Your Hometown Radio Station
Jupiter - Tequesta - Juno Beach - Hobe Sound- Palm Beach Gardens
Jupiter Community Radio
When I was a boy growing up, I was fascinated with radio. There was something warm and intimate about it. My mother used to keep a radio on in the kitchen almost all the time. And I remember coming down to breakfast on those cold winter mornings and thinking how warm and safe and happy the announcer sounded. Of course I didn't realize that he had to get up at 3AM in the morning to fight his way through the winter weather to get to the station. But it was an image that has stuck with me even to today.
And while I was growing up it seemed that almost every town had its own radio station. But that changed drastically in 1996 when the FCC allowed unlimited ownership. Corporations swooped in and bought up huge numbers of stations. In fact, Clear Channel now owns approximately 13% of all the radio stations in the United States. Hometown radio seemed to die overnight. Then in the year 2000, the FCC realized that they had made a mistake and decided to license low powered FM radio stations. In 2001 they allowed people in Florida to file applications for these licenses. I filed my application the very first day that the FCC was accepting them. However, it wasn't until October of 2003 that the FCC approved my application and it wasn't until January 29, 2004 that WJTW - 100.3FM went on the air.
We chose a format of music from the 50s - 60s - 70s not because of any great market research but simply because I personally had about 1300 songs from that era. But to my utter surprise, our listeners seem to enjoy that music as much as I do. Today we have almost 3400 songs in our playlist and we keep adding to it each month.
There are many things that we'd like to do from securing our antenna to a real pole rather than a palm tree, to having a delay system so that we can take telephone calls over the air, to perhaps broadcasting local high school football games. And these things we will accomplish as our budget allows us.
When we went on the air, we set up as our mission statement three goals. First we wanted to entertain our listeners. Second we wanted to be of service to the community. And finally we wanted to have FUN! And since going on the air in 2004, we have struggled with all sorts of problems from multiple equipment failures, to having our antenna knocked down three times due to hurricanes, to having the station hit by lightning. But through it all, I believe that we have succeeded in fulfilling our mission statement.
Through all the ups and downs of WJTW, I have learned one inescapable truth. You cannot have a successful radio station unless you have great listeners. And there is no doubt in my mind that we have the very best listeners of all!
Thank you for making WJTW what it is today.
Tom Boyhan
email: tom@wjtwfm.com