new york city branding 107.5 wbls slogan your 1 source for r & b frequency 107.5 mhz also on hd radio 107.5 2 fm simulcast of wlib hd radio first air date july 13 1951 format urban adult contemporary erp 4 200 watts haat 415 meters class b facility id 28203 callsign meaning w black listening station former callsigns wevd fm 1951 1955 wlib fm 1965 1972 owner emmis communications wbls wlib license llc sister stations wlib wqht webcast streaming webcast website wbls.com wbls 107.5 mhz . is an urban adult contemporary fm radio station in new york city . the station has had a number of call letters owners and formats throughout its history . it is currently owned by emmis communications along with sister station wlib 1190 am . the two stations share studios in the west village section of manhattan and wbls transmitting antenna is located on the empire state building . it was previously owned by ymf media llc owned jointly by investor ronald burkle and magic johnson which had assumed control of wbls and wlib s former parent company inner city broadcasting corporation on october 19 2012 at a purchase price of 180 million . 1 history edit the 107.5 frequency in new york city signed on in july 1951 as wevd fm simulcasting its sister station at 1330 am . within a few years wevd fm moved to 97.9 and 107.5 went off the air . several years later the new broadcasting company then owners of wlib was awarded a construction permit for the dormant frequency and on september 15 1965 reactivated 107.5 as wlib fm . as the federal communications commission recently instituted a rule prohibiting full time am fm simulcasting in large markets wlib fm was programmed with a jazz music format . the stations were split up in 1972 when inner city broadcasting purchased wlib am ; wlib fm was then renamed wbls . 2 inner city reunited the pair with its purchase of wbls in 1974 . 3 4 from 1972 to 1978 wbls was the flagship station of the mutual black network now the american urban radio networks . in 1993 calvin o. butts iii pastor of abyssinian baptist church in harlem led a threat to boycott the station if they played any form of gangsta rap . butts protests culminated in his bulldozing a pile of hip hop recordings during a rally . in response to the protests wbls excised most hip hop music from its air and carefully screened what it did play for content and language . 5 in 1995 after wrks was purchased by emmis communications and dropped all hip hop music in favor of a similar adult r & b format wbls countered with a controversial advertising campaign labeling wrks as a plantation station . 6 wbls shortly reverted to urban contemporary only to exit again in 2004 when wbls switched to urban adult contemporary . wbls acquired wrks s intellectual property in a merger of the two outlets announced on april 26 with a joint statement on both stations respective websites . 7 in addition to acquiring wrks s intellectual property wbls and wlib also moved into emmis s new york production facility in the west village section of manhattan into studio space vacated by wrks during the week of may 21 2012 . during the 2012 13 nba season wbls broadcast selected new york knicks games in an agreement with wepn fm . these games conflicted with wepn fm s coverage of the nfl s new york jets when both teams were scheduled to play on sunday afternoons . on february 11 2014 emmis communications announced it would purchase wbls and wlib from ymf media llc for 131 million pending final approval from the federal communications commission . 8 the purchase was consummated on june 10 2014 . references edit court oks ymf media lma of inner city stations . allaccess.com . 2012 05 21 . retrieved 2012 05 21 . for the record . broadcasting may 8 1972 pg . 72 . pdf changing hands . broadcasting july 29 1974 pg . 21 pdf permanent dead link in brief . broadcasting october 21 1974 pg . 9 pdf myers steven lee 1993 12 05 . wbls fm to stop playing violent songs . the new york times . retrieved 2008 03 02 . a popular radio station in new york city wbls fm plans to stop playing songs with lyrics advocating violence or expressing hatred of women in a new policy aimed particularly at the hard core forms of rap music that have stirred criticism from some black leaders in recent years . the station s owner inner city broadcasting corporation which also operates a talk radio station wlib am will begin screening the lyrics of all the songs it plays a spokesman joseph j. carella said yesterday . ... pristin terry 1997 01 18 . when aretha spells r e v e n u e two radio stations battle bitterly for the soul of the city . the new york times . retrieved 2010 01 24 . sisario ben 2012 04 26 . new york radio rivals kiss fm and wbls to merge . the new york times . retrieved 2012 05 18 . emmis buys wbls and wlib a . allaccess.com . 2014 02 11 . retrieved 2014 02 11 . external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wbls radio locator information on wbls query nielsen audio s fm station database for wbls v t e radio stations in the new york city market by am frequency 570 660 1 710 1 770 1 820 880 1 1010 1050 1130 1 1190 1280 1330 1380 1480 1560 1 1600 1620 new jersey 620 930 970 1430 1500 1530 1660 westchester county n.y. 1460 by fm frequency 87.7 88.9 89.12 89.9 90.3 new york 90.3 brooklyn 90.7 91.5 92.3 93.9 95.5 96.3 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 101.1 101.9 102.7 103.5 104.3 105.1 106.7 107.5 new jersey 88.3 89.12 89.5 90.3 91.1 93.1 94.7 99.1 100.3 102.3 105.5 105.9 106.3 107.1 westchester county n.y. 88.1 88.9 90.3 93.5 96.7 100.7 103.9 106.3 107.1 long island n.y. 92.7 103.5 via fm subcarrier 67 khz chinese radio new york gatewave radio reading service radio maria stati uniti italian 92 khz chung wah chinese broadcasting company icn radio radio maria estados unidos spanish rbc radio digital radio 710 880 1010 1280 1560 88.3 1 88.3 2 89.5 1 89.5 2 89.9 1 89.9 1 89.9 2 89.9 3 90.7 1 90.7 2 90.7 3 92.3 1 92.3 2 93.1 1 93.1 2 93.5 1 93.5 2 93.5 3 93.5 4 93.9 1 93.9 2 93.9 3 94.7 1 94.7 4 95.5 1 95.5 2 95.5 3 97.1 1 97.1 2 97.9 1 98.7 1 100.3 1 100.3 2 101.1 1 101.1 2 101.1 3 102.7 1 102.7 2 102.7 3 103.5 1 103.5 2 103.5 3 103.9 1 104.3 1 104.3 2 105.1 1 105.1 2 105.9 1 105.9 2 106.7 1 106.7 2 107.5 1 107.5 2 noaa weather radio frequency 162.550 by callsign kwo35 wabc 1 wado wary wawz waxq wbai wbbr 1 wbgo wbls wbmp wcbs 1 wcbs fm wepn wepn fm wfan 1 wfan fm wfdu2 wfme 1 wfme fm wfmu wfuv wght whcr fm whtz whud wicr wins wjdm wkcr fm wkdm wklv fm wkmk wkrb wktu wlib wltw wmca wmsc wnbm wnew fm wnsh wnsw wnyc wnyc fm wnye wnym wnyu fm2 wnyz lp wor 1 wpat wpat fm wplj wqbu fm wqht hd2 wqxr fm wqxw wsia wskq fm wsnr wsou wvip wvox wwes wwpr fm hd2 wwrl wwru wwrv wwzy wxny fm wxpk wzrc defunct whn 3 wnbc wnbc fm 3 wnew wyny 3 new york radio markets albany schenectady troy binghamton buffalo niagara falls elmira corning hudson valley nassau suffolk long island new york city olean plattsburgh poughkeepsie rochester syracuse utica rome watertown other new york radio regions ithaca jamestown dunkirk north country saratoga nyc metro markets long island hudson valley partial poughkeepsie middlesex somerset union monmouth ocean morristown bridgeport danbury new haven stamford norwalk see also list of radio stations in new york 1 clear channel stations with extended nighttime coverage . 2 stations share time on the frequency . 3 technically still active but on a different frequency with new call letters and different intellectual property . v t e urban contemporary radio stations in the state of new york stations wblk depew wbls new york wdkx rochester when syracuse wnbm bronxville wwpr new york see also adult contemporary classic hits college country news talk npr oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in new york v t e emmis communications radio stations kbpa kftk fm kgsr klbj klbj fm klzt knou kpnt kpwr krox fm kshe r dio expres radio fm plus radio fresh star wbls wepn fm 1 wfnb wfnf wfni wibc wlhk wlib wqht wthi fm wwvr wyxb magazines atlanta cincinnati orange coast indianapolis monthly los angeles texas monthly 1 operated by espn radio under a local marketing agreement . coordinates 40 44 53 n 73 59 10 w 40.748 n 73.986 w 40.748 ; 73.986 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wbls & oldid 741371755 categories hd radio stationsurban adult contemporary radio stationsradio stations in new york cityemmis communications radio stationshidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from july 2016articles with permanently dead external linkscoordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated 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