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!

After 1 month.....

I still haven't followed through with any of my plans, but I'll get back to that later..... As of right now, we're actually more than 1/4 of the way through the semester, & (as of next week) 1/3 of the way through it..... Ever since I published my recent post complaining about the still-unknown whereabouts of my middle school yearbook, I've honestly felt even more of a longing for those days than I did this summer, or even back in June! I guess this is just me complaining (yet again) about my current situation, but I've never felt as apathetic &/or uninspired by anybody or anything as I've felt on that campus! At least during my K-12 years, there was "school spirit" to the point where even events that got almost no publicity outside the schools managed to @ least find out about those events from other students &/or parents! That "school spirit" didn't just show up during any planned events, however; when a fire engulfed 1 of the 3rd-floor bathrooms in the middle school back in June 2009, just weeks before yours truly & the rest of the class of '09 graduated from that place & moved on to high school, you might something like that would deflate everybody & derail some of the excitement of those activities, but quite to the contrary, it seemed to bring everybody together even more than before that fire! In fact, now that I mentioned that, before I go back to how so many of us from that class stayed together throughout high school, I'd like to mention how that suddenly re-entered my mind the evening of my high school graduation: It was my 1st time back in that building in over 4 years, & considering everybody was split up into various rooms throughout the building (& arranged in alphabetical order, but I'm sure that's "standard operating procedure" @ those ceremonies in general!), I was sent to 1 of the rooms right down the hall from that burnt bathroom, & for the 1st time in forever, I suddenly remembered the fire & how the initial feelings of fear & surprise that I remember everybody having & how those feelings turned to unity soon after the fact! In between those 2 dates, though, the feelings of unity that carried us through the last 2 weeks or so of middle school seemed to carry over throughout high school, obviously with less of an impact later on in our high school years, but, @ least from what I noticed, whenever somebody made a comment along the lines of "Remember when -such & such- happened", usually referring to something that occurred in high school, & if there were 2 people who attended the same middle school together, 1 of those people would usually tell the other person "You think you've known -so & so- that long? Well, I've known -so & so- since middle school!" & so on & so forth..... My point is, that I've always believed loyalty, trust, & perhaps most importantly, lifelong bonds, among other things, only tend to manifest themselves earlier on in peoples' lives; that is, in places like elementary, middle, & high schools throughout the country moreso than people tend to reach those levels with people they meet in college & the experiences they go through during those 4 years..... I know this won't become possible 'til time travel becomes possible (if it does so.....), but eventually, if that does happen, my K-12 years would be the 1st years of my life that I would revisit, since following up on my aforementioned "point" (see above), I believe that the 12 years in which you're virtually guaranteed that you'll see those same people almost every weekday between September & June are almost always more special than 4 years in which you'll almost never see @ least 75% of those people @ all, never mind occasionally! 

I haven't been able to find any of my school stuff recently!

     In my 2nd (non-"welcome"/football) post here, I commented on how I was (& still am) glad that the vast majority of the approximately 850 people with whom I graduated from this place last June have decided to start their college years in-state instead of out-of-state, thus allowing them to remain close enough to their homes to be able to return for weekends/holidays/breaks/etc. without having to fly in from another state to do so! While I'm glad they've moved on with their lives to the extent that most of them don't seem to be as "homesick" as I (still) am right now after slightly over 12 years (@ least in my case) of being involved with that school district in 1 form or another, I just hope they've managed to preserve more of their memories from those years than my household has been capable of preserving..... As you people can tell by the pic above, that is the front cover of the (50th anniversary, not that anybody else was willing to acknowledge that fact!) yearbook that I & 99.99% of the rest of the grad class received last June (slightly ahead of schedule, as a matter of fact, but that's another story for another time), & naturally, I did what any sane person would do: got as many students/teachers/other staff members/etc. to sign that yearbook somewhere, mostly within the front & back inside covers, & for the most part, they did so, but aside from that & my middle school's class of '09 picture, that is the extent of the stuff from my K-12 years that remains in my household..... Ever since last June, I've occasionally searched all over my house for my middle school yearbook, which I distinctly remember taking the exact same process with-the messages from many of the people with whom I attended that school with, & taking that home for my family to check out, but ever since June of '09, I haven't been able to find that anywhere in my household, which I find somewhat weird, considering I still sort of remember what that looked like-a mostly blue front & back cover, with all kinds of patriotic-looking images throughout both the front & back covers! The morning after my high school's graduation, I noticed most of my pre-high school stuff lying around the house in random locations, & shortly after that, I noticed that my aunt was the 1 storing all that stuff somewhere..... Now, IDK where that "somewhere" is, but I have a feeling that my middle school stuff is still somewhere in my household..... I honestly don't think my own family would just toss my school stuff without consulting with me before doing so!

