In an announcement on the station's website, station owner William Suttles announced that the Christian-formatted station would discontinue broadcasting effective Monday, July 31st. Raleigh's third radio station and the city's second-longest running at 84 years of operation, WPJL first signed on in 1939 as the original WRAL, at 1210 AM (before NARBA shifted it up the dial to 1240 in 1941). The flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting, it would spawn WRAL-FM and WRAL-TV before the company sold it in 1965, after which it became WRNC. It has been WPJL since 1974.
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Raleigh's 1240 WPJL to cease operations on 7/31
- Thread starter RadioDaze
- Start date
That's a shame. I remember listening to WRAL-AM as a kid. It was sold to Radio Smiles which owned several stations around the state. A good operator and the station did a pretty decent job as a Top-40. But as a Class IV with 1 kW day and 250 W night could not compete with WKIX at 850 with 10 kW day and 5 kW night. WRNC just didn't have the coverage.
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. From what I'm told, WRNC in Raleigh has been sold, the building is scheduled to be demolished, and the land will be developed. There has been a radio station at 1240 AM in Raleigh for over 80 years but that all ends today. It makes me sad that these once powerful and popular AM radio stations now have no value.
On March 29th, 1939, Raleigh attorney Alfred James "A.J." Fletcher brought Raleigh's second-oldest continuous radio station, WRAL, to life with 250-watts at 1210 on the dial from studios on Salisbury Street downtown. The sign-on of this little radio station marked the beginnings of Capitol Broadcasting Company. Fletcher's son Fred was station manager and well-known for his morning show, "Tempus Fugit" (Latin for "Time Flies"), where he read fairy tales with added sound effects to young listeners and even reported local "speed traps" to motorists. In 1941, the NARBA realignment of America's radio frequencies resulted in WRAL moving a few spots up the dial to 1240 AM. WRAL was Raleigh's affiliate for the Mutual Broadcasting Network in the network days of radio. WRAL brought FM radio to the area in 1947 with the sign-on of WRAL-FM 95.3 WRAL-FM, which became only the second FM station in the state with its sign-on, soon made a frequency switch of its own to 101.5 FM. In the 1950s, television came on the scene, with Raleigh getting a plum VHF assignment for channel five. Capitol Broadcasting challenged the much larger Durham Life Broadcasting, the owners of cross-town WPTF and WPTF-FM, for a license to build a TV station on channel five. Capitol was victorious, and WRAL-TV signed on December 15th, 1956. Capitol Broadcasting still owns WRAL-TV and WRAL-FM to this day, but parted ways with WRAL-AM in the 1950s. After it's sale, AM 1240 became WRNC with a Top 40 format. In the early 1970s, WRNC was a country station. During this time, a local pastor reportedly approached WRNC about buying time for a ministry program and was turned down. He subsequently began circling the station claiming it for God in prayer. In June of 1974, a group of investors bought WRNC and helped answer the reverend's prayers by converting it into a Christian formatted station. The call letters were changed to WPJL ("We Proclaim Jesus Lord")in 1978 to reflect this new direction for AM 1240.
According to RadioInsight, WPJL has been purchased by Devine Mercy Radio, the owners of WETC, for $30,000.
I'm curious as to what they plan to plan to do with it. It seems like the downtown Raleigh transmitter building wasn't included in the sale. If they actually get 1240 running again, my guess is that it'll simulcast the Catholic format currently heard on their 540 station.
I'm curious as to what they plan to plan to do with it. It seems like the downtown Raleigh transmitter building wasn't included in the sale. If they actually get 1240 running again, my guess is that it'll simulcast the Catholic format currently heard on their 540 station.
They'll definitely need to find a new site. The plan was to sell that property on Bart Street to a developer, and I don't think WETC's site would make a good diplex for 1240.
As for format, my guess is Spanish-language Catholic programming, as 1240 wouldn't really enhance 540's coverage in a potential simulcast. Pre-WETC, Divine Mercy operated two LPFMs, WFNE 103.5 in Wake Forest, and 103.3 (don't remember the call letters) in Cary, which switched to Spanish once they bought 540.
As for format, my guess is Spanish-language Catholic programming, as 1240 wouldn't really enhance 540's coverage in a potential simulcast. Pre-WETC, Divine Mercy operated two LPFMs, WFNE 103.5 in Wake Forest, and 103.3 (don't remember the call letters) in Cary, which switched to Spanish once they bought 540.