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| Broadcast area | New York metropolitan area |
| Frequency | 95.5MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | K-Love (primary) |
| Programming | |
| Languages | English |
| Format | Christian adult contemporary |
| Subchannels |
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| Network | K-Love |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Educational Media Foundation |
| WARW,WPLF | |
| History | |
First air date | May 4, 1948 (76 years ago) (1948-05-04) |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | named after theFour Deuces song "W-P-L-J" (artifact of former format) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 73887 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 6,700 watts |
| HAAT | 408 meters (1,339 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 40°44′53″N73°59′10″W / 40.748°N 73.986°W /40.748; -73.986 |
| Translator(s) | |
| Repeater(s) | 103.3 MHz WPLF (Shelter Island) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WPLJ (95.5FM) is anon-commercial, listener-supported radio station,licensed toNew York, New York. Owned by theEducational Media Foundation (EMF), based inFranklin, Tennessee, it broadcasts EMF'sChristian adult contemporary formatted programming service, "K-Love".
WPLJ is aClass B FM station, with aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 6,700 watts,transmitting from atop theEmpire State Building inMidtown Manhattan. WPLJ broadcasts on severalHD Radiodigital subchannels in addition to itsanalog transmission. It is also heard on threeFM translators around theNew York metropolitan area, including 94.3 MHz inPomona, 94.9 inHauppauge and 104.5 inSelden.
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The station went on the air on May 4, 1948, under thecall sign WJZ-FM.[3] In March 1953, the station's call letters were changed to WABC-FM following the merger of theAmerican Broadcasting Company (ABC) withUnited Paramount Theatres.[4][5][6] As most FM stations did during the medium's formative years, 95.5 FMsimulcast the programming of its AM sister station,WJZ/WABC (770 AM).
In the early 1960s, however, WABC-FM began to program itself separately from WABC (AM). During the1962–63 New York City newspaper strike, the station programmednews for 17 hours daily.[7][8] Two-and-a-half years beforeWINS launched its own around-the-clock, all-news format in April 1965, it was the first such attempt in the New York market. This was followed by stints withBroadwayshow tunes and generalfreeform programming, including broadcasts ofNew York Mets baseball games.[9] WABC's AM personalities, such asDan Ingram,Chuck Leonard, and Bob Lewis, hosted programs on the FM side which were the total opposites of thecontemporary hit radio–powered sound for which they were better known on AM. WABC-FM continued to simulcast its AM sister station during Herb Oscar Anderson's morning drive program.
At the start of 1968, ABC split itsradio network into four distinct components, one of which was dedicated to FM radio.[10] The following year, WABC-FM and its sister stations—KABC-FM in Los Angeles;WLS-FM in Chicago;KGO-FM in San Francisco; WXYZ-FM in Detroit;KQV-FM inPittsburgh; and newly acquiredKXYZ-FM inHouston—began carrying anautomated, youth-oriented,progressive rock format known asLove.[11]
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In late 1970, Allen Shaw, the then-president of ABC's FM station group, announced two big changes to take place in early 1971: ABC droppedLove and installed completely live-and-local, freeform rock formats. The network also applied for call letter changes for the seven stations.[12][13] The New York outlet was slated to be renamed WRIF, but a clerical error on the part of theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) resulted in those calls being awarded tothe former WXYZ-FM in Detroit—whose own request for WDAI ("Detroit Auto Industry") was itself given mistakenly toWLS-FM in Chicago—leaving WABC-FM to start from scratch for its own rebranding. On February 13, at midnight, the station's call letters changed to WPLJ,[14] chosen after Allen Shaw noticed the letter combination as the name of a song on the 1970Mothers of Invention record,Burnt Weeny Sandwich. The song, "W-P-L-J", was originally performed by theFour Deuces in 1955, and stood for "White Port and Lemon Juice".[15] On the air, the station hiredJohn Zacherle,Alex Bennett,Vin Scelsa,Jimmy Fink, andMichael Cuscuna (fromWMMR andWXPN in Philadelphia) as personalities. All seven ABC-owned FM stations also adopted a shared logo styling with thecallsign and frequency within a multi-colored oval; WRIF andKLOS (the former KABC-FM) continue to use a form of this logo to the present day.