moment of contemplation #1

Normally, around this time on a Wednesday, I would be taking a class @ my current campus, but since this is 1 of those nights on which class has been canceled due to various computer glitches on campus, I might as well occupy the next 20+ minutes with something "blogworthy"! It might not seem like it right now given my general overall lack of ambition to do much of anything in recent weeks & months (in other words, this past summer), but my 2nd interest (incidentally, behind anything business-related) has been the "inner workings" of the brain/mind/soul/etc., so I guess you would be correct in assuming that my top 2 favorite subjects are 1) business/economics/finance/etc. & 2) psychology/psychiatry/etc.; although for the most part, I've focused more & more on the business side of those areas moreso throughout my educational years, having taken 1 business-related class per year throughout high school, while constantly hearing about, yet never actually taking, any of the psychology classes they offered there! Now, I know that now that I mentioned that, some of you people might start questioning my actual career goals, but having noticed more people breaking into the workforce as certified public accountants/financial regulators/tax attorneys/human/public relations people than psychologists or psychiatrists, but considering all the people I know who've always considered that stuff their top interest instead of 2nd or 3rd interest, I think I'll most likely stick to my original plans to major in business & possibly double major or minor (most likely minor) in 1 of those fields to perhaps pull "double duty" as 1 of the few psychologists/psychiatrists employed by a financial firm instead of a clinic or hospital! That being said, I think being surrounded by a bunch of current & quite a few future psychologists/psychiatrists throughout my K-12 years might end up influencing me sometime during my remaining 3 1/2 years of college! Even though I've yet to actually take a class in anything psych-related so far, doesn't mean I wouldn't be able to succeed in that capacity in the workforce even with minimal classroom/lecture hall exposure to those topics - After all, I'm sure that many of you have heard about all the former & current sports stars who either didn't start playing their sport 'til H.S. or college or who played 2 sports @ once throughout their H.S. & college years only to eventually stick with the sport that would make them world-famous & current or future hall of famers in their particular league or sport! I'm sure that if all those people were able to "break in" to their future careers later on in their lives than most other people who chose that career practically from birth, then I'm sure I would be able to start officially start learning even more about those topics sometime in the near future & still be able to succeed in the workforce despite such a late start!

Our military academies seem like propaganda tools to me!

(appears @ #8 on the "college city gets low grades" list, #5 on the "stone-cold sober schools" list, #5 on the "least happy students" list, #15 on the "is it food?" list, #13 on the "is that a dorm?" list, #17 on the "got milk?" list, #8 on the "scotch & soda, hold the scotch" list, & finally, #1 on the "don't inhale" list)

(DISCLAIMER: In my previous post, I told you I would mostly stick to showing my support for my state's educational institutions, but considering that there's somebody in my own family who apparently believes that this is my only possible future, I might as well unload some of my frustration(s) on these places just to prove my point!) The other day, I came to you people with another report of a crime on my current campus, then after I stopped complaining about the latest crime, I told you that I would be doing this, so here goes! Most of you people who live outside of this state most likely notice all the community colleges/state schools/universities that only reached that level within the past 2 decades or so/division 3-level athletics/etc. & think that those places seem rather focused on "tricking" their people into needlessly & unnecessarily supporting them, but if I may say so myself, I think our nation's military academies do even more brainwashing/influencing/indoctrinating/etc. than all the schools here in N.J. combined! Case in point: The states aren't even willing to provide their own financial aid for students who either graduate H.S. in that state & decide to remain there instead of starting college in another state or those who decide to start college in another state, even considering all the costs of moving to another state, yet our bloated federal government decides to pay 100% of the costs for students willing to accept a future, or lack thereof, upon their college graduation by attending 1 of our nation's many "prestigious" military academies! According to The Princeton Review, all of the military academies appear @ least once on almost all of what I like to call their "negativity lists", where some of the more negative aspects of college life are listed, & as with their positive rankings, the top 20 schools in each category are ranked!

