WRJD

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WRJD
Broadcast area	Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Branding	Rejoice 1410 WRJD
Frequency	1410 (kHz)
Format	Gospel
Power	5,000 watts daytime, 290 watts nighttime
Class	B
Callsign meaning	W ReJoice Durham
Owner	Davidson Media Group
Website	none

WRJD (formerly known as WSRC-AM) is a heritage radio station based in Durham, North Carolina that broadcasts on 1410 AM. It signed on the air as WSRC on October 15, 1954, a day most locals remember as the day Hurricane Hazel roared through Central and Eastern North Carolina, causing a great deal of damage and destruction. Despite that initial setback, WSRC managed to continue broadcasting as the first radio station in the Raleigh-Durham market to serve the black community. Throughout much of its lifetime, WSRC has played a mix of gospel, soul, and R&B music. Along the way, the station has attracted a wealth of talented personalities, including Norfley Whitted, Jimmy "Dr. Jive" Byrd, Durham native Shirley Caesar, and former WTVD news reporter Ervin Hester. (3)

In 1965, WSRC-FM signed on at 107.1, but was sold to Duke University and later signed on as WDBS-FM (now WFXC) in 1971. On March 16, 2006, Davidson Media Group (who also owns another Durham station, WTIK-AM) took over the operations for WSRC and later changed its call letters to WRJD.(1) Prior to the station changing hands from previous owner Willis Broadcasting (who had been going through serious financial difficulties over the past few years), local gospel group The Cooper Four performed its final live Sunday afternoon broadcast on March 12. The group had been with WSRC since its early beginnings. (2) The WSRC call letters have since been given to an AM station located in Fair Bluff, North Carolina.

[edit] WRJD in popular culture

Durham native Ernie Barnes incorporated the former WSRC calls into his best-known painting Sugar Shack, which was featured in the credits of the TV sitcom Good Times as well as the cover of Marvin Gaye's 1976 album I Want You. Oddly enough, WSRC was erroneously listed as "620 on your dail (sic)', which is the frequency for fellow Durham radio station WDNC.