In September 1971, Allen Shaw and ABC programming executive Bob Henaberry designed and pioneered the very firstalbum-oriented rock (AOR) format on WPLJ, playing only the best cuts from the best-selling rock albums with a minimum of disc jockey talk. Using the slogan "Rock 'N Stereo", the station played artists such asLed Zeppelin,The Beatles,Aerosmith,Jimi Hendrix,Cream,The Doobie Brothers,Steely Dan,Elton John,Deep Purple,Billy Joel,Rod Stewart,David Bowie, andThe Allman Brothers. The station also played pop songs from artists such asJames Taylor,Stevie Wonder, andCarly Simon, distinguishing itself from top 40 stations (such as co-owned WABC) by playing more tracks from their albums. The station'sArbitron ratings shot up dramatically, and WPLJ became New York's most listened-to FM rock station for most of the 1970s.[citation needed]
In 1973, ABC transferred Willard Lochridge, the general manager of WRIF in Detroit, to New York to manage WPLJ. The following year, Lochridge brought his Detroit program director, Larry Berger to WPLJ, and adopted a new slogan: "New York's Best Rock". Some of the personalities on the station during this period included Jim Kerr,Pat St. John, Jimmy Fink,Carol Miller, Tony Pigg, John Zacherle, Alex Bennett, Bob Marrone, and Dave Charity. Berger himself hosted a Sunday night call-in show, in which he discussed seemingly any topic with listeners—except the specifics of the playlist. During these call-in segments, some callers suggested that the station sped up (or "pitched up") the music so that they could fit in more commercials while still being able to claim that they played a large number of songs per hour. Berger repeatedly denied that this practice was in use at WPLJ. In the September 20, 1999, episode ofCrap from the Past, hostRon "Boogiemonster" Gerber suggested that music was sped up on WPLJ to make the same music sound less dynamic on other stations.
Another Sunday night show began in 1973, then-Father Bill Ayres' long-running show, at first calledOn This Rock and later (after Ayres left the priesthood in the 1980s) titledThe Bill Ayres Show.[16] Known on-air as Father Bill Ayres, the show mixed spirituality and social consciousness together with the music ofHarry Chapin,Bob Seger, and others. The show also aired on its sister stationWABC on Sunday mornings within the last years of itscontemporary hit radio music format. Ayres continued to host the show until the transfer of control of WPLJ to Educational Media Foundation in May 2019.
By the late 1970s, WPLJ tended to emphasize harder rock artists such as Led Zeppelin (there was a nightly "Get the Led Out" segment),Kansas,Boston, andQueen, which all happened to get less airplay than on competing stationWNEW-FM. At this point, the station reduced its play of softer pop songs, and their ratings remained competitive.Mark Goodman came to WPLJ fromPhiladelphia in 1980 and was on the air as word broke out ofJohn Lennon's murder the evening of December 8. Goodman departed the station a few months later to become one of the originalVJs for theMTV cable channel.[17][18] In 1981, Berger hired Marc Coppola, a rock-oriented disc jockey from suburban rivalWBAB onLong Island, to do the 10 p.m.–2 a.m. shift Monday through Saturday.
During its AOR phase, the station was noted for its promotional montages consisting of snippets of classic rock songs spliced together by St. John, emphasizing a subject or theme, such as gasoline (during thegas shortages of the 1970s). From the time of Berger's arrival, WPLJ beat main rock rival WNEW-FM in virtually every Arbitron ratings period.[citation needed]
In 1982, WPLJ received a direct competitor inWAPP, which adopted a near-identical AOR format to WPLJ (WAPP launched its rock format commercial-free and remained so for the summer of 1982). WAPP beat WPLJ in the ratings in the fall of 1982, and WPLJ reacted by adding morenew wave such asA Flock of Seagulls,Dexy's Midnight Runners,The Go-Go's,Elvis Costello,Men at Work, andSoft Cell, mixed in with the usual AOR fare. WPLJ's ratings ended up besting those of WAPP after the latter started playing commercials in the fall of 1982. In early 1983, the station added "Billie Jean" byMichael Jackson, playing it several times a day (many AOR stations, including WNEW-FM, added that song and it charted on the rock tracks chart). In March 1983, WPLJ added Jackson's other hit "Beat It", which received very positive reaction. While Jackson was not a typical AOR artist, that cut was played by many AOR stations due toEddie Van Halen's role in the song. The station also dropped most 1960s songs by May and was cutting back on AOR artists while playing more contemporary rockers.
