The call letter move was significant, as McLendon had previously owned WOKJ (1590 AM), which was the first Black-oriented radio station in the state of Mississippi when it began in 1954.
[4] Both on 1590 and 1550, it was a public service stalwart, holding community events, broadcasting Jackson State Tigers football games and reporting on the civil rights movement.
[6] The move came after a yearlong fight at the FCC and saw the FM station change from easy listening to a format that, like WOKJ, targeted the Black community in Jackson.
[2] In late 1986, Tri-Cities sold its AM and FM stations in Jackson and in Gulfport, Mississippi, as well as Pensacola, Florida, to Holt Communications Corporation in a $9.5 million transaction.
WOKJ, by then struggling against WJMI and WKXI (1300 AM), was then sold to David R. Price, of Washington, Louisiana; the station was silent from August 1 to late November, when it returned with a country music format.