WYJB's adult contemporary format is a direct evolution of WROW-FM's former easy listening format, which began in the early 1960s. The station has had an adult contemporary format since 1991, originally strictly Soft AC, which evolved towards mainstream AC and eventually developing a slight Hot AClean in recent years. The station has been #1 overall in several books since its launch, and its primary competitor is WRVE.
History
1959–1993: WROW-FM
The 95.5 frequency, originally allocated to the unbuilt WXKW-FM in 1950, signed on in 1959 as WROW-FM, sister to Capital Cities Communications flagship WROW and initially simulcasting the AM's programming. After the Federal Communications Commission forced FM stations to originate their own programming in 1967, it aired a time-delayed variation of the AM's easy listening format. This arrangement remained until after Capital Cities sold the WROW stations in 1983, at which point the FM became the primary station which the AM largely simulcasted. With the decline of easy listening formats in the late 1980s, WROW-FM evolved to a soft adult contemporary format as EZ95.5 in early 1991, with easy listening moving solely to the AM side. Though with a good signal in comparison to rival WKLI-FM, the easy listening heritage of the 95.5 frequency proved to be detrimental to the growth of the station. In 1993, the WROW stations were sold to Albany Broadcasting, at which point an overhaul of the station took place.
1994–present: WYJB
On January 3, 1994, EZ95.5 relaunched with a more mainstream AC sound as The New B95.5 with the WYJBcalls coming into effect several days prior. Within five years of the launch, the station became the death knell for the weaker WKLI signal's AC format. In 2001, Delilah was added to the station in the evenings after WKLI flipped to classic rock; and continued to develop a slight Hot AC lean, even more so with sister station WCPT changing to a soft AC/standards format. Five years later, the long-time morning showChuck and Kelly moved to competitor WBZZ, and Ric Mitchell and Laura Daniels were named Chuck and Kelly's replacements. In 2010, Ric Mitchell left WYJB, with Chuck Taylor returning to the morning show shortly after. When WBZZ dumped adult contemporary that year, it left WYJB and rimshot competitor WQAR as Albany's only adult contemporary radio stations. On November 9, 2011, the station flipped to Christmas musicfor the first time, in response to the flip of nearby oldies station WTRY-FM to all-Christmas the same day. Shortly after Christmas, the station tweaked into more of a Hot AC sound with new slogans and jingles; however, the station still reports as adult contemporary on Nielsen BDS and Mediabase charts.