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In early 1983, the station began a transition from AOR tocontemporary hit radio. With word that a top 40 format was coming toWVNJ-FM (100.3 FM), WPLJ moved further in a CHR direction. Though the station began playing artists likeLionel Richie and Michael Jackson, Larry Berger stated that he did not make the decision to move to a CHR format until the last week of June; WPLJ adopted a rock-leaning CHR format on June 30, 1983. At that point, the station played predominantly AOR and new wave rock cuts, and mixed in two or three rhythmic pop cuts like "Flashdance... What a Feeling" byIrene Cara, "Time (Clock of the Heart)" byCulture Club, "She Works Hard for the Money" byDonna Summer, and others. The station maintained its "New York's Best Rock" slogan, even though the station moved away from playing predominantly rock songs. Berger discussed the changes on his call-in show in July 1983, to the disapproving reaction from the rock audience.[19] (CompetitorWNBC had been a de facto AM top-40 station whileWYNY had been the de facto FM hits station throughout the early 1980s, playing many current songs as part of its hot adult contemporary format). WPLJ's airstaff, which stayed on during the early transition months, gradually changed, as WNEW-FM picked up some of the station's best-known disc jockeys such as Carol Miller and Pat St. John. (Jim Kerr and sidekick Shelli Sonstein remained with the station through the end of the decade.)Jimmy Fink, Tony Pigg, and Marc Coppola eventually moved toInfinity Broadcasting'sWXRK when it debuted a couple of years later.
In August 1983, at the same time WVNJ had been re-christened as WHTZ ("Z100"), WPLJ became known as "The Home of the Hits", and in October, added top 40-style jingles. In a way, it was "New York's Hit Music Station" just before WHTZ went on the air. The following spring, WPLJ identified itself very briefly as "The New Musicradio PLJ" before segueing to "Hitradio 95" just a short time later. In early 1985, the station became known on-air as "Power 95".[20] Ratings went up after switching to CHR, though they were still just behind Z100 most of the time.
On December 17, 1987, the station changed its call letters to WWPR (to complement its "Power 95" branding). (Rival WHTZ joked that the "PR" in the calls stood for "Puerto Rican" and that the station planned to flip to aSpanish-language format.) The WPLJ call-sign returned the following year, on December 21, 1988, when research indicated that listeners still identified the station as WPLJ.[21] Berger departed in 1988, replaced immediately by his music directorJessica Ettinger, who was named acting program director. In 1989, general manager Dana Horner hiredGary Bryan fromKUBE inSeattle as program director. Bryan also served as morning show host beginning that July, ousting 15-year WPLJ morning host veteran Jim Kerr, and creating an audience outcry.[22]
WPLJ continued to be successful until 1990, when ratings started to decline. With significant pop competition—WQHT ("Hot 97") playing dance andUrban contemporary and WHTZ playing mainstream pop music—WPLJ dropped the "Power 95" branding and returned to identify by its call letters; musically, the station began leaning toward more pop-rock hits. In May, Bryan left the station to host rival WHTZ'smorning zoo program beginning that August.[23] ABC brass then replaced Horner with Mitch Dolan as general manager and president of programming, while Tom Cuddy was named vice president of programming,[24] andRocky Allen was named as the station's new morning host in August.[25][26]
WPLJ began to regain some momentum; however, in early 1991, Cuddy and Dolan hiredScott Shannon, who had just left his rock hits project,KQLZ ("Pirate Radio") in Los Angeles. Shannon, who was responsible for WHTZ's early success and served as that station's first morning zoo host, took over as WPLJ's program director and morning show host (replacing Rocky Allen) in April 1991. The station then immediately rebranded as "Mojo Radio" on April 2 (Shannon's first show was on April 11), and the station began playing mainstream pop music, with ratings improving slightly.[27][28][29][30] After Shannon had a series of morning show co-hosts over the summer,Todd Pettengill joined as his permanent co-host on August 19, 1991, formingScott & Todd in the Morning. Also, WPLJ begandayparting its programming by leaning towardsadult top 40 with more gold and recurrents being played during the daytime hours, while still playing some rhythmic material during the evening hours.[31][32][33][34]
By February 1992, the station shifted to what was becoming a popular format:hot adult contemporary (hot AC), at about the same time a slightly different version was being pioneered in Houston atKHMX. In an attempt to differentiate itself from its competitors, WPLJ adopted the slogan "NoRap, NoHard Stuff, No SleepyElevator Music, Just the Best Songs on the Radio". In addition, the "Mojo Radio" moniker was dropped and the station began using the moniker "95-5 PLJ" (with the "W" typically omitted except for legalstation identification).[35]
The station playlist featured many songs familiar only to New Yorkers and obscureoldies that would not have been typical for the format in other markets. (In a bit of irony, WPLJ may have helped pioneer many of the concepts made popular by the diverse-playlist, music-intensiveadult hits format of 2005.) Initially, WPLJ leaned towards1970s hits, as well as mixing in liberal doses ofdisco, and did regular theme weekends featuringone-hit wonders and number-one songs, among others. Eventually, it also dedicated Monday-Saturday nights to playing nothing but 1970s music, hosted by formerWKTU disc jockeyAl Bandiero, a practice that continued for the next few years.
