WBMJ - Early History

Early History

WBMJ was owned by Bob Hope’s Mid-Ocean Broadcasting Company, and set up by its excellent General Manager, the late Bob Bennett in 1967-1968. With its distinctive sound and top modulation the station was frequently picked up as far away as Norway. WBMJ signed on in 1968 under Bob Bennett, who continued to manage the station through 1980 when Bob Hope's Mid Ocean sold to record impresario Jerry Masucci.

Bob Bennett was a veteran of US Top 40 radio when he moved to Puerto Rico and started building WBMJ. The station was simply another iteration of the proven Top 40 format from the mainland. Since the Island of Puerto Rico is a US territory, it was natural to use mainland announcers and jingles and, of course, follow religiously the Billboard record charts. Since the culture shock of living in the Island was hard on the jocks, they seldom lasted more than a year. On the other hand, there were several totally bilingual Puerto Rican jocks who were there for a lengthy period, speaking English on a station in Puerto Rico.

From 1968 to roughly 1975, WBMJ was an exclusively English language Top 40 station, with all announcing and music in English. Spots were mostly in Spanish, though. The reasoning for the format was simple: all through Latin America, American music was popular. A really tightly done Top 40 with US hits would be an attractive proposition. However, all advertising in Puerto Rico tended to be in Spanish, so the spots were in Spanish. Even in 1968, there were less than 100,000 "Continentals" living in the Island; everyone else was a Spanish speaker first... Many knew English, though. The station, however, never got into the top stations in ratings, usually registering around 7th or 8th.

In 1975, WBMJ switched to Spanish jocks and a mix of 90% English music with some Spanish pop hits, under the name of Radio Rock. Radio Rock became the number one radio station in San Juan very quickly, staying there through much of the rest of the '70s, challenged seriously only by WKAQ with its Spanish Top 40. WBMJ became a salsa oldies station around 1981 as Exitos 1190 and then, eventually, became religious under the ownership of the operators of WIVV from Puerto Rico's Vieques Island.