WJRE

WJRE (102.5 FM) is an FM radio station licensed to Galva, Illinois, United States with studios in Kewanee, Illinois, United States. WJRE operates on a frequency of 102.5 MHz. The station serves portions of northern Illinois to the Quad Cities area. The station is currently owned by Fletcher M. Ford’s Virden Broadcasting Corp.

WJRE plays traditional country format, with a mix of songs from the 1970s through today. WJRE broadcasts in the HD Radio format.

The counties in Illinois where the station is heard in a broadcast area on the radio Frequency 102.5 kHz are as follows: Henry, Bureau, Knox, and Stark. Communities in Illinois within the counties where the station is heard are as follows: Kewanee, Galva, Geneseo, Princeton, Toulon, Bradford, Rock Island, Annawan, and Buda.

## Contents

* 1 Overview
* 2 Station slogans
* 3 Sports
* 4 Program and station history
* 5 Locations
* 6 External links

## Overview[edit]

Hog Country 102.5 fm is an HD1 radio station. The station has two Sister stations · KQCJ and WKEI.

The current and most listened to local program is the "JR Kitchens and The Shake Um' Wake Um' Show". This program airs Weekdays 6A-10A (CST).

Additional notable programs the station airs are "Taste of Country Nights with Evan and Amber". This program airs 7PM-Midnight (CST) from Nashville and is hosted by Evan Paul, Co-hosted and produced by Amber Atnip.

Primarily throughout the weekdays country music is played and features Disc Jockey personalities of Sherry Farmer and Steve Brewer.

## Station slogans[edit]

* The Best of the 80's 90's and Today
* Hog Country

## Sports[edit]

Wethersfield Flying Geese in the Lincoln Trail Conference have live High School Football and High School Basketball play-by-play coverage on WJRE. Additionally there have been play-by-play IHSA playoff games coverage of surrounding Tri-County schools for High School Football and Basketball on WJRE.

The longest running sports broadcaster for the station WJRE was the late Steven A. “Moose” Peart of Annawan, Illinois. He worked on air color commentary for the Weathersfield Flying Geese football and IHSA football playoff coverage for 27 years, some with sister station WKEI.

## Program and station history[edit]

On May 20, 1966 - WJRE-FM, a sister station of WKEI-AM went on the air, providing the Tri-County area (Henry, Bureau, and Stark) with its first local FM signal. WJRE, operated on a frequency of 92.1 Megacycles. Call-sign meaning after the W is "J" for John, "R" for Rick, "E" for Eddie. Employees of the station in the late 1960s. The former call-sign was WKEI-FM (1966-1974).

'Notable dates'

* October 1, 1987 - Glenn R. Olson owner of Kewanee Radio corporation sold WKEI and WJRE to the Miller Broadcast Company, Inc. owned by former Chicago disc jockey Howard A. Miller. Howard Miller was a radio personality from the 1940s through the 1970s. Miller was an extraordinarily popular as a pre-rock 'n' roll disc jockey and later as a controversial conservative radio commentator and TV talk-show host.
* September 30, 1994 - After learning earlier in 1994 that he had terminal cancer, Howard Miller sold WKEI and WJRE to the Virden Broadcasting Corp. owned by Randal J. Miller, also known as Randy Miller (No relation to each other).
* October 1, 1996 - The frequency was changed to 93.9 MHz, with 3,100 watts of power from a 453-foot tower northeast of Kewanee, substantially increasing WJRE's coverage area. WJRE was a format of a Hot Adult Contemporary music licensed to Galva, Illinois, with studio in Kewanee, Illinois. WJRE played The Best of the 80's 90's and Today, from artists like Maroon 5, John Mayer, the Goo Goo Dolls, and Cher. WJRE upon the change in ownership, changed it's music format slightly from a "Soft Rock" to a "Lite Rock" format and began broadcasting 24 hours a day in 1996. During 1996 through the early 2000's on air Disc Jockey personalities would have call in listeners play the game called "Time Capsule" for winning tickets to a Peoria, Illinois concert or event, among other prizes. Through the late 90's on-air personalities included Danielle Arch, Gary Petersen, Kris Wexell, Bryan Kreutz, and Tony Sarnow.
* May 1, 2003, midnight - The frequency was changed to 102.5 MHz from a tower south of Galva, with 3,000 watts of power.
* November 3, 2005 at 4 p.m., WJRE switched to a new transmitter on Beach Street in Kewanee, sharing facilities with sister station WKEI. WJRE now operates at 6,000 watts.
* January 1, 2007 at 6 a.m., WJRE changed music format from Hot Adult Contemporary (Hot AC) to a Country music format.
* February 1, 2018 at 12:01 a.m., WJRE launched "104.7 Rock 2.0", a rock music format on their HD3 channel and translator W284CV.

## Locations[edit]

Since it's inception in 1965 WJRE was located with WKEI studios at the Hotel Kewanee, 125 North Chestnut Street, in Kewanne, IL until 1981. Since 1981 WKEI and WJRE broadcast studios are both located at 133 East Division Street in Kewanee, IL.

## External links[edit]

* Virden Broadcasting Fletcher Ford at regional Media
* Kewanee Star Courier
* WJRE official website
* Miller Media Group
* 440 International - Radio People
* Chicago Tribune Howard Miller