(appears @ #9 on the "stone-cold sober schools" list, #4 on the "least happy students" list, #16 on the "is that a dorm?" list, & finally, #6 on the "don't inhale" list)

(doesn't appear on any of the lists, but so what? It's still a military school, after all!)

(appears @ #5 on the "this is a library?" list, #4 on the "college city gets low grades" list, #8 on the "stone-cold sober schools" list, #1 on the "is that a dorm?" list, #20 on the "got milk?" list, & finally, #2 on the "don't inhale" list)

(appears @ #1 on the "professors get low grades" list, #2 on the "least accessible professors" list, #3 on the "this is a library?" list, #3 on the "administrators get low grades" list, #6 on the "town-gown relations are strained" list, #2 on the "least happy students" list, #1 on the "is it food?" list, #3 on the "is that a dorm?" list, #8 on the "least beautiful campus" list, & finally, #8 on the "don't inhale" list)

RE: my (former) school district peeps:

If I may get (somewhat) personal here, I would like to send a request out to all of the approximately 850 students with whom I graduated late last June: Like me, you're probably officially starting your post K-12 lives this week, after a summer that was (if it was anything like mine) probably filled with all kinds of emotions, especially sadness, nostalgia, frustration (mostly college/university-related), & even a few get-togethers with your people most likely for the last time for the foreseeable future..... If you don't mind letting me remind you of some stats here, I'll gladly show you a few of those! 1: 44% of you will be attending 4-year schools, 2: 35% of you will be attending 2-year schools, 3: 18% will be entering the workforce straight away, 4: Quite a few of you decided to attend community colleges & trade schools, which I won't hold against those of you who chose that path, but I must warn you of this: you most likely won't be graduating in 4 years, assuming you do decide to move on to a university once you finish your studies at whichever C.C./trade school you choose! 5: $1,712,320 worth of 1-year grants/scholarships & $6,186,271 worth of 4-year grants/scholarships were awarded this past school year simply because you people worked your you-know-whats off to obtain those grants & scholarships! I know I just reiterated a bunch of stats, but I'm not concerned about those stats the most; nope, I'm encouraged the most by the fact that the vast majority of you decided to @ least start your college years within this state! Among the N.J. colleges & universities represented by you people: NJCU, TCNJ, FDU, MSU, Rutgers (all 3 campuses!), Rowan, Rider, Kean, & many of our community colleges, among others..... Obviously, not all of you decided to remain with the rest of us here in N.J., so among those colleges & universities, I've noticed the following represented by @ least 1 of you people: NYU, Columbia, Pace, UPenn, Penn State, UConn, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, RPI, Fairfield, Lehigh, Hofstra, Maryland, & Delaware, among others, & those are just some of the neighboring states represented by you people! My point in mentioning all of your choices, however, is this: I'm glad most of you people decided to attend colleges/universities either in this state or in neighboring states, since I believe that shows your commitment to both your college/university as well as your continued commitment to your school district..... Now that I've mentioned all of that, I'd like to issue a (sort of) challenge to all of you to re-visit this district @ least once during the fall, a few times in January (if you end up having the majority of that month off), @ least once during the spring semester, & during June (if you get any chances during that month)! I already decided my plans during the near future, so I might as well make the same request of you people as I made to myself earlier this summer in order to @ least let you people know that I hope you people remain somewhat committed to our school district even after graduation!

Venezuela is still in turmoil..... Can ANYBODY or ANYTHING save it at this point?

http://globovision.com/articulo/reportan-apagon-en-varios-estados-del-pais Usually, I don't report on other countries on my other social media pages, but 1 country I've followed ever since its highly elections during the middle of last April has been the seemingly always-collapsing South American country of Venezuela..... Now, I will admit that I supported the Democratic Unity Roundtable candidate (Henrique Capriles Radonski) over the Great Patriotic Pole candidate (Nicolás Maduro), but I'm sure that if the continued socioeconomic collapse there doesn't take down the socialist government that Maduro largely inherited from his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, then honestly, I don't know what will..... There's something else that bothers me about the ongoing collapse, & that is my desire to visit that country constantly getting crushed by the socialists' stupidity! If Capriles had overcome the fraud & won the April 14 elections outright instead of having to deal with the fraud over the following weeks & months, I would've most likely been making plans to visit that country, but since the fraud battles have gone on since April, & the socioeconomic collapse down there has been even more noticeable since then, I won't be making any plans to visit that country anytime soon!