By Hannah Osborne
WJBF was founded by Mr. J. B. Fuqua in November of 1953. This Thanksgiving, the station celebrates 70 incredible years of local broadcasting.
“A big part of the success of WJBF has been the people that work here and have worked here. We take great pride in making our community better and I would like to think that J. B. Fuqua would be proud of the station he founded,” says WJBF Vice President and General Manager, Carter Murphy.
Acting primarily as an NBC affiliate, WJBF first reached the airwaves from what formerly served as a home in North Augusta. WJBF’s commitment to its community has been reflected in its persistence to stay on the airwaves.
This home on Georgia Avenue in North Augusta was the homebase of the station for 3 years, before a fire led the station to seek out a new address. Despite the building sustaining damage, the station only stayed off the airwaves for 3 days before getting back on the air to serve its community. For the next few months, the station continued to operate from this location before moving to the “iconic yellow building” that became home to WJBF for 50 years. Along the road, the station moved into an old Barnes & Noble location due to lack of space.
In another instance, WJBF was taken off the air for a week after a fire at the location of its transmitter building. Despite the job of rebuilding and reinstalling a new transmitter typically taking up to 3 months, WJBF was back on air within a week.
Throughout the years, WJBF has maintained this dedication to its community to deliver accurate and relevant programming no matter the cost.
Reporter Kim Vickers has encapsulated this history in WJBF’s “Hometown History” series. The series includes a four-part video series celebrating the history of WJBF. From technology advancements and weather coverage to community outreach and overcoming setbacks, all of this and more can be found in Vickers’s coverage.
The GAB congratulates WJBF on 70 incredible years of local broadcasting! Here’s to another 70 years of persistence, advancements and community dedication.
