WRBJ-FM

WRBJ-FM (97.7 MHz) is an urban contemporary radio station licensed to Brandon, Mississippi, United States, serving the Jackson, Mississippi area. It is the only remaining broadcast property whose license continues to be owned and operated by Roberts Broadcasting, a moribund company that sold all of its remaining television station assets to the Trinity Broadcasting Network and Ion Television in 2013 and 2014 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

WRBJ-FM

Brandon, Mississippi United States
Broadcast area	Jackson, Mississippi
Frequency	97.7 MHz
Branding	97-7
Programming
Languages	English
Format	Urban contemporary
Ownership
Owner	Roberts Broadcasting
History
Former call signs	WRJH
Call sign meaning	"Roberts Broadcasting of Jackson"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	73959
Class	A
ERP	6,000 watts
HAAT	100 meters
Transmitter coordinates	32°10′31.5″N 89°56′10.3″W
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live
Website	thebeatofthecapital.com

The station's studio facilities are located at The Roberts Building along State Street in Jackson, just two blocks north of the Mississippi State Capitol building, and its transmitter tower is south of Brandon.

History

20th century

The station was originally paired with WRKN 970 AM in Brandon, Mississippi, with the call letters WRJH (initially standing for "Roy and June Harris, who were the original owners). Both stations were promoted as "Gospel 97" for many decades. The call sign also came to mean other things as well ("We're Raising Jesus Higher"). After Harris died, his wife sold the station to On Top Communications, which purchased it for $1.6 million.^{[citation needed]} The WRJH call sign took on a different meaning ("We are Jackson's Hot 97.7").

On Top went bankrupt in 2005, most of its stations either switched formats or went silent. WRJH was sold at a bankruptcy auction. At that time, Roberts Broadcasting aquired WRJH for $1,950,000.00, eventually moved its studios into TV station WRBJ's and changed the call sign to WRBJ.^[7]

WRBJ's playlist mainly consists of hip hop and R&B. Unlike most stations, this one plays smoother music during the workday time frame while it plays newer music later afternoons into the early evening.

21st century

In response to the Don Imus controversy, WRBJ's owner, Roberts Broadcasting, took a stand on excessively violent and derogatory hip hop lyrical content. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have long taken a stand against, and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons began to stand up against it, calling on people to accept social responsibility.

In April 2007, inspired by the move, Roberts Broadcasting, after reviewing playlists for content, decided to create a policy to ban the station from playing music that glorifies violence and degrades women. The purpose was to take a stand against racism, self-racism with Blacks using the N-word against each other, and promote pride in the African American community by fighting against the oppressive media.^[8][9] While the revamping of the playlist may not be noticeable to listeners, the owner said that any songs on WRBJ-FM containing content considered offensive (other than censored language) will be removed. And it may go on to drop syndication rights to the Russ Parr Morning Show as well, claiming that the morning jock is a borderline shock jock.^[10] This was the first time a radio station owner had done this since Clear Channel banned certain songs from airplay in response to September 11 terrorist attacks.

On March 17, 2008, WRBJ-FM rebranded the station as 97-7 (WRBJ), and began playing fewer hip-hop songs and more R&B music.