About us

WJFD 97.3-FM is a radio station in southern New England broadcasting in the Portuguese language 24/7/365 from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

The 97.3 frequency has broadcast in the Portuguese language since the 50’s, initially as WBSM-FM (1950-1972), then WGCY-FM (1972-1975) and finally as WJFD-FM (1975-present).

The year 2025 will mark a major Portuguese radio broadcasting milestone in the United States.  WJFD will celebrate 50 years of existence and its 97.3 FM frequency will commemorate approximately 75 years of radio broadcasting in the Portuguese language from New Bedford, Massachusetts, America’s epicenter of the biggest concentration of Portuguese-speaking persons in the United States.

The 97.3 FM radio station frequency was first licensed by the FCC on May 25, 1949, with a city of license in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  It is considered a “Heritage’ Portuguese radio station since it has broadcast in the Portuguese language since 1950 under three succeeding call letters: WBSM (1950-1972), WGCY (1972-1975) and WJFD (1975-Present).  Taking advantage of the post-1950’s decline in French and Polish radio broadcasting, Manuel Calado, who remained at WJFD until his early nineties, started a weekly Portuguese language program in 1950 at WBSM along with the well-known Portuguese radio personality Antonio Alberto Costa and they remained together until 1975, when Alberto Antonio Costa left to pursue his own radio program in the state of Rhode Island. 

In 1975, the late and former District Attorney Edmund Dinis purchased WGCY and changed its call letters to WJFD, the JFD designation was chosen to honor his father, whose initials stood for Jacinto Ferreira Dinis, also known as Jesse Ferreira Dinis, an important community leader, a colorful local and state political figure, who ran for U.S. Congress in 1947, and a great defender of the Portuguese in the New Bedford-Fall River area. 

Like his father, Edmund Dinis, whose grandparents settled in the area in 1892, became a major political force in the Whaling City holding varied political offices among them the position of District Attorney for the Southern District of Massachusetts, Cape Cod and Islands, a position Dinis held for twelve years from 1959-1970, which included the prosecution of the Chappaquiddick case in 1969.  Edmund Dinis also ran for U.S. Congress in 1968 and 1976.   

Like his father, Edmund Dinis continued his commitment to public service and to champion Portuguese causes which he accomplished through his radio station.   Dinis modernized WJFD to include the latest automation equipment and to provide more efficient radio broadcasting on a 24/7/365 to the Portuguese-speaking cultural mosaic of the New Bedford area, which included speakers from continental Portugal, Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde, parts of Portuguese-speaking Africa and Brazilians.

He viewed WJFD as an integral and necessary part of the lives of Portuguese Americans and the newly arrived Portuguese immigrants to the South Coast and beyond.   To native Portuguese Americans, WJFD provided a sense of reconnection with the language and culture.  To the new arrivals, it provided an important service of linguistic and cultural maintenance while easing the process of assimilation into the new American way of life through music entertainment, soccer game broadcasts, local, national and international news, public service announcements and interviews, expert advice, and commercial advertising.  The programming became a strong link to the local American community while preserving ties to nearby Portugal.

After Edmund Dinis’s death in 2010, WJFD has remained faithful to its public service commitment to its Portuguese listeners, by continuing to offer the same impactful programming while taking advantage of new broadcasting platforms.  WJFD began streaming in 2006 and in 2015 joined the iHeartRadio family of streaming radio stations, becoming the first and only Portuguese terrestrial radio station to join the iHeartRadio platform.  WJFD has adopted all new forms of streaming its audio, including social and mobile media, and smart speakers such as Alexa, Google and Siri platforms.

Most importantly, and as we recently experienced during the covid pandemic, WJFD not only provided much needed vital information but also offered much desired comfort and companionship. 


1975
On June 23, 1975, WJFD-FM entered the air waves to carry on a Portuguese-language radio format that already existed on an increasingly active basis on the 97.3 FM dial since approximately 1950, initially as WBSM-FM (hour broadcasts) then as WGCY-FM.


24/7/365
To better serve the various Portuguese, Brazilian, Cape Verdean and other lusophone motorists and communities, with a significant presence of Portuguese in southeastern Massachusetts and greater Providence, WJFD commenced its broadcasting on a 24/7/365 basis in 1975.
With great power, expansive terrestrial coverage and varied programming, WJFD became the biggest Portuguese FM radio station in North America. With programming focusing on music styles for all tastes, emphasizing community issues and events, highlighting sports, connecting live national and international news directly from Portugal on daily basis, WJFD become
the most-listened-to Portuguese radio station in the USA.


Active Drive-time NE Motorists
It provides information and entertainment to thousands of listeners whether at work, at home or the very active drive-time motorists on the roadways, commuting to-and-from Boston, Providence and Cape Cod,  capturing approximately 400,000 thousand residents who report Portuguese, Brazilian and Cape Verdean as first ancestry.

Varied Listenership
1. Recent newcomers (Portuguese, Brazilians and Cape Verdeans or other lusophones);
2. Those who came to the United States on the great immigration waive of the 60’s and 70’s;
3. Listeners of Portuguese-Brazilian-Cape Verdean-descent, who want to reconnect with their roots and listen to the radio station their parents and grandparents listened to; and finally
4. Non-Portuguese listeners who simply like Portuguese music of varying styles and world music (we also feature hits from France, Italy and Spain).


A Dual Link
1. A link among the various Portuguese-speaking listeners motoring or residing in Southern NE; and
2. A link with Portugal and the goings-on there, particularly the modernization of music in general, which appeals to a younger generation, and the increasingly popularity of a modern Fado. Fado was recently added to UNESCO’s list of the World’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.


iHeart Radio Streaming
To better serve our listeners outside of its terrestrial coverage, WJFD began streaming in 2006 and in 2015 joined the iHeartRadio family of streaming radio stations, becoming the first and only Portuguese terrestrial radio station to join iHeartRadio, with more than 120 million listeners.