and the Word of God. In 1953 they opened this evangelical,
interdenominational, Bible-based, non profit, faith ministry, with the Bible
Correspondence School. In 1956, WIVV Vieques Island 1370 was founded as a missionary outreach station and inaugurated by
airing HŠndel's "Hallelujah. In 1986 WBMJ 1190 was added forming ÓThe RockÓ
Radio Network, and in 2004 WCGB 1060. Also in the picture are daughters Nita(l)
and Janet(r), the latter has led the CEM for many years.
Santurce area, San Juan,
PR from present WBMJ roof.
WBMJ transmitter.
WBMJ
southern tower.