WJRW

On September 16, 1940, the station signed on under the WLAV call sign (which stood for Leonard Adrian Versluis, the station's original owner). It was Grand Rapids' second radio station. Versluis added WLAV-FM in 1947 and WLAV-TV, West Michigan's first television station, in 1949. He sold the television station to the owners of Grand Rapids' first radio station, WOOD; it is now WOOD-TV.

WLAV became a full-time Top 40 music station in the summer of 1963, and was originally consulted by Mike Joseph, who later on went to develop the Hot Hits format in the late 1970s. One popular WLAV personality was Larry Adderley, who later worked as a sportscaster at various radio and TV stations in the Detroit media market as well as an announcer for the Detroit Tigers.

WLAV soon overtook rival stations WGRD and WMAX as the dominant hit music station in Grand Rapids, but its market share declined in the 1970s with the popularity of FM stations such as WZZM-FM, WGRD-FM, and WLAV's own sister station WLAV-FM, which found success as an album rock station. "Music Radio WLAV" went to a more adult contemporary sound in 1974, which continued until 1980, when the station tried a talk radio format as the "1340 Townhouse", featuring popular talk show hosts Lee Harris and Bob Kwesell. Along with the new format came new call letters, WTWN.

The heritage WLAV call letters were restored in 1984, and the station flipped to oldies, which lasted for the next eight years. Although WLAV was a modest success with oldies, it was hurt when WODJ debuted in 1989 as an FM oldies station with a stronger signal and swept the ratings.

In 1993, the format changed to a modern rock-based sound called "1340 Underground". This happened shortly after an experiment with changing the format to modern rock on WLAV-FM had failed. WLAV-FM then reverted to classic rock. The "1340 Underground" format gained a considerable cult following in the Grand Rapids area, even though its night-time signal was poor.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

The callsign WBBL and sports radio format debuted on May 25, 1994, when ownership of the radio station had changed.{{cite magazine|title=Vox Jox|magazine=Billboard|last=Stark|first=Phyllis|date=June 4, 1994|volume=106|issue=23|page=129}} On May 28, 2009, WBBL began simulcasting its sports programming on 107.3 FM in Greenville, which became WBBL-FM.

On July 27, 2009, the call sign on 1340 AM was changed to WJRW and the format was changed to talk radio on Tuesday, August 18, 2009.{{cite web|url=http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2009/08/citadel_broadcasting_launches.html |title=Citadel Broadcasting launches 24-hour news-and-talk format at 1340 AM on WJRW Radio |date=18 August 2009 }} The callsign WJRW was chosen to remind listeners that the station is co-owned and would carry many of the same Westwood One shows that are heard on 50,000–watt Detroit station WJR. The extra "W" signifies the Grand Rapids station is in the Western part of Michigan. WBBL-FM continued airing sports.

On January 8, 2011, the syndicated weekly Kim Komando Show switched to WJRW after airing for a decade on a competing station.{{cite web|url=http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/01/the_kim_komando_show_debuts_on.html |title="The Kim Komando Show" debuts on WJRW 1340 on Saturday |date=8 January 2011 }} Shortly thereafter, Komando's technology column began appearing in the Sunday edition of The Grand Rapids Press.{{cite news|url= https://www.usatoday.com/search/?q=Stories+from+Kim+Komando

|title=Stories from Columnist Kim Komando | work=USA Today}} On March 31, 2011, it was announced that local radio veteran Michelle McKormick would be joining WJRW as host of The Buzz with Michelle McKormick. Her show debuted on June 6, 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/05/michelle_mckormick_returns_to.html |title=Michelle McKormick returns to Grand Rapids radio, joins Newstalk WJRW-AM 1340 |date=31 May 2011 }}

On January 4, 2019, the station switched to sports radio following the flip of co-owned WBBL-FM from sports to country music.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/182930/wbbl-grand-rapids-changes-afoot-morning-host-says-|title=WBBL/Grand Rapids Changes Afoot, Morning Host Says 'Everyone Got Fired Today'|website=All Access|language=en|access-date=2019-01-04}}{{Cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/173417/format-change-imminent-at-wbbl-grand-rapids-as-airstaff-exits/|title=WBBL Flips To Country As Thunder Returns To Grand Rapids|date=2019-01-04|website=RadioInsight|language=en-US|access-date=2024-10-14}} WJRW now carries a couple of shows previously heard on WBBL-FM, as well as programming from the CBS Sports Radio Network.

{{RadioTranslators

| callsign = WJRW

| call1 = W291DJ

| freq1 = 106.1

| fid1 = 200865

| watts1 = 75

| haat1 = 79

| class1 = D

| city1 = Grand Rapids, Michigan

| coord1 = {{coord|42|57|6|N|85|41|56|W|region:US-MI_type:landmark}}

}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.theticketmi.com/}}
• {{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=68147 |title= FCC History Cards for WJRW|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}}

{{AM station data|41679|WJRW}}

• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|200865|W291DJ}}
• {{FXL|W291DJ}}

{{Grand Rapids Radio}}

{{Sports Radio Stations in Michigan}}

{{Cumulus Media}}

JRW

Category:Sports radio stations in the United States

Category:Radio stations established in 1940

Category:Cumulus Media radio stations

Category:1940 establishments in Michigan

Category:Infinity Sports Network stations