On weekdays it largely broadcasts national religious leaders including Chuck Swindoll, David Jeremiah, Joyce Meyer, Jim Daly and Alistair Begg.

Some hours of the night and weekends, WJOI carries "Today's Christian Music" from the Salem Radio Network.

[5] It carried various ethnic programs and sports broadcasts, including Marquette University basketball and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Future television talk show host Tom Snyder got his start at the station as a news reporter in the 1950s.

When WBCS-FM flipped to AOR as WLZR-FM in 1987, the AM station also became WLZR, simulcasting the album rock format for several years.

Eventually, the station began to sell much of its air time to religious and sports broadcasters, and became WJYI (Joy 1340) on May 30, 1997.

In early 2011, WJYI began simulcasting on the HD Radio digital subchannel of sister station WZBK-FM, replacing the previous automated smooth jazz format which aired on that subchannel in the aftermath of the May 2010 WJZX format switch.