WJZ-FM

WJZ-FM (105.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to Catonsville, Maryland and serving the Baltimore metropolitan area. WJZ-FM's transmitter's site is located in Baltimore's Frankford section, and broadcasts from studios in suburban Towson, Maryland. The station is owned by CBS Radio.

History

History of the WJZ-FM callsign

The call letters WJZ-FM were originally used on what is now WPLJ in New York City from its founding in 1948 to 1953 when the station became WABC-FM, alongside WABC-TV and WABC-AM.

The call letters "WJZ" were originally created by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the direct predecessor to the current CBS Corporation, which was the owners of WJZ radio in New York City from 1921 to 1923. The WJZ call sign has been used in Baltimore since 1957, when WAAM (channel 13) was renamed to WJZ-TV, an ABC affiliate that was changed to CBS in 1995.

As WBMD-FM

WJZ-FM signed on in 1961 as WCBC-FM. The station was purchased in the late '60s by Key Broadcasting. The FM station was paired with a country AM station, WBMD, already owned by Key. In 1970, the FM's format became hard rock at night, with country during the day. On July 5, 1971, the station's call sign was changed to WKTK and the format shifted to all progressive rock music. From 1977 to 1979, WKTK played disco music, but later changed to oldies with the decline of disco. In 1982, the call letters became WQSR as the station planned to join Super Radio, a new national music network to be operated by ABC. Shortly before Super Radio's scheduled launch, ABC decided not to go forward with the network. WQSR kept its new call letters. WQSR was then sold to Sconnix Broadcasting in 1988 and continued playing oldies music. The station was sold to Infinity Radio in 1993, then passed on to CBS Radio in 1997.