In January 1993, Rocky Allen returned to WPLJ, this time to do afternoon drive for several years, until moving to WABC for the morning drive slot in January 1999. (Allen returned again to WPLJ in late 2005.) A year after Allen's return, WPLJ hired John "Kato" Machay from KUBE Seattle to serve as the station's executive morning show producer and air talent, leading to the station winning Billboard's Morning Show of the Year award for five straight years. In 1995, WPLJ signed an agreement withUsen Group of Tokyo, a 500-channel audio cable system, to carry the station live in real-time throughout Japan. Also, from August 7 to 13 of that year, WPLJ was simulcast onHeart 106.2 in London as part of testing transmissions before it signed on September 5 with a hot AC format.[36] In mid-1996, WPLJ began syndicatingScott & Todd toWMTX inTampa, Florida (where Scott had launched the "morning zoo" concept into nationwide success) andWKLI-FM inAlbany, New York (where Todd would get his first big-market break), with a nationwide syndication deal launching in May 1997.[37][38] The syndication attempt ended October 16, 1998, as management desired to refocus the show to a local audience.[39]
On February 5, 1999, WPLJ abruptly moved to amodern adult contemporary format, a variation of the hot AC format. The station eliminated all 1970s music from the playlist and changed its slogan to "New York's Hit Music Station Without the Rap" in an attempt to distance itself from competitors that played rap music. In addition, many on-air personalities exited, including Kristie McIntyre, Danny & Onions, WPLJ veteran Fast Jimi Roberts and, a short time later, Kato Machay.[40] However, modern AC had peaked in 1997-98, and the station transitioned back to a hot AC format, with its playlist consisting of songs from the 1980s, 1990s, and the present.
In 2005, with ratings in decline, WPLJ once again started to play more music from the 1970s and 1980s. Given its heritage as both a rock station in the 1970s and a pioneering hot AC in the early and mid-1990s, many people in the radio business saw this move as a precursor to the station switching to an adult hits format.[by whom?] However, they were beaten byWCBS-FM, which abruptly switched from oldies to theJack FM format on June 3, 2005 (WCBS-FM would return to the oldies/classic hits format two years later). WPLJ returned to playing music of the late 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.[citation needed]
While not an overall ratings success, WPLJ had for years been among the more financially successful stations in the New York City market, billing in excess of $40 million per year. WPLJ did extremely well with adult women in the lucrative ninenorthern New Jersey counties adjacent to New York City.[citation needed]
During its top 40 years, WPLJ used jingles fromJAM Creative Productions, some of which were packages previously used on sister station WABC during its top 40 days; since becoming a hot AC station, WPLJ had used jingles fromTM Studios.[citation needed]
WPLJ and WABC were included in the sale of ABC Radio and the ABC Radio Networks byThe Walt Disney Company to Citadel, announced in February 2006 and finalized on June 12, 2007.
In late February 2008, theRocky Allen Showgram featuring Rocky Allen and Blain Ensley was dropped as part of a company-wide series of staff cutbacks at Citadel.[41] On February 16, 2009, WPLJ started airing the syndicated programThe Billy Bush Show in the evenings.[42] He was later replaced by local host Ralphie Aversa.
In April 2009, WPLJ adopted a new slogan, "Scott and Todd in the Morning and Today's Best Music". A new logo was introduced that July.[citation needed]
On July 25, 2011, Scott and Todd, with the new addition of Cooper Lawrence, were part of a six-week summer test of20th Television's nightly entertainment news magazineDish Nation.[43] In January 2012, 20th announced the return of Dish Nation for a full 52-week season with Scott and Todd as members of its four-city roundtable.[44]
Citadel merged withCumulus Media on September 16, 2011.[45] By October 2011,adult contemporary rivalWWFS (owned by CBS Radio) shifted to hot AC; this gave New York City two hot adult contemporary stations for the first time since 1998, whenWBIX dropped it for arhythmic oldies format.
