In 1933, WSJS became a CBS Radio Network affiliate, switching to the NBC Red Network in 1940. Gordon Gray bought the newspapers and the radio station in 1937, and Harold Essex of Chicago became the manager. Together, they made WSJS as important to the area as the newspapers, increasing the station's power and moving WSJS from 1310 to 600 kHz. WSJS had been powered at 100 watts at its founding but increased to 250 watts when it moved to AM 600, and 1,000 watts a short time later.