was an American hits Top 40 station. The reasoning for the format was simple: all through Latin America, American music was popular. A really tightly done Top 40 with U.S. hits would be an attractive proposition. The station became instantly popular with its young target demographic, as it was the first broadcasting outlet to bring mainland Top 40 hits to the island. The programming was divided between standard shifts, or day parts. and each shift was helmed by one DJ who was expected to create his own brand and find sponsors to support it, in effect paying their own salary. The March 17, 1973 Billboard Magazine reports that "WBMJ, [a] Top 40 station in Puerto Rico, now has Bob Bennett 6-9 a.m., Charlie Brown until 1 p.m., Phil Baker 1-4 p.m., Marty Mald 4-7 p.m., and Moonshadow 7-signoff, with Karl (Scott Brady) Phillips doing weekends." Phillips is notable because he was an active-duty U.S. Navy member at the time and did the work more for amusement than for pay. Others, such as popular WBMJ DJ Harry Sherwood, leveraged their visibility to augment their income. Sherwood became recognized all over the Caribbean as the voice for Eastern Airlines. In 1972, WBMJ switched to Spanish jocks and a mix of 90% English music with some Spanish pop hits, under the name of Radio Rock. Radio Rock became the number one radio station in San Juan very quickly, staying there through much of the rest of the '70s, challenged seriously only by WKAQ with its Spanish Top 40. WBMJ became a salsa oldies station around 1981 as Exitos 1190 and then, eventually, became religious under the ownership of the operators of WIVV from Puerto Rico's Vieques Island. Translator stations References External links FCC History Cards for WBMJ Personal accounts of former WBMJ jocks Listen to 4 of WBMJ's jingles included in the PAMS ”Series 18” ”Sonosational” jingles. BMJ BMJ Radio stations established in 1968