
Maine and National Broadcast Legend J.J. Jeffrey Passes
(Thursday, October 10, 2024) Legendary Radio DJ and station owner J.J. Jeffrey has passed
away after a brief illness. He was 84.
Born in Portland, Maine, J.J. got his start in Maine in the 1950’s, then worked under the air name
“Melvin X. Melvin” on Boston’s Top 40 Rocker WMEX. After a brief stint as Operations Manager and Air Personality at WNVY in Pensacola, Florida, J.J. returned to Boston in 1967 as the Afternoon Drive Personality for WRKO-AM, which dominated the market in the late 1960’s.
After Boston, it was off to Philadelphia in 1969 and WFIL—and then later, to WLS-AM in Chicago.
In the early 1970’s, J.J. teamed up with Bob Fuller—another former Maine disc jockey—to purchase
WBLM-FM, based in Lewiston, Maine. Forming the Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting, WBLM grew to become the dominant Rock station in Maine and one of the top Rock stations nationwide. Further acquisitions followed, including WOKQ-FM in Portsmouth, NH. Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting owned stations across the country from Maine to Iowa to California. In Maine, Fuller-Jeffrey acquired WHOM-FM, WCYY-FM and WJBQ-FM and WCLZ-FM.
Business partner and lifelong friend Bob Fuller was also J.J.’s biggest fan, reminding everyone he came in contact with just how dominant J.J. was at Major Market stations around the country.
In 1999, Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, but J.J. remained a station owner—at the helm of Atlantic Coast Radio, LLC, operating WLOB-FM, WJJB-FM, WPEI-FM, WRED-AM and WPPI-FM.
Both J.J. Jeffrey and Bob Fuller were inducted into the Maine Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1997.