Original Call Letters: WKTS

Originally Licensed: Oct 11, 1958

Original City of License: Brooksville  

Original Frequency: 1450

Origin of Call Letters: Owner; Woody Johnson and city; Brooksville

Original Power: 1,000 watts

Original Location: US-41 and Mondon Hill Road  

Original Format: Variety

The station caught fire in May of 1958 apparently due to a lightning strike.  At the time of the fire, there were no fire hydrants located within a mile of the studios. Once the fire department's pumper truck was out of water, the station went completely up in flames, causing total destruction to both the transmitter and studios. WKTS remained dark until plans to rebuild were completed 3 months later. In August of 1958, Bill Johnson of Tampa bought the license from Elmo Kits and the station returned to the air as WWJB in October of 1958. In the new call letters, "WJ" represented "Woody Johnson" and the "B" stood for Brooksville. After the fire,  new studios were constructed near the corner of South Brooksville Avenue and Liberty Street - directly across the street from the Brooksville Fire Station.  The studios remained at this location for over 14 years. In 1972 the station was sold to Jack Klancey. Mr. Klancey held the station's license for 10 years. At one point in the station's history, WWJB was also owned by Hunter-Knight Broadcasting, who moved the studios to the upstairs of what is now a antique shop, located at the corner of South Main and Liberty Street.
A well known Central Florida television news anchor, Bob Jordan, once worked as News Director of WWJB during the early to mid 70s before heading to Orlando to assume a news reporting/anchor position with WFTV channel 9. From 1983 until 2002 WWJB was co-owned with WXCV-FM 95.3 Crystal River. In 1984 owner Steve Manual tweaked the format to a mix of adult contemporary and big bands known as "Real Music 1450 JB Radio". The format eventually became full-time Big Bands/Adult Standards, switching to News-Talk in 1994. Today WWJB is still Hernando County’s ABC/Information affiliate and programs a variety of local and national talk programs such as Hernando County Today, the Rush Limbaugh Show, Dr. Dean Edell and a host of other programs.

Joseph S. Gall-1959-Program Director-Brooksville Broadcasting Service

Jack Klancey-1978-Hernando Broadcasting Company

Don Stork-1978-Hernando Broadcasting Company

Bob Penrod-1978-Co-owner/General Manager/Air Personality/News Director-Hernando Broadcasting/2005-News Director-Hernando Broadcasting Company      In Memory

Bruce Snow-1982-Co-owner-Hernando Broadcasting Company  

Howard Weston-1982-Co-owner-Hernando Broadcasting Company 

Steve Manuel in the WWJB studio in 1963
courtesy of http://jeff560.tripod.com/wwjb.html

courtesy of http://jeff560.tripod.com/wwjb.html

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