Part 1 of a look @ NYC's (mostly NYC'S) top 40/adult contemporary/contemporary hit radio history!

Christmas Day 1948-present

The 1st station covered here started on Christmas Day 1948 as WMCA (FM), simulcasting its AM counterpart. From the beginning, however, the owner decided that an AM/FM simulcast wasn't for him, leading him to decide whether to sell the station or just shut it down. On 2/26/51, the new owners switched from 1 simulcast to the other, simulcasting an ethnic/mostly Spanish-language music format with WHOM (AM). That format lasted almost a 1/4 century when, as of 6/5/75, the station switched its call letters to (this might sound familiar to those of you who listen to present-day NYC FM radio) WKTU, & its format to adult contemporary. Ratings throughout the '70s were stable enough, but also low enough for SJR Communications to look for other formats for the station. After 3 years of searching, in the mid-evening hours of 7/24/78, the station abruptly switched to a then-unprecedented all-disco format, just as many other big-city-based music stations abandoned disco in favor of some other more proven formats. Over the next 7 years, the station underwent so many changes (none of which led to the demise of its "Disco 92" identity, however) that its competitors changed formats instead of trying to force it to abandon its disco format! On the night of the Live Aid concert series, however (7/13/85), the station started its 1st stint as WXRK, which established itself as a mostly rock station from the beginning through the 1990s. By New Year's Day 2006, though, the station ended its 1st stint as WXRK in favor of the WFNY call letters & a split talk (weekdays)/classic rock (weekends) format. WFNY's initial ratings were actually lower than its WXRK days, but the longer the station kept its newest format, the lower they went: from a 7.9 in morning drive all the way down to 1.8, & a 13.8 among ages 18-34 all the way down to a 1.3; overall, the station was down from a 3.2 in mid-'05 to 2.7 by the '06 holidays, & finally, as if the ratings could decline any further, to a 2 after the beginning of '07! The continuous decline & numerous controversies involving Opie & Anthony ('cause who else generates more controversy than those 2 crazies?) & local hosts led the then-renamed CBS Radio to bring back classic rock as of 5/24/07, & the WXRK call letters as of 5/31/07. Unfortunately for those listeners who were excited to witness the WXRK/classic rock reunion, the new WXRK lasted just under 2 years before adopting top 40 & the WNOW call letters on 3/11/09.

5/4/48-present

The next station covered here started in 1948 as a simulcast of WJZ (AM), & when ABC merged with UPT 5 years later, the simulcast continued, albeit as a simulcast of the re-named WABC (AM). The simulcast continued into the 1960s, including a short time in 1962 when the stations broadcast 17 hours of news coverage daily to make up for that year's NYC newspaper strike! Between 1968 & 1971, ABC's FM stations became part of the "Love Network", broadcasting progressive rock mostly aimed @ younger audiences. In 1970, however, a mixup on the part of both ABC & the FCC awarded the call letters the station wanted (WRIF) to WXYZ (FM)-Detroit, & the call letters that station wanted (WDAI) to WLS (FM)-Chicago! Needless to say, that mixup left the network looking for a new identity for its then-flagship (FM) station, & on "V-Day" 1971, ABC found the identity that's stuck with the station ever since: WPLJ-FM! Throughout the 1970s, the station mostly played classic rock; in fact, they had gained so much of a reputation for being the classic rock station that when the then-WAPP tried that format in 1982, it only lasted 9 months or so before it influenced 'PLJ to drop its longtime format in favor of top 40/adult contemporary/contemporary hit radio/etc.!

Before this station became "KTU", it influenced 'PLJ to switch from classic rock to CHR!

1983-present; this station attempted to capitalize on the "infighting" between WAPP & 'PLJ around the time of its 1st sign-on

Out of all the "rags-to-riches" stories I've ever heard, this is 1 of the most forgotten of those types of stories I've heard of! It signed during the early morning hours of 8/2/83, but unlike WAPP & WPLJ, it played top 40 (which WPLJ had recently switched to) from the beginning, & its format consistency made listeners take notice immediately; in fact, the station took just 74 days (8/2/83-10/6/83) to go from last to 1st place in NYC's Arbitron ratings! Ironically, the format that the station initially tried to take advantage of back in '83 was what it ended up switching to -partially- by the early 1990s, as it responded to WPLJ's switch back to top 40 in 1992 by combining top 40 with alternative rock & hoping listeners wouldn't mind hearing the 2 formats together on the same station. That didn't work, however, & later in the decade, it switched back to its current top 40-only format, which it maintains to the present day.

8/25/58-present; this station had to surrender some rather legendary call letters to obtain its current identity!

