WJST

WJST (1280 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a sports radio format as a Fox Sports Radio affiliate. Licensed to New Castle, Pennsylvania, USA, it serves the Pittsburgh area. The station is currently owned by Forever Broadcasting, LLC.

History

Beginnings as WBZY AM 1140

The history of the current WJST can be traced back to the late 1960s. The station, known then as WBZY, signed on for the very first time August 25, 1968 from studios in the First National Bank building on Mill Street in downtown New Castle. Under the ownership of Lawrence County Broadcasting Corporation, Robert Purcell served as company president and Robert Jolly served as station general manager.

WBZY began as a head-on competitor to WKST, which had already been on the air for thirty years at the time. One big difference between the two, however, was that WBZY, while operating as a strictly daytime-only operation, operated at a power of 5,000 watts from the time of its inception, while WKST operated at only a thousand at that time. WBZY at that time operated at the frequency of 1140 kHz, and had to sign-off at sundown in order to protect the clear channel WRVA, which also operated on this same frequency. Transmitter facilities were located five miles southwest of downtown New Castle near Vance and Gilmore Roads in North Beaver Township.