Beautiful music The 95.5 frequency was originally allocated to the unbuilt WXKW-FM in 1950. It
signed on in 1966 as WROW-FM,
sister station to
Capital Cities Communications flagship outlet
WROW (590 AM). Initially, it
simulcast the AM's
beautiful music programming. WROW-AM-FM played quarter hour sweeps of mostly instrumental
cover versions of popular songs, with some
Broadway and
Hollywood show tunes. Around 1967, the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) required FM stations in larger cities to originate their own programming. WROW-FM began "shadowcasting" its
easy listening sound. The AM and FM station continued to run the same commercials and aired similar music, but not exactly at the same time. Announcers would prerecord weather and news briefs for the FM, while reading them live on the AM station. Technically, they were separately programmed, although most listeners did not realize it. This arrangement remained until after Capital Cities sold the WROW stations in 1983, at which point the FM became the primary station and the AM station became the simulcast.
Soft AC By the late 1980s, easy listening stations began attracting older listeners, so WROW-FM began to modernize its sound with more soft vocals and fewer instrumentals. WROW-FM evolved to a
soft adult contemporary format as
EZ95.5 in early 1991, with easy listening moving solely to the AM side. In 1993, the WROW stations were sold to Albany Broadcasting (forerunner to today's
Pamal Broadcasting), at which point an overhaul of the station took place. On January 3, 1994,
EZ95.5 relaunched with a more mainstream AC sound as
The New B95.5 with the WYJB
call sign coming into effect several days prior. Within five years of the launch, B95.5 forced the weaker competition out of the AC format, including 100.9 WKLI and many of its future rival stations, such as
94.5 FM and
Buzz 105.7.
Personalities In 2001,
Delilah was added to the station in the evenings after
WKLI (then on 94.5 FM) flipped to
classic rock; and continued to develop a slight
hot AC lean. Five years later, the long-time morning show
Chuck and Kelly moved to competitor
WBZZ (originally on 104.5, later on 105.7), and Ric Mitchell and Laura Daniels (formerly of
WFLY) were named Chuck and Kelly's replacements. In
2010, Ric Mitchell left WYJB, with Chuck Taylor returning to the morning show shortly after. When WBZZ dumped adult contemporary that year, it left WYJB and rimshot competitor WQAR (now
WJKE) as Albany's only
adult contemporary radio stations. On November 9, 2011, the station switched to
Christmas music for the first time, in response to the flip of
oldies station 98.3
WTRY-FM to all-Christmas the same day. Shortly after Christmas, the station tweaked into more of a hot AC sound with new slogans and jingles. However, the station still reports as
adult contemporary on
Nielsen BDS and
Mediabase charts. ==References==