The next station on this list had its history prior to 1958, but since nobody seems to remember what it was prior to then (if any of you are curious, BTW, the station's call letters prior to 1958 were WNJR-Newark, NJ & WHFI-West Paterson, NJ!), I'll just stick with the 55 years between 1958 & now! From its very 1st day on-air, WNEW (FM) mostly played "popular music" (not to be confused with the current "pop music"), while also simulcasting its AM counterpart. Over the next decade, the station gradually went more middle-of-the-road. Between Independence Day 1966 & September 1967, however, the station returned to a mostly "popular music" format, but with a then-unprecedented twist: It had all female DJs! The stunt, for what it was worth, was so successful that it lasted, as previously mentioned, over a year, & all of the ladies involved in the temporary format moved on to other broadcasting jobs in September 1967 once the format ended once & for all. Over the next (almost) 3 decades, the station leaned progressive rock, giving the 1 & only E Street Band some of its 1st public exposure, & holding a charitable benefit concert @ MSG every holiday season, extending its reach beyond radio listeners & ratings. By 1995, the station had decided to abandon its longtime format in favor of more alternative rock, going so far as to almost completely ignore Jerry Garcia's death that August, which alienated many of the station's most loyal listeners (See what I keep telling you people about loyalty?)! The station attempted to combat a severe ratings decline by changing its format, effective 9/12/99, to "hot talk", @ least only on weekdays; the station actually kept both its call letters & classic rock format, albeit on only on weekends. By 2001, controversial talk show hosts Opie & Anthony practically ran the entire station, as they forced classic rock out in favor of infomercials, & got the FCC to fine the station twice in 2002 alone; a reference to incest in early 2002 made the FCC fine the station $21,000, & a stunt in which O&A encouraged 2 random people to engage in intercourse inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, of all places! Once the station declined to a .7 overall share, management decided more changes would occur, & they changed to CHR in January 2003 before changing to rhythmic adult contemporary after less than a year, leading the station to adopt its current call letters (WWFS) on 1/2/07, & the rest, as "they" say, is history!

6/5/75-7/13/85 on 92.3 FM; 2/9/95-present on 103.5 FM

(DISCLAIMER #1: This station actually went through 7 different sets of call letters between 1948 & 1995, & on 2 different frequencies, so instead of covering all of that history, I'll just stick to the current station here to avoid any total mass confusion!)
After 47 years of various formats, call letters, & a long stint "down the dial" on 93.1 FM, the then-WYNY (FM) changed to its current call letters & format during the evening of 2/9/95. Listeners hoping for something to finally stick on that frequency were rewarded early on, as the station immediately reached #1 on NYC's Arbitron ratings list! Initially, the station leaned CHR, but the mostly-CHR format underwent gradual changes over the next decade, as it added more rhythmic AC & subtracted rap/hip-hop/etc.; eventually, the rhythmic AC gained enough prominence on the station that as of 9/9/06, rhythmic AC was (for all intents & purposes) the station's full-time format. Its status as a full rhythmic AC station was not officially fulfilled (@ least according to the then-renamed Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems) until 4/4/11, when BDS moved 'KTU from rhythmic CHR to rhythmic AC/top 40.

something/something/61-present; apparently, a long jazz history couldn't keep this station out of the top 40!

For a station that prides itself on tradition just as much as the next station, this station sure has had an interesting history! In 1961, Riverside Church NYC started a jazz station, hoping to capitalize on a surprisingly under-represented (@ least for N.Y.C.!) genre back then! As interesting as that decision seems to have been, its ratings were always sort of low, so Sonderling Broadcasting bought the station from the church in 1976, hoping to move it into more "urban" demographics to allow it to compete with more established "urban" station such as WBLS, which competed directly against Sonderling's other station, WWRL. In 1980, however, the soon-to-be-a-massive-media-company Viacom bought the station from Sonderling, shifting it to a then unheard-of country music format, but considering country music's much lower reach back then compared to now, as well as immediate opposition to the format by listeners surprised by the overnight format change, the format only lasted 4 years before obtaining its present WLTW call letters & M-O-R/adult contemporary/etc. format. The interesting difference between this station & the rest of the top 40/AC/M-O-R/CHR stations is that while most of them tend to stay within a decade & a 1/2 or so of the present day (with more recent hits obviously getting more airtime than older ones), "Lite FM" has always kept the '80s on its regular schedule, & it mixes the '80s with the new millennium so effortlessly that their ratings have almost always been #1 in the NYC market over the past bunch of years!

(DISCLAIMER #2: Due to the on-&-off nature of this post, I was going to mention my thoughts about where I see the current top 40/AC/rhythmic AC/hot AC/CHR/etc. format not just around here in the NYC area, but in the U.S./elsewhere as a whole, but since I was coming & going so often between this post & other commitments, I'll just leave part 2 of this post for next time!)

(DISCLAIMER #3: After checking all of the aforementioned playlists again just a few minutes ago, I've noticed a few changes, which are as follows!)

#2: As for the rest of the stations, the only 1 I've noticed that hasn't budged much @ all since mid-October has been 92.3 NOW; all the rest of the stations seem to have "re-discovered" some slightly older stuff from most current performers featured on their stations, & as evidenced by the most recent playlists on their websites…..

#3: Some of those performers &/or groups will actually be (re)visiting this area in the near future (in fact, PLJ has an upcoming concert list (UPDATE: they removed it!)….. well, when that list was up, it ran from current stuff all the way through the end of July! If that playlist gets returned to its usual position, then I'll definitely show it to you people; if not, then I guess you'll have to take my word for it that the stations are certainly willing to keep us informed of local events!