WFMJ History

[Towntalk]

WFMJ's history took a different path. When it first went on the air on September 7, 1939 it was a 250 watt daytime station that would become affiliated with NBC-Blue Network, and when NBC was broken up, WFMJ became an ABC affiliate, but would later rejoin NBC.
In time, WFMJ was moved to 1390 kc and was on the air from 6:00 AM til 1:00 AM full time, and was a 5000 watt station, and its transmitter was located on the site where Boardman Park is located today. Both the building and six towers were demolished to make way for the park.

Like WKBN-AM and WKBN-FM, WFMJ-AM and WFMJ-FM went through different owners, and a multitude of formats.
WFMJ-AM now owned by Clear Channel with the Call Letters WNIO
WFMJ-FM now owned by Cummules Media with the Call Letters WQXK

[Towntalk]

The present TV studio was originally WFMJ's master radio studio and was the largest radio broadcasting studio in Youngstown capable of holding a large studio audience. The control room for this studio later became the TV control room, and the offices that were located behind it were converted to house the station's projection booth, while the Master Studio announcers booth became the TV announcers booth.
On the radio side, WFMJ radio lost all it's studios, and the only studio that it would have left was the small former radio announcers booth which was only used for broadcasting the news.

[AllanY2525]

My father was the weather man for WFMJ television for many years, and a part of
their history.  I used to get the rare treat of going to work with Dad (after much
begging and pleading, of course...)

He was also a DJ for WBBW am for a while, and had worked in the print media
as well as a reporter.

As a young kid, it was fascinating to sit in the DJ booth with my favorite, Mr. Don
Dempsey, and watch him handling all of the gear in the studio spinning vinyl 33
and 45 Rpm records on multiple turntables, while using 8 track tapes to play
commercials in between.  Don's baritone radio voice awed me as a little
kid of 8 or 9 years old.

My father would tell us tales of the  antics that would take place in the TV studio,
DURING a broadcast, to try and  get the newscasters to giggle or break up on the
air.

My dad told me a story about a particular evening when a female camera operator
pulled up her shirt behind the camera - and gave my dad QUITE an eye-full (ie: NO
brasierre under her shirt) during his presentation.

According to dad, he almost said "...and a 10 percent chance of reciprocation
in the morning...."

On another occasion, one of the studio engineers dove under the desk on their
studio set an instant before the cameras came on for broadcast - and
proceeded to pull the ankle hairs of the anchorman from underneath the desk
while he was on the air, in an attempt to get him to flinch!

I think he really loved his job....even when he had to drive one of their small
"News mobiles" around during the race riots in Youngstown - with his head
almost below the steering wheel.

Yes, folks in the media have a sense of humor......

[Towntalk]

 http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-BC-IDX/39-OCR/1939-12-15-BC-OCR-Page-0081.pdf#search=%22wfmj%22

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-BC-IDX/39-OCR/1939-11-01-BC-OCR-Page-0009.pdf#search=%22wfmj%22

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-BC-IDX/39-OCR/1939-09-01-BC-OCR-Page-0009.pdf#search=%22wfmj%22

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bWVKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=coYMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4037%2C609612