WJAB

WJAB (90.9 FM) is a National Public Radio-affiliated college radio station in Huntsville, Alabama. It primarily features jazz and blues music programming aimed toward African-American residents of the northern counties of Alabama and several counties in southern middle Tennessee. WJAB's signal travels in about a 120-mile radius.

The station is licensed to Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (known as "Alabama A&M" for short) in Normal, Alabama, which is actually located within the city of Huntsville. The Telecommunications Center of the University operates the station partly as a laboratory for student announcers, producers, and journalists.

History

Beginning in the late 1970s, Alabama A&M made numerous attempts to obtain funding from the state of Alabama and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in order to establish a radio station of its own. The FCC originally allocated the callsign WAED for the station.

The Telecommunications Center under the direction of the late Dr. Hayward O. Handy and Elizabeth Sloan-Ragland was best known during the 1970s and 1980s for producing several weekly public affairs and features shows seen on Alabama Public Television, including Montage and Upstate. The Center also produced The Alabama A&M Football Review with announcer Ike Rooks, which aired on Huntsville-area commercial television stations.