The Big JAB

The Big JAB is a network of sports radio stations in southern Maine, owned by Atlantic Coast Radio. It is on 1440 AM (WRED, licensed to Westbrook) and 96.3 FM (WJJB-FM, licensed to Gray). It is located on 779 Warren Avenue in Portland, Maine.

History

1440 History

The 1440 frequency first went on the air November 8, 1959 as WJAB, a (daytime-only) top 40 music station, giving major competition to cross-town WLOB. WJAB immediately became the top rated station in Portland, a position it held until 1965, when a resurgent WLOB, after having obtained night power, retook the top spot. WJAB launched a similarly-formatted FM sister station, WJBQ-FM (106.3) in 1974; the WJBQ callsign was eventually implemented on the AM station as well.WJBQ-FM relocated to 97.9 in 1980, in a frequency swap with WDCS (a predecessor to WBACH; 106.3 is now occupied by WHXR); in the intervening years, the AM station would attempt several formats, including all-news (as WMER), a simulcast of what had become WWGT-FM (as WWGT), and hard rock and heavy metal via the Z Rock network (as WLPZ). In the mid-1990s, the station settled on its current sports format; initially retaining the WLPZ callsign, it became WJAE in 1997 in an attempt to restore the WJAB identity to the station despite that callsign's assignment to another station. (Then-owners Bob Fuller and J. J. Jeffrey had previously worked at WJAB during the 1960s; Jeffrey retained WJAE by way of Atlantic Coast Radio upon the sale of Fuller-Jeffrey's FM stations to Citadel Broadcasting in 1999.)