On February 7, 2014, Scott Shannon announced his retirement from WPLJ after 22 years. Co-host Todd Pettengill immediately took control of the morning show, which re-branded asThe Todd Show on February 24.[46]
On January 5, 2015,The Todd Show was re-branded toTodd & Jayde in the Morning, with Jayde Donovan (Patricia Sweet) joining Pettengill as a co-host.[47] With the change, co-hosts Cooper Lawrence, Fitz, and Meatballs (Richard Deaver Jr.) were all released. Monk (Joe Pardavila), Annie (Anne Marie Leamy), and Johnny on the Street (John Mingione, formerly 'John Online' ofWBLI on Long Island) were the other cast members ofTodd & Jayde in the Morning. During this time, due to increased competition, WPLJ re-added 1980s and 1990s songs to its playlist, as well as adding more rhythmic material. By November 2015, the station removed most of the 1980s music from its playlist.
"May the 48-year run of this radio station prove to be a testament to the power and the love of terrestrial radio. And may the mere thought of the letters P-L-J bring a smile to your face, a warmth to your heart, and a tingle to your ears.
"Here's to those who have walked these halls and breathed life into these microphones. It is with peace, love, and joy that we toast the white port lemon juice. Here's to 'PLJ!
"And for one final time–from high aboveMadison Square Garden–this is the world-famous WPLJ, New York."
On February 13, 2019, WPLJ and five other Cumulus Media stations were sold to theRocklin, California-based nonprofit broadcaster,Educational Media Foundation (EMF) for $103.5 million. This transaction would allow Cumulus to generate "substantial cash for debt repayment and investment in other business opportunities," according to its President and CEO Mary Berner.[48] After the sale received final approval by the FCC, EMF announced that WPLJ and the other Cumulus stations acquired would all begin broadcasting its primary programming service,K-Love, on June 1 at midnight local time;[49][50] this was later moved up to May 31 at 7:00 pm, five hours earlier than originally planned.[51][52]
Current and surviving former WPLJ air personalities and staffers gathered together for a farewell celebration, held atThe Cutting Room on May 23. It was the first event in what would be a week-long celebration of the station's 48-year run, which continued through theMemorial Day weekend with the station "clearing out the library" by playing songs from each year between 1971 and the present, along with vintage jingles and sweepers. The penultimate broadcast day on May 30 was filled with guest appearances from WPLJ alumni, including an on-air reunion of Todd Pettengill and his former morning co-host, Scott Shannon. The current airstaff began their goodbyes as well and that continued into May 31, with the final air shift handled by afternoon personality Race Taylor.[51][52][53]
The last songs heard on WPLJ were "Imagine" byJohn Lennon—the final song played by WABC before their format switch from Top 40 totalk in May 1982—followed by a cover version of "W-P-L-J" byHall & Oates, recorded live during a visit by the group to the station several years earlier. Taylor then played the closing lyrics of "The End" by the Beatles, before offering WPLJ a finaltoast, completing the closedown at 7:02 pm.[54] Following just over a minute of silence, EMF began operating WPLJ as the new New York City outlet of K-Love; K-Love programming had previously been heard in the New York area since May 2011 overPort Chester, New York-licensed WKLV-FM (96.7 FM). EMF changed WKLV-FM's call letters toWARW and its format to secondary serviceAir1 on July 19, 2019.
In addition to converting the 95.5 FM license tononcommercial educational status, EMF also acquired the WPLJ call letters from Cumulus.[55]
WPLJ signed on digital operations in late 2005. WPLJ-HD1 carries a digital simulcast of the analog signal. The WPLJ-HD2 subchannel originally broadcast all-70s hits,[56] and then programming fromScott Shannon's True Oldies Channel that was distributed byABC Radio.[57] On July 4, 2014, WPLJ-HD2 flipped to anadult contemporary format known as "FAS" (referring to former sister stationWFAS-FM, which flipped from AC tourban AC), due to the discontinuation of The True Oldies Channel's distribution. (The "FAS" programming was also relayed on translator W232AL (94.3 FM), located inWhite Plains, New York). The FAS programming moved to WPLJ-HD3 (which had previously aired a simulcast ofWABC) in autumn 2017, with the Russian-language "Russkaya Reklama" programming moving fromWNEW-FM-HD4 to WPLJ-HD2. On May 1, 2019, the FAS programming on WPLJ-HD3 and W232AL ceased operations.[58]
After EMF acquired the station on May 31, 2019, WPLJ-HD2 adopted a simulcast of the Christian-formatted "Bridge Radio" fed byWRDR inFreehold Township, New Jersey (this would later be moved to WPLJ-HD4, with theK-Love Classics service being installed on the HD2). Also in 2019, WPLJ-HD3 adopted a simulcast of the Christian-formatted "Air1".
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