WJRF
Christian radio station in Duluth, Minnesota
WJRF (89.5 FM) is a radio station in Duluth, Minnesota. The station currently simulcasts Christian radio station WRVM in Suring, Wisconsin. Historically, it was its own station and the centerpiece of a regional Christian network prior to its donation to Northwestern Media in 2019.
01History
The WJRF license was authorized in 1982 as WNCB. It was owned by North-Central Christian Broadcasting. WNCB moved from 89.1 to 89.3 MHz in 1992 and to 89.5 in 2002. In the early 1990s, it began to build out a translator network, including a short-lived venture into the Twin Cities that was forced off the air by a relocated full-power station.
Shortly after the move to 89.5, North-Central Christian Broadcasting renamed itself Refuge Media Group. The WJRF call letters were adopted in 2004. In the early 2010s, several Refuge translators were sold off to commercial broadcasters to retransmit AM stations.
On July 2, 2019, Refuge Media Group filed to donate the entire network of three main stations and 13 Refuge-owned translators to the University of Northwestern, St. Paul, which disbanded the network and used its frequencies (except WJRF) to broadcast other Northwestern stations in its Life and Faith networks. Refuge-operated translators owned by third parties, such as Minn-Iowa Christian Broadcasting, were not included in the transaction.
In February 2020, WJRF was granted a construction permit by the FCC, to improve its signal from a class A station using 1,650 watts of power to a class C1 station using 40,000 watts of power.
On May 5, 2025, the University of Northwestern, St. Paul applied to sell WJRF and its technical equipment to WRVM, Inc. for $150,000. WRVM operates a Christian radio network with six full-power FM stations and 25 FM translators in northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. The purchase closed on July 18.
On July 21, 2025, WJRF switched to the Voice of the Master network programming.
02Translators
In operation, Refuge had 13 translators at the end of its life, as well as two full-power licenses outside of Duluth, KRGM in Marshall and KRFG in Nashwauk. These stations became full-power repeaters of Northwestern Media Life stations, and the translators were divided among Northwestern's existing Life and Faith stations.
The following translators were not owned by Refuge Media Group and thus not part of the donation of the network. The Estherville translator repeats off-air a translator reassigned to a Northwestern station and is being donated to Northwestern as of February 2020.
| Call sign | Frequency | City of license | FID | ERP (W) | HAAT | Class | FCC info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K257CH | 99.3 FM | Estherville, Iowa | 83434 | 80 | 53 m (174 ft) | D | LMS |
| K218DK | 91.5 FM | Bloomington, Minnesota | 49352 | 216 | 49 m (161 ft) | D | LMS |
| K293BA | 106.5 FM | Elko, Minnesota | 138094 | 196 | 83 m (272 ft) | D | LMS |
| K212FM | 90.3 FM | Warroad, Minnesota | 84774 | 250 | 53 m (174 ft) | D | LMS |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “WJRF”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Life 97.3.png by Northwestern Media, Public domain
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