The signal extended off campus and the students hired for the first time a non-student to oversee the station full-time and ensure compliance with FCC rules and university expectations.
Faced with FCC deregulation of low-wattage FM stations in the early 1980s, and in order to protect the frequency, the student managers decided to apply for a 25,000 watt license, which would extend the audience throughout the Baltimore and Washington DC area.
[citation needed] The application was approved in 1982, however the station went off the air in 1983-4 due to renovation of AMR II in which the studios were located.
Over the years it progressively added more content from National Public Radio and its partners, shifting to the format of news/talk in the daytime and overnight weekday hours, and music (mainly jazz) programming during evenings and nights.
WJHU-FM apparently encountered financial difficulties, and before some fundraising success in the early 1990s, the university considered selling it.
The university decided to sell the station, due to the expense of maintaining it, and the fact that it did not fit with the Johns Hopkins' mission.