The station signed on the air on September 16, 1968, as KJIB. It was a stand-alone FM station, not attached to an AM station. KJIB was owned by Contemporary FM, Inc., with Bernard D. Seitz serving as owner and general manager. It played beautiful music, mostly instrumental cover versions of popular songs along with Broadway and Hollywoodshow tunes. The call sign referred to "jib," a sail used on sail boats. In 1974, KJIB was acquired by Park Communications, which owned other easy listening stations around the country. A year earlier, Park bought AM 1080 KWJJ, a longtime Portland country music station. For the first years of Park ownership, KJIB remained easy listening and KWJJ remained country.
Switch to Country
In the late 1970s, Park moved KJIB from mainstream easy listening to a new format known as "Beautiful Country." The sound was soft, but used instrumental cover versions of Country songs, rather than Pop songs. KJIB switched to a conventional country format in the early 1980s. The FM station played mostly contemporary country hits with only a small amount of DJ chatter, while the AM station continued as a personality country outlet, going back several decades for its playlist of country tunes. On August 19, 1985, KJIB changed its call sign to the current KWJJ-FM. The two stations simulcast the morning show and some other segments during the day. In 1995, AM 1080 KWJJ became a network affiliate for ABC'sReal Country, a classic country service.
Change in Ownership
In 1996, Fisher Communications bought KWJJ-AM-FM for $35 million. Fisher owned radio and TV stations in Seattle and other Pacific Northwest cities. Fisher continued the mainstream country format on KWJJ-FM and briefly continued the classic country sound on AM 1080 KWJJ. The following year, the AM station became hot talk KOTK. In 2003, Fisher Communications sold KOTK and KWJJ-FM to Entercom for $44 million. Entercom changed the AM station to all-sports as KFXX. KWJJ-FM continued as a country outlet. On January 6, 2004, KWJJ-FM rebranded as "99.5 The Wolf."
Jingles and Imaging
KWJJ uses the "Reelworld One Country" jingles package and imaging service after dropping the "IQ Beats" custom package in 2009. Sweepers are done by Emily Mcintosh and Jack Murphy. This is Mcintosh's 10th country client and her fifth "Wolf" station to do sweepers and custom liners.
KWJJ broadcasts in the HD Radio format. The station carries two co-owned sports radio stations on its subchannels. KWJJ-HD2 airs a simulcast of AM 1080 KFXX, known as "The Fan." At one time, KFXX was an AM country station using the KWJJ call letters. On October 26, 2015, KWJJ-HD3 launched with a simulcast of AM 910KMTT, known as "910 ESPN Portland."
