The mouse that roared: WJIB FM is coming back soon

Bob Bittner is doing his bit to keep local radio alive and well, including devoting himself to an initiative to bring WJIB in Cambridge to the FM band, thus broadening the station’s reach to more listeners.

By Ross Blouin

Some of you might remember the wonderful instrumental music from years past that was played on WJIB FM in Boston. The Chelsea Clock chimes would ring out and peaceful melodies would come to you over the airwaves.

Those days are gone but the good music has come back to us on WJIB AM 740 thanks to one man, Bob Bittner. He is a career broadcaster with ideas that are etched in stone.

Bittner bought the original WTAO in Cambridge and by 1993 he was able to turn it into WJIB. He has managed to cobble together a string of radio stations from the coast of Maine down to Cape Cod and is able to simulcast on all his stations from his home base in Bath, Maine.

His music is classic American from the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s running the range from big bands, famous singers, jazz, country and western to beloved instrumentals. He is known as a “maverick” in the radio business, a one-man operation.

He runs the stations as a barebones operation and does not take any great amount of money for himself. His money management style resembles the Salvation Army. Bob runs his mini-empire with donations and no advertising. This will be welcome news to those of you who are currently haggling with your bills from Sirius, cable, etc.

His old fashioned Down East horse sense has paid off with a growing audience. Many of his converts and contributors are tourists who just happened to tune in during summer vacation on the New England coast.

WJIB 740 AM will only reach a 25 mile radius from its Cambridge antenna on Concord Avenue, but there are many listeners here in the area. Somerville has a high concentration of WJIB listeners. Where else can you hear such luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Doris Day, Benny Goodman, The Beatles, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Willy Nelson, Gordon Lightfoot, etc., etc. It is the most relaxing way to enjoy your day, no matter what age you are.

The big news is that Bittner has been granted a license by the FCC to construct a new FM station for WJIB. Sometime – hopefully next year – Bittner will be playing his music on a new FM band that will reach a much larger area. Just think, commercial-free nostalgic music offered to the public for no charge.

You can help now by sending Bittner a contribution to help him build WJIB FM. Please send a check (not tax deductible) made out to WJIB-WJTO at P.O. Box 308, Bath, Maine 04530.