WFAN-FM (101.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to New York, New York. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station simulcasts a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM", or "The FAN", along with co-owned WFAN (660 AM). Its studios are in the Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.
WFAN-FM has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 6,000 watts, transmitting from atop the Empire State Building. WFAN-FM broadcasts using HD Radio technology. Its HD digital subchannels carry Audacy's national sports networks, Westwood One Sports and BetMGM.
History Early years
The station traces its origin to an experimental Apex band radio station, W2XWF on 42.18 MHz, which was authorized in 1940 and licensed to radio engineer William G. H. Finch.William Finch, 93; Held Many Patents In Radio Technology by Alfonso Narvaez, The New York Times, November 17, 1990.
In May 1940, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the establishment, effective January 1, 1941, of an FM radio band operating on 40 channels spanning 42–50 MHz."FCC Order No. 67" Federal Register, May 25, 1940, page 2011. On October 31, 1940, the first 15 construction permits for commercial FM stations were issued, including one to W. G. H. Finch for a station in New York City on 45.5 MHz,"New FM Call Letters Proposed", Broadcasting, November 15, 1940, page 77. which was issued the call sign W55NY.The initial policy for commercial FM station call signs included an initial "W" for commercial stations located east of the Mississippi River, followed by the last two digits of a station's frequency assignment, "55" in this case, and closing with a one or two character regional identifier, which for New York City was "NY". Effective November 1, 1943, the FCC modified its policy for FM call signs,"Standard Broadcast Station Call Letters for All Outlets Starting Nov. 1, FCC Rule", The Billboard, September 4, 1943, page 7. and the station was assigned the call sign WFGG,"New Calls Named For FM Stations", Broadcasting, October 4, 1943, page 49. which was changed to WGHF in 1945. One of the uses of the station was to test Finch's sub-carrier facsimile system. By 1946, the station was broadcasting on 99.7 MHz, moving to 101.9 in 1947.
In late 1948, it became the New York City affiliate of the farm-oriented Rural Radio Network based in Ithaca, New York, which owned a group of upstate stations that would later associate with WQXR. In 1955, its then-owner, Muzak, changed the call sign to WBFM."Call Letters Assigned" Broadcasting - Telecasting November 28, 1955. pg. 103. The station aired a soft instrumental beautiful music radio format.
WPIX-FM
The station was purchased by the New York Daily News in late 1963."WPIX Buys Radio Station" – The New York Times, December 10, 1963. pg.87. WBFM adopted the call sign WPIX-FM on October 11, 1964, as the station was now co-owned with television station WPIX (channel 11).
Broadcasting from the "Pix Penthouse" on the 28th floor of the Daily News Building, WPIX-FM ushered in what was to become one of the most popular formats in FM radio, easy listening (later adult contemporary music), signaling the end of the dominance of beautiful music, jazz, classical and block programming on the FM band. WPIX-FM would be noted for not being able to settle on a format for any real length of time, and was derisively nicknamed "the format of the month station" by many in the New York City radio industry. The station went through 11 different formats during its post-easy listening period: 1971–1975; 1976–1977: Adult top 40 - a top 40 format at the time that played new songs less often than top 40 leader WABC. While still focused on current music, it mixed in rock and roll oldies from about 1964 to what were then recent. 1975: Top 40/disco. The New York Times reported, "Characterized by a strong bass, a simple melody, and terse repetitive lyrics...'Disco,' as this music is called...is becoming increasingly popular on AM and FM radio stations. WPIX-FM recently switched several hours of its nightly programming over to 'disco.'" The nightly show "Disco 102" was first hosted by "Doctor" Jerry Carroll, then by Howard Hoffman when Carroll moved to afternoons. By the summer of 1976, the station was back to a gold leaning top 40 format which was popular on FM stations at the time. 1977–1978: Top 40/rock music. During this time, Mark Simone launched "The Simone Phone", a pioneering FM comedy talk show featuring then-producer/writer Tom Leykis, that contained popular features such as "Dial-A-Date", which were later borrowed by other radio shows. Simone moved to WMCA in 1979. 1978–1980: New wave music/punk rock. At a time when other rock stations in New York were sticking with traditional AOR formats (WPLJ, WNEW-FM), adult Top 40 (WXLO) and oldies (WCBS-FM), WPIX staked out a groundbreaking format focused on new wave and punk but included older rock and roll as well, hence its advertising slogan: "From Elvis to Elvis" (meaning Elvis Presley to Elvis Costello.) It helped break in New York and nationally early records by Costello, The Police, Nick Lowe, The Clash, The Cars, Squeeze, Devo, The Kings, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Buzzcocks, Cheap Trick, Talking Heads, David Johansen, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, among others. The station was even featured in lyrics from the Squeeze song, 'I Think I'm Go Go' (P I X and rock and roll). March 1, 1980 – July 6, 1981: Rock-based top 40. A station spokesperson said WPIX-FM was "modifying the format to improve the product to make it more mass acceptable". July 6, 1981 – January 15, 1982: Album-oriented rock. January 15 – February 28, 1982: CHR (top 40). Basically a transitional format to adult contemporary. March 1982 – 1985: Adult contemporary music. Beginning in January 1983, WPIX-FM positioned itself as "nothing but love songs". A series of TV commercials featuring clay animation cherubs, and starring artists such as the Pointer Sisters, Bette Midler, Sheena Easton and Carly Simon were credited with bringing new listeners to the station. The tagline was, "Your ex wants you back!" 1985: Hot adult contemporary, a mix of love songs and eclectic music as "the ballads and beat of New York". Also in 1985, the station began running a nighttime show called "The PIX Penthouse", which played contemporary R&B and soul music as well as smooth jazz. It had been used through the 1960s as the station's tagline for its easy listening format. ("The PIX Penthouse Party" had been originally used as a program title during WPIX-FM's Punk/New Wave era and was notable for playing 1960s music that influenced Punk and New Wave Rock). August 16, 1986 – March 1987: Adult contemporary music/standards/AAA/smooth jazz — "The Bright and Lively Sound of New York". March - September 1987: Hot adult contemporary during the day and urban adult contemporary/smooth jazz evenings. September 1987 – August 10, 1988: Hot adult contemporary during the day and overnights using "Easy Rock" as a slogan. Smooth jazz in the evenings.
Notable air personalities during the WPIX-FM period included Mark Simone, Alan Colmes, Meg Griffin, Ted David and Jerry Carroll (a.k.a. "Dr. Jerry"). Another WPIX-FM personality, Ken Harper, host of the all-night "Manhattan After Hours", from 1964 to 1968, went on to produce "The Wiz" on Broadway.
The station gave up quickly on both the Disco and the Punk/New Wave formats, only to see both genres of music become popular several years later.
From 1966 to 1988, WPIX-FM simulcast the Christmas music played during WPIX television's annual Yule Log program on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.
CD101.9 Beginning with "The PIX Penthouse" in 1985, WPIX-FM started to play contemporary jazz after dark to boost its nighttime ratings, and beginning in September 1987, the station's evening programming was entirely dedicated to the genre. Then, on August 10, 1988, the station adopted a jazz-based adult contemporary format during the day and retained all jazz at night.
Later that month, on August 22, the station modified into a full-time smooth jazz radio format, with the new call letters WQCD and the new branding, "CD 101.9". While the genre had varying degrees of presence on most Top 40 and AC stations at the time, New York City had not had a full-time commercial jazz station since 1980, when WRVR (106.7 FM, now WLTW) became country music station WKHK following an ownership change two years earlier. The re-launch of 101.9 was accompanied by a new television advertising campaign which featured Al Jarreau, Miles Davis, Kenny G, Bobby McFerrin and Herb Alpert–all artists whose music formed the core of the new smooth jazz format, which proved successful and long-lasting for a station that had not been used to stability in its programming.
WQCD's early music blend featured contemporary jazz mixed with soft rock and urban adult contemporary, along with some new-age music (the "CD" branding came from the station promoting that it played between 70 and 80 minutes of music between commercial breaks, the length of an average compact disc). The station programmed an equal balance between vocal and instrumental music. At night the station played strictly contemporary jazz music, with a majority of it instrumental. As time went on, WQCD phased-out soft-rock cuts and became a full-time contemporary jazz station. The playlist continued to feature large amounts of instrumental jazz, with some new age, and several urban adult contemporary songs. This formula would largely be unchanged for over 15 years.
When the Daily News changed ownership in 1991 and was sold to Robert Maxwell, WQCD and WPIX were retained by the newspaper's former corporate parent, the Tribune Company. In 1997, Tribune sold WQCD to Emmis Communications. The combination of WQCD and Emmis's two existing New York stations, WQHT (97.1 FM) and WRKS-FM 98.7, gave the Indianapolis-based company an FM triopoly in the New York market. In 1998, Emmis moved WQCD out of the Daily News Building, and along with WQHT and WRKS into a newly constructed common facility at 395 Hudson Street.
WQCD ran an experiment from November 22, 2004, until August 2005, when the station's playlist included chill music, a relaxing sound based on the music found on the beaches of Ibiza. The ratings were not satisfactory, and the experiment ended. The station retained the tagline, "CD101.9, Your Chill-Out Station" during its successful transition back to the standard smooth jazz format. WQCD's on-air staff remained unusually stable in the generally volatile radio climate, led by morning host Dennis Quinn. Midday host Deborah Rath had been with parent company Emmis since 1988, as a veteran of both WRKS and WQHT. Afternoon drive host Paul Cavalconte was a veteran of New York jazz, classical, and rock stations, adult standards WNEW. Evening host Sharon Davis called WQCD home for nearly a decade. Other notable long-term airstaff members include Ray White, Pat Prescott, Russ Davis, Steve Harris, Ian Karr, Maria Von Dickersohn, Meryl Kubrick and John Vidaver. Rafe Gomez hosted "The Groove Boutique", a nationally syndicated groove jazz mix show that aired on Saturday nights beginning in 2003. "The Groove Boutique" was a finalist in the 2005 Best Mix Show category of the 8th annual New York Radio Market Achievements in Radio (A.I.R.) awards.
101.9 RXP