J. R. Ewing subterfuges to plunder his foes' wealth. The original series concept was a blend of "Bonanza" with a rich, western patriarch and his three dissimilar sons, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" with its rival brothers, and their scheming wives, and "Romeo and Juliet" with two star-crossed lovers whose families are sworn enemies. The focus of the series was initially the feuding families, with J.R. just a supporting character, but his popularity grew and the producers acknowledged he became the breakout character. Two highly rated 1980 episodes became part of a cultural phenomenon that year known as "Who shot J.R.?". In
WERE as part of a required divestiture when AMFM merged with Clear Channel Communications. The station became a gospel music outlet on May 17, 1999 after nearly forty years with an R&B format, which was reputed by many to have been the longest running such station in the country. On June 4, 2007, Radio One radio stations WJMO (1490 AM) and WERE (1300 AM) were involved in what was then reported as a "frequency trade". In reality, these two stations swapped call letters along with their respective formats. WJMO changed its call letters to WERE, and changed its format to news/talk.