LISTENERS: BIG CHANGES AHEAD, ESPECIALLY FOR iTUNES LISTENERS. PLEASE READ AND RESPOND.
Dear listeners and friends of WJJD:
This station has been streaming our country format since July of 2003. More than 100,000 people have listened during our time online.
But we are facing a slump..in financial support.
Recent increased costs from royalties and additional listening hours from iTunes listeners has increased our monthly operating costs substantially. This radio station has gone from costing under $100 a month to around $400 a month.
At the same time, I have been unable to attract any substantial business in the form of advertising revenue. Therefore, I am going to discontinue the "advertising-based" business model effective immediately. Current ads will run only until this Friday, March 12.
The bottom line is that The Country Giant must begin downgrading from PRO back to a personal station. This will pull us off of iTunes and will also remove our ability to sell advertising. This would put Live365 network ads back into the stream. iTunes listeners would then need to listen via the Live365 page instead.
Unless someone steps up to the plate quickly, this change will take place later this month. I do not have funding to fill in the holes left when advertisers don't pay us. That's one current problem that has left me in a lurch.
If our listeners each donated a small amount..as low as $1..we could likely afford to continue. I LIKE being available on iTunes!
So, please, consider responding to this appeal.
(In our personal life, we are on the Dave Ramsey budget program and are in the process of discontinuing all credit purchases. Therefore, I must either pay Live365 in full by check every month, or they will close us down. That's the bottom line of where we stand.)
The budgometer below shows our current monthly income and expenses.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Alan McCall
Station Owner/Director
THE BUDGOMETER FOR MARCH
INCOME:
MARCH INCOME $350.00
MAR 1 BILLING: $ - 0 -
MARCH PLEDGES: -0-
EXPENSES:
STREAMING & ROYALTIES $390.04
FLORIDA CORPORATION FILING FEES $61.25
TOTAL EXPENSES: $451.29
BUDGOMETER: -101.29
WE REALLY NEED YOU. HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP:
"Pay for a Day"
Make a donation via PayPal to cover the cost of broadcasting for one day. Based on current expenses, this is roughly $28.00.
Purchase an Ultimate Fast Food Discount Card for $25
Purchase a Computer Games Gold CD-ROM for $35
Pledge a contribution to our Kickstarter project
Make a donation directly to us:
Delta Star Radio of Florida Inc.
Att: Alan McCall
2625 Doll Place
Tallahassee, FL 32311-5324
The "country giant" slogan was used quite extensively throughout the U.S. during the 1960s and 70s. Many of the stations using this term were located in small towns, but this was not always the case. Sometimes it was used on stations in big cities as well. Many of the station jingles and IDs of this era had a very distinctive sound. WJJD began its run as a "country giant" in 1965.
HISTORY OF WJJD
Many of the historic radio station is U.S. broadcast history are gone - some have gone silent; others have gone through ownership and format changes over the years. Most are unrecognizable as any type of "heritage" station, instead offering syndicated or brokered programs, with little personality of its own.
One of these was WJJD, first put on the air in 1924 by J.J. Davies in 1924 at Moosehart, the Moose Club Children's Home, located north of Aurora, Illinois. It was reallocated to Chicago in 1941 and operated on "limited hours" from 1941 to 1980.
WJJD had a number of formats. I'm particularly interested in the format switch from Top-40 to country in 1965. The first record played was Buck Owens' "I've Got A Tiger by the Tail." Under the guidance of program director Chris Lane, WJJD went on to be a trendsetter, featuring such air personalities as Art Nelson, Roy Stingley, Ted Clark, Rich Osborn, Mark Edwards, Mike Larsen and a number of others. WJJD was also the home of the 'Suppertime Frolic' with Randy Blake.
WJJD was a trendsetter - if WJJD "broke a record" on the air by being the first to play it, you could bet other country stations across the U.S. would soon be playing it as well. Program directors from stations around the country would travel to Chicago, listening to the formatics and programming of this country music station.
Despite 73 years of history, this station died quietly on April 8, 1997. Chicago's 1160 is now WYLL, owned by Salem Communications. Very little original WJJD program material has survived. I am grateful to those who have contributed aircheck tapes, jingles and IDs and music!
ABOUT THE WJJD OF TODAY
The WJJD of today was developed by Tallahassee radio veteran Alan McCall, founder of Delta Star Radio of Florida, Inc., a Florida nonprofit corporation. It began as a thought to "bring back the hometown country giant sound." Several call letters were considered, but it was after a radio colleague mentioned "WJJD" as a country station that many people would remember that the station began to take shape.
Locating the WJJD jingles and the other station IDs you hear was not easy. It took several months of searching before I finally was able to purchase them.
The Internet stream originally began as Christian-formatted "Delta Star Radio" in July of 2001, but the format was changed to country with the 'JJD brand on July 27, 2003.
Delta Star Radio continues to own and operate WJJD. Delta Star Radio is nonprofit, but is not a 501(c)3, allowing us the ability to air spots and commercials if necessary to meet expenses. We would prefer to be listener supported, but when donations are low, it does mean ads must air within the stream to help offset the operating costs.
WJJD BROADCASTING AT 32 KBPS BITRATE
The majority of our listeners have broadband. WJJD is now broadcasting at a bitrate of 32k. This seems to be the best bitrate for reaching both dial-up and broadband listeners.
CONTACT US
You are welcome to write us anytime:
Delta Star Radio of Florida Inc/WJJD
c/o Alan McCall
2625 Doll Place
Tallahassee, FL 32311-5324
Email me: alanmccal@hotmail.com
Thanks to all of you who are helping create the best radio